From over on Novel Updates - ""Black belly"/ 腹黑(fu hei) is a common term used to describe a character's personality in c-novels. Literally, it means stomach black and is usually used to mean that someone is secretly quite evil/sly/manipulative, because you will only know that the person is black belly after being eaten up!" Usually a black bellied lead seems mean but really likes the female lead.
Just rewatching this charming version of Itazura na Kiss for like the millionth time. The silly parts are laugh out loud funny and the sad parts really catch the feelings of teen love. And man, oh man, the last episode is about eighty times more sad than the original. You really think this version is the one where she ditches the love interest. But - at the very end - did any of you ever wonder why those toddler version of Taliew and Ten Ten were allowed to play by the river all the time - BY THEMSELVES? What kind of parents do that? Other than that - love, loved, will love this show.
I've only seen a few scenes and the acting was...not great. Apparently Angela Baby is not known for her acting.…
Its not my favorite Chinese drama but it's charming in places AND some of the plots are very good. It's not evenly acted and not realistic in any way but the underlying story is good. I have rewatched it a couple of times as background tv and I particularly like the end "revenge" episodes. Boy, this sounds like a lukewarm recommendation but the show's pretty interesting.
I just put this on my list to watch after reading a good article about the stars over on Thippy's blog. It was originally published elsewhere but it is in English here. link: https://ohsweethaven.com/2019/01/27/pon-bua-returns/
Han Sang-Hee is listed as the director of this movie. He is also the director of Trumpet of the Cliff, Virgin Snow, the Language of Love. It appears that most of his movies are "pop idol" collaborations with Japanese companies although he is a Korean. Since his information isn't in the MDL data base, I couldn't add him as a crew. He does a lot of work, though! http://asianwiki.com/Han_Sang-Hee_(director)https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2603038/
This show also has a very good (and pertinent! No weird "boing!" noises in funny scenes) soundtrack. I was just rewatching episode 17 and there is a very touching, simple song very close to the end of the episode which is sung by a single guy with a very husky, older sounding voice. I think the song reprises elsewhere in the show but it really stuck with me in this episode. Any idea how I can find this soundtrack?
I just rewatched this show over a few days and it still has some great points. Lovely cinematography, great actors and characters - but still wacky clothing!
When you update this list in the future, I think you will probably add Noh Min Woo as a great character actor. Unfortunately, right now, he's still in search of that role. Every time I've seen him, I felt he could have taken his role (evil son fighting for a position in his father's corp/Sword and Flower or Gumhiho hunter/My girlfriend is a Gumiho or broken hearted rock star/Full House 2) just a little further into fantastic, total realism. I think the directors who hire him, though, just want a well drawn caricature and he provides that beautifully. When he can give you chills and thrills with such thinly-drawn stories, imagine what a good drama would bring him. Just an FYI - I'm not even a big fan of his, I just think he is one of the most underutilized actors out there.