PrettyCarEye

So it was you (or your articles rather) that turned me on to the Hongs - I call them the horrible Hongs - & Eun Sook unnie.
I've come to love many of Kim's dramas. Lovers, City Hall & AGD are favs. But while the Hongs are great comedic writers I don't think they know too much about proper story & character development. The first 10 eps of their dramas are always great, but becomes draggy soon after that & their female leads act in the most illogical ways. I've pretty much disliked all their dramas that I've seen.

Omona! Are you back? Long time no chat. What you been up to? Are you finally finished with your thesis? Nice seeing you around! What's on your watchlist these days?
I want to watch The Princess' Man before Easter is over.

I see.
I haven't seen a lot of pure action dramas. There are a few on my list I haven't gotten around to seeing yet. Mostly the ones I've seen are hybrids so they're a mixture of several genres, usually action/drama/crime/romance:

Lovers (a fav of mine)
Cruel City
Time between Dog & Wolf

Romance/Drama

Aishiteru to Ittekure - really really good & sweet romance, but the ending is kinda effed up. Still worth the watch though.

Pride
Buzzer Beat
Orange Days

These are all Japanese, you don't mind do you? Or are exclusively a k-drama watcher?

For movies:

3-Iron
Spring Summer Autumn Winter ... Spring

How did you get into dramas? I can't remember reading about your journey on your page ... or wait, you started out watching anime & reading manga, am I right?

Yeah what happened with Secret Garden is that ... well, it's kinda hard to put into words, esp these days when I'm struggling to remember English at a level above kindergarten!

Anyway, I've come to associate KES with creating more mature characters & worlds which feel decidedly more adult than your average romcom. If I compare Secret Garden to City Hall (another romcom written by KES) just the entire quality of CH felt more authentic and relatable to me.

The interaction between Hyun Bin & Ha Ji Won was rather juvenile & silly compared to the sexually charged, yet comedic, one between Kim Sun Ah & Cha Seung Won. Also while KES sticks to a lot of drama cliches she tends to package them in a way that isn't totally contrived & stupid, at least most of the time. Secret Garden, in my opinion, was not one of these instances.

Last but not least it doesn't help that I dislike HJW as an actress with a passion. She doesn't act well, imo. She's entirely overrated & she gets a lot attention more deserving actresses don't get. More importantly I couldn't feel the chemistry between her & Hyun Bin. They came across more as brother & sister to me. Even those supposedly 'hot' kisses at the end seemed very rehearsed & lacked the passion that I've come to associate with KES dramas after seeing Lovers, City Hall & A Gentleman's Dignity.

One thing you should be aware of with KES is that her romances take quite a bit of time to build. Usually it isn't until the last 5 or so eps that the leads finally come together as a loving couple. But in the mean time she compensates for that(usually) with great chemistry & quite comedic moments. I hope you'll stick with Lovers even if you think things are progressing slowly. Funny you don't like the fight scenes, I loved seeing KJ in action! :)

Thx for the add.
Doesn't seem like you've been watching long. Are you more into movies than dramas or vice versa? And what genres do you prefer?

Glad you liked it. I overlooked this picture for a looong time because of the reviews. But I should have known most reviews on this site are not reliable given that mostly teens & tweens populate the mdl community (folks who would not necessarily appreciate the film & its message). Anyway, I completely agree with you that The Housemaid achieved its purpose in spades. The direction was just superb. I loved the scene where the male lead & his wife are having sex and he just sprawls out while she services him ... as if he thinks he's a god to be worshipped. Turns out that's exactly how he thought of himself. Brilliant! LJJ was magnificent in this role! And the ending ... one of the most disturbing, yet most powerful endings I've seen in a long time!

Wow, awesome pic! <3

I came to answer your cry for help! :)
Here's my interpretation of the ending of Time Between Dog & Wolf:

'I draw then I worry.' Ji Woo

Why & who would she worry over?
Can't be her dad because he's dead.
Can't be her stepdad because he's no longer in danger since Cheongdong has been dismantled.
Can't be Min Gi since he's now other people's property.
So it must be Soo Hyun. Who is still working undercover.
Moreover, he said his next mission is in Paris. What a coincidence! I don't believe in coincidences.
So that could mean only one thing, THEY END UP TOGETHER. I think they made the decision together that Paris is the next destination (not everything has to be SHOWN to us, you know). Then there's the stuffed elephant he gives to Min Gi - a symbol throughout the drama of his & Ji Woo's love.
So don't worry the couple gets their happy ending! YAY!

I loved the ending quote, didn't you?

'Nightfall. All things become stained with red. There beyond that hill, approaches the silhouette of a dog I raised or a wolf ready to devour me. A time when that is indistinguishable ... is the time when both good & evil can only be red.'

Profound. And very telling.

Oh dear Nina, I miss you, my chinguya! ;(

Cræyo?
Good for you, dongsæng! I'm glad you found a drama you enjoyed! As for me I'll just take your word for it & NOT watch it! hahaa ;)
What else are you watching now that it's over? I'm slooooowly making my way thru that J-drama we had planned to watch together months ago - Taisetu something. I'm now on the 4th ep & while the story is interesting enough, it's not sucking me in so I don't have that compulsion to marathon it. I don't usually like school settings so perhaps that has something to do with my apathy toward the show.
Anyhow, I'm also planning to start The Princess' Man as soon as I officially start my Easter holiday in a few hours from now. One full week of nothing but drama! :)

Yeah, I'm still trying to decide whether I should watch Heirs or not. Based on the story & cast it doesn't seem like a drama for me, but since it's written by this particular writer I wanted to give the drama the benefit of the doubt.

And yes, Lovers is by far the best of the Lovers trilogy which includes Lovers in Paris & Lovers in Prague.

The thing I like about the writer is that though she uses a lot of the standard cliches in her dramas she tends to use them in a logical way that doesn't make your eyes roll out of your head. This isn't true for all of her dramas, but definitely for Lovers, City Hall & AGD it is. I didn't like Lovers in Paris (only saw the first 2 eps tho), Lovers in Prague or Secret Garden. She also did a drama called On Air but I haven't seen it & probably never will because I don't like the lead actress. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Keep me posted on how you get on with Lovers! :)

I think what most people complained about was the length, which even I can admit is unnecessarily long. It got a 14 ep extension it didn't need. I skipped thru many episodes, but didn't feel like I missed a thing. I was still able to enjoy the drama.

The main love line is all kinds of sweet & cute. I'm pretty sure you're gonna love the leading couple. The 2nd love line was more complicated & provided the most conflict in the drama. That one was pretty good to watch too.

Overall I gave this an 8 inspite of the fact that I skipped through a lot of it. The story was nice & there were a lot of other elements about the show that I liked - for eg the fact that the male lead's mom was not mean to his wife & for once you had female leads who had ambition, who wanted more than just to be a happy housewife and mother.

Thx for the rec. I'll keep an ear out for it.
Now why haven't you answered my question about Elephant? You thought I was joking or something? I really want to know what you saw in it.

Did you watch The Housemaid?

Vic Zhou, Mars <3!

You're like what 22 - 23? Plenty of time for relationships. I understand that some people prefer to be in relationships rather than not (you're cancerian right?), but there's no rush. Really. I think it's a good idea to establish yourself first & wait until you're a little older and wiser. You'll see that men will gravitate toward you naturally because you exude that confidence of having your life (mostly) under control.

LOL, how could you not know I liked Lee Seo Jin? For the longest while my nick was MrsLeeSeoJin, I just changed it back to the original 2 days ago. And why does my major turnoffs surprise you? You can't just say & not explain! xD

It's difficult to say Korean shows are better than Japanese shows & vice versa. They both bring something different to the table. Japanese shows sometimes are better written but are less fast paced & addictive in comparison to Korean shows. When it comes to genre you'll find more variety in Korea than in Japan, imo. So it really comes down to the individual & what s/he gravitates toward. I watch mostly Korean shows but that's only because it's easier to find what I'm looking for at the moment in Korea, but I have no preference in terms of where a drama is from. I watch dramas from all the major Asian countries, except Thailand. If the story is good, if there's a bit of romance & it's a show I'm in the mood for I'm all in.

I personally enjoyed all the shows I recommended to you. I'm not familiar with your tastes so I don't know if you'll like them. Just watch & see.

Ok based on your genre preferences here are some drama recs:

Korean

Cruel City (crime/action)
Time between Dog & Wolf (crime/action/some romance)
Lovers (crime/romance/drama/some action)

Japanese

Orange Days (drama/romance)
Pride (drama/romance/sports)

Ok & I take it you're mostly into Japanese stuff ... or are you open to other countries too (Korea, China, Taiwan)?

Yeah, I hear you, but you must have certain genres that you enjoy watching more than others ... comedy, action, drama, crime, romance, thriller, horror, suspense, mystery etc. If I know what you like then I'm better able to give you recs. No point in me recommending you a bunch of horror dramas if horror isn't your thing. You get my point?