Trot lovers

 Korean title : 트로트의 연인

Other titles : Trot Romance / Lovers Of Trot / Lovers of Music

16 episodes

Aired on KBS2

From 2014 June to August

Main cast :

• Ji Hyun Woo as Jang Joon Hyun
• Jung Eun Ji as Choi Choon Hee
• Shin Sung Rok as Jo Geun Woo
• Lee Se Young as Park Soo In
• Yoo Eun Mi as Choi Byul
• Kim Hye Ri as Yang Joo Hee
  
• Yoon Joo Sang as Jo Hee Moon
• Kang Nam Gil as Choi Myung Shik
• Son Ho Joon as Sul Tae Song
• Kim Yeo Jin as Bang Ji Sook
  
• Shin Bo Ra as Na Pil Nyeo
• Jang Won Young as Lee Chul Man
• Yoon Bong Gil as Lee Yoo Shik
• Park Hyuk Kwon as Managing Director Wang
•  Ji Soo Won as Hwa Soon 

Production credits :

• Production Company : JS Pictures ; Chief Producer: Kim Sung Geun ; Producer: Yoon Sung Sik
• Directors : Lee Jae Sang, Lee Eun Jin
• Screenwriters : Oh Sun Hyung, Kang Yoon Kyung

Notes :

• Hello Father AND Newspaper boss from Capital Scandal ! 
• I've never heard trot songs before (though I knew it was Korean traditional popular songs) and I really like the songs in this drama.
• You might know Jung Eun Ji from K-pop girl group Apink. Since I started to get into K-pop, I pay more attention to idols, and it's funny to realise that Choi Si Won, Micky Yoochun are/were idols. Also f(x) Krystal in the Heirs and AOA Shin Hye Jung in Good witch.
  
• So before this drama, I thought that maybe I was over Korean dramas, after my disappointment with Good witch and it felt like ages since I last watched a drama I really liked. But I really liked this one !!
• This review is from (recent) memory because weirdly I wasn't really inspired to write it. I'm not sure this review will be interesting enough to do this drama justice but I want to share that it was good and introduced me to trot.
  

 

Review : +

Title : Kinda embarassing. Litteral but not totally accurate since only Girl is a lover of trot while Boy doesn't care for it.

Girl : She's confident, headstrong and resilient. She loves singing trot because of how it makes her feel and how it makes other feel. Her energy is communicative.

Boy : He used to be a big star and has been disgraced. He's vain and arrogant but in the funny way, not in the annoying one. He's also talented and has a real passion for music.

Other girl : She's also a singer. She works hard to succeed but it's hard to know what she really wants since her mother (a former singer) is so overbearing. What they do with her character is really compelling.

Other boy : He's the heir of an entertainement company. He's... odd. He does things his way, not caring how he's perceived.

Plot : There is a plot, which is what it is. It's a bit meandering at the beginning and I have to say I skipped some parts, basically all the scenes that heaped misery on misery on Girl. It's handled better, with a lighter touch, later on. Not everything makes sense but at least it shows the struggle to succeed and not everything goes right. I also like how the romance develops and root for these two character's love so that's what I expect from a romance drama.

Other characters : Girl's little sister who is very cute, put-upon assistant, over-the-top mean girl, excentric CEO, nice mentor... most of them are well done.

What the... ? There are "nice gangsters" characters ? They're involved in a very weird scene that's quite dramatic then turns funny but I'm not sure it's successful. I like these characters as comic reliefs but it's not consistent with how they're introduced.

Cliché : The whole premise of you-have-to-help-out-X-in-doing-Y-to-get-Z. And then a "plot" cliché that I can't tell without spoiling that I personally think is way overdone (though I actually like the angst it brings). I groaned when I realised they were going there.

Funny : Yes.

Music : As I already said, music is one of the draw of the drama. Unless you don't like trot. Warning, the same song is used so much at the beginning that I feared they would only use one song throughout the whole drama. Fortunately, it was not the case.

Bottom line : The plot wasn't the best but it was good enough to not distract from the great characters, their compelling relationships, the comedy and the music. + !

Nodame Cantabile and Nae Il's Cantabile

I'm doing a joint review of these two dramas, not because I'm lazy (though I am) but because as good adaptations of the manga Nodame cantabile by Ninomiya Tomoko, or remake of one another, I would have repeated myself.

I've watched Nodame Cantabile twice but it's been some years and I've just watched Nae Il's Cantabile for the first time. I had actually read part of the manga, for once, and from what I remembered, the Japanese drama was quite faithful.

Japanese title : のだめカンタービレ

11 episodes

Aired on Fuji TV

From 2006 October to December

+ 1 special (2 ep, 2008) + 2 movies (2009 and 2010)

Main cast :

• Ueno Juri as Noda Megumi
• Tamaki Hiroshi as Chiaki Shinichi
• Eita as Mine Ryutaro
• Koide Keisuke as Okuyama Masumi
• Mizukawa Asami as Miki Kiyora
• Saeko as Saku Sakura
• Uehara Misa as Tagaya Saiko
• Takenaka Naoto as Franz Stresemann
• Fukushi Seiji as Kuroki Yasunori
• Mukai Osamu as Kikuchi Toru
• Toyohara Kosuke as Eto Kozo
• Nishimura Masahiko as Tanioka Hajime
• Ibu Masato as Mine Tatsumi

Production credits :

• Screenwriter : Etou Rin
• Producers : Wakamatsu Hiroki, Shimizu Kazuyuki
• Directors : Takeuchi Hideki, Kawamura Taisuke, Tanimura Masaki

Korean title : 내일도 칸타빌레

Other title : Tomorrow Cantabile

16 episodes

Aired on KBS2

From 2014 October to December

Main cast :

• Shim Eun Kyung as Sul Nae Il (Noda Megumi)
• Joo Won as Cha Yoo Jin  (Chiaki Shinichi)
• Go Kyung Pyo as Yoo Il Rak (Mine Ryutaro)
• Park Bo Gum as Lee Yoon Hoo
• Jang Se Hyun as Ma Soo Min (Okuyama Masumi)
• Min Do Hee as Choi Min Hee (Saku Sakura)
• Bae Min Jung as Jung Shi Won (Miki Kiyora)
• Baek Yoon Shik as Franz Streseman
• Kim Yoo Mi as Chae Do Kyung (Tagaya Saiko)
• Lee Byung Joon as Do Kang Jae (Eto Kozo)
• Nam Goong Yun as Ahn Gun Sung (Tanioka Hajime)
• Ye Ji Won as Song Mi Na
• Ahn Kil Kang as Yoo Won Sang (Mine Tatsumi)

Production credits :

• Chief Producer : Hwang Eui Kyung ; producers : Kim Jin Won, Park Woo Ram
• Directors : Han Sang Woo, Lee Jung Mi
• Screenwriters: Park Pil Joo, Shin Jae Won

 

Notes : Funny how I've just rewatched Secret Garden in which Lee Byung Joon and Kim Ji Sook also appear, in very different roles.

Review : Fav !

Title : Makes sense since these dramas revolve around students in a music school, and especially around the impact that the character Noda Megumi or Nodame / Nae Il has.

Girl : She's a tricky character to play because she's eccentric and childish, which can easily be annoying and ridiculous, but I think that both actresses nailed it. She's a piano genius but she doesn't want to make it her career. She's obstinate, honest, warm, lovable and doesn't care how she is perceived by people. (+)

Boy : He's also a genius in so many things. He's confident, hard-working and perfectionnist. Also closed-off emotionnally and struggles to express his feelings. (+)

Relationship : This shouldn't work. But it does. These two characters, also surrounded by their friends, help each other to grow and to overcome what is keeping them from achieving their true potentials. They also have the same passion for classical music and admire their respective talent.

Plot : The plot deals mostly with the growth of the characters, through the challenges they face individually and in relation to each other.

The Korean adaptation adds some power struggles at the head of the school, which was not that interesting but also not bad enough to ruin the drama.

Other characters : Characters are interesting and likable. The Korean adaptation has a new character, but, as with the other changes they've made, it fits well.

What the... ? Nodame/Nae Il is a quirky character, maybe she would be too much for some people ? Another tricky character is Stresemann and I'm actually glad they toned down his "pervert" side in the Korean adaptation.

Funny : Yes.

Music : Most diegetic and non diegetic music in these dramas are classical pieces. Classical music is at the heart of the story. You don't need to know anything about it (I don't) to like it and maybe these dramas will make you appreciate how beautiful and emotional classical music is.

Bonus : A glimpse of Salzburg !

Bottom line : I love the characters, in every iteration, their relationships and to watch them learn and grow. It's not realistic at all but it's very satisfying, funny, with sublime music. Fav !

Alice in Wonder City

Taiwanese title: 給愛麗絲的奇蹟 (给爱丽丝的奇迹)
Other title: Give Alice a miracle

15 episodes
Aired on CTS
From 2012 May to September

Main cast:

Aaron Yan: He Ting Yu 賀霆宇

Xiu Jie Kai: Chen Hai Jie 陳海傑

Lara Veronin: Lan Die Fei 藍蝶菲

Tracy Chou: Alice

Yang Gui Mei: Jin Li Sha 金莉莎

Lin Li Yang: Tang Jin Cang 唐晉滄

Cherry Hsia: Lan Yu Shu 藍語書

Review: -

Title: A character is named Alice but she is no more prominent than the other three main characters so I don't know why she gets to be in the title. There are references to Alice in Wonderland but it doesn't amount to much.

Boy: He's kind of a manic dream guy.

Boy: He's a famous violonist who has been groomed by his overbearing mother to be the best. I think he was the character I was the most interested in.

Girl: She's the most ordinary. Later, there is something about her that comes from nowhere but I wish it could have given her some agency.

Girl: The aforementioned Alice. She's an interesting character trapped in a storyline that doesn't deserve her. See below.

Plot: I'm going to cover plot before relationships because here lies the explanation for the minus review. For once, the problem is easy to pinpoint: half of this drama is a terribad Lifetime movie in which nothing substantial happens but that still manages to take up so much screentime. Moreover, the gist of it is basic (McGuffin! Suspicious men in black!) but one part (Alice's identity) is needlessly confusing. Moreover (yes, that's the second one, I'm piling on it), the two "halves" don't feel organically or tonally or thematically related. It's like watching two dramas smashed together. By the way, the better half is about music, having talent and succeeding in the industry.

Also, some subplots just end abrubtly (no mention of Boy's sister's drama and barely any mention of Siren) and the ending drag.

Relationships: This is the drama's strongest suit. Friendship between three characters, family relationships, romance... I like how they were handled, people reacted like normal people. There are also some unusual reversals. If only the drama had kept focusing on these!

Funny factor: Not really.

Music: I love the theme songs by Lara Veronin. But I disagree with stripping this song from its powerful message. Finally, though I was not enamoured by the classical music pièces performed, I still appreciate hearing something different.

What the...: I could mention a lot of things but, to avoid spoilers, I'll just say that the timeline makes no sense, in a way that is distracting.

Most egregious cliché: Japanese baddies

Bottom line: Excising the storyline that sidelines Alice and thus making the drama more consistent, the drama could have taken advantage of the potential of its setting, of his characters and their relationships. Alas, it was not to be. (-)

Buzzer Beat

Japanese title: ブザー・ビート

Aired on Fuji TV
July-Sept 2009
11 episodes

Main cast:

Yamashita Tomohisa: Kamiya Naoki

Kitagawa Keiko: Shirakawa Riko

Kanjiya Shihori: Ebina Mai

Ito Hideaki: Kawasaki Tomoya

Aibu Saki: Nanami Natsuki

Mizobata Junpei: Hatano Shuji

Kaneko Nobuaki: Yoyogi Ren

Maya Miki: Kamiya Makiko

Oomasa Aya: Kamiya Yuri

Nagai Masaru: Utsunomiya Toru

Review: +

Title: "Buzzer beat" is a basketball term. It is explained several times and what it describes happen several times in the drama. There is also some link to love attempted at one point. They could have called it "Love makes you stronger" because this is something expressed a lot in the drama and this slogan is prominent in the form of an ad.

Girl: I like her very much. She's passionnate about her music (and I always admire it because it requires a lot of work and perseverance). She knows what she wants and she's honest so we don't have lame misunderstandings and moping around. She's lively and charismatic. I do not really how they insisted on her not having much beauty products but still, it's a big (+)

Boy: He is a less common male lead in romance since he lacks self-confidence. He lost his mojo since becoming a pro basketball player but he is still passionnate about his sport. He isn't arrogant but on the contrary, he is very nice and doesn't speak much. However, he is not boring. (+)

Relationship: Cute and believable. The pacing is good. The only unnecessary cliché I noticed was the piggyback ride (Oops, I forgot waiting under the rain!). There are a number of it's-fate coincidences happening but the thing is that they are bonus and not used to propel the plot so they're just a nice, cherry-on-the-cake touch. One of the issues to be resolved in a drama is how to force these two people to interact and meet. Especially here since at the beginning, the two characters evolve in two parallel worlds. But they manage to find ways to slowly fuse their worlds so their meetings are not far-fetched coincidences. The obstcles thrown in their ways are common but they do not drag the story. The romance is intertwined with what is happening in their respective careers. The last act (last episode) is not as successful as the rest of the drama (I could have done without a last cringe-worthy utterance of "love makes you strong" but it's not on the mess level of the last act of Heartstrings. (+)


Other characters: As you can see from the people I chose as the "Main cast", they are many supporting characters that are quite important. I could describe and discuss at length each one of them and they have nuances with are good things. (+)

But (and this is a big but), there is a character I didn't understand at all. Like, at all. I don't understand what they want to say with her, what she's supposed to be. It's confusing. Seriously, it looks like she has a split personnality. I can't blame it on the actress, I don't know if it's a directing or writing issue. But her voice actually changes when she drops the mask/changes personnality. I know that we act different when we're alone but here it borders on creepy. Moreover, her motivations are mushy. She's not a nice but unfulfilled girl who made a mistake and then had nothing to lose. Which it sometimes looks like it should be. No, she rather appears as a mean and cold person who pretends to be warm and kind around some people for reasons that are never clear. She could have been as interesting and three-dimensional as the other characters but instead she is twice one-dimensional. (-)

Music: Very nice. Complements and enhances the drama. (+) However, I have to say that I liked the direction (some shots were inspired though sometimes a bit too on-the-nose) but that the editing was sometimes weird, like the cuts between scenes at times cuts the music in the middle (and I'm not talking scenes in which the music stops).

Funny factor: Yes! Not LOL but still nice. It's more romance than comedy.

Other points: Bonus for female friendship! It felt real. I enjoyed one conversation in the bus (first episode) in which they talked about random things like you do in a bus with a friend. There is also another moment that felt real to me when the guys are comparing their body in the locker-room... which brings me to another bonus:

Male nudity! Well, of course, not full nudity, but between the locker-room scenes, the bath ones and the beach trip, there are plenty of eye-candy.

I was reluctant to see it because I'm not into sports and I didn't want to watch endless basketball matches but it's not how it is. It's not a "sport" drama.

Bottom line: This is a Plus! I recommend it. Watching it, I wondered why it was not a Fav and I'm not sure why. I watched it many times but it just doesn't feel like one to me. I watch it with pleasure but it doesn't have that subjective thing that makes me fav a drama. I don't know if it's because of that one character. If it is, it's really too bad because almost everything else is so solid.

Heartstrings

Other title: You've fallen for me

Korean title: 넌 내게 반했어

Aired on MBC - Summer 2011- 15 episodes

Main cast:

Jung Yong Hwa as Lee Shin

Park Shin Hye as Lee Kyu Won

Song Chang Ui as Kim Suk Hyun

So Yi Hyun as Jung Yoon Soo

Woo Ri as Han Hee Joo

Kang Min Hyuk as Yeo Joon Hee

Lee Hyun Jun as Hyun Ki Young

Im Se Mi as Cha Bo Woon

Review:  -/+

Title: Makes sense :"You've fallen for me" is the name of a song featured and "Heartstrings", well, there are romance and music.

Girl: She's kind, talented. She starts "amazing"(+) then unfortunately becomes "annoying"(-). It's ironic because the main supporting female character starts "annoying" then becomes great.

Boy(s): I want him! Them. The male leads are handsome (yes, I know it's not a surprise) and have a pretty voice. Despite some inconsistency in how Lee Shin is portrayed, he is basically perfect. And Kim Suk Hyun is just awesome. Awesome.

Relationship: The falling in/out of love wasn't very well-handled (-) but some very common cliches were avoided which was great and original (+).

Other characters: There are A LOT of other characters. Most of them are interesting (+) but they get backstories in a way that made me keep waiting for when this will get important in the plot and it never happens. So it feels like a waste of time (-).

Also (-) for the bad guy. He has a backstory and is good at hindering the main characters but something doesn't work with him. In the end, he's just not compelling. He's pathetic and it's not even tragic.

Music: Gimme the OST. (+) Bonus: Korean traditional instruments. Their sound is beautiful.

Funny factor? It's funnier than most "comedy/romance" dramas. I actually laugh several times. There are many good comical characters and also some recurring jokes that work. (+)

Bottom line: This drama had so much potential: The characters are interesting and mostly cleverly developed, it's funny, it's original and I love the musical set-up storyline BUT besides the issues I already mentioned, there is a late development that is so unnecessary that it feels like it was a blatant way to fill another episode (so annoying) and I wish the set-up of the musical was more prominent.

It's not a drama I couldn't stop watching but at least I finished it. Also episode 7 is a drag. If you watch this drama, I think you'll like it and laugh and swoon but don't expect too much and be prepared to be mildly annoyed by the plot and the characters.

 

After the jump, there is a review for people who have watched it.