Legend Of The Blue Sea (Korean Drama)

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Comedy, Melodrama

Episodes: 20

Main Cast:

Lee Min-Ho as Heo Joon Jae/ Dam Ryung

Gianna Jun as Shim Cheong

Lee Hee-Joon as Jo Nam Doo

Shin Won-Ho  as Tae Oh

Synopsis:

Sometime during August, 1958, newly appointed governor Dam Ryung stays for a night at an inn. During that evening, the owner shows Dam Ryung a captured mermaid named Shim Cheong. Later that night, Dam Ryung releases her into the ocean and, before she swims away, she reaches out her hand to Dam Ryung which he briefly holds.

In the present day, Joon-Jae is a smooth talking conman with magician like abilities. He works with Nam-Doo and Tae-O. For their next score, Joon-Jae impersonates a prosecutor and swindles a large amount of money from a wealthy suspect's mother. Joon-Jae then travels abroad and stays at an oceanside resort. Meanwhile, Shim Cheong is swept up in a tidal wave and washed ashore near the oceanside resort. She sees Joon-Jae.

My Thoughts:

My goodness, this drama is super funny that I laughed so hard. It was so damn enjoyable and the slapstick comedy is to die for. This is a drama to watch for sure. I am still only at episode 4 so I have nothing much to say yet about the plot other than the smooth way they blend comedy into the plot. There are times when the story just needs a break from all the cool and serious stuffs and then includes the comedy factor and sometimes they will input the seriousness that we need. The interchange is clever and well-executed.

I will say one other thing, the actor and actress did a damn fine job to liven up the comedy and I have to say that the actress worked hard to make the show all the more enjoyable. The exaggerated acting was just on point that it was not too much to take in at once. The drama is just getting started and I am expecting a lot for this drama especially since this is a fantasy drama, so anything can happen and variables are everywhere. The potential is endless. I seriously can't wait for the next episode...

May Who? (Thai Movie)

Other Names: May Nai Fai Fang Frer

Released Year and Length: 2015 (2 hours)

Main Cast:

Udomsilp Suthatta as May Nai

Mahayotaruk "Bank" Thiti as Pong

Leeratanakajorn "Tor" Thanapob as Fame

Synopsis:

Pong is a high school geek who belongs to a group of high school outcasts known as the ‘Invisibles’. He enjoys letting his imagination run wild, drawing cartoons of a girl he likes. He doesn’t have the guts to ask her out because she belongs to a more popular clique in school. Pong’s cartoon illustration is the reason he gets to know a schoolmate named May. A nickname, so common for Thai girls that whenever anyone talks about a girl named May, whoever is listening will ask, “May who?”

My Thoughts:

I decided to start with this movie because this was one of the best recent movie that I have watched, recent being last year because this year I have not watched many movies yet. I would say this was practically the funnest movie ever, I literally liked the attention to detail since this movie was taken from a comic so to see them putting comics scenes in respect to the original was amazing and enhance the viewing experience because it is not everyday you get to watch a movie and also a comic at the same time.

This movie was super electric, filled with excitement and action. I liked the way the movie flowed that the comedy of it was funny and the sentimental parts are sad. The story was amazingly executed where I did not get bored for even a single minute. Fantastic and a movie to watch for sure. Don't miss it.

Super Star Academy 1 (Chinese Drama)

 

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Friendship, Youth

Episodes: 30

Main Cast:

Xiao Zhan as Fang Tian Ze

Wang Yu Wen as Cheng Zhi Er

Bai Shu as Wan Shi Cun

Xu Xiao Lu as Huo Bei Bei

Wu Jia Cheng as Shen Hao

Peng Chu Yue as Li Ya Dang

Synopsis:

In a parallel world, Super Star Academy ranks people based on one's horoscope sign. Cheng Zhi Er, who has been bullied all her life, was suddenly recruited for enrollment at this academy. Her own supernatural power is slowly awakened and thus begins her new life with the heirs in this parallel world.

My Thoughts;

This kinda reminded me of an anime I watched a long time ago, the whole school for the extraordinary hidden from the outside world and the lead girl who finds out she had had powers her whole life and begins a journey of self-discovering with a tinge of romance on the side as desserts. Anyways, the whole concept was creative and they even indirectly paralleled the thoughts of our original 12 Horoscopes with the 13th one not being very welcomed. You'll see how they envisioned the whole thing, it was innovative and excellent. 

I am Aries and truth be told, I am sad that they envisioned Aries as just someone who can run fast and sentimentally emotional though the latter may be true. Still, when I see all these cool powers the other horoscopes had, the character who was Aries paled in comparison. Anyways, if you're not Aries, you may be happy with how cool they envisioned the powers of your horoscope! 

One thing about this drama is that the actors and actresses are all newbies, rookies or debuting idols. But, they were very professional with the job in hand as I did not saw an awkwardness in their acting (maybe some) that could dull the drama at all. They executed it well and to that, I offer tons of claps. Since that is so, I included besides the main leads, four supporting characters up there to support them and hopefully they will make it big.

Okay moving on to the story itself, the comedy is so obviously funny that I die or had to pause the video for a while to laugh for a while. The inside jokes and everything. They are just too funny and the blatant advertising, I died for a moment. The romance itself was cool, not so much angst or internal conflict... just the mundane externals. They saw, they fell, they meet, they date..... Anyways, their interactions are interesting. I love that the female lead did not lose herself in this foreign world and remained true to herself. She really shines from the crowd. By the way, the comedy gets better the further you get into the series (damn.. I'm smiling right now just thinking about it) 

This drama is also great in the way that it put forth tons of variables making it possible to have anything to happen because I thought one is subjected to a fate and they can't change it. The possibilities are endless in the story and that's what makes it more exciting to watch. The drama editors are bad with cliffhangers but my last episode was on the 19th and this time they created a cliffhanger for sure. I really want to watch the next episode but currently, I have some research to do before I get to it. Did I mentioned that the episodes are 20-minutes long at most, that allowed to marathon it all the way to episode 19 within a day because I want to know more and more. 

Final words, come and join me while we wait for it to subbed till the final episode which would probably be by next week!!! It is a super fun and if you've have read me for some time, you would know that I really love fantasy stories and this truly is one to watch! =)

Rosy Lovers (Korean Drama)

Genre: Romance, Family, Comedy, Drama

Episodes: 52

Main Cast:

Lee Jang-Woo as Park Cha-dol

Han Sun-Hwa as Baek Jang-mi

Synopsis:

Baek Jang-mi is a sophomore majoring in design, a rich girl who grew up without experiencing any hardship in life. Jang-mi's parents want to marry her off to an eligible man they chose for her, but she rebels and begins dating engineering student Park Cha-dol. Lively and outgoing Cha-dol was raised by a single mother, and he's eager to graduate and start earning money to take care of his mom. But when Jang-mi gets pregnant, she and Cha-dol are forced to change their plans. And this doesn't sit well with Jang-mi who can't get used to the poor life. Once the baby was born, she caved into her parents' offer and left Cha-dol with the baby. Years later, through an odd chain of events, they meet again. Will they love again despite the past she left behind....

My Thoughts:

I will start by saying that this is one of the special dramas in my life in different levels. For me to watch a weekly drama is a sign that this drama is amazing. I finished it a year ago and I still get excited by its' scenes especially the lead-up to the ending. Those scenes are the best exclusively when it's a 50-episode drama, 50 long hours of story. Hopefully you can imagine the dread and pain of watching these characters go through sorrow and challenges, like I'm always hoping 'Come on, he/she has had enough already, can't he/she be happy already?' Like the moment you knew their struggles are over, you feel happy for them and the fact remains that this means the show's ending soon. But for me, that just makes me cherish every single smile and the atmosphere even more. Well, stopping my babbling for now.

This story was a trial-run if I'm not mistaken because I remember seeing trailers and stuffs of it that got me interested for a moment. The synopsis was intriguing because I normally see single mothers kind of dramas and not a single daddy drama. Pardon me if there are many of those dramas, I am just talking based on my experience. I like how they played out the story. It is not depressingly sad but a good balance to show that all is not bad. Another thing I like is how the character matures because in this kind of drama, there are many future possibilities to how the character would turn out and this drama brought them to one of the best possible future. Note, I like the feeling that this drama gives me, the actors and actresses brought their character to life and are so on-point that the emotions is deeply felt and I felt touched and sad and happy easily. The suspense are also painful as the drama gives you so many hints of information that I just like, will it be reveal now or later or now.... They are really good at making situations where it could almost get revealed.

Some stories don't click with me as they dragged on with fillers and stupid annoying plots. That's sad when I saw the potential these stories had with the first few episodes. This story had potential, I will say that as I got baited into a marathon. This is a makjang(illogical) drama for sure but I love this drama because of this genre. I never saw the potential of a makjang until I saw this drama. I always thought it was useless and just to fill up the time. Makjangs are supposed to make a drama interesting but this drama gave a new side to makjang. A side that I really love about this drama and made me continue watching.

I am not gonna say much about this drama. For those who are used to twice weekly dramas, why don't you give a drama like this a chance? I find that the more you looked down on the potential of the drama, the more satisfied you get when you find that the drama reached the potential and beyond, making the journey much more fulfilling. Go for it! As long as you have enough time to spare that is because if you were to marathon this, it would take two days at least. I took a week or so to finish it. And it was worth every hour gone. If you can't take my note on it, then give it a go.

Something About 1% (Korean Drama)

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Episodes: 16 

Main Cast:

Ha Seok-Jin as Lee Jae In

Jeon So-Min as Kim Da Hyun

Synopsis:

Lee Jae-In possesses a good appearance, he is smart and comes from a wealthy family, but he is also arrogant. His grandfather orders Jae-In to enter into a 10 month contract engagement with a female school teacher that he has never met in his life. Lee Jae-In slowly falls in love with her.

My Thoughts:

I never expected this drama at all. Technically. I by a string of fate found it through an OST of it being released in a channel I subscribed to in Youtube. The mv was so nice that it got me eating the bait. Seriously, the cuteness in this drama got me hooked straight away. Now this is another of those, happens only in comics plots because of the ambience of the story. Besides, this came from a book and also had awesome comic art of the character each episode. 

Each episode goes by so fast, you won't realize the time gone. Well, one of the reason for that is the incredibly short 30-minutes episodes for a 16-episode drama. And, the one thing great about this setup is that everything is compact, fast and delivered in satisfaction guaranteed. Like, people were commenting about how it was boring at first, it might have been, I don't know because I was immersed in the story and getting to know the characters. But once you're beyond that, I guarantee you have entered the train towards cuteness kingdom. The romance and chemistry is just divine.

The plot itself was interesting but though I enjoy watching the main leads, the story was just developing the relationship of the two of them to the point that when I see the supporting characters, I am confused of their purpose and character setup because they just randomly come and then go. Like, I don't really see anything much in them other than creating future crises. I was hoping to begin to understand the supporting characters after the halfway point but no, just about the main leads all the way. I know a story should revolve around the main leads but this is focusing too much on them that I kinda lost it for awhile. Am I the only one imagining it, I don't know.

Anyways, my hopes are still up for this drama. Hope those of you who are reading this would give this drama a chance. No matter how the reviews are, it is better if you review it yourself. This is a great drama after all no matter the circumstances. Love it a lot. Gonna finish it!