Dorama of the Year 2008-II Spring - CHANGE

Only finished CHANGE , so it would probably be right to point it out even though I'm totally not happy about it...

1. Iljimae [일지매] (Finished 1/20) Tags: Action, Historical, Romance, Drama Set during the Joseon Dynasty, Yong acted as a hooligan in the marketplace by day, but at night, he was a thief who robbed corrupted government officials to give to the poor. After each robbery, he left behind a painting depicting a plum tree branch to make his mark and was thus named Iljimae. His main purpose was not so much to rob but to search for the owner of a specially designed sword, which he saw as a child used to kill his father, a loyal subject of the emperor. Eun Chae is a government official's daughter who, despite her upbringing, has a lot of empathy toward the poor. She met Iljimae by chance and couldn't help admiring him for what he stood for even though she had never seen his face. Righteous hero punishing corrupt officials action is kids material that I can't enjoy.   Overall Rating: 5/10

2. Ngao Asoke [เงาอโศก] (Finished 1/31) Tags: Historical, Romance, Drama Monthai is from a rich and well respected family, and is the only son of his mother (who is the legal wife) and his father. He is also engaged and in love with the family friend's eldest daughter, Viyada. Due to Monthai's father being a womaniser with many "wives", Khun Ying Tubtim is paranoid and strict with her son as she does not want him to follow his father's footsteps. This leads to a rift between the mother and son when a housekeeper's daughter commits suicide because of Khun Ying's constant harassment, and leads Monthai to cut off from his family before leaving for Australia. This also leaves Khun Ying Tubtim extremely traumatised. Bpeeyachat, on the other hand, is a poor girl who lived in the same neighbourhood as Monthai with her sickly grandma. She is indebted to Monthai as he was very kind to her when she was a child. One day, due to an unfortunate incident, her grandmother passes away and leaves her in the care of Viyada's family. Lots of horrible personalities don't leave it a chance with me.   Overall Rating: 5/10

3. Three Dads One Mom [아빠셋 엄마하나] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Romance, Family Song Na Young and her husband, Jung Sung Min, desperately want a child but her husband is unable to get her pregnant. Her husband's friends decide to help them. But Na Young suddenly loses her husband in an accident and she gives birth to her daughter but does not know which of her husband's friends fathered her child. The father of Na Young's child can either be Han Soo Hyun, Choi Kwang Hee, or Hwang Kyung Tae. Super stupid and nauseating for me, but should be a treat for fujoushi.   Overall Rating: 5/10

4. Zettai Kareshi [絶対彼氏。] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi Robot maker, Kronos Heaven, finally develops "Night Tenjo", the perfect male humanoid programmed to be devoted and completely loyal to his lover. The company chooses temp worker Izawa Riiko to take part in a 5-day free trial. At first, Riiko only sees Night as a household appliance. But when she finds out how deep Night's devotion to herself is, Riiko finds herself falling in love with him. Joining the love triangle is Asamoto Soshi, a distinguished young executive at her company who has feelings for her. This horrible concept was used in so many anime. It was never great, neither it is now in live action.   Overall Rating: 5/10

5. Night after Night [밤이면 밤마다] (Finished 1/17) Tags: Mystery, Comedy, Romance Cho Hui is a member of the Cultural Relic Control Team at the Cultural Heritage Administration. She chose her career path because of her dad, who was a grave robber. He left saying that he'd quit after he finished his last job, but he has been missing since then. In hopes of finding her dad, Cho Hui decides to join the Control Team. She meets Beom Sang while she's working on the Control Team. He's an ancient art appraiser and restoration expert and is excellent at his job, handsome, and humble. At least he seems it until you really get to know him. Cho Hui and Beom Sang start bickering as they run into each other more and more. Are they bickering, or are they falling in love? First scene with Lee Dong Gun reminded me why I hate him so much ruining anything.   Overall Rating: 5/10

6. Last Friends [ラスト・フレンズ] (Finished 6/11) Tags: Romance, Life, Drama, Melodrama Michiru, bullied at work and struggling with her mother's new relationship, finds emotional support in her boyfriend, a child welfare worker. However, she becomes a victim of domestic violence, causing her fear of love. Ruka, a talented motocross racer aiming for the national championship, faces deep personal struggles she can't share with anyone. Takeru, a kind and perceptive hair and makeup artist, is attracted to Ruka but suffers from a past trauma that has led to a fear of sex. The three become housemates and, through their relationships, begin to find hope for the future. I'm freaking tired of this stupidity. One is psycho stalker abuser, another voluntary abuser victim, the other getting nauseted on thought of intimacy, last one thinking of gender change. Not a single healthy reasonable person. I thought I could handle the couple first abuser episodes to get to main part. But this abuse goes on and on and on and on even past the middle, so this insanity should just stop already.   Overall Rating: 5/10

7. Powerful Opponents [강적들 (强敌)] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Action, Comedy, Romance, Drama Cha Young Jin is the first female to ever work as a bodyguard in the Presidential resident, Chungwadae. Young Jin and Yoo Gwang Pil work as bodyguards assigned to watch over the president's son, Kang Soo Ho. They are assigned to guard Soo Ho for 15 months. All this Korean security superagent action inevitably becomes bs. This constantly recurring theme of  gender competition is of zero interest too.   Overall Rating: 5/10

8. Badarn Jai [บาดาลใจ] (Finished 1/13) Tags: Romance, Drama Aum, a man who mentally falls apart because the love of his life committed suicide. The night she jumped off the building, she landed on the windshield of his car. Devastated, Aum plays the demented man and Margie plays the young woman who helps him regain his sanity by showering him with love and support. At the start of Badarn Jai, our pra’ek Sakkarn dons the asian mullet, isolates himself from the world, and scares his family with his erratic behaviors. Sakkarn is heartbroken and deeply depressed over the death of his fiancee, Aeuy. His mother is deeply worried and asked advice from a longtime friend who has a daughter. Seeing that the only way to heal her son’s sorrowful state is to find him a new love, she arranges a marriage between Sakkarn and her friend’s daughter, Purimarn. In order to coerce her son into marriage, Sakkarn fakes an illness.  So many negative emotions of emotional outburst bickering from the very start that this is not worth a minute of my time.   Overall Rating: 5/10

9. Strongest Chil Woo [최강칠우] (Finished 1/20) Tags: Action, Historical, Romance Kang Chil Woo was a lowly police officer during the Joseon era. His parents were killed in a raid and his main goal was to stay below the radar to survive. However, when his sister was killed, his outlook on life was forever changed, and in seeking revenge, he turned into an assassin and began to mete out justice to criminals. Same bs as Hong Gil Dong, the Hero.   Overall Rating: 5/10

10. You Are My Destiny [너는 내 운명] (Finished 1/178) Tags: Romance, Family Jang Sae Byuk is a girl who tries to find a new meaning in life after she receives an eye cornea transplant from the doctor that took care of her after her accident. That doctor, Kim Na Young, died in a car accident on her way back from Africa. Sae Byuk becomes close with the Na Young's family after finding them. The family slowly accepts her as part of the family. Kang Ho Se and Kim Tae Poong, Na Young's twin brother, have disliked each other since they were young kids. This is mostly Tae Poong hates Ho Se because Ho Se's family was rich and because Tae Poong's father was Ho Se's father's driver and his mother was the maid. Again just a huge family that's for some reason supposed to be interesting for the span of two hundred episodes. Typical Korean soap opera without any sign of originality or freshness or anythign captivating.   Overall Rating: 5/10

11. Women in the Sun [태양의 여자 ] (Finished 1/20) Tags: Romance, Drama, Melodrama Sin Do Yeong is an announcer who instigates jealousy among all the women around her because of her superior looks, great abilities, and great background. But Do Yeong has a deep, dark secret. She was actually abandoned at an orphanage when she was young, but luckily, she was adopted by a nice couple. The couple were unable to have their own children but were surprised when their biological daughter was born. Do Yeong, afraid that her parents would no longer love her anymore, abandoned her 5-year-old little sister, Ji Yeong, at a train station. Years have passed, and Do Yeong meets a joyful girl, Sa Wol, who becomes her personal shopper. What happens when Do Yeong's terrible misdeed is revealed and that Sa Wol is actually the sister she abandoned at the train station all those years ago? For some reason Kdrama keeps hosting all these silly melodrama plots. At least it's watchable and without constant shouting, but that can be considered above average only among kdrama since this is nowhere near Jdrama 6s in quality, atmosphere, directorship and pretty much everything .   Overall Rating: 6/10

12. Little Mom Scandal [리틀맘 스캔들] (Finished 1/8) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Life, Drama The drama is about a rebellious teenage girl who ends up getting pregnant and being an unwed mother at the age of 18. Dunno what's interesting in that except provocative content rating for some. Without coherent moving somewhere story random depictions are useless.   Overall Rating: 5/10

13. Rookies [ROOKIES] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Youth, Drama, Sports Koichi Kawato is the new Japanese Literature teacher at the ill-famed Futakotamagawa high school, whose baseball club is composed of thugs and bullies who have been suspended for a year from all school competitions, for causing a brawl during an official match. The newly appointed teacher finds that the club members left are only interested in women, smoking and doing nothing until, under Kawato's guidance, they discover their dream of going to the Koshien high school baseball tournament. However, the road to Koshien is far from easy as many obstacles await them. Spokon.   Overall Rating: 5/10

14. A Mobile Love Story [爱情占线] (Finished 1/21) Tags: Romance Lu Yun Fei returns to Shanghai from abroad and embarks on his career in the advertising industry. He has always been about why his girlfriend, Su Fei, broke up with him, and he has been unable to contact her despite continuous phone calls and SMSes. Su Fei's mobile number expires due to inactivity, and the number is now used by Mu Bei Bei. The touching SMSes impress her, and she goes online to a mobile virtual community to chat with the sender, nicknamed 'Edge of the Iceberg'. They soon become fast friends. Yun Fei and his team arrived in Yunnan to do a cellphone commercial and selected Bei Bei as their model by chance. When Bei Bei wins a writing competition based on her encounter with 'Iceberg Edge', she decides to go to Shanghai to fulfill her dream. Bei Bei runs into Yun Gei there, but their already sour relationship worsens with further misunderstandings. Bei Bei also meets Lin Li Zhong, who helps her out many times. Bei Bei and Yun Fei begin to admire and respect each other after some time, while Li Zhong also falls for Bei Bei. Although Yun Fei begins to feel stirrings of love for Bei Bei, he withholds his feeling. It is only when Bei Bei has accepted Li Zhong that Yun Fei and Bei Bei accidentally discover that they are actually best friends in the mobile virtual community. Bei Bei and Yun Fei nevertheless part ways after some time. While in Beijing one day, Bei Bei realizes that Yun Fei has sent out search notices for her via the mobile network. With help from virtual friends online, Yun Fei finally tracks down Bei Bei. She agrees to grant him another chance if he is able to fulfill one condition: Yun Fei must send out a chain SMS, and the message must eventually reach Bei Bei within a week… Chinese romance already sounds like nonsense to me since I've seen zero good examples yet they are generally too preoccupied with money. Whole tilt on messaging feels like another simplistic Makoto Shinkai movie. As expected, it's all about money, coincidence and superstition - a rather repulsive mix. But if that's not enough, it also has terminal condition just to rip it once and for all.   Overall Rating: 5/10

15. Awayjee See Chompoo [อเวจีสีชมพูู] (Finished 1/12) Tags: Romance, Drama Bapok is a man who is asked by a dying mother to marry her young daughter in order to protect her from her greedy father. The daughter is a high school student and is named Pawalam. After her mother’s death, Pawalam will inherit acres and acres of precious orange orchards that her father wants to sell. In order to protect her from her father, Pawalam’s mother begs Bapok to marry Pawalam in order to be her guardian. Badok secretly marries Pawalam and starts living his life as her guardian. He treats her as niece and she sees him as an uncle. When Pawalam enters college, she meets up with Wepak and they start dating. During this time, Badok also finds that special someone and also starts a love affair of his own. Things become complicated when Badok and Pawalam realize that they have feelings for each other and they are with other people. The story continues with Pawalam’s father still trying to steal Pawalam’s inheritance and the conflicting feelings among the pra’nangs. Love square is a banal, but reliable concept, but this lakorn also focuses on conflicts and shouting too much. This is almost watchable due to almost normal leads, but side characters ruin it all as usual, so can't even call it decent.   Overall Rating: 5/10

16. Spotlight (2008) [스포트라이트] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Mystery, Business, Law, Political Oh Tae Suk is the supervisor for the society news division and he is someone who never gives up until the truth is told even at the expense of exposing his father, a Member of Parliament. His belief is shared by Seo Woo Jin, his subordinate junior reporter. Together, they go to great length to expose society's injustice and the corrupted relationship between the government and big corporations. It does not even come close to old Japanese Scoop or News no Onna or Top Caster, so can't rate it equally.   Overall Rating: 5/10

17. Pom Rak Roi Adit  [ปมรัก รอยอดีต] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Drama Tawan Chai rushes back to Thailand from England after hearing that his grandfather and uncle have passed away in an accident. Tawan Chai believes he is the only living heir to his family fortune. After his uncle and grandfather’s funeral and the reading of the will, however, Tawan Chai is surprised to discover that he is not the only heir and he might have to share his inheritance with Torfun, who is believed to be a long lost grandchild. Torfun is a street smart young woman with a heart of gold who needs the money to support her family and pay hers and her little brother's school tutitions. Tawan Chai is not too happy about Torfun and her family moving into his mansion and even though they try to act like cousins, destiny just won't let them... So direly fake. Real brainrot.   Overall Rating: 5/10

18. Don’t Ask Me about the Past [과거를 묻지 마세요] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Supernatural Kwak Sun Yeong gets into a car accident and develops the ability to detect a man's past from his body odors. She divorces her husband when she finds out about his long history of girlfriends. Sun Yeong then sets up a business where she helps women and even the police track down suspicious men and husbands. One more supernatural extraction mystery trash concept.   Overall Rating: 5/10

19. I Love You [사랑해] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Comedy, Romance, Life, Drama Suk Chul Soo and Na Young Hee are a newly wedded couple with an age gap of 14 years. This is a drama that tells the story of a couple who just had a baby because of a one night stand. It will portray the modern generation's view on love and marriage as well as the responsibility of raising a child. Park Byung Ho was thoughtless and threw away his child for a better income and life who later regrets this and learns to love. Just introduction of age gap does not create a story. Otherwise a typical bumping romance with no extraordinary actors. Koreans still don't know that series require some story, not just some repeated over and over SOL mashup with deeply flawed personalities. Guess stale comedy alone is supposed to distringuish this kdrama.   Overall Rating: 5/10

20. My Sweet Seoul [달콤한 나의 도시] (Finished 1/16) Tags: Romance The drama about the love life of an old maid, Oh Eun Joo. She has been working at a book publishing company for seven years. Eun Joo forms a love triangle with Tae Oh and Young Soo. Tae Oh is younger than Eun Joo by seven years and Young Soo is a businessman who Eun Joo meets on a blind date. Eun Soo is reluctant in letting Tae Oh meet her friends because of their huge age gap. This causes a rift in their relationship because Tae Oh thinks that Eun Soo doesn't take him seriously. At the same time, Eun Soo continues to see Young Soo and there's something about him that draws her closer to him. Nice slow adult life that's nice for kdrama, but is lacking compared to competitiors.   Overall Rating: 6/10

21. Around 40 [おせん] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Comedy, Romance 39-year-old Ogata Satoko is a highly capable psychiatrist who is single. She's forthright, a caring older sister and reliable in her job and in private. Her interests are staying in luxurious Japanese inns and watching stand-up comedy videos. Satoko hasn't had a boyfriend in the past five years. Nevertheless, she derives satisfaction from work and isn't worried about her finances. Among her good friends that she hangs out with are 35-year-old Morimura Nao, her junior who proclaims that she won't marry, and 39-year-old Oikawa Sadao, her peer since high school. Satoko is happily enjoying the single life. At an alumni reunion as everyone is on the verge of 40, Takeuchi Mizue, her good friend since high school who is now a full-time housewife, rushes Satoko into action. "If you want children, you should marry now" and "It's women's happiness", but both are lost on Satoko, who isn't convinced. One day, Satoko attempts to cheer up Nao, who is downcast over a shocking incident, and goes to her favourite hot-spring inn. There she coincidentally encounters a breakup between a handsome but somewhat odd man, Okamura Keitaro, and his girlfriend. Just as in My Sweet Seoul case, adult big city life is nice, but it rams age gates over and over and over, and that's just tiresome and useless, so it basically looks like nice adult people are only constantly talking and thinking nonsense.   Overall Rating: 6/10

22. Hachi-One Diver [ハチワンダイバー] (Finished 2/11) Tags: Thriller, Comedy, Sports Sugata Kentaro used to be one of the most hopeful trainee to be a professional Shogi (Japanese chess) player, but fails at the final test. Now he has become a "Shinkenshi," a gambler who plays Shogi for money, and boasts his 182 wins in a row. But he is devastated when he is beaten completely by a young woman known as "Ukeshi" who takes any challenges and never loses. As Shogi means everything to him, he decides to train himself harder to become the strongest player. Based on a popular comic, this comedy drama is about a young man's exciting journey to reorganize his life through a series of tough challenges in Shogi guided by a mysterious girl. Even though I favor chess drama, this is rather shallow in comparison to best representatives.   Overall Rating: 6/10

23. CHANGE [チェンジ] (Finished 10/10) Tags: Comedy, Law, Political Asakura Keita, 35, is an all-around nice guy who is a primary school teacher from rural Nagano Prefecture. His recently deceased father had been a Diet (House of Representatives) member from Kyushu and Keita finds himself under pressure to inherit his father's position and seat. Although Keita has no political aspirations, he agrees to run as a Diet candidate for his father's seat to get everyone off his back permanently. Backing from some sharp political operatives sweeps him into the Diet, which leads to a shot at the Prime Minister’s position. Once elected, he finds himself bounced about and manipulated by the elders of the Seiyuto (Political Friends Party) as he tries to use his power to change things for the better. But can a small town former primary school teacher really effect the change he feels his country needs? Another big work with KimuTaku, so probably should finish it even though it does not sparkle interest and Hiroshi Abe gets terribly little spotlight. The middle is watery as usual, so easily skippable. The result is fine, probably important and motivational, but not particularly entertaining or curious or engaging.   Overall Rating: 6/10

24. Ryokiteki na Kanojo [猟奇的な彼女] (Finished 1/11) Tags: Comedy, Romance Based on the hit South Korean movie, My Sassy Girl, the character backgrounds and plot details will be changed for the drama. While the protagonists in the original film were college students, this time the pair will be a marine biology professor, Masaki Saburo, and Takami Riko, an aspiring writer. Disgusting. Such energetic nonsense romance with psychotic FL suits Japanese poorly. Ofc one of the most wimpy looking actors is chosen as ML.   Overall Rating: 5/10

25. Tokyo Shower [도쿄 여우비] (Finished 1/4) Tags: Romance Lee Soo Jin is an actress that used to run away from her problems before getting famous. While filming a difficult commercial shoot, she gets scared and runs away. While on the run from her management company, she meets and grows to love Hyun Soo, a sushi chef from Korea living in Japan. She also befriends Eun Bi (an aspiring singer) and Park Sang Gil (a college student) both of whom are trying to make as Korean expatriates in Japan. Seven years have passed since Soo Jin last saw Hyun Soo and she can't forget about him. International co-production shows are generally safe, shy, simple, complimentary for non-criminal elements. This is no exception. The only curious part for me here is survival of ex-patriates.   Overall Rating: 5/10

26. Honey and Clover (2008) [蜂蜜幸運草] (Finished 1/14) Tags: Romance, Drama A drama adaptation from a hot selling comic. It is a story that portrays how 5 ardent youths from University of the Arts face love, friendship, and the future. The 5th year architecture student Zhen Shan, who is gentle and soft on the inside holds a torch for Li Hua, a lady boss of an architectural firm. At the same time, he becomes aware that his best friend, Ya Gong, also has a single-sided adoration for him. Until the elegant and smart suitor, Ye Feng appears, Ya Gong then realizes that she and Zhen Shan are the same. Both unable to respond to the affection given by other’s while being caught in the first love of their life. A simple and honest person, architecture student Zhu Ben, falls in love at first sight with the niece of Teacher Xiu Shi, Xiao Yu, who is a Fine Arts freshman. Zhu Ben’s 7th-year senior, Chang Lin Tian also falls for Xiao Yu at the same time. With regard to love, being young and ignorant, both have different attitudes and correspondence. But both have an unbeatable sincerity. In friendship as sweet as honey, there are also many sour and puckery sides to the aporia of one-sided love. They are facing issues like producing works of art, graduating, finding employment, the journey to finding oneself. Who will finally be the one who is able to find the lucky, 4-leaves clover, and taste the sweetness of love’s honey? Ha! For once Taiwanese weren't the first to present their live action adaptation. Silly low quality mess, as expected. Compared to Japanese version, this is super bad.   Overall Rating: 5/10

27. Hokaben  [ホカベン] (Finished 1/10) Tags: Law, Drama Domoto Akari is a rookie attorney, so-called "Hokaben," a hot lawyer just out of the oven. Sugisaki Tadashi is her boss at the big law firm, but he has lost his passion for work, and is as cool as ice. These two meet as the only two attorneys at the Pro Bono (For Public Good) section, which the firm created to fulfill their social service obligation. The law will protect the weak---rookie attorney Akari still believes in the idealistic dream. The law will not protect the weak, and it can even be a weapon to kill people---experienced Sugisaki has seen the limit of the law. Clients after clients looking for saviors come to them for help, but the realities in front of them are too harsh to face. Will they give up or will they face the reality and fight?  Law stories are already pretty dry, so require some superstars to liven it. And this eternal tomboy is not it.   Overall Rating: 5/10

28. Pandora (2008) [パンドラ] (Finished 2/8) Tags: Thriller, Mystery, Medical Suzuki, an eccentric researcher at a university hospital, develops a groundbreaking anticancer drug that halts the self-renewal of cancer stem cells. However, his colleagues dismiss his discovery, and he's denied approval for human trials. Desperate, he meets Manami, a terminal cancer patient, and with her help, conducts a clinical trial. But things take an unexpected turn. What will become of Suzuki, Manami, and the new drug? What consequences await as Pandora’s box is opened? It's very strange. It's not particularly interesting to see hypothetical cure of cancer just invented by one person, but afterwards it becomes total nuts with lots of counterparts trying to hinder or help. Strange, unrealistic, useless.   Overall Rating: 5/10

29. Heart of Greed  [溏心風暴] (Finished 1/40) Tags: Business, Drama, Family It is a story of a renowned sea-products retailer and a big traditional family, in which there are those who manage to endure to the end, those who consider themselves superior to everyone else, those who love and respect their brothers, those who seek every opportunity to fulfill their ambition, those who stay loyal to their beloved, and those who remain grateful for whatever they get. When hatred is stirred up among the family, the family breaks down. Again huge traditional family melodrama. It all feels like weird Confucian propaganda to teach citizens how to behave and what to strive for. Saying boring would be understatement, production also manages to be horrible still.   Overall Rating: 5/10

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