kininarimasu!

Since I'm on the roll with my drama reviews recently, I remembered some of the note-worthy dramas I've seen in the past before watching Playful Kiss, which rekindled my love for drama in June. I mostly watched some of the more popular ones, as they have been recommended by my friends. These dramas aired between 2005-2010, but I wasn't very up to date with regards to simulcasts, since that was during my gaming era of Maplestory. A lot of these are popular, and there are already tons of reviews circling the internet, so I'll just give a brief little insight. For nostalgic purposes, I came up with this list.

The insights are just of my own personal opinion, and other people might think otherwise, but to each their own, yes? Yes.

1. Densha Otoko

This is a classic. To me, it was what started all this drama business, it's like the mother of all dramas. Who hasn't watched Densha Otoko? It's based on a true story and a novel. Yamada Tsuyoshi (played by Ito Atsushi), a true-to-life otaku, saves Aoyama Saori (played by Ito Misaki) from a drunkard on the train. As a way of giving thanks, she sends him a set of Hermes teacups (wow). Flabbergasted and at a loss on how to react with her, he consults people on a web forum for advice. On which I have to note, this is the first drama I saw Oguri Shun in. Kyaaa! This takes me back many years... I think I may just watch this again to reminisce.

Plus, I think the opening is one of the best I've seen. Not only because it's anime, but the song is really catchy and the animation is cool.

If you haven't seen this, you should. It's a Japanese classic. It's a MUST. Although Yamada's stammering might annoy you.

2. Hana Yori Dango

OGURI SHUN AND MATSU JUN <3

Of course. OF COURSE. If you haven't seen or heard of this drama, you cannot possibly call yourself a drama enthusiast. That includes all of the other Asian adaptations, the Taiwanese Meteor Garden and Korean Boys Over Flowers. I've seen all adaptations of this, with Meteor Garden airing in the Philippines in the afternoon. My favorite adaptation, of course, no question, the Japanese one. Oguri Shun! Matsu Jun! Need I say more? I wasn't a big fan of the Korean adaptation. All I could remember was frickin' Geum Jan Di getting pissed all the time. Anger management problems?

Photo credit: donnapie.tumblr.com

3. Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge



I read the manga, so the live action intrigued me. Another ikemen fest, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is about four handsome boys who live in a dormitory, but are strapped for rent money. Their landlady proposes a task that could win them free food and lodging--turn her niece, Sunako, into a lady! It seems they have their work cut out for them when they discover that Sunako-chan is antisocial, plus an avid fan of morbidity, horror, and creepy things to boot. I liked this series, although it wasn't something that stuck to me. This got me started on liking KAT-TUN because of Kamenashi. It's quite funny and I really liked the cute ending <3

4. Hana Kimi



Ikemen paradise. Oguri Shun. Shirota Yuu. FANGIRL MODE, ON! I postponed watching this for the longest time due to its popularity even though it had Shun on it. I've only watched this very recently, yet I feel that I have to include this in my nostalgic drama section because it's about 9 years old. Nine! Just little age reminder for me... T_T

Maki Horikita is Mizuki Ashiya, a girl who pretends to be a guy to enter an all-boys dorm, in an effort to get her idol, Izumi Sano (Shun), to pursue high jumping again. This drama is just filled with fun, one episode after another. MADE ME LAUGH MY PANCREAS OUT. I may be exaggerating, but this is a really funny one for me. Especially Ikuta Toma's monologues.


And this


Stop it! STAHP EEET! Hahahaha!

5. Nodame Cantabile

I love this drama. I really do. It's hilarious, with just a little bit of romance sprinkled on top. It's about a talented pianist named Nodame, who has the biggest crush on her senpai, Chiaki, who aims to be a conductor. The problem is that Nodame is messy and disorganized, while Chiaki is a perfectionist. There are so many other characters involved, which makes it really fun (I especially love Masumi-chan. Oh, god, he just kills me). A highly recommended drama. Great laughs. Great, great laughs.

6. The First Shop of Coffee Prince

Anyone who knows their Korean drama knows about this. This has been given many a praise due to its lightheartedness and funny nature. Another cross-dressing girl series just like Hana-Kimi. Yoon Eun-Hye plays Eun-Chan, a girl who is the breadwinner of her family. She pretends to be a guy just to work in a cafe where waiters are exclusively male. Her boss, Han-gyeol, finds himself falling for her but is horrified at himself because he thinks he's a boy. A Korean drama staple. This drama made me want to eat kimchi fried rice all the time. With coffee. It's just sad that Lee Eon, who played the very sweet Hwang Min-yeop passed away in  2008 :(

7. Heartstrings

Starring the infamous Park Shin Hye and idol Jung Yong-hwa, it's a lighthearted rom-com about college students in an art university. It's a complicated web of side stories, so I can't really put in a quick overview, but it mainly focuses on music and theatrical arts, and Shin Hye and Yong-hwa's love story, of course. One of the few Korean dramas I enjoyed. I called Chris harabuchi for the longest time because of this. And they seriously keep eating some good food. All K-dramas make me crave KBBQ!

8. Zettai Kareshi



Aaah, Absolute Boyfriend. Another heartwarming drama. The gorgeous Hayami Mokomichi stars as a Tenjo Night-kun, mail-order robot who is programmed to be devoted to his owner, Riko Izawa (Aibu Saki). Would you fall in love with a robot? Only if it's Night-kun! Also starring the charming Hiro Mizushima. And they feature BAKING. I think watching Asian dramas make you fat for different reasons.

9. Gokusen 1



I told you this list would be full of popular ones. Gokusen. A school-based drama classic. About a yakuza heir who would rather be a school teacher. She gets assigned to the bottom-of-the-barrel class, who try to make her quit. Too bad for them, she deals with more serious shit in her normal non-teacher life. And of course, Oguri Shun and Matsu Jun are in it, so I didn't let this pass. This drama can be as cheesy as far as cheesy goes, and you either like it or you don't. I personally liked it. A nice break from rom-coms, in my opinion. Beware the atrocious hairstyles of your favorite actors, though.

10. Gokusen 2

If you've seen a Gokusen, you've seen all Gokusen. Season 2 is just basically the same plot, but with different kids. This season had Kazuya Kamenashi and Hayami Mokomichi, so I was fangirling all over the place. Gosh, Mokomichi's so tall! Kyaaaa~

Gif from tumblr

But when season 3 rolled out, I had to pass. It was too much. The kids were also getting younger, thus making me feel older, so I didn't bother. I think I watched the first episode but I already knew what was going to happen. That was also my first Haruma Miura drama. But then again I'm not really a fan, so I moved on.

So there goes my dramas from the past. I bet a number of you have seen most, if not all of the aforementioned dramas. Us ladies know we're in it for the ikemen buffet, for the most part. I want to broaden my drama horizons more, maybe watch some C-dramas or TW-dramas. Maybe, if I'm feeling adventurous, some Thai dramas. I don't know. We'll see.

If there are any blast from the past dramas you would like to recommend, don't hesitate to comment.

Gif from tumblr

<3

As I mentioned in my previous drama post, before I watched 35 Sai no Kokosei, I was on a rom-com roll for about a few weeks. I haven't watched any sort drama for a good two years, but one day I was hanging out with my friend Isabel and she mentioned that she was watching a Korean drama on Crunchyroll. That was during my stuck-in-a-rut days and I was looking for something different than usual to occupy my time. I figured, why not watch a new drama for kicks?

I will talk about two dramas today, called Playful Kiss and  Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo. They are basically the same story, adapted from Kaoru Tada's manga from the same Japanese name. It has a Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese adaptation, released in the same chronological order. I haven't watched the Taiwanese version, and I don't know if I want to. It's only going to be the same story all over again anyway, just with different actors and voices. Same banana.




When I first saw Playful Kiss on Netflix, I wasn't really intrigued about it. It was again a random choice, just to get the ball rolling on the drama stigma. I recognized Kim Hyun Joong from the infamous Boys Over Flowers series and figured this might be one of those cheesy dramas filled with ikemen (notoriously handsome boys), and I thought, why not? I liked him in Boys Over Flowers and I think his acting is... okay. Jung So Min plays Oh Ha Ni, a girl hopelessly addicted to her crush Baek Sung Jo (Joong) since freshman year of high school. I'm being slightly mild when I say hopelessly addicted.

She seems normal enough, a typical high school girl who has a crush on the most popular boy. Ha Ni's unrequited love for Sung Jo is all too obvious, because despite being utterly handsome and smart, Sung Jo's as cold as my butt after falling one too many times while snowboarding. After heartlessly rejecting Ha Ni's confession, he claims he hates dumb girls, and Ha Ni is...well... she falls in that category.

One of the main stir-ups in the drama is that Ha Ni's new house collapses due to a ridiculous reason. In this case, a 2.0 magnitude earthquake. Yeah, an earthquake that hardly shakes any windows. Coincidentally, an old friend of her dad sees them on TV and asks them to temporarily reside with them while they wait for insurance claims and such. And guess who the son of that old friend was? You guessed it, Baek Sung Jo. Ha Ni's appaled whether she should be happy or not, after being rejected by her crush and all.

In the Japanese version, Ha Ni's counterpart is Aihara Kotoko, played by Honoka Miki, and Sung Jo's counterpart is Irie Naoki, played by Furukawa Yuki. A couple differences: in the J-version, their house collapses due to an even more ridiculous reason: a lone meteoroid shooting through their house. In the later episodes, the girl Naoki is engaged to (spoiler!) is not Yuko, whose counterpart is Yoon He Ra, who Sung Jo gets engaged to in Playful Kiss.  It sounds confusing, but watch it so you know what I'm talking about.

There are still a few more differences, technically speaking, but only a few subtle ones that don't really take away the essence of the story.

To be frank, I'm not a big fan of Korean drama for several reasons. I think Japanese actors and actresses are more natural and less fake-looking. They don't look like they've undergone much surgery, if anything at all. I like how their physical imperfections are hardly ever altered (like their teeth), which shows a more down-to-earth facade, rather than the too-perfect plastic-surgery ridden Korean Hollywood. Even though stars are big in Japan, I like how they see beauty in imperfection and embrace a person's natural physical characteristics.

Although that being said, I think they could've cast a much better Irie. No offense to Furukawa and Furukwa fans out there, he's cute but... just cute. Not drop-dead gorgeous like how he's supposed to be portrayed in the manga. How does he compare to Kim Hyun Joong? His supposedly 'cold' expression is just...a blank. When he tries to woo Kotoko, it was all just a blank, serious expression that does not make you want to drop your panties. Why couldn't they cast the strikingly handsome Shirota Yuu? I would drop my panties for him in a heartbeat! Or some other epitome of drop-dead gorgeousness like Matsumoto Jun? Thank Lord for MatsuJun and Shirota Yuu. I'd say Oguri Shun, too, but he's too old. Battle of the Hanazawa Rui/Yoon Ji Hoo. It would've been perfect.

Gif from kdramanmore

Imagine that with MatsuJun of Shirota Yuu. I could die.

Although, in the university part of Playful Kiss, I wasn't a big fan of Sung Jo's permed hair. I preferred his helmet hair.

Parts of the story that really annoyed me though, was how Kotoko/Ha Ni was just a little too persistent. I mean, you go girl, but sometimes get a clue, you know? To go somewhere as far as joining something you know you're going to be terrible at and will just piss the hell out of your crush (like joining a tennis club) could either be classified as sweet or stalker material. But then that persistence is what got her the guy, I guess. I admire Naoki/Sung Jo's patience though. Patience is a talent, not a virtue.

And there's Kin-chan/Joon Go (Yamada Yuki/Lee Tae Sung). Give me someone who hasn't fallen or grown to love either of these two. They are both super cute and are chefs-in-the-making. Twas a good thing shame Kotoko/Ha Ni didn't go for these guys. Wonder how the story would have fared out. I especially loved how Joon Go's uniform was all studded and decked out.



And his transformation! Oh god.

Oh hai durr

Oh wait, no. I meant this:



Yamada Yuki wasn't looking too bad either.

=^x^=

And I just loved his facial expressions.



Bottom line, I personally prefer Itazura over Playful Kiss, primarily because I fell in love more with the characters and actors in the J-Drama. I also felt like there was a lot less extra stuff in the Japanese one, like the weird unicorn dream in the beginning on the Korean one or the kicking-the-vending-machine thing. Itazura was a lot more lovable, IMO, with a lot more funny scenes and expressions.



Overall, it's a good drama with enough oomph to hit your drama spot, whichever version you want to watch. Although Playful Kiss extends a bit farther along the story, but there will be a season 2 for Itazura, which will be aired on September 12, called Itazura na Kiss Love in Okinawa. I'm excited for this just for the Okinawa part!

gif from tumblr

The gist: 7/10 for Playful Kiss, 8/10 for Itazura na Kiss.

Great drama, fun, and will tickle your heartstrings. A little bit of a tearjerker, but with just the right proportions.