Dorama of the Year 2005-I Winter - Yoshitsune

Yoshitsune was both great and informative.

1. 18 vs. 29  [열여덟 스물아홉] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Drama Yu Hye Chan is 29 years old and married to Kang Bong Man, her old classmate from high school whom she initially despised and hated but later fell for. The story opens with her decision to get a divorce, but on the way to the courthouse, she has a car accident. When she wakes up at the hospital, she has no memory of her life past the age of 18. Her husband tries to support her since she is now helpless, and as she begins to recover, she finds herself falling for him all over again, but as she recovers physically, she also begins to regain her memory and along with all of the reasons why she planned to leave. Will they be able to work out their differences, or will this spell the end for their marriage Typical kdrama romance, but when title says 18 or lower, it usually means overwhelming amounts of stupidity, and that's true in this case as well. And now add to this all the amnesia till certain period drag. Pretty painful to watch.   Overall Rating: 5/10

2. Green Rose  [그린 로즈] (Finished 1/22) Tags: Thriller, Romance, Drama, Melodrama Lee Jung Hyun is accused of attempted murder of his lover Oh Soo Ah's father. He runs away and becomes a fugitive. Later, he returns with a new name and seeks out revenge. Oh Soo Ah who is the successor of the enterprise "SL Electronic" has Shin Hyun Tae at her side who has supported her over the years with her father who is in coma. Revenge is a simple concept while thriller and melodrama elements only disappoint me. Basically, I find even romance too cheezy and forced here - plagiatry of ichino no shorcake catharsis for fast romance setup is unforgivable. And when melodrama kicks in it gets even worse.   Overall Rating: 6/10

3. M no Higeki  [Ｍの悲劇] (Finished 3/10) Tags: Mystery When Ando Mamoru was young, he encountered a burglar in his house. The fear of that moment became a major theme in his life, leading to him joining a security firm. His heightened sense of danger avoidance saw him promoted early. With his engagement to Yuki, the daughter of company director Shimaya, fast approaching, he is at the peak of happiness. However on the train on the way to an important business meeting, he meets a women dressed for mourning and finds himself in all sorts of trouble. The woman's name is Aihara Misa. Mamoru doesn't remember her, but Misa bears a considerable grudge against him. From that moment on, Mamoru's life begins a noisy collapse. Another shitty mystery, this time about stalker, totally freaky.   Overall Rating: 5/10

4. Mr. Fighting (2005)  [格鬥天王] (Finished 1/20) Tags: Action, Romance Duan Yu Qiao is an Internationally acclaimed TFKC champion and son of the Tuan entertainment enterprise, which is mostly run by his stepbrother, Duan Yan Hao. When the enterprise tries to buy out the local TFKC arena to rebuild into a mall, the stepbrothers are met with unwilling occupants. One such occupant is a stubborn woman, Ye You Li, whose father founded that arena. Her attitude and personality touches Duan Yu Qiao who decides to help her keep the arena, going against his stepbrother's wishes. As tension between the stepbrothers grows, Wei Ying Qi, another fighter, comes into the picture. He develops a crush on You Li and also wants to help her. They form a team to try to retain the arena while also battling with their internal love triangle. All I see is plain spokon.   Overall Rating: 5/10

5. My Sweetheart My Darling [어여쁜 당신] (Finished 1/159) Tags: Drama, Melodrama This drama portrays the various ways of loving of seven guys and girls through a story that revolves around a man and a woman who used to be elementary school classmates. In Young (Lee Bo Young) accidentally runs into her elementary school classmate Ki Jun (Kim Seung Soo) after so many years, and the two tie the knot despite their parents' protests. But after failing to get pregnant even after three years of marriage, In Young faces a divorce. The situation escalates when Jae Min, an executive of a publishing company and a widower, shows interest in In Young, and a girl named Hee Joo, who has had a crush on Ki Jun since childhood, shows up. While In Young and Ki Jun attempt to make their new relationships work, In-young becomes pregnant out of the blue as she continues to see Ki Jun even after the divorce. To make things worse, In Young's younger brother, In Cheol, gets embroiled in a love triangle involving his sister's friend Sun Mi and the girl named Mi Jung, whom he dated while serving in the army. Again numerous characters poured in to provide endless melodrama. No, thanks.   Overall Rating: 5/10

6. Sad Love Story  [슬픈연가] (Finished 1/20) Tags: Romance, Life, Drama, Melodrama Sad Sonata is a love story about two men and one woman. The young Joon Young, who was raised by his mother who sold liquor to American soldiers, met the blind Hae In and they became childhood sweethearts. Then, Hae In immigrated to the U.S. following her aunt and her uncle, an American soldier that married her aunt. There she met Gun Woo, who was Joon Young's best friend and the son of a very rich man. After she received a letter from Hwa Jung saying that Joon Young is dead, she accepted Gun Woo's love. After an operation, Hae In was able to see again . The story picks up again when composer Joon Young, singer Hae In, and music producer Gun Woo all meet again. Another misery melodrama to dump as irritation is overwhelming.   Overall Rating: 5/10

7. Spring Day  [봄날] (Finished 1/20) Tags: Romance, Drama Jung Eun is abandoned by her parents and suffers from absolute loneliness. She started learning piano when she was young and tried to enter a music college but failed. She also failed the orchestra audition. She reunites with Eun Ho, whom she met when she was young, and she grows fond feelings for him. Eun Ho loses his mother and his memory in a car accident. Eun Sub, Eun Ho's stepbrother, falls in love with Jung Eun, a woman who likes his brother. How will the love story of brothers for a woman end? Wow, in the first episode there are three psychotic characters who yell at full voice and can't control emotions like at all. I might tolerate one at max.   Overall Rating: 5/10

8. Strange Stories from Liao Zhai  [新聊斋志异1] (Finished 2/36) Tags: Adventure, Historical, Romance, Fantasy On his way for delivery, Ning Cai Chen met a beautiful woman, Xiao Qian, in the woods. She asked him to stay with her for the night, and he did. Unbeknownst to him, Xiao Qian was a fox demon who seduced men into staying and sucked their souls while they were sleeping. Fortunately for Ning, he was rescued by the Maoshan Taoist priest, Yan Chi Xia. Ning's near-death experience didn't deter him from falling in love with Xiao Qian. Instead, he tried to save her. He found out that Xiao Qian was controlled by Lao Lao, a tree demon who used Xiao Qian to gather men's souls. Because Xiao Qian failed to obtain Ning's soul, Lao Lao punished her by marrying her to Heshen Lao Yao, a powerful skeleton demon. Ning, with the help of Yan, planned to crash the wedding and save Xiao Qian. Collection of stories or even fairy tales, so not for me.   Overall Rating: 5/10

9. 3 Leaf Clover  [세잎클로버] (Finished 2/16) Tags: Romance, Life, Drama, Family After their mother left them to be with another man, Jin Ah and her brother were raised by their grandmother. Jin Ah left school and began working as a welder in a steel mill in order to support her family. Because of her rebellious brother, Jin Ah was arrested and sent to jail. As an ex-felon, she struggles to assimilate into normal life and longs for her mother to return to their family once again. She starts working for Sae Hyung, who is engaged to Yeon Hee. As time goes by, Sae Hyung and Jin Ah begin to fall in love. So tired of this constant misery lingering on and on and developing deeper. Trying to build some relations on top of it is a waste of time.   Overall Rating: 5/10

10. Wonderful Life  [원더풀 라이프] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Drama Han Seung Wan and Jung Se Jin bump into each other at the airport and accidentally take each other's passports. They meet again and Seung Wan and Se Jin end up spending the day together. Both having to deal with love complications, they end up drunk and having a one night stand. Back in Korea, Se Jin discovers she is pregnant and leaves to have the baby alone. A year later, Se Jin's clueless sister ends up spilling the secret to Seung Wan at his parents birthday party, showing up with his baby daughter. Seung Wan and Se Jin are then forced to marry by their respective families. Complicated love takes place between Do Hyun, Se Jin, Chae Young and Seung Wan. The rest of the story revolves around the family's journey in learning to take responsibility and learning to love each other. Can't stand Kim Jae Won, plus main heroine also has psycho personality - that makes it unwatchable for me.   Overall Rating: 5/10

11. Yasashii Jikan  [優しい時間] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Romance, Life, Drama, Family Yukichi Wakui, a former businessman, moves to Furano, Hokkaido, after his wife Megumi's tragic death in a car accident. There, he opens a small coffee shop called "The Forest Clock." His son, Takuro, who was driving during the accident, now works as an apprentice pottery maker in Biei, 50km away, and has not spoken to his father since. Takuro meets Azusa, a charming shop employee with a tendency to break things, and they quickly fall in love. The story revolves around the strained relationship between father and son, alongside the interactions with the coffee shop's visitors. Slowness is ok, but it's not focused enough. Basically, it becomes a bartender type of show made of of many small stories of customers and meditative talking, and I'm not enjoying this.   Overall Rating: 6/10

12. Yoshitsune  [義経] (Finished 49/49) Tags: Historical, Drama The 44th NHK Taiga Drama is about the life of Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159 - 1189) was a late Heian and early Kamakura general of the Minamoto clan of Japan. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo. His older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo founded the Kamakura shogunate. Watched it in the past and loved it as a minor masterpiece. Considering Yoshitsune civil war strife 2nd of importances after Sengoku since then. Not rewatching now as trusting my former intuition, so not going to reassess.   Overall Rating: 7/10

13. Bad Housewife  [불량 주부] (Finished 1/18) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Drama The story is about Su Han, a fatherly man in his mid-thirties, who becomes a full-time home manager after voluntary retirement, while his wife Mi Na becomes the breadwinner who had only concentrated on household chores up until then. Wow, basically remake of At home bad with worse actors and lots of useless emotions.   Overall Rating: 5/10

14. Sh15uya [シブヤフィフティーン] (Finished 1/12) Tags: Action, Mystery, Tokusatsu, Sci-Fi If you are with me, you can get it. This is Shibuya, but it is not Shibuya. This is where Shibuya 109 is next to 108 (Tokyo), and the highways signs write Shibuya. The people who live in this virtual world are "Shibuya 15". The only thing real is the pain. I usually don't include Tokusatsu as they are usually made for kids, but giving this one a go since it seems to be different. And ... it's not really different as very soon we see a character transforming into battle suit and fighting pure evil opponents. That's enough for me to dump it as it's clearly made for younger audience.   Overall Rating: 5/10

15. Super Rookie  [신입사원] (Finished 20/20) Tags: Business, Comedy, Romance, Drama Super Rookie is an intelligent comedy which gives hope and courage to young people going through difficult times. It is a story of a young man, Kang Ho, who gets a job in a prestigious company, LK, due to a computer error. He doesn't have a great family or educational background and is regarded as a slacker in traditional terms. Worst yet, he seems to spend his life devoted to reading comic books, playing cards, kickboxing, and the like. However, he is spirited, street-smart, athletic, loyal, and charismatic, especially with the ladies. The drama reveals how he gets his new job, his work life, and the love and passions in his life in a very interesting way. He never gets discouraged despite all of life's difficulties. Kang Ho's high spirits and Mi Ok's efforts to improve her life give today's younger generation a chance to look at their own lives and ponder what's truly valuable.  Only second kdrama that I was able to watch to the end! It does not necessarily mean that it's good - more that characters are fine, and otaku MC makes everything better. But after entertaining start it loses any sense of direction and just drags to waste time. It could easily be cut in half without any loss.   Overall Rating: 6/10

16. Delightful Girl, Choon Hyang  [쾌걸 춘향] (Finished 1/17) Tags: Comedy, Romance Lee Mong Ryong moves from Seoul to a high school in Namwon, where Choon Hyang, his first love, helps him pursue a prestigious university. However, after Mong Ryong meets his ex-girlfriend Chae Rin, his feelings for Choon Hyang fade, though she remains devoted to him. Later, Byeon Hak Do, a confident CEO, enters her life and becomes determined to make her fall for him after being rejected. I'm allergic to silliness - there's just too much of it. No likable characters for me, too, and flow is too banal and artificial.   Overall Rating: 5/10

17. Fukigen na Gene  [不機嫌なジーン] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Life, Youth, Drama, Family Yoshiko Aoi is a budding researcher in ethology, the study of animal behavior. "Men=male" are born unfaithful. But through her studies, Yoshiko learns it's not the males' fault. Rather, it's the fault of their genes, who work to replicate themselves by controlling the males' body. This is the sad, but commonly accepted theory of biology. What's even sadder is that Yoshiko's nickname is "Gene," because her name written in Chinese characters can also be read as "Jinko/Geneko." The love story follows Yoshiko's struggles with research and romance. For me concept of science approach to love or relations is already flawed, never worked out well when happened in anime. Sadly, it's just dumb and not worth my time investment.   Overall Rating: 5/10

18. Hello, Franceska   [안녕, 프란체스카] (Finished 2/12) Tags: Comedy, Supernatural, Sitcom Romania, 2005. One of the last vampire families on earth decides to disguise themselves and live among humans until "the glory of their empire" revives. They are sent to different places all over the world that are considered safe by their leader. However, a group of vampires takes the wrong ship and happens to come to Korea. On board, they run into a timid and unlucky man Du Il. One of the vampires bites him by mistake, and he becomes one of them. They promise Du Il that they will return him to a human on the day when their leader comes to find them. He doesn't have any other choice but to live with them. They are disguised as a family of five and start new lives in Seoul.  Damn it's silly. Constant background laughter is not nice. Vampires as theme is really boring for me.   Overall Rating: 5/10

19. Perfect [完美] (Finished 2/26) Tags: Drama The play tells the story of three urban young and middle-aged men and women who, despite their different identities, statuses, and ages, interpret a love story that is equally touching and familiar. 26 episodes and six main characters are both red alerts. Must be the first Chinese SOL drama that I see, and it's just boring, with artificial emotions, poor dialogues and not appealing actors.   Overall Rating: 5/10

20. Yang Guang Yu Ji  [阳光雨季] (Finished 1/23) Tags: Drama Set in Hongyuan Middle School's aid to Guanghua Middle School in a poverty-stricken county, the series revolves around a charity sale fundraiser: principal Luo Tianming asks students not to ask for money from their parents, student Chen Feng gets his mother's support through a charity sale, and Zhang Bin fails to use his family's wealth to gain the limelight. Lu Xiaobo, a political teacher, teaches the relationship between money and value in conjunction with a charity sale, and sharing the experience of poverty resonates with students, with conflicts caused by differences in education between urban and rural areas running through the main line. The follow-up plot covers the mountain expedition, Li Ying's award-winning essay exposing family secrets, and teacher Lin Ziyu resolving the unrequited love of his colleague Dongfang Ranmei, showing the collision of concepts and emotional connection between teachers and students as they grow up.  So much empty talk that if feels just like a huge waste of time, incredibly boring.   Overall Rating: 5/10

21. The Story of Han Dynasty  [楚汉风云] (Finished 1/50) Tags: Historical, War It tells the story of how Liu Bang and Xiang Yu joined forces to fight against Qin during the Chu-Han War, and how Liu Bang's ambition led him to defeat Xiang Yu and establish the Han Dynasty. I see tag martial arts missing here, and I usually don't include anything with this tag. When unarmed person fights off a dozen people with spears and sends them flying and hits them midair, I consider it buffonry and can't stand it. This might be acceptable for a comedy, but absolutely not acceptable for a serious historical series. MC ambush outside tavern by local mobs is such a typical horrible wuxia scene The rest of it is also unrealistic.   Overall Rating: 5/10

22. Wiman Sai  [วิมานทราย] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Romance, Drama Panin and Arisara meet in Rayong, where she helps him after a robbery, mistaking him for a foreman. Unaware of each other’s true identities, they fall in love. He admires her generosity, and she respects his integrity. Back in Bangkok, Arisara learns Panin misled her, while Panin discovers she is his brother Yoh’s love interest. Both feel betrayed: Arisara because Panin won’t admit their past, and Panin because he doubts her sincerity. Their misunderstandings deepen as Yoh’s obsessive love complicates matters. Typcal lakorne. Again they can't live without toxicity and abuse...   Overall Rating: 5/10

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