...what are you watching...

Legend of the Blue Sea 1-20! kdrama. the end....is almost The Little Mermaid. A young Joseon nobleman helps out a mermaid. His reincarnation, now a guy who cons rich people out of their money, meets her again in present day Spain. She follows him (ie. swims) to Seoul. This has some really cute moments as the mermaid tries to figure out how to navigate normal human behavior. Enjoyed the part where she steals candy from a child and later tries to mug a little girl. She makes some unique friends along the way. Like Goblin, the show does itself a favor by jumping between the past and present day often enought to story interesting. The doesn't fill the story with too many side stories...though the evil step-mother plot does rear its ugly head. And it does suffer for mid-series lag (sometimes 20 episodes is just too long). ~8/10 rating~ for a fairly unique and entertaining drama. Kudos to Jeon Ji Hyeon if she did all the swimming scenes herself. Also kudos to her for all the awful fashion she had to wear.



Junseon Gunman 1-22! kdrama. the end. An older (2014) Lee Jun-ki historical drama that promises pretty good action. Needed another Jun-ki fix after the mess of Scarlet Heart. Yoon-kang starts off a skilled swordsman, but uses his skills for entertainment and tricks. His love-interest is a sharp young woman who embraces progress in Joseon Korea. He becomes an assassin's target when his father, a king's military leader, is labeled a traitor and is killed by a gunman. Yoon-kang escapes to Japan and after a time jump forward comes back as Hanjo, a merchant with sharp shooting skills including the ability to shoot alot of rounds without reloading. He does many stupid things to get revenge and Soo In, the love interest, deteriorates from a smart, likable character to one who constantly needs saving. The last third of the show (again, another show that is drawn out too long) becomes messy as 80% of the characters flip from good to bad and politics get in the way. The king could have been an interesting character if he weren't so easily fooled by the queen and practically every guy around him. Yoon-kang has a few dozen chances to kill his father's murderer, but never goes for the kill shot even when standing directly in front of him; how many times can he shoot the guy's arm and leg? ~7/10 rating~ for another drama whose sole purpose is to make Lee Jun-ki look good. Hopefully, his choreographer and wardrobe people are paid well.

Moonlight Drawn by Clouds 15-18! the end. The show continued being a struggle to watch until episode 17 or so when Ra-on's father was put on trial. And when the Prince's bodyguard got killed, I was pretty darn angry for the 5 minutes they led me to believe he was actually dead. Anyway, the Queen's baby switcharoo and Prime Minister's plots were unraveled fairly quickly. And the Prince now King lives happily ever after. ~6/10 rating~ for a fun premise, but predictable and rather not-so-fun kdrama.



Scarlet Heart: Ryeo 14-20! the end. The flashbacks were cute in episode 15. With the 3rd prince back from the dead and on the throne, he decided to get rid of potential problems including some of his brothers. The 10th prince and wife brought a little levity to all the backstabbing, and their deaths were unfortunate. The 3rd prince quickly went crazy, and died leaving the 4th to take the throne. The pace rushed through different plot points during the second half of the drama, and this sorta resulted into the 4th prince now king's personality deteriorating. I wish writers took the original Chinese story-turned-drama, and filled some of the plot holes. They spent a lot of time developing the 8th's prince's love for Hae-su rather than the 4th's. (maybe she's just falls for Lee Jun-ki's charming looks and pushy personality over the 8th's stoicism) Hae-su was the weakest part of the story. She began as 21st century girl with spunk and then rapidly turned into a weak female lead whose only purpose was to stare doe-eyed into the camera. Thankfully, the supporting female characters were awesome and also beautiful (even the evil princess)...unfortunately, they all get killed off. The song they used for all the deaths was pretty lovely. ~8/10 rating~ for a drama that had so many high quality aspects to that it was lovely to watch. The costuming was really beautiful for both the men and women. None of the supporting characters were potato-looking actors, so it was a feast for the eyes to see them in the costumes. You could tell by the actors/kpop stars that they hired that this was a big budget drama. The fight choreography and outdoor scenes were also quite above your average drama. I suppose we're supposed to be satisfied that the 4th Prince did not turn out to be the blood-thirsty King Hae-su remembers in the history books, but really, they should have shown his reincarnation when they returned to the present time.

The Moon that Embraces the Sun 1-20! the end. Wanted to watch a sageuk kdrama that had super-high ratings to compare it to the other two. This had some strong lead characters and the female love interest was refreshingly intelligent. This does suffer from overly complicated evil plots and the beginning with the kids was weird when the 16-17 year olds were wanting to marry the 12 year old. And then it got weird when they all grew up and some of the cute kids turned out to be unattractive adults. Anyway, this was about two princes (the two suns) and two candidates for princess (the two moons). Both the Crown Prince and illegitimate Prince fall for a pretty girl while the Queen, evil ministers, not-so-pretty girl, the Crown Prince's sister use a shaman's black magic to kill off the pretty girl. The shaman only half-kills her and they all grow up to meet each other again. ~7/10 rating~ for a pretty standard drama. The two main leads had some good banter and character chemistry (not real romantic chemistry, but good compatibility). The side characters all got was due to them..even the illegitimate prince...who redeemed himself for being a dull character at the end, but still deserved that lame death scene.

Summer's almost gone. Here are some live-action dramas and movies I've recently watched.



Kiki's Delivery Service live-action jmovie! pretty much follows the same plot as the Ghibli movie. Can't say that seeing it the 2nd time around with real actors elevates the story in any particular way. The special effects were not too flashy, and adhered to what they needed to be. Unfortunately, Jiji the cat looked a little fake at times. I much prefer the magical nature of 2D animation. ~6/10 rating~ for a rather unnecessary remake.



Ore Monogatari!! live-action jmovie! is based on the manga of the same name which was also an anime series last year. The live-action version is pretty enjoyable. The actor who plays Takeo doesn't have the extreme height advantage over the other characters, but he does play the part of the clueless, scary teddy bear quite well. The actor who plays Suna plays the aloof, pretty-boy, best friend well, but really, any pretty boy actor could play that part. The movie mainly focuses on the misunderstanding between Yamato and Takeo. And with a little push from Suna, there's a happy ending. ~7/10 rating~ This was sweet and silly. Thankfully, the actress playing Yamato did not have the irritatingly high anime voice.



My Love from Another Star 1-21! kdrama. the end. This show made the front-ish page of reddit, so I ended up seeing what the hype was about. IMO, it was good background noise. This is about an alien who gets stuck on earth for 400 years. Right before he has a chance to go back to his home planet, he falls for an arrogant, but lonely actress who moves in next door. I really wanted this to get better that more I watched, but I never really got attached. I did get distracted by staring at Do Min-Joon's face (played by Kim Soo-hyun) and wondering if he had collagen injections (my conclusion is yes). Pretty sure Cheon Song-ji (played by Jun Ji-hyun) had some facial work done, too. HD is not kind to aging Korean actors. Anyway, the show is fairly predictable. There are evil parents, an evil sibling, evil coworkers, and the super-nice, third wheel guy who will never get the girl. I was able to make it through by skipping the dull moments and being entertained by the occasional humorous parts. ~6/10 rating~ The show never delved too deeply into the sci-fi aspects of the story. His powers were used when convenient, and didn't work when convenient for angsty dramatic situations. And how is the relationship supposed to work if he is mostly immortal and she is aging. And they can't kiss without him getting sick? While some of the romance was definitely cute, I don't think I was ever convinced of the couple's supposed chemistry.

And on-going shows...



Scarlet Heart: Ryeo 1-3! kdrama. So Lee Jun Ki in another period piece lured me in despite my inability to completely watch most of his prior shows. The first few episodes have quite a lot of cheeseball acting, but this quite typical of a show that boasts more than 2 pretty-boy leads...supposedly 14 pretty 'princes' in this show..or is it just 7? Anyway, IU plays a damsel in distress who drowns in present day korea and travels back in time to the Goryeo dynasty. You have your token evil queen and evil son with evil plots. There are a bunch of other princes who have yet to distinguish themselves from one another. An angst-ridden, outcast prince, aka Jun-ki's character, and an overly nice prince, can't-remember-his-name-but-the-actor-always-plays-third-wheel-characters, are the two who vie for IU's attention. The action scenes are ok and the story doesn't lag, so I may be able to stick with this for the duration. The actors are fun eye-candy...



Moonlight Drawn by Clouds 1-4! kdrama. This drama is up against Scarlet Heart. It's also a historical drama, but a comedy rather than drama. A young woman is living as a male fortune teller trying to pay off family debt. While it is not a totally original set-up, it gets stranger from there. She gets sold off to the palace eunuchs to pay off the debts. She actually gets the penis-cutter drunk enough to think he did the deed and she manages to pass inspection. She runs into the prince (whom she doesn't identify), and in typical kdrama fashion, they initially hate each other. It'll be fun to see how they fall in love while he thinks she is a eunuch. The absurdity and silliness of this show is refreshing. Hopefully, the story doesn't get caught up in the political blahs and sticks with the comedy. In all likelihood, because this is a historical drama that sort of follows old-fashioned conventions, the two leads won't really end up together, but somehow remain friends. There's no way a eunuch could end up together with the prince.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends jmovie! The version I saw had some questionable subtitles, so really hope the subs were not from the official blu-ray/dvd release. Anyway, the movie concludes Shishio's arc and his demise. As with the other movies, the featured sword fights were pretty cool. You don't get the technical commentary as you do in the manga and anime, but occasionally, they'll mention the particular skill...or if you are a fan, you may recognize the technique...haha. I was slightly disappointed by the final showdown with Kenshin and Shishio since it was more of a tag-team effort rather than Kenshin being all awesome himself. It was nonetheless fun to watch. I was impressed by the athleticism of Soujirou and Kenshin especially; stuntmen? cgi?. There was a lot of low ground work and running on the walls. Did anyone else question the final scene....everyone arrives on shore half-dead with obvious life-threatening injuries, and NONE of the police give them a hand...or run to get a doctor? Overall, I was surpisingly happy with the three movies. The main cast grew on me and the production was exciting. It's nice to see that anime-to-live action movies can stay faithful to the original source, and does not have to look too cartoonish. ~8/10 rating~ for this movie.



Tomorrow's Cantabile kdrama 1-4! is the Korean live-action drama version of the manga, Nodame Cantabile. Yoo Jin (Chiaki), a young music piano student dreams of becoming the conductor of an orchestra. He is arrogant and supposedly handsome (hmmm...not a cute as Tamaki Hiroshi). Nae Il (Nodame) is a free-spirited piano student who has a part-time job playing for kids (not as quirky as Ueno Juri...no 'gyabo's!'). This version doesn't stray too much from the original, but this drama makes me miss the jdrama a lot. The jdrama really captured the manga quite perfectly. The kdrama is a pretty good imitation of it, too. It doesn't throw in the cute over-the-top comedy that the jdrama did. Because it is a kdrama, there is more time-filler scenes with the adult professors. The kdrama does retain the key, cute scenes like when Yoo Jin washes Nae-Il's hair because it stinks so much. I'm inclined to just go and re-watch the jdrama since the kdrama doesn't really bring anything new to the story. If you watch the jdrama and kdrama side-by-side, the jdrama paces itself better and ends the episode on better cliffhangers. I think kdrama fans will still like this version. As always I enjoy the kdrama's choice of modern architecture.

Nodame Cantabile kdrama...I swear that was called Beethoven Virus...well, it was an AU version of the jdrama. Oh well, it's probably time for another remake...and I'll watch it. :)

Faith 5-8! The F - - K speech was so amusing. Anyway, the king who obviously has a plan sends the doctor, Eun-Soo, with his enemy, Gi Cheol. The queen and Choi Young...along with everyone else disapproves; king pouts. I enjoy that Choi Young uses the police shield like Captain America. And that the pretty white-haired bad guy plays the evil flute of death. Choi Young pretends he comes to save the doctor because he likes her. Eun-Soo is cute when she regards his 'confession'.


I appreciate the amount of action each episode contains..even if it is rather blood-less. In episode 7, Eun-Soo comes pretty close to an annoying female character that needs constant saving, but the drama has been good about backing off of her. I do appreciate the bromance between the king and Choi Young. The king was a little stuck in constipation mode for a little while there. Love the costuming. Very pretty for all.


Utakoi 9-10! is about Fujiwara no Yukinari and the red-head, Shonagon, from the previous episode.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous 9! Hazuki has been jumping to various fairytales in Shimao's Rokka's mind; from Thumbelina to the Little Mermaid and now Snow White. While there is no love triangle angst, there is the frustration of watching characters doing pointless, confusing things...maybe it's just bad writing.

Hunter x Hunter 2012 45! Why are Gon and Killua so brown at the end? In this episode, Hisoka makes an offer to Kurapica. Wolverine's pals help him escape.

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita 10! a flashback episode to the main character's first day at work and first encounter with the fairies where they deem her God. She witnesses the rise and fall of a city; cute of course.

Arang and the Magistrate 3-4! After a nicely choreographed fight with some pushy ghosts, Arang's corpse shows up and drags Eun-oh deeper into her mystery. Arang forces the fake fortune-teller to take her to the heavenly gate and then forces the shinigami-like character to take her to the Jade Emperor; not sure who the ying/yang is with the two guys up there. In a quick story twist, hey, she becomes human again. I like the quirky nature of the show, but sometimes, I'm not totally sold on the supernatural.

Faith 3-4! Didn't realize this was the Korean version of X-men (which is coincidentally mentioned). The characters have fancy clothes and dangerous powers...though they really need a mind-reader and a Wolverine. It's also pretty nice that the main female character,Yoo Eun-Soo, is slightly older and well, mostly smart...being a doctor and all. While she's somewhat timid against violence, she speaks up for herself usually resulting in some laughs. I enjoy the evil character's evil moustache, too. In these episodes Choi Young reveals that the previous king had granted him his freedom, and the reason why he wants to leave his service to the king is explained through the use of stylish animation and a flashback. Unfortunately, the current king still has use for him. The Eun-Soo becomes friendly with the king and recalls her history lessons of this time period. There's good character interaction and like the previous episode, a good cliffhanger. It's a keeper.

Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita 9! Bullying leads the main character to relocate a few victimized fairies. Politics, use of resources...drugs...it's a very cute episode. While it's a little difficult to pin down what the writer intends to say with the episode, it's amusing to see how the main character leads or is led by the fairies.

Natsuyuki Rendezvous 8! Shimao continues to confuse Rokka with his actions in Hazuki's body. Hazuki finally becomes determined to do something...zzz...

To the Beautiful You 1-2 kdrama! I survived the Taiwanese and Japanese version of HanaKimi. Can I possibly survive the Korean version? (I think there was a mainland China version....but even I don't have that much attention span). A young girl from America transfers into an all boys school in Korea to be close to a high-jump athlete she admires. He turns out to have a stoic, cold personality while another boy in her class, a soccer star, has an outgoing and friendly personality. Love triangle, ding. The show veers off into kdrama-land. The high school is really high tech and expensive-looking. The dorm hallway looks like the entrance to a nightclub, and the dorm room themselves look very, very spacious. Rather than the three rival dormitories being focused on different subjects, they are each focused on a separate sports styles.


Sano/Tae Joon (Min-Ho from SHINee) retains a little bit of his 'manga' character, but also has a manager who tries to drag him to photoshoots and a terrible 'kdrama' father. Nakatsu/Eun-Gyeol is pretty much like the manga character and is practically a clone of Jeremy from 'You're Beautiful'; adorable. Mizuki/Jae-Hee doesn't stray too much from the source; clueless, overly sincere, etc. I wish I could like this, but there are only so many cross-dressing comedies one can watch before everything just looks the same. This is pretty well-made for those interested. It's rich in setting, color, clothing, star-power and there's a variety of catchy kpop bgm.


Arang and the Magistrate 1-2! Yes, I need more eye-candy. Lee Jun-ki back from the army, stars in this fantasy about a young man who can see dead people or rather ghosts. He happens by a young female ghost who has lost her memory. He promises to help if she makes him the local magistrate. She gets him the job. He decides to help her because he wants to find his missing mother and Arang might hold a clue. It's pretty silly, but in a likable way. There are also scenes in 'heaven' where mysterious people hang out in flower gardens. Dramafever's video quality is fairly pathetic and the drama's cheap production sort of stands out. You can clearly tell the difference if you've watched Faith. All in all, despite the production, the characters were fairly amusing and interesting.


Faith 1-2 kdrama! Lee Min-Ho (from the kdrama version of Hana Yori Dango...and City Hunter...which I did not finish) stars in this time traveling drama. I didn't really pay attention to the fictional set-up, but there was some nice animation. I'm not quite sure who is fighting who, but the queen is fatally injured in the attack. Min-Ho's character, Choi Young, has to travel through time, and find a doctor with god-like powers who can heal her. He is so pretty in his seriousness and angst. It's funny when he lands in 2012 and a monk thinks he is looking for a plastic surgeon. The dramatic music also adds to the comedy. Choi Young also has super-powers...electricity, it seems. And a couple/few? of his men have super-powers too. Anyway, Choi Young brings the plastic surgeon back to his time rather ruthlessly, she saves the queen, there are bad guys still after them, the king refuses to let the doctor return to her time despite Choi Young's promise, he tries to kill himself, the doctor tries to save him...yay for a kdrama with constant action and suspense. The production quality is really high and the plastic surgeon is not a cut-out kdrama female character...thus far.

Sword Art Online 1! another RPG-oriented anime

+ Ok production
- Nothing new

Quick impression~ Introverted boy starts playing a new RPG along with thousands of others. The game master soon tells the players that the only way to log off of the game is to beat the 100 levels. Blah, blah. I have no idea why this is one of the most anticipated new shows based on episode 1 alone.

Hunter x Hunter 2012 38! Thought it was amusing that the initial physical impression of Gon's dad is different from what he looks like when he is actually in the manga. Gon and Killua head to York Shin in search for the Greed Island game.

GTO 2012 1! jdrama. I don't remember any specific details from the original jdrama, but as far as jdramas go, this one was ok. Outside of the actor playing Onizuka, the cast was full of familiar faces (Yamamoto Yusuke is in everything nowadays, and the girl who was Haruhi in Ouran is a bad girl in this). Episode 1 was about a young boy who was being bullied by a group of girls. Onizuka was a gardener at the school before being recruited by the school to teach. The sledgehammer to the wall scene was the only familiar part of the episode that I could remember from the anime or original drama.

Big 9-10! Yoon-jae's mother reveals Yoon-jae and Kyung-joon's connection. More filler with the side characters...they really are not as funny as they try to be. Da-ran is slowly falling for Kyung-joon. It's a good thing he's ages about 2 years in 10 episodes. Wasn't he in the same grade as Ma-ri or Da-ran's brother? Very sleepy episodes. I may wait until the show ends before marathoning the rest.

Big 7-8! Skippable episodes...zzz... Kyung-joon and Ma-ri's past is revealed...zzz. Thank goodness for the tiny bit of excitement at the end of episode 8.