The Paradise Kiss live-action movie can be viewed two ways. For folks unfamiliar with Yazawa Ai‘s brilliant source manga, the ParaKiss movie starring Kitagawa Keiko and Mukai Osamu is likely just a frothy harmless shallow piece of fashion coming-of-age entertainment that is easy to watch. Akin to one of those formulaic Hollywood rom-coms that comes and goes and no one … Continue reading →
TBS has spared no expense for it’s 60th Anniversary production Nankyoku Tairiku (Antarctica), a dorama that from the first frame tells you this is going to be a eyeball enriching period piece. I watched episode 1 yesterday, leaving me at times bemused, at times awed, and most of the time emotionally engaged. Which is to say: this dorama is geared 110% … Continue reading →
Thousand Day Promise with Kim Rae Won and Su Ae is exactly like advertised. When the lead actress has gigantic tear-filled eyes within three minutes of the drama starting, you know the melodrama touted as a potential weepfest is going to deliver exactly that. To say that TDP and I are not mixing well is an understatement. Watching episode 1 … Continue reading →
Sunday nights in Taiwan is set for the next two months or so, with Office Girls, In Time With You, and now Ring Ring Bell all premiering one after another and in it for the long haul of head-to-head competition. I don’t think the current rankings will change at all during its run, with perhaps some minor up and down, with OG … Continue reading →
What can I say about episode 1 of In Time With You? I’m not sure throwing around superlatives like bon bons really gets to the crux of the experience of watching this drama. It’s not merely a wonderful and excellent cinematic work, it’s genuinely introspective without being precocious, realistic without being plodding. Episode 1 toggled expertly between the past and … Continue reading →
It’s here! And it’s everything I hoped for and more, literally drama crack on demand and I’m already in withdrawal mode needing more new episodes. More, I need more Bu Bu Jing Xin (步步惊心), THE long-awaited time-travel period C-drama. Before I get started, I make no bones about loathing Gong/Jade Palace Lockheart, the Yu Zheng knock-off of Bu Bu Jing … Continue reading →
Dramas oftentimes are not received equally by the local viewing population and the overseas brethren. It’s easy for each side to deride the other for having bad taste, but it’s not really that easy to explain. It’s more like people have different tastes, and that’s a good thing. Last year’s K-drama ratings champion Baker King Kim Tak Gu barely made … Continue reading →
This drama? Is wonderfully cute. I’ve been indifferent to Aragaki Yui since she gave such a placid performance in Code Blue, so she doesn’t exactly call to mind determined, blunt, and cranky young lawyer Ayukawa Wakaba, a gunning for private jet and Manhattan penthouse type of character. Boy was I wrong. Zenkai Girl with Yui and Nishikido Ryo (as yummy … Continue reading →
J-doramas have officially gone off the cross-dressing end this Summer, with not one, not two, but THREE girl-crossing-dressing-with-a-bunch-of-guys dramas out at the exact same time. And two are remakes to boot. Where’s the originality Japan? I checked out all three purely out of curiosity, discovering that while two made me run away screaming, one was an insane and infectiously adorable … Continue reading →
The Summer of the sageuk is fully underway now that The Princess’s Man premiered this week on KBS Wed-Thurs, with Gye Bak joining the party next Mon-Tues for MBC opposite Warrior Baek Dong Soo on SBS. I’m a bit conflicted about TPM after watching two episodes, so I might as well share some first impressions at this point. I’ll probably … Continue reading →
I Need Romance is good. Actually, let me add an adjective to that – after watching four episodes, I think it’s very good. While I’m not (yet) in love with it, but I definitely appreciate quality when I see it. The second prime time drama from cable channel tvN, following in the footsteps and taking over the time slot originated … Continue reading →
There is a time and place for everything, and this adage is especially true of dramas. Even the best dramas can fail to connect with a viewer if watched at an inopportune time, when the mind or the heart isn’t in it for whatever reason. Hunan Television’s decision to air the long-completed Sunshine Angel starring Wu Zun and Rainie Yang … Continue reading →
For those of you waiting for a recap of episode 1 of Heartstrings (You’ve Fallen for Me), I’m sorry to say it’s currently not forthcoming. Trust me when I say I’m more disappointed than you, because this has been the drama I’ve been pimping for the past few weeks as my most anticipated of the Summer lot. I purposely tried … Continue reading →