In House Marriage Honey

Japanese title: 社内マリッジハニー

Other title: Shanai Marriage Honey

7 episodes

Aired on MBS from 2020 November to December 

Main cast:

• Itagaki Mizuki as Miura Manatsu
• Matsui Airi as Haruta Ami
• Wada Hayate as Matsushita Kazuya
• Oshida Gaku as Yamagata Yuki
• Miyata Tappei as Hori Ryuhei
• Nakamura Riho as Sakaguchi Sumika
• Asami Himeka as Miwa An
• Tateishi Toshiki as Mochizuki Kaimi
• Hyodo Katsumi as Nishitani Kentaro
• Kijima Asuka as Shinkawa Marina

Production credits:

• Original work: Manga by Fujiwara Emi
• Screenwriter: Uchihira Mio, Shimo Ayumi
• Director: Morita Ryo, Shingu Ryohei

Notes:

• So I watched this drama right after Coffee and vanilla, and they share a lot of similarities but I actually finished watching this one for reasons I will explain. It's also 7 episodes of 20 minutes so not that time-consuming.
  
• I also watch this one on Viki, with comments, and I didn't read the manga it's based on. 
• Again, warning: no explicit content but every aspect of marriage is covered if you know what I mean.
  

 

Review: -/+

Title: Two strangers get married on the day they met for... reasons. And then they realised that they work at the same company. Hence the title.

Girl: She's bubbly, outspoken and an accountant. Also "cunning". Be prepared to read this word (or the equivalent depending on subtitles) a lot. If you make it a drinking game, you would get very drunk.

Boy: He works at sales. He acts aloof but he's actually very cute.

Plot/ relationship: So there is no plot, because there are almost no conflict, and whatever conflict there is, it's resolved quicky and without too much angst. Which is refreshing in a way. Healthy communication in a drama is very rare. In this one, they have a problem or a misunderstanding, they just talk and it's resolved. On the downside, the main conflict is based on a motivation that doesn't make much sense and I feel like their reasons to get married with a stranger, which is the premise of the drama, aren't strong enough.

Other characters: They all have paper thin characterisations, and almost all of them are coworkers.

Funny? Yes. Usually Girl embarassing herself and Boy teasing. Also some expressions and reactions.

Cliches : People falling in love after marrying for other reasons. Borderline insta-love.

Music: Fine.

Bottom line: Like Coffee and vanilla, this drama is plagued with insta-love, no plot, underdeveloped character and universe. I hesitated between a - or a -/+, especially because the intimacy depicted sometimes made me uncomfortable, like 'uh, should I be here?" but, compared to Coffee and vanilla, it has more comedy, the dynamic between the couple is more interesting and I want to commend the communication between them. So -/+ it is.

Coffee & Vanilla

 Japanese title: コーヒー＆バニラ

10 episodes

Aired on MBS from 2019 July to September

Main cast:

• Fukuhara Haruka as Shiraki Risa
• Sakurada Dori as Fukami Hiroto
• Kuroba Mario as Akutsu Takaaki
• Ogoe Yuuki as Yoshiki Tsubasa
• Hama Shogo as Ichiyanagi Yuki
• Kita Noa as Ashiya Natsuki
• Tokoshima Yoshiko as Kitajima Akane

 Production credits:

• Original work: Manga by Akegami Takara
• Screenwriter: Shimoda Yuko, Date Sorami
• Producer: Kamiura Yuna, Furukusa Masami
• Director: Smith, Tsubakimoto Keijiro, Totsuka Hiroto

Notes:

• So I watched this one on Viki, and the only reasons I made it to episode 4 is that episodes are short and comments were really funny.
• Usual disclaimer: I haven't read the manga it's based on. I think I may have tried to read it because the title and the first episode remind me of something but I probably bailed early. 
• Warning: I don't know the rating but it's clearly not for children. It's not explicit but don't watch if you don't want to be exposed to mature material.
  

 

Review: DNF

Title: The title refers to a coffee shop but also to the main characters, male lead being coffee and female lead being vanilla, which is not exactly subtle symbolism. But it makes sense and it's not made too obvious in the drama so it's fine. 

Girl: She's a super shy student, "pure" in every aspect (some would say naive).

Boy: He's like 10 years older and lets say... a weird mix of considerate and overwhelming.

Other boy: He's a student too and... he likes to cook.

Plot: Plot, what plot ? Sometimes in these reviews, I write that the plot is the relationship but this drama takes it to the next level. The drama starts with Boy and Girl in the most passionate love relationship you can imagine. At least, it's different to a lot of dramas, in which it takes sometimes 20 episodes to kiss but it makes you think: "Umm, I wonder what will happen in the 9 other episodes?" The answer is: "basically nothing" except cliches second lead who goes from 0 to 100 then back to 0 in one episode, then a bad boy rival and then I stopped watching. The plot summary teased "secrets" about Boy but nothing in the first episodes made me believe that they would be interesting.

Relationship: I'm not a fan of insta-love and this one is insta-love on crack. The point is not to have two people falling in love but watching two people declaring and consummate their love over and over. Also Girl is so shy that even when she's into it, she looks like she's not, so it can be uncomfortable.

Other characters: For once, I didn't have to cut into the cast list from DramaWiki, that's how underdevelopped this universe is. The most interesting character is Girl's friend who is the audience's surrogate telling Girl that she should run from this insane, possibly murderous guy.

Funny? Not really.

Cliches: Insta-love. Shy young woman/experienced older man. Every guy is in love with her.

Music: Nothing to say in particular.

Bottom line: No real plot. Underdeveloped characters. Wish-fulfillment fantasy. DNF.

Bad guy

Korean title: 나쁜 남자
Other title: Bad boy

17 episodes
Aired on SBS
From 2010 May to August

Main cast:

Kim Nam Gil as Shim Gun Wook

Han Ga In as Moon Jae In

Kim Jae Wook as Hong Tae Sung

Oh Yun Soo as Hong Tae Ra

Jung So Min as Hong Mo Ne

Kim Hye Ok as Mrs. Shin

Jun Gook Hwan as President Hong

Shim Eun Kyung as Moon Won In

Kim Eung Soo

Notes:

- Hello Paper fan teacher from Nodame cantabile! It's funny because Shim Eun Kyung who plays Girl's sister in this drama is playing the Nodame role in the Korean adaptation.

- Hello cute little girl also seen in Rooftop Prince!

- Hey guy from Coffee Prince in a major role!

- Strong feelings about that one. I'm going to have a spoiler space about it. It could have been a Fav but nope. It's been a few days so I'm not mad anymore, just bitter.

- Finally, I decided to start putting the production credits from Drama Wiki because these people are even more responsible for the end product than the cast.

Production credits :

Producer: Goo Bon Geun

Director: Lee Hyung Min

Screenwriter: Kim Jae Eun

 

Review: +

Title: I get it but it's hard to be more generic. Just "Guy" maybe?

Boy: I don't think you can go more mysterious-loner-dude-y than that. This drama lives or dies on his Boy. And he is SO good. He can do the single tear, the goofy smile, the smirk, anything. I read that actor Kim Nam Gil stole the show in another drama and I'm not surprised since I found him very charismatic. He had to, since the drama relies a lot on his character being that way. To sum up, all the pluses in the world for him.

Girl: All the pluses for her too. She is a art consultant (I had to get past the fact that it's a rom-com job despite not being on that list) from a poor background. She wants to be a social climber. Like Boy, she has an agenda, she drives the narrative. She is smart and level-headed but not boring. She's someome you'd like as a friend and it's the first time I wrote that about a drama's character.

Boy: The black sheep of his family. I'm not in love with him but he is touching. I feel for him.

Girl: A young spoiled girl but not the annoying brat type. She is cute and lively, passionnate and open-hearted. 

Girl: She's an unsatisfied married woman who always puts her duty to her family first. She could have been a cliché but she's a strong character and her story was well-handled.

Plot/relationships: The plot was so good. It was hard to see where it was going. It's driven by the characters' motivations, it makes you care about the characters, the pacing is great, revelations are dished out progressively. Fab! Triple Fab... But, triple but, at one point, characters act in stupid ways just to allow a plot point that makes no sense. And the end is completely botched. I was so mad. I've never been so mad... it doesn't ruin everything, I'd still recommend it but no to the end.
I'm just going to paraphrase one of my favourite reviews ever: "For about nine-tenths of the drama, this is perfect. The drama is tense, there’s a palpable sense of mystery, of trying to figure out along with the characters what the next move is, what the next layer is, how the disparate pieces that don’t make sense fit into a cohesive picture.
And then the bottom falls out catastrophically.
The last two episodes in which we get "resolutions" are just so terribly written that I think the screenwriter should get an MRI, because I think he had a stroke on page 85 and then ignored the smell of burnt toast to keep typing."

Funny factor? Nope.

Bottom line: It should have been a Fav! I'm mad it's not a Fav because of [spoiler].

But watch it! Just don't watch *first degree spoiler* the last two episodes and imagine it's the end.

However, I still need to dish on what I hated, so full blown spoilers coming  after the jump. You should really watch the show before reading this because, for one thing, you won't understand what I'm talking about and second, it will colour your experience of the show and you don't want that. Anyway, you will probably binge-watch it in days like I did so you're coming back soon.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal

Korean title: 성균관 스캔들

Aired on SBS2
From 2010 August to November
20 episodes

Main cast:

Micky Yoochun: Lee Sun Joon

Park Min Young: Kim Yoon Hee

Song Joong Ki: Goo Yong Ha

Yoo Ah In: Moon Jae Shin

Jun Tae Soo: Ha In Soo

Seo Hyo Rim: Ha Hyo Eun

Kim Min Seo: Cho Sun

Jo Sung Ha: King Jeongjo

Ahn Nae Sang: Jung Yak Yong

Lee Jae Yong: Ha Woo Kyu

Note:

I watched it just after Coffee Prince and I had seen Micky Yoochun as a nobleman previously in Rooftop Prince.

At the beginning, I expected this drama to be a Fav! Alas...

 

Review: +/-

Title: Not sure about the scandal (it makes me think of the superior drama Capital scandal) but it takes place around 1791 at Sungkyunkwan, a school that trains future members of government/public servants.

Girl: She has to make a living for her mother and sick younger brother. Since she's educated, as girls are not supposed to, she pretends to be a boy and writes letters, homeworks for students etc. She's warm, responsible and likes to study. The only negative is that I find that she is passive on several occasions and that Boy makes decisions for her.(+)

Boy: He's a strict, law-abiding, moral, big-on-principles nobleman. I like that type though he was a bit too stoic for my tastes. (+)

Other Boy: Hot-headed rebel. He's on my very short list of guys who look good with long hair. (+)

Other girl: She's a spoiled young girl but her love is pure and sincere. She's funny too. (+)

Relationship: I like how it developed but watching the character confused and tortured over his sexual orientation for nothing was frustrating. Moreover, since not much was happening on the "plot" side, it dragged. Meanwhile, you're just waiting for him to find out so the drama will get some momentum again.

Plot: The overarching arc is about the King wanting to build a better society by getting rid of the noble families' influence. For that purpose, he needs the McGuffingest McGuffing I've ever seen. I liked the depiction of a good King and of families' rivalries but this is never really developped. It's just talks in the background about how the McGuffin would fix everything. Yeah, sure.

Then, there are shorter arcs with more urgent stakes for the characters, the villain being the President Student. At first, these were interesting enough and yielded character developments. But at one point, I realised that the good guys were always doing the good things and the bad guys bad things and SPOILER ALERT failing. So in the end, there is no suspense and the stakes lose their power.

Other characters: There is a character who has an interesting trajectory. Side characters are also pretty good. The villain, however, is a terrible character. He's one-dimensional and has two expressions throughout the drama: expressionless - so is it actually just one? - and frowning menacingly.

Bonus factors: Period! Hats! Politics of that time!

Funny factor? Not much.

Music: OK. There was one song I liked.

Most egregious clichés: Girl pretending to be a boy. McGuffin.

What the... ? I will go with opening a very secret and big box in plain view. And hugging instead of running. Wait, I almost forgot... Other boy gets hiccups when he's with a girl. I have no idea why and what was the purpose of giving him that trait... Also, (trying hard not to spoil here) one character learns something important but never discusses it with anyone.

Bottom line: There are a lot of things to like in this drama (some characters, some developments about their relation to their family, the 18th century setting, the promising beginning) but then my interest withered away.

Oops! I forgot about one important character. It's telling that I forgot about her even though she's featured in several storylines. I think she's interesting but a bit "random". She's likable but in the end feels like a composite of several traits that don't totally add up.

Paradise Kiss (film)

Japanese title: パラダイス・キス

116 minutes
June 4, 2011
Directed by Shinjo Takehiko

Main cast:

• Kitagawa Keiko: Hayasaka Yukari
• Mukai Osamu: Koizumi Jouji "George"
• Yamamoto Yusuke: Tokumori Hiroyuki
• Igara Shunji: Isabella
• Omasa Aya: Sakurada Miwako
• Kaku Kento: Nagase Arashi
• Kato Natsuki: Asou Kaori
• Hada Michiko: Hayasaka Yasuko
• Takahashi Hitomi: Koizumi Yukino
• Ogi Shigemitsu: Nikaido Joichi

Notes:

- So many familiar faces!

- I haven't read the manga by Yazawa Ai it is based on nor watched the anime adapted from the manga. However, there is an AMV I've liked that uses the Paradise Kiss anime and I was wondering how the movie would handle some of the contents...

Review: +/-

Title: Paradise Kiss is the name of the fashion brand that Boy's created with his friends. They want Girl to wear their dress at their runway competition organised by their fashion school.

Girl: She's been studying since she was little to get into the best schools. She's actually not very good at it and she doesn't like it but her mother has been pressuring her. She has her own mind but she just doesn't know what she wants to be. (+)

Boy: Of course he's a Genius at fashion design (me? not convinced). He also has a dark magnetism at the beginning of the movie. (+ at the beginning, - at the end).

Other boy: Smart, good-looking, kind... perfect but bland. Girl's had a crush on him for years but he's never loved her back for reasons we learn in the movie even though I didn't care.

Plot/Relationship: The positive first: Girl and Boy have good chemistry.

However, the story really deserved to be told in a drama. Or more storylines/characters should have been cut. As it is, decisions happen too fast, things happen that should lead to developments but don't, characterisations suffer.

Moreover, Boy's character gets diluted so much that he becomes a cliché.

And, technically, it's a SPOILER, but I think it's more of a warning to those who know the manga or the anime: the ending has been changed. Be prepared. (-)

Other characters: They were more background than fully developed characters.

Funny factor? Not really.

Music: I only remember "Everthing gonna be alright" because that scene was memorable.

WTH: I don't know if it's as important in Japan to be tall, but it was hard to believe that Girl could have a career in modelling when she's always the smallest person in the room. + Some designs were quite ugly (my opinion for what it's worth) + you know I'm not really into a movie when I wondered where Girl left her suitcase.

Bottom line: I spend a nice moment watching this movie, Kitagawa and Mukai were good but the story deserved better than whatever the Japanese version of being hollywoodified is. (+/-)

After the jump, I will complain about what happens (or does not happen) in the movie so... spoilers!

Kurosagi

 Japanese title: クロサギ

Aired on TBS
From 2006 April 14 to June 23
11 épisodes + a movie (2008)

 Main cast:

Yamashita Tomohisa: Kurosaki (Kurosagi)

Horikita Maki: Yoshikawa Tsurara

Ichikawa Yui: Mishima Yukari

Yamazaki Tsutomu: Katsuragi Toshio

Okunuki Kaoru: Hayasa

Aikawa Sho: Kashima Masaru

Tayama Ryosei: Momoyama Tetsuji

Kato Koji: Shiraishi Yoichi

Note: This drama is based on a popular manga that I haven't read.

Review: +

 

Title: Kurosagi is the nickname of the main character, it means "black swindler" which is to say, the ultimate swindler, the swindler of swindlers.

Boy: He's like a super hero. Dark origin story: check. Disguises: various. Super power: being incredibly clever and self-controlled. Motives: taking revenge and helping victims. He is lonely, has turned off his emotions due to a tragedy and in order to devote himself to the destruction of swindlers but you can see glimpses of kindness. Glimpses. (+)

Girl: She wants to be a prosecutor so she's at odds with Boy's occupation which consists in breaking the law. She's very normal but I found her a bit bland. It's weird because she has her own agenda and expresses herself but I didn't find her interesting. I feel like she was more a token character because someone had to point out that there are laws etc. Besides, I didn't get why she loves him, just because he's hot and mysterious. She should be intrigued, maybe attracted to him but he's so indifferent to her, she ends up acting like a doormat. (-)

Relationship: Weak. Were the relationship between the two main characters a lot more compelling, it would have been a Fav but... as I said, Girl is boring, and there is no chemistry. The romance subplot isn't organic, it seemed like they had to add it. You know there is a problem when you ship another girl with Boy. (-)

Plots: Each episode, Boy takes down a swindler. Each time, it's a different scheme, with fake(s) identity(ies). It often requires suspension of disbelief but it's entertaining. (+) I just wish it would have been a bit more serialised.

 

Other characters: - Girl's best friend: I like her though she can be mean. We have some backstory, she's lively, she’s way more energetic than Girl. (+)

 

- Foe: A policeman who wants to arrest Boy. I just can't with him. His characterization is all over the place, his backstory is the least credible thing in the drama and he laughs maniacally for no reason like a villain in a C-movie. (-)

 

- Allies: I didn't really get them. There is a old man who is very important and I warmed to him in the latest episodes but in the first ones, he's just disgusting, kind of creepy, like he was supposed to be mysterious but ended up as annoying. There is a woman who cares for him and I didn’t really get her either. (-)

One backstory is dropped for each character and then almost never heard of again, except for Boy. Even for him, we see the same images again and again and only at the end, we get some additional flashbacks fleshing out the origins story.

 

Funny factor: Hmm no.

Music: I liked it.

 

Bottom line:

 

Two things saved this drama for me and made it compelling to watch:

1) Yamashita Tomohisa is magnetic in this drama, I just can't take my eyes off him in this drama. (Corner of superficiality: his hairstyle in this drama suits him and his character perfectly. Look at the picture above! It's actually promo for the movie but I like it better -except for the tear...- and anyway, it's closer to how he looks in the drama, since his movie hair is less black.) 

2) Swindling plots: original, interesting guest characters, new and distinctive challenges.

However, I can't deny the shortcomings: Most characters are uninteresting and you feel like you don't know them and can't understand them. A romantic subplot is shoehorned.

It also feels like they wanted to keep stuff for a second season that never happened.

But a movie happened. I was hoping resolution, Boy finally taking down the big boss that ruined his family and I was disappointed. It was like a random episode of the drama stretched to two hours (so too long) only with less Girl (she has maybe 5 minutes of screen time but she doesn’t do anything), an obsession with Julius Caesar by Shakespeare I didn’t totally get and an added emphasis on Old Man which would have been interesting if I, you know, was interested and not grossed out by him.  Movie:  -

Skip-beat!

Other title: Extravagant Challenge
Taiwanese title: 華麗的挑戰

Aired on FTV, GTV
December 2011 - April 2012
15 episodes


Main cast:

• Ivy Chen as Gong Xi 宮囍
• Choi Si Won as Dun He Lian 敦賀蓮 (dubbed by Xie Kun Da ep.1-2, Nylon Chen ep.3-)
• Lee Dong Hae as Bu Puo Shang 不破尚 (dubbed by Darren from 浪花兄弟The Drifters)
• Bianca Bai as Jiang Nan Qin 江南琴
• Jin Qin as Du Jin 杜金
• Ada Pan (潘慧如) as Yuan Yang 鴦鴦
• Allen Chao as Luo Li 羅

Notes:
1) I haven't read the manga this drama is based on and I haven't seen its anime adaptation.
2) Both male leads are from the boy band Super Junior.

Review: +

Title: I'm not sure what Skip-beat! is about. I can get Extravagant challenge since the Girl sets out to succeed in the entertainment.

Girl: Kick-a. She's kind and selfless. She's also really determined in achieving her goal. She's a naturally gifted actress and we can see it instead of only being told she is. Kudos to Ivy Chen because she nailed the bubliness of Gong Xi and her seriousness when she's acting. (+) At first, I was annoyed but then I got used to and she was developed so I ended up not caring that she is the kind of character that is totally unrealistic. She acts crazy. Mini CGI Gong Xi ghosts actually materialise when she gets in angry/want something mode!

Boy: We don't know much about him. We just know he's a great actor, he's very serious about his work and slams whoever he thinks is not. He's cool and keeps things for himself. However, when he opens up, he's quite cute. (+)

Relationship: Believable and cute. You know when in the review of Heartstrings, I said that the falling in love was too sudden and unearned? Here, it's really gradual, progressing touch by touch. (+)

Plot: The relationship isn't the main story: Gong Xi's journey is. I must say that you can see that it was adapted from a manga because you notice the big arcs and the transitions in between. As such, the journey consists mainly but not exclusively of challenges that Gong Xi takes up one after another. Likewise, secondary characters appear for an arc and then either are never heard of again or just randomly pop up at one point. This is more a remark than a criticism. Besides, the arcs are really interesting. I'm not sure it depicts accurately the way it is in real life but it makes acting as suspenseful as a life or death situation. It even makes want to see the imaginary final product (movie or music video). Finally, each acting challenge feels different form the one before. (+)

But a real problem stems in part from the fact that it is adapted from an ongoing manga and doesn't cover all of it. Though the end is okay as for the state of the relationship between the leads, there is a revelation near the end of the drama that is quite important but hasn't been developed or resolved by the end. I wonder if they could have avoided introducing it because it was frustrating.

I have another beef with the drama, it may be the one that made me give it a + and not a Fav: a great deal is made about characters not being able to LOVE. I could bear it but it was a bit annoying because it didn't make much sense to me. Actually, I can understand it in Gong Xi's case, because it was given a reason (though she's capable of love but not of the romantic kind, which is kind of weird). But other characters are also deemed unable to love which comes out of nowhere and is not properly explained. It could have interesting to explore why they didn't want to love but being unable to love? And for these other characters, it seem that it's not only romantic love... Confused? Well, it was confusing. (-)

Other characters: Most of them were great. I will only talk about the main ones.
1) The other boy. Gong Xi's ex-boyfriend who exploited her. He's the one who is the origin of the whole premise. His main characteristic is that he is self-absorbed and so is a douche. But in the end, they managed making him a little likeable. (+)
2) (Slight spoiler. Underline to see) The rival who slowly becomes the best friend. Her transformation from confident, no-nonsense, every-actress-for-herself to reluctant companion then BFF is well handled. She just has one pointless storyline. (+)
3) Boy's MANAGER!!! Sorry for the all-caps but he stole the scenes he was in. He was cute, funny, kind. (+)
4) The President of the entertainment company. He can afford every excentricity and believe me, he doesn't hold back! He doesn't know what too much means. It's amazing, you have to see it. However, I didn't like this character at all. I don't know if it is bad translation but I didn't get the meaning of most of what he says, maybe it's linked to the fact that he has to do with the whole "unable to love" thing. (-)

Funny factor: Pretty good. I will need to watch it again to be more precise.

Music: Two words. Love. Want.

Bottom line: Writing this review, I realise that I may want to watch it again. Perhaps, I will then bump the mark up to Fav. I would recommend it. The actors are all great (though the dubbing is annoying), the plot is exciting and suspenseful and it's cute.
If there is a second season, I will update this post and I could change the mark too.


Spoilers after the jump! I actually don't have much to add.

Love Contract

Taiwanese title: 愛情合約 (爱情合约)

Aired on TVBS-G
Summer 2004
20 episodes

Main cast:

Ariel Lin as Cheng Xiao Feng

Mike He as Ah Ken aka Liu Jian Dong

Bryant Chang as Ah Kai aka Lin Kai

Sa Sa as Li Xin Lei

Lai Zhi Wei as Xiao Bai aka Zhang Yuan Bao

Lin Yi Hong as Mu Tou aka Lin Song Bo

Phyllis Quek as Cheng Xiao Yun

Review (from memory): -

Title: "Love contract" makes sense, there is a love contract in this drama. I don't know about the Chinese title.

Girl: Xiao Feng is definitely strong. She's also very complex and sometimes, it's hard to understand her. She's hard on people and though deep down she cares about them, she is so bossy that I wondered how she still has friends.

Boy: I think Mike He is one of the most handsome drama actors. His character Ah Ken is the dreamy silent, taciturn type.

Relationship: Believable and interesting. They both are people that are hurt and don't open much to others and it's beautiful to see their love blossom despite her efforts.

Friends: He doesn't have many friends but she has. I liked all of them except the one who pined for her. I wish he didn't. It made him pathetic.

Family: Her family is a mess and that's one of the explanations for how she is. His family, well, is a tragic story.

Music: I forgot about it. It doesn't mean it was bad since I watched it a long time ago.
Funny factor: Some of her friends are an occasional comical relief but it's not a comedy.

Bottom line: Most of the things I said are positive because it's mostly a GOOD drama. But it's a drama that is permeated by sadness and melancholia. You have a sense that most of the characters are unhappy. They live because that's how it is.

After the jump, I explain more what I disliked. Don't look if you don't want to be spoiled.

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.