kura2ninja

Ruin it? You mean the thing about Hong-do and Yi-suk having known each other as children, and how she unwittingly caused the fire? Yeah, I feel the same way too. I mean, it does answer some problems rather nicely. 1) Yi-suk's guilt about his brother, 2) Hong-do's phobia (maybe), 3) Grandpa's crush on her, which becomes insignificant in light of what she did in the past. However, so often has a "shared past tragedy" been used as a plot twist in Korea dramas that I can't help feeling disappointed about it.

It's no wonder BOTH of them have a hard time finding a date ;p

The best thing about this drama, apart from the story itself, is that it's only 20 episodes! Anyway, I would love to read that article about gisaeng if you ever get to write one :)

Just ignore the rating of airing dramas. Some people give rating for dramas they wished to watch, and then add or reduce it accordingly as they're watching. MDL has discouraged this because it skews the overall rating, and suggested that people rate dramas they're watching episode by episode instead, but unfortunately some MDL users are still doing this.

Loving this drama so far. I find Kusanagi at his best when he's playing characters with darkness inside of them. Much as I like him, he really isn't made for rom-coms. (Last year's Dokushin Kizoku still makes me cringe.)

"The film casts light on the underworld of pickpocketing in a merciless, realistic way." I'm sure it does, but that sentence somehow makes me laugh. Sorry :D

I usually stay away from remakes, but I might check this one out. I've watched the first episodes of Tetsu no Hone (the Japanese version) and while it's good, I found that it lacked emotional punch. With more episodes, the Korean version ideally has more room to develop its story and characters, and to make us the viewers more invested in them.

Not yet

Nobody is "fooled"; that a lot of Korean actors had plastic surgery is a common knowledge, as far as I know. But by emphasizing how their looks are "plastic" and "artificial", we are just as guilty as those who parp about how "unattractive" actors from other Asian countries are, I think.

re: "Chinese dubbing in Chinese drama". Your comment remind me of the time when I watched a Hongkong movie, and was confused because the voice didn't match up with the actors' speech, wondering why a Chinese movie was dubbed in Chinese. It was much, much later that I discovered that the movie was originally in Cantonese, but was dubbed in Mandarin. I thought all Chinese spoke "Chinese"! (ignorant me)

I can sympathize with the writer's exasperation. To be fair, I've seen non-Korean drama fans bashing this or that Korean actor for her/his "plastic" look, or giving the backhanded compliment like, "Wow, what a realistic drama, unlike typical Korean." But since Korean dramas are the most popular, with the largest number of fans, the annoying, unfair criticism from that pool tends to be louder as well. BTW, I didn't even know that there are people who make snide comments on how they don't like dramas from a particular country because of the sound of its language. That's just shallow, if not downright racist.

The raw for episode 1 is out. No English subs, sadly.

It's more of a slice-of-life than anything. If that kind of drama isn't your thing, maybe you shouldn't bother to continue watching.

Since it's a taiga drama, which doesn't attract many international fans compared to other genres, I don't think dramafever and other legal sites would have it. Let's just hope that someone would sub this. It might take a while, though.

Well, the problem with this kind of "award" is that there's no curation, so of course it's going to end up as a popularity contest. Maybe MDL should just make it a "people's choice" award instead of dubbing it misleadingly as "best of" award.

I've only watched two of the dramas that you reviewed above (Lost Days and The Long Goodbye), and I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment. For me, The Long Goodbye is the best Japanese drama of the year, period.

Yeah, Yang Dong Geun needs more love. He's obviously not a flower boy/flower man/what-have-you, but he has such a charm as an actor. Love him in Three Musketeers and Ruler of Your Own World. Anyway, thanks for the rec, as always :)

I feel guilty liking him because he was such a jerk at first--sleazy, self-absorbed, selfish. But his cuteness is just too irresistible :p. And the way Geu-rae resisted his "advances", so precious :D.

The creator and the production team have mentioned that possibility, but I don't think that it's a sure thing at this point.

I second that. I didn't have the slightest interest in this drama before, but now I'm reconsidering :)