Quiz: Which Sungkyunkwan Scholar Is Your Ideal Match?

I'm in the middle of Sungkyunkwan Scandal right now (right around the point in the show where I'm throwing things at the TV and shouting "JUST TELL HIM YOU'RE A GIRL! AAAAAAAAAHLJSFDLJF;KSJHGHSDKGHSDKJHFLKSDH!"), and I am having some serious trouble deciding which cast member is my favorite.  That actually says something about how well-rounded this show is, but it's nice to know which character you're rooting for over all the others.  To save others from a similar predicament, I have composed a (ridiculous and completely unscientific) quiz to help you figure out which member of the Sungkuynkwan community is your ideal love match. For those who haven't seen the show, there is some spoiler-y stuff in the questions, but nothing that you couldn't guess pretty early into the series.

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The rules: Just keep track of your answers and tally the number of times you answered A,B,C, or D.  Then, BEFORE you look at the results, vote in our poll. The results are underneath the poll.  NO CHEATING!

Which Sungkyunkwan Scholar Is Your Ideal Match?

1. Which style do you find most attractive?
A. Tousled and scruffy
B. Clean-cut
C. Metrosexual
D. Conventional, but combined with a cold glare that tells you who's boss

2. Who was your favorite male character in Boys over Flowers?
A. I could never decide between Ji Hoo and Woo Bin.  If they could somehow combine the two into a clone who is very sad and also punches people, I would be in heaven!
B.   Jun Pyo.  I like tall, reserved leaders.  I just wish he had been more of a scholar!
C.  Yi Jung.  The sexy saxophone totally won me over!
D.   Remember Jae Ha?  Crazy Harry Potter kidnapper guy?  Swoon!

3. What primary life motivation do you find most attractive?
A. Revenge/honoring the dead
B. Principles
C. Entertainment
D. Power

4. When a man is unexpectedly attracted to someone off-limits and doesn't know what to do, how should he respond?
A. Nervous hiccups covered by sarcasm
B. Give the object of his affection the cold shoulder
C. Off-limits?  There's no such thing!
D. Threats--threats always work!

5. Assuming that they all suddenly transformed into attractive Korean men, which Beauty and the Beast character would you date?
A. Beast 
B. Cogsworth
C. Lumiere
D. Gaston 

6.  Everyone brings some baggage to their relationships.  Which one would you be most willing to accept?
A. He's secretly a ninja messenger trying to avenge his brother's murder and take down corrupt government officials. Think of him as Joseon Batman.
B.  He feels very strong filial loyalty, which would be great if his dad weren't actually a corrupt government official who was involved in your father's death.
C. You're pretty sure he's had more than a handful of gisaeng girlfriends.  STDs, anyone?
D. His father once tried to force you to be his concubine.  Awk-ward!

7.  You have to pretend to be a man for a while, but then your love interest finds out.  Which response is most endearing?
A. In order to protect you, he pretends not to know.  He then spends his time secretly making sure that no one touches a hair on your pretty head.
B. In order to protect you, he tries to make you leave and stop pretending to be a man. He also really, really wants to be near you.
C. He invades your personal space and makes a lot of sassy jokes involving double entendres, most of which you don't understand.
D. He tries to get you expelled--or, better yet--executed.


8. How should the ideal man feel about sports?
A. He's naturally better than everyone else at every single sport ever invented, but he only gets competitive if it will help others.
B. He has quite a bit of athletic training and natural talent, but what makes the difference is his dedication to practice for as long as it takes to succeed.
C. Sports make his clothes dirty.  He's better as a hilarious commentator.
D. Sports are an excellent opportunity to injure and/or humiliate enemies.

9.  Someone is causing trouble for you and your friends.  How would your ideal man respond?
A. Grab a lot of people by the collar and threaten to break their arms off.
B. Say something fancy about Confucius that shames everyone into leaving you alone.
C. Schmooze in the background to find a way around the problem.
D. Again, threats.  Threats will almost always be the answer.

Okay, tally up your answers and select the letter you most frequently chose in the poll below:

Which Sungkyunkwan Scholar Is Your Ideal Match?
	A
	B
	C
	D
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Did you vote?




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Results

A. Moon Jae Shin ("Geol Oh")

You like a little danger in your romance.  Geol Oh ("Crazy Horse") is rough-and-tumble on the outside, but he will do anything for someone he loves.  He is loyal, thoughtful, and he's great at comforting you when you feel down.  The downside?  You may have to bandage him after some of his midnight bandit exploits.

B. Lee Sun Joon ("Ga Rang")

Lee Sun Joon is an upright scholar.  He believes in the rules, and he wants to make the world a better place through order and logic. He may seem a little uptight at times, but when he's in love, even Confucius goes out the window.  He would be a great Scrabble buddy--unless, of course, you want a chance to win. 

C.  Gu Yong Ha ("Yeorim")

If you picked Yeorim, you've got a soft spot for the ladies' man.  He's a smooth operator who can sweep you off your feet with just one wink and a charming little grin.  Beware, though.  Yeorim knows how to show a girl a good time, but you can't fall for him too easily or he'll get bored and move on to his next conquest.

D. Ha In Soo

Yes, he's Sungkyunkwan's clever, handsome, wealthy, athletic student body president.  He's also a sociopath.  You should probably rethink your taste in men.

Let's Get Pumped Up: KCON 2013!

It's that time of year when every Kpop and Kdrama fangirl and fan boy's dreams are about to come true at KCON 2013! KCON is a convention organized by the Korean network, Mnet, that will take place on August 24th-25th in Los Angeles. The convention features concerts from top Kpop artists, workshops and panels on Korean pop culture, fun contests, and artist engagements. This year, I am lucky enough to get to go and represent Kdrama Fighting! to the Kfan community.

Confession: I am much more of a Kdrama fangirl than a Kpop fangirl, so I am not well versed on Kpop groups. However, I figured that in order to be an informed reporter and an enthusiastic concert goer I better do my research. I just happen to be visiting ViVi this last week, so a couple days ago we were working on the blog and I started playing songs by EXO and f(x). I kind of didn't want to love Kpop, but as we sat there, we got sucked in! It's just so catchy! It shouldn't come as all that big of a surprise considering that I was American pop fangirl in the 90's. As we listened, I kept saying, "Oh no, no, no. I can't help it. I didn't expect I would like it. Now I'm going to be a Kpop fangirl!" I guess Kpop just sneaks up on you!

Now I've joined the ranks of the Kpop fangirls, and there's no escaping, so what better way to prepare for an amazing Kpop lineup than to listen to a YouTube playlist featuring all the bands that will be at KCON 2013? This year, we will be graced with the presence of G-DRAGON, EXO, f(x), 2AM, and TEEN TOP. I've created this KCON playlist for those of you who, like me, may be a little rusty on the songs of some of the groups, those of you who just can't contain your excitement until the big weekend, and those of you far away who will have to just shut your eyes and imagine you are there.

                

I just bought all my tickets for the event and I am super pumped to go! I hope that some of you can make it and that I get to meet you. I'm going to be walking around wearing a Kdrama Fighting t-shirt, taking photos of fun people and events for a slide show, and handing out stickers so that people can come see themselves on the site afterwards. I hope some of you cosplay because Vivi and I get absurdly excited about costumes. I look forward to reporting on all the fun booths and activities for you after the event!

So, who's going? Who are you most excited to see and what convention workshop or panel are you looking forward to? Anyone dressing up? Comment below. 

List of Smart, Strong Korean Drama Female Leads: Adding A Pinch of Brains to the Niceness

Ever since my Queen In Hyun's Man review, I've been thinking about the stereotypical "dumb-as-a-rock-but-nice" kdrama female lead.  I really, really liked the leads in that show, but I was infuriated that she kept calling herself stupid the whole time (and no, I don't think that his response of "You're not stupid; you just don't know anything" made things much better).

In many dramas, it's much worse.  The male lead often belittles the female lead for her stupidity, pushing on her forehead with his finger and saying things like "Do you just smash things with this rock?" or "I'm surprised you can even chew food with this useless lump."  (I don't know if those are actual kdrama insults, but they sound like real kdrama insults.  You're welcome to use them in any upcoming dramas, provided that Lee Min Ho is the one saying these lines.)

If a man did this to me, I would break his finger off.  And then do some calculus out of spite.

Now, I'm not saying that every woman has to be a rocket scientist, but these shows seem to consistently assume that the only thing women can do well is being "nice."  That's why they need big, smart men to help them escape their own stupidity.  In essence, saying that women are always stupid and incompetent infantilizes them.

For those of you kdrama viewers who get tired of girls pounding their fists on their heads and blinking absent-mindedly, I've put together a list (in no particular order) of some competent kdrama female leads who have some brains behind all that beauty.  If you don't mind the she-can't-tie-her-own-shoes-but-she's-so-cute lead, then you're welcome to ignore this list and go watch Playful Kiss or You Are Beautiful on repeat.


Note: This list is all about brains.  Some of these leads have other weaknesses that we didn't love, but many of them are all-around awesome.

1. Kim Yoon Hee (Sungkyunkwan Scandal)

I actually started watching Sungkyunkwan Scandal because I really, really needed a show with a female lead who was smart enough to hold her own against the male characters.  Kim Yoon Hee to the rescue!  In terms of gender-bending dramas, she's the anti-Go Mi Nam.  I'm pretty sure you would never catch Yoon Hee accidentally gluing her fingers together, even if she time traveled and had never seen glue before.  But she goes way beyond this bare minimum of brain power; she's a brilliant scholar who refuses to give up on knowledge just because she's a girl.  

I want this to be her theme song.

2. Hwang Tae Hee (Queen of Reversals)

Hwang Tae Hee doesn't even have niceness going for her, so maybe she has to be smart by default.  Even her enemies can't deny that she's the best of the best at her job, but their constant sabotage is no match for her sharp wits. 

I suspect that she derives special brain powers from her helmet hair.

3. Sam Soon (My Lovely Sam Soon/ My Name Is Kim Sam Soon) 

Sam Soon might not have book smarts, but she has something more important: food smarts.  This is the perfect example of finding strengths outside of traditional education.  I'm okay with female leads who aren't nuclear physicists if they are pastry geniuses instead.  To be honest, if I had to decide whether I could have a PhD or become a world-class patisseur, I would probably choose blood orange cream filling every single time. Drool.

This scene is kind of a waste of delicious cake, but the fact that she
combines her baking prowess with the guts to shove cake into a man's face is pretty commendable.

4. Noh Eun Seol (Protect the Boss)

What I love about Protect the Boss is that neither lead is really living up to his or her potential until they join forces.  Noh Eun Seol readily admits that she spent more time hitting bullies than hitting the books in her school days, but that doesn't make her stupid.  She is creative and innovative and finds ways to help her boss tap into his own smart ideas.  In a position that chews through Ivy League graduates faster than you can say "all that student debt for nothing," Eun Seol shows her competence by thinking outside of the box and winning everyone's approval. 

Bonus points for beating up a man who tried to sexually harass her in the first episode.  Extra bonus points for telling the rich chaebol that kissing her without permission is also harassment.

I can't tell if she is punching or cheering, but in either case, she will be victorious!

5. Gong Ah Jung (Lie to Me)

Lie to Me was the first drama I ever saw where the female lead didn't start out starving in a gutter or hiding from loan sharks. Unless an unexpected swarm of bees shows up to trash a major international event, Gong Ah Jung is an excellent public servant.  She takes her position so seriously that when the government tries to fire her, she basically says, "Nope, sorry, I'm actually awesome at my job."

Yoon Eun Hye's best "I love working a desk job for the government!" face
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6. Seo Yi Soo (A Gentleman's Dignity)

I already mentioned how I sort of bonded with Yi Soo in my review of this series, but I want to praise her skills again here.  She might be somewhat frozen-faced around her love interests, but in her regular life, she is a personable educator who is able to reach even the most difficult of students. She's not just a teacher; she's a really good teacher, and that's not something to dismiss.

Why yes, that IS an entire classroom of teenage boys applauding during a lesson.
What's next?  A unicorn dancing with a leprechaun?

7. Jang Hye Sung (I Hear Your Voice)

Jang Hye Sung comes with a bit of a caveat.  She's smart and good at her job, but only when she wants to be.  She isn't always passionate about doing a good job, but when she is, she can work a case like a champ.

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8. Ma Hye Ri (Prosecutor Princess)

I know what you're thinking.  Ma Hye Ri on a list of positive female depictions?  Impossible!  I know a lot of people saw Hye Ri as a whiny child throughout most of Prosecutor Princess, but I'd like to make a case in her behalf (Get it?  Make a case?  Because she's a prosecutor?  I'll stop now.).  In the first episode, we find out that Hye Ri aced her exams without studying and then graduated at the top of her law class with ease.  Even if she's self-absorbed and useless at first, no one can deny that the woman has some brains under that hideous mop of hair.  Once she stops focusing on herself, she actually turns out to be a pretty strong prosecutor, too.

I don't think it's any coincidence that the level of crazy perm in Ma Hye Ri's hair
has an inverse relationship with the quality of her work.
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9. Yoo Jung In (Vampire Prosecutor)

Okay, if you really want to see a female prosecutor done right, look no further than Yoo Jung In.  Unlike the previous two entries, she comes to the job full of passion and a drive to succeed.  When she gets left out of the boys' club for being female and a non-vampire, she doesn't mope or dress up as a boy.  She just does her own sleuthing (without the help of cheater vampire powers, might I add) and solves crimes on her own.  Also, she beats up gangsters.  Also also, she interrogates people like a boss.  Also also also, I LOVE HER.

"Let's see who wins"?  It's you, Yoo Jung In.  You win.  At everything.

10. Kim Na Na (City Hunter)

Last but not least is City Hunter's Kim Na Na.  This is Park Min Young's second entry on this list, but it's for quite a different role.  This time, she's a talented, driven bodyguard with goals to make it to the Blue House.  Not only does she have brains, but she can also best Lee Min Ho at judo. For more about how awesome she is, see Coco's review of the series.

Must...restrain...envy...

So who did we miss?  What other series should we check out for other smart, capable women?  What characteristics do you love in kdrama female leads?

Which Smart Kdrama Lead Is Your Favorite?
	Kim Yoon Hee (Sungkyunkwan Scandal)
	Hwang Tae Hee (Queen of Reversals)
	Sam Soon (My Lovely Sam Soon)
	Noh Eun Seol (Protect the Boss)
	Gong Ah Jung (Lie to Me)
	Seo Yi Soo (A Gentleman's Dignity)
	Jang Hye Sung (I Hear Your Voice)
	Ma Hye Ri (Prosecutor Princess)
	Yoo Jung In (Vampire Prosecutor)
	Kim Na Na (City Hunter)
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Korean Ice Cream Taste Test: Guest Post at DramaFever

It�s summer, it�s hot, and you�re watching your favorite K-drama on DramaFever. All of a sudden, the leading man buys the female lead ice cream to demonstrate his love, like in Lie To Me, or the leading lady shoves ice cream in the leading man�s face, like in Boys Over Flowers, or the main couple finally get together after all the turmoil and are now able to share ice cream as they cuddle, like in Coffee Prince. What better way to share in their experience than to go out and try some Korean ice cream for yourself?

At DramaFever, we did just that. I took a little trip over to K-town here in New York City, and got some delicious Korean frozen treats for the DramaFever staff to taste test. The taste testing panel included Jeremy, Nick, and Ahnmin from DramaFever, and I. We scored the ice cream on intensity of flavor, sweet balance, texture, and aftertaste to determine which Korean ice cream is the best.

1. Melona: This is a Korean ice cream classic that is very popular around the world. The light green, melon flavored ice cream is shaped like an American popsicle, but has a creamier texture.

Impressions
Nick: �Melt in your mouth melon!�
Ahnmin: �Flavor and sweetness are most pronounced. The creamy texture could be both a good and a bad thing.�
Jeremy: �Refreshing and flavorful. Not too sweet. Perfect flavor.�
Coco: �Smooth and tasty! The green melon flavor is delightful.�

Score
Intensity of Flavor: 15/20
Sweet Balance: 17/20
Texture: 18/20
Aftertaste: 12/20
Total: 62/80
Rank: 2nd Place

2. Tank Boy: This white, slushy ice is Asian pear flavored. It comes in a plastic squeeze bottle.

Impressions

Nick: �I�m just confused what this is...�
Ahnmin: �Tasted like a foot.�
Jeremy: �Way too sweet. Nauseating.�
Coco: �Has a slightly odd, slushy texture.�

Score
Intensity of Flavor: 11/20
Sweet Balance: 12/20
Texture: 10/20
Aftertaste: 8/20
Total: 41/80
Rank: 4th Place

3. Sweet Corn: This yellow ice cream bar on a stick contains whole pieces of corn in it�s creamy base.

Impressions
Nick: �Corn is not meant for dessert. Ever.�
Ahnmin: �Actually not that bad. The natural sweetness of corn works, but the texture was strange.�
Jeremy: �This should not be an ice cream flavor!�
Coco: �I was intrigued by, but also scared of, the visible chunks of corn. I was right to be scared!�

Score
Intensity of Flavor: 7/20
Sweet Balance: 14/20
Texture: 8/20
Aftertaste: 6/20
Total: 35/80
Rank: 5th Place

4. Screw Pop: This pink, fruity popsicle is curved around like a screw.

Impressions
Nick: �Just your average ice pop.�
Ahnmin: �Too sweet! I got a cavity from one bite.�
Jeremy: �A cold, refreshing fruit flavor.�
Coco: �The sweetness was too intense. Nothing unique about it.�

Score
Intensity of Flavor: 14/20
Sweet Balance: 11/20
Texture: 15/20
Aftertaste: 14/20
Total: 54/80
Rank: 3rd Place

5. Samanco: This fish-shaped rice wafer is filled with layers of vanilla ice cream and sweet red bean paste.

Impressions
Nick: �One of the Korean desserts to taste!�
Ahnmin: �Wafer, vanilla ice cream, and red bean create a stunning flavor combination. Would be perfect if it was more crunchy. The wafer tends to get soggy.�
Jeremy: �A fishy ice cream sandwich, without the fish taste. Love it!�
Coco: �I love cute things, and this is totally cute and delicious. Score!�

Score
Intensity of Flavor: 17/20
Sweet Balance: 18/20
Texture: 15/20
Aftertaste: 16/20
Total: 66/80
Rank: 1st Place

The overall favorite Korean ice cream from our sample was Samanco! The fish shape is just so cute and fun! The red bean paste makes it distinctly Korean, while the vanilla ice cream and rice wafer give it a delightful texture that tastes similar to a standard ice cream cone. Melona came in at a close second with its smooth and creamy taste. The least favorite was Sweet Corn. Sorry, but we decided that corn should just not be in ice cream!

Overall, we had a great time trying out these Korean treats, and now we will be able to recognize them in our favorite Kdramas. Hopefully you can go out and try them for yourself. What is your favorite, or least favorite Korean ice cream? What is your favorite Kdrama scene containing ice cream? Comment below.

Not Quite Kdrama Magic: City Hall Review

City Hall was an interesting watch for me.  I went into the show with really, REALLY high expectations because every person who had ever mentioned it made it sound like it was the best thing that they had ever seen.

I have to be honest. It wasn't the best thing I had ever seen. (Cringes and waits for angry protests)

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Now, don't get me wrong; there were some elements of the drama that were quite good, and I think if I had watched it earlier in my drama-watching career with lower expectations, I might have enjoyed it more.  That being said, I didn't quite feel that magic that I get with the best of the best dramas.  You know what I mean--the kind of magic that puts a permanent smile on your face and makes you want to start the whole series over the second it ends.  With City Hall, I was mostly engaged, but not mesmerized.


Here's the breakdown:

Highlights

I have found that most dramas start out strong and then start to drag through the last few episodes.  Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I am a fast-forwarding monster when it comes to the last 5-ish episodes of most dramas.  Not so with City Hall.  This drama, if anything, started out kind of slowly and gained steam in the second half of the series.  For the first 10 episodes, I actively disliked about half of the main characters, but then they suddenly started to grow on me in sneaky ways. The male lead was a complete dirtbag for a really long time, but looking back, I kind of like that he didn't give up on his dirtbaggery all at once.  He grew in baby steps, but you still had time to enjoy a full, satisfying personality change for several episodes, unlike some other dramas I know (*cough* You're Beautiful *cough*). The chemistry between the two main leads similarly grew over the course of the drama.  At first, I didn't buy it at all, but by the time they started kissing (and I mean kissing), I was 100% sold.  I blame it on this smolder:

Uh, hello.

The building nature of the series also means that it has one of the most satisfying kdrama endings ever.  You know how you sometimes invest 20+ hours into a show only to get to the last episode and you get absolutely no closure on any side characters and the main characters don't even kiss and they just end in a freeze frame where they are staring at each other from opposite ends of the scene and then you double and triple check that it actually is the end and that your computer didn't just freeze up and then you throw something (hopefully not said computer) across the room and immediately start a different drama that will hopefully fill the hole in your heart left by that terrible, terrible ending?  No?  Never mind, then. 

If you get all the way through City Hall, you will finally be rewarded for all of those lame kdrama endings that have made you tear your hair out all this time.  They give you closure on basically every single side character, and they round out the love story with an appropriate amount of "Awwwwwwww" moments. This was definitely in the top 3 final episodes I've seen.

Low Points

One consistent kdrama problem is finding the right balance in the heroine's personality.  It's a fine line between being upbeat and being obnoxious, and for me, Shin Mi Rae falls on the wrong side of that line more often than not.  I had seen Kim Sun Ah in My Lovely Sam Soon and Scent of a Woman before this series, and I liked her characters in both of those.  In this drama, though, her character is so over the top that I cringed almost every time she talked.  And when she did her squeaky baby talk voice? ("Mi Rae want purse! Mi Rae want horsey!") I vomited a little.  

Mi Rae want pukey puke from cutesy overkill?

My scale for kdrama female leads is pretty simple: Would I want to hang out with them in real life?  Sadly, while Mi Rae is a great person who undergoes a lot of character development, I don't think she's going to be my new imaginary kdrama bestie any time soon. For the record, I WOULD be best friends with Mi Rae's buddy Boo Mi.  I kind of wish that they had made her single and written the entire show around her instead.  Then she and Vampire Prosecutor's Lee Young Ah and I would get together and have really sarcastic conversations together.

My other MAJOR complaint with this show had to do with the way the characters reacted to Jo Guk's engagement.  This is something that drives me crazy in romantic comedies.  Just because someone is engaged to a terrible person DOES NOT make cheating okay.  Mi Rae mentions in one of the early episodes that a fiancee is different from a girlfriend because you made a promise to that person, but after that brief conversation, they both still go ahead and do whatever they want.  That's not okay.  

Late in the series, Go Hae confronts Mi Rae about the relationship, and the sighing and crying and reminiscing makes it seem like we should feel sorry for Mi Rae.  After all, she's the plucky heroine and Go Hae is the evil corporate monster-lady, right?  Wrong. Mi Rae slept with an engaged man, and her only worry seemed to be about what their relationship would do to her duties as mayor.  And then that man told his fiancee to deal with it like Hilary Clinton. And we're supposed to loathe the fiancee for being bitter?  Even though I hated Go Hae, I would have been right by her side chewing Mi Rae out on this one.  I also don't buy the excuse that Jo Guk was trying to let her leave with dignity since he basically used her for as long as he could before dumping her anyway.  Even if your fiancee is a serial killer, you should at least have the honor to end one relationship before you begin another one.  And then maybe call the police so she stops killing people. *Steps off soapbox*

Random Observations

- One of these days, I'm going to make a list of weird things in kdramas that shouldn't happen in real life. Somewhere near the top of the list will be the ole eyelash-stroking-while-asleep move.  I don't care HOW dainty his eyelashes are.  If you aren't dating someone, don't touch his face when he isn't conscious.  It's weird. Also, how are these girls always so surprised that the men wake up?  You've been creepily patting his face for five minutes.  He was bound to notice at some point.

No.  Just no.

-While City Hall tends to rely pretty heavily on flashbacks (and my personal favorite, the flashback-within-a-flashback), I appreciate that some of the flashbacks, like the one above, actually give us information we didn't know in the original scene.  It's like a hidden treat!

- If there were a sequel to City Hall, it should just be about Soo In finding love.  I would totally watch that show.

-Cha Seung Won has a great smolder, but in terms of Kim Sun Ah tango scenes, the one in Scent of a Woman wins by far.

- (Mini spoiler) Uhhh, is it just me, or is gagging NOT a foolproof pregnancy test?  All I'm saying is that maybe you should make sure your wife didn't just eat a bad tuna fish sandwich for lunch before you announce her pregnancy to half the town.

All in all, City Hall got a very solid meh from me.  I can see why people enjoy it, but it just wasn't that magical watch I was hoping to find in my next drama.

Reliving My Adolescence, Korean Style: Answer Me 1997 (Reply 1997) Review

Reply 1997 Poster
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As someone who came of age, myself, in the late 1990's/early 2000's, watching Answer Me 1997 (or Reply 1997) is like watching what my life would have been like had I been born in South Korea, and had my best guy friend been an incredibly attractive Asian man that just happened to be madly in love with me.

However, instead of fangirling over early Kpop bands like H.O.T., like the characters in Answer Me 1997, I was living out my awkward teenage life in America, attending N'SYNC concerts and learning the dance moves to all of Britney Spear's music videos. (I know for a fact that there exists a home video of me and my four best friends reenacting a Spice Girls music video at my best friend's birthday party, but I don't know where it is and probably should spare you the awkwardness anyway.)

But, I digress. I wrote this post to tell you that I loved watching Answer Me 1997, and give it my full recommendation as a great Kdrama for beginners and connoisseurs alike. It has a distinct vibe, different from the typical Korean romantic comedy plot and characters, which makes it feel fresh and unique. The characters are relatable and lovable, and the situations will likely remind you of your own adolescence.


The Story

Answer Me 1997 is a coming-of-age story, visiting key moments in a group of friend's journey from adolescence to adulthood. Each episode focuses on themes and events that are the quintessential parts of growing up, complete with first loves, evolving parent/child relationships, teen idols, and awkward encounters with the opposite sex. The main characters take turns narrating the events and the life lessons they learned from their point of view. The best comparison I can make to it is the old American show from the 1980's, The Wonder Years:

Reasons to Love

1. The core of every good Kdrama is the OTP (which in fangirl speak stands for One True Pairing, or essentially the main couple). Answer Me 1997 delivers when it comes to a dramatic relationship with lots of chemistry. There are some pretty great moments full of romantic tension! It doesn't hurt that Seo In Guk is truly a Kdrama hottie and Jung Eun Ji is cute and fun. Seo In Gu as Yoon Yoon Jae definitely made my heart melt. His true love for Sung Shi Won, despite her obliviousness towards him, is adorable. 

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I also definitely developed a girl crush on Jung Eun Ji, and kind of want to be her. Just look at her smize (what Tyra Banks calls smiling with your eyes in America's Next Top Model. I only know this because Vivi loves that show.) She's a truly adorable heroine who experiences character growth as she becomes less selfish and more aware and apreciative of others.

2. This drama is especially engaging because there really is a question as to who the main girl is going to end up with. Will she finally return the love of her long time best friend, or choose his older brother? The drama flows in a flashback format, opening with the main characters reuniting at a class reunion in 2012. We're then taken back to 1997 where the circle of friends is in the full throngs of high school. We're not quite sure from the beginning who is married to who or how their lives progressed to that point, but each episode slowly reveals it. This drama keeps you engaged in anticipation of finding it out until the very end. I really enjoyed this aspect of the show because in most Kdramas it's pretty clear what the outcome will be from the beginning.

3. The other characters in the group of friends were really fun and realistic with their own engaging side stories. This show contains several love triangles, one of which is surprising for a Korean drama, but I don't want to spoil it. The friendships between the characters is so endearing and reminded me of the bond my best friend from adolescence and I share. There's just something about surviving the drama of middle school and high school together that bonds you for life. There's a particular moment where the heroine gets her hair chopped off by her dad as punishment and her best friend chops her hair off too in solidarity that just melts my heart and represents what true friendship is all about.




4. Everyone always comments on how the kiss scenes in Answer Me 1997 are so great and among the best, but despite the great chemistry between the main couple I have to disagree. While Seo In Guk delivers, Jung Eun Ji does not do her part. The kiss scenes felt a little strained because she was not the most passionate kisser. I'll give her a break though, since she is pretty new to acting. The main reason there is chemistry between them has mostly to do with his intensity, so it's still worth watching. Good job Seo In Guk! Can I get in line?

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Drawbacks

There really aren't very many drawbacks to this Korean drama, but Answer Me 1997 can be a bit hard to follow for non-Koreans three reasons:

1.  There were a lot of references to Korean pop culture from the 1990's, which I unfortunately did not get because I was too busy listening to N'SYNC and Britney Spears instead. There were also a lot of cameos from current and past Korean pop stars that I didn't recognize, so I didn't get to enjoy the full effect. But don't worry, with a little research you can get on board. All I can say about this is, thank goodness for the site Dramabeans! If you've never checked them out, they do an amazing job at recapping and explaining Korean dramas, with a good dose of humor and insight.
2. It can be hard to follow the story line because its travels around a bit in time.
3. Some scenes feel totally unfinished and unresolved and leave you wondering what happened next.

Overall, though, I truly love this Kdrama and have added it to our list of Korean Drama Recommendations for Beginners. What did you think of it? Did it remind you of your adolescence and favorite Pop bands? Comment below.

Check it out on DramaFever or Viki and enjoy!

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Battle of the Time Travel: Queen In Hyun's Man Review

Sometimes you go on vacation to Europe and don't have time to watch any tv or even use the internet for almost three weeks.  Then sometimes you get sick on vacation and spend an entire day holed up in a hotel room groaning and sending your husband onto the subway to find a pharmacy while you stay wrapped up in blankets.  Can you guess which was my experience? (It was only a 24 hour thing.  I spent all of today wandering around and stuffing my face with gelato, so I'm pretty sure I'm fully recovered.)

The upside is that I FINALLY got to finish Queen In Hyun's Man (thanks to the awesome Viki website, which streams to Austria), which I started almost two months ago.  As I watched, I couldn't help but compare it to Rooftop Prince, which also came out in 2012, and which I previously reviewed here.  In my mind, reviewing this drama makes the most sense in comparison to Rooftop Prince.  While most reviews seem to clearly prefer one or the other, I think both had a lot going for them in different areas.

Which time travel drama won your heart?

The Male Lead

This one goes to In Hyun's Kim Bong Do in an (almost) landslide. The man is a handsome, brave, intelligent, kindhearted genius ninja scholar-warrior.  He is the anti-chaebol, a genuinely nice guy who treats the girl well from the start.  In other words, he's a second male lead in a first male lead's body.  What more could anyone possibly want?


Ok, there is one little complaint: he's just a liiiiiiiiiittle bit too stoic for my tastes.  Because he makes the same exact face almost all the time, it was hard to tell if he was falling in love, just amused, or was holding in a fart for the first 7 episodes of the series. I was surprised when the couple first kissed because I didn't have any clear indication that he was falling for her at all.  WHERE ARE MY SMOLDERING LONGING GLANCES?????

If only he didn't make this exact face for 90% of the drama...

The Female Lead

I have to admit that I wasn't crazy about the female lead in either time travel drama, but I think this one goes to In Hyun as well just by default.  No matter how hard I try, all I can remember about Rooftop Prince's Park Ha is...that she was nice to old people? And smiled a lot?

At least Choi Hee Jin has some spunk.  Sure, her cutesyness goes a little overboard at times (and makes Yoo In Na seem ten years younger than she did in Secret Garden), but I love that she's nice without being a total pushover, and her cultural "lessons" (especially her version of greetings!) were some of the best moments in the show.

On the downside, why does she have to be an idiot? I don't understand this kdrama trope of pointing out over and over and over again just how stupid the female lead is. I get the sense that most kdrama female leads are somewhere between a cucumber and a herring on the intelligence scale, and it drives me crazy.

"My brain is so stupid, but look at what nice hair I have!" (Bats gigantic eyelashes)

Take Boys over Flowers as a classic example.  Poor ole cottonheaded ninnymugins Jan Di was two (or three?) full years behind Ji Hoo in medical school, and, as far as I could tell, Ji Hoo literally did nothing in school. He sometimes played violin in the forests and sat in a room with a globe in it, but that was it.  And Jan Di was STILL way stupider than he was.

At least in this drama, the male lead doesn't rub in his mental superiority all the time (like in Full House, which made me want to punch Rain in the face), but the imbalance is still troubling.

The Chemistry

Sometimes, I imagine that kdrama writer brainstorming meetings go as follows:

Team Leader: Okay, guys, we need ideas, and we need them NOW!  I want something fresh!
Writer 1: I was thinking we could have a haughty chaebol and a poor, hardworking girl--
Writer 2: Ugh, no!  SO overdone!
Team Leader: Yeah!  I said I need something NEW!
Writer 2: I'VE GOT IT! Instead of having the MAN be the mean one, let's have the WOMAN be mean instead!  It's so different!
Everyone (in unison): BRILLIANT!


What's nice about this romance is that no one is mean.  They're just two genuinely nice people who meet and fall in love without being terrible to each other.  And it works!  If I could go back in time and rewrite my "Best Kdrama Kisses" post to include this drama, I would.  Holy smokes, there is an amazing kiss in this drama, and the rest of their interactions are adorable, too.

This.

This chemistry may partly stem from the real-life romance that blossomed out of the show.  The cynical side of me reads that story and says, "It'll never last.  It's just a publicity stunt."  The hidden fangirl inside of me says, "Shut up! It's truuuuuuuue loooooooooove!" and then melts into a puddle of giddy bliss. 

Everything Else

Lest you think that Queen In Hyun's Man beat Rooftop Prince outright, the things that made it delightful were also its biggest weaknesses.  This show is all about the central couple, and that's about it.  Sure, there is a conspiracy going on in olden times that the hero needs to thwart, but that storyline was so repetitive that it wasn't incredibly compelling.  Grumpy man with scraggly hair laughs at evil plot!  Chase scene in the forest!  Kim Bong Do figures it out and thwarts them! He almost dies and disappears!  I KNEW they were overdoing it when one of his attempted suicides got no bigger reaction than "Again?  Really? Is now a good time to run to the bathroom while the characters are all crying in a splitscreen for 5 minutes?"

The crying gets tiring, but that intensely expressive neck vein popping out to the right does not.

The same goes for the modern plotline.  Aside from her best friend, who added some occasional humor, the other characters didn't even really need to be there.  This is a sad contrast to Rooftop Prince, where the prince's sidekicks were the highlight of the show, and the villains, though completely one-dimensional, at least got you emotionally invested in thwarting them.

Part of this complaint also cycles back to the male lead.  He's so smart that nothing fazes him at all, even when he first passes through time.  I think they missed out on some comedic gold there by having him catch onto every single thing without blinking an eye.

Overall, I really enjoyed most of Queen In Hyun's man, but for completely different reasons than I enjoyed Rooftop Prince.  I flew through the first 9 or 10 episodes in one lighthearted, breezy sitting.  The last handful of episodes were a bit harder to get through, but it's still a solid romance worth a watch!

Kdrama Posters: The Message They Didn't Mean to Send

One of the reasons we wrote some of our recommendations posts is that it can be really difficult to sift through all of the dramas out there to find one you really love.  While I usually rely on reviews from bloggers who seem to match my tastes to help direct me to new dramas, I have to admit that I'm also really heavily swayed by advertising.  A great drama poster can push a show to the front of the line, while a ridiculous one can sometimes prevent me from starting something I might otherwise really enjoy.  Sometimes, the posters are so random or poorly planned that I have to wonder what advertising executive signed off on it in the first place.

With that in mind, here are some of my favorite random kdrama posters:

1. Shark

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What it should be about: A man with some sort of brain injury is very sad, so a nice lady lets him drool on her breasts for comfort. Then she is also sad.  They are both very, very sad.

I have seen this picture popping up all over Pinterest, but I just can't get past this poster to give it a real chance. 


What it's actually about: (from Wikipedia): "Han Yi-soo (Kim Nam-gil) narrowly escapes death and loses his father because of the owners of Gaya Hotel Group, the family of Jo Hae-woo (Son Ye-jin), his first love... 12 years later he returns to Korea with a new identity and carefully plots to avenge his family."

So at least I was right about the sad part.  Good job, advertisers!


2. Twelve Men in a Year

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What it should be about: With the help of a gigantic book/magic carpet, Cupid helps a sassy Korean girl discover the wonderful world of reading!

According to the movie poster, this show should be something like Wishbone, just more Korean.  And maybe with a love story. Now that I mention it, that sounds like an awesome premise for a show!  And probably better than the actual premise, which I quit after one episode.

What it's actually about: (from Dramawiki): "Na Miru, a twenty-nine old woman, starts a dating column and dates twelve men for each astrological sign in the calendar."

3. Full House, Take 2

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What it should be about:  A cross-dressing Golden Girls impersonator is torn between his split personalities: a nice college student named "Danny" and a rich, permed playboy named "Alfonso."

What it's actually about: (from Drama wiki) "This series pivots around a hapkido teacher Jang Man-ok (Hwang Jung Eum) becoming a stylist of top idol group TAKE ONE, composed of the perfectionist Lee Tae Ik (No Min Woo) and a free yet kind guy named Won Kang Hwi (Park Ki Woong) and getting into a romantic relationship with them."

Sooooooooo, that lady in the middle gets to be the stylist?  Somehow, that doesn't sell me on the show.


4. Secret Garden

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What it should be about: A Korean businessman almost dies and wakes up as Mary Poppins.  He falls in love with his "charge," and they use his new powers to fly to Bavaria!

What it's actually about: (from Wikipedia) "The drama tells the story of love story between Gil Ra-im (Ha Ji-won) and Kim Joo-won (Hyun Bin). Gil Ra-im is a poor but proud stunt woman who has supported herself since her father's death. Joo-won is an arrogant and eccentric CEO who maintains the image of seeming perfection. . . . A strange sequence of events results in them swapping bodies."

5. You're Beautiful

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What it should be about:  A ragtag gang of angels kidnap a grumpy man.  They teach him all kinds of useful things, like how to shoot lasers out of his hands and that he shouldn't wear tunics over suits.  He returns to earth a better man.

What it's actually about: (from Wikipedia) "Go Mi Nyu (Park Shin-hye) is a sister-in-training. Her twin brother, Go Mi Nam successfully auditions for the musical band A.N.JELL but is forced to leave for the  United States to correct a botched plastic surgery. Mi Nyu is approached by Mi Nam's manager to pose as Mi Nam while he recovers. . . . Mi Nyu enters the group A.N.JELL and meets its members: Hwang Tae Kyung (Jang Keun-suk), Kang Shin Woo (Jung Yong-hwa) and Jeremy (Lee Hongki)."

This is another case of a series that would have been better off just following the poster instead.

Which K-drama advertisements have left you scratching your head?