My top 10 favourite Korean dramas

[alexandral]

I saw top-10 lists in dangermousie's and princess_dexter's LJ's and was so tempted to post mine too:

They are in no particular order, I have found it hard to order them - I love them all, but somewhat differently ..

- A Love to Kill
- Beautiful days
- Painter of the Wind
- Chuno
- Mawang
- IRIS
- Capital Scandal
- The Legend
- Last Scandal
- Soul
- 9 End 2 Outs
- Slingshot

Comments

[intermezzo]

Sweet! I should do this myself, but only a top 10? So haaard to choose.

How's Capital scandal? It's on my list, but I haven't felt the urge to watch it yet.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Capital Scandal is awesome - WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT.

[intermezzo]

Hahah. Got it! I've changed its priority on The List. ^^

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Hee! Really it is an awesome drama - two amazing OTP's, fighting for freedom , gorgeous costumes, funny moments. EVERYTHING.

[intermezzo]

Sounds awesome! I'll let you know when I'll be watching/be done with it. :) Thanks for the rec!

*butts in*

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Watch it - it's so very good.

Pusher post:

http://dangermousie.livejournal.com/1225379.html

Re: *butts in*

[intermezzo]

You had me at the first cap. OMG! XD

Ok, I need to rearrange my viewing schedule and fit CS in it. Gah, now that oh so many kdramas are starting at the same time...XD Oh well.

Re: *butts in*

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yessss! :)

Let me know if you need help finding files :)

[mishane.livejournal.com]

I have found it hard to order them - I love them all, but somewhat differently ..

Yay, I'm not the only one who feels like that. There a few k-dramas that I adore that are fighting for No 1 (A Love To Kill, Legend and 9 Ends 2 Outs) but I adore them for very very different reasons. How can I pick number one from them?!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh, I feel i must add "9 end 2 Outs" to the list too - let it be TOP 11 list. :D

Yep, exactly, or "Soul" and "9 Ends 2 Outs" - there is nothing really common between these two, but I love them both.

[mishane.livejournal.com]

YAY! Another 9 Ends 2 Outs lover! I get so happy when I see people that like the same dramas I do, since the ones I like (particularly ALTK and 9E2O weren't very popular).

I still have about 4 more episodes of Hon to finish. I really liked it but I forgot how to do the subtitles on it (there were a few steps involved).

Re: Painter of The Wind: As much as I adore MGY (and I adore adore adore her), the idea of a drama that centers on painting sounds completely boring (kind of like that new drama about the music school, I couldn't be less interested). But I see how much people love it. I saw that you said the subs were bad. How bad is bad?

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I watched Hon on viikii - could not stop for three days, I remember . :D

Re: Painter of The Wind: As much as I adore MGY (and I adore adore adore her), the idea of a drama that centers on painting sounds completely boring (kind of like that new drama about the music school, I couldn't be less interested). But I see how much people love it. I saw that you said the subs were bad. How bad is bad?

yes, if you don't like paintings, it might be a no-go. The subs were so bad - you could not understand some parts at all. I understood some things about Korean language, though - for example there is no difference between "he" and "she" in Korean.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Most of yours are on mine too but oddly, without me even seeing a frame of it, whenever I think of watching Painter of the Wind, I just get so turned off for some reason. I don't know.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I dunno, it makes sense to me - I take it you are not a fan of Park Shin Yang - a subjective like/dislike of one of the lead actors can do this. Also you don't like big age differences (I like them, one of my fave tropes when is done right, especially when male is older) and are not interested in lesbian part too (I wasn't at first, but it is done beautifully).

Mind you, I also didn't think PSY is any pretty until I saw him acting.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am not a fan or unfan of his - I've actually never seen him in anything at all so I have no opinion on him.

This said, he didn't look appetizing in the Wind stills, but nobody looks good in that garb, clothes, and beard.

I am really not interested in lesbian stuff in dramas and the age gap isn't my thing either but neither of these is something I hate.

I think it's just I heard it's so arty and to me that just spells boring (irrational, I know), plus I find painter biopics in general pretty dull. If I am watching a period drama, I want swords! :) And I know it has an open ending.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I would think "Lovers in Paris" can be your thing, it goes a bit draggy a the end, but many dramas do the same (and we have already discussed the ending - it is happy, but strange). Park Shin Yong is very charismatic there. I think I like his style of acting, in particular, he studied in Moscow (in "Shepkinsky") and I think I can see it in his roles.

"The Painter" is one of rare pure cases of girl-crushes for me. I usually watch dramas for the guy's sake, but once in a while girlcrush strikes me (like in "Jegoongwon" as well).

You see, the "arty" part might be why I like it so much - I am really fond of paintings in general so I found all the detailed information on Korean style of painting quite interesting. But still, it is the girlcrush and the feminist tone of the drama that makes it so great for me.

Take me right, I liked the OTP in "the Painter" as well, loved it (all that longing and "I might be some kind of gay - THIS IS SO WRONG OF ME" on one side and "Oh noes he is totally awesome but he thinks I am a boy" on the other, but like with Chuno, the main point of the drama is NOT OTP. It is all about how hard it was for a woman to succeed in a no-woman-allowed field in old Korea.

Re: the open ending. I hate them, but I hate dying endings even more. In the case of this drama, because both protagonists are known historical figures, the writers really had their hands tied. Plus the whole Korean public was going gu-ga shouting "HE is so much older than HER" and "NO NO NO LESBIANS" so I think really the writers did the best of what they could. And the ending isn't THAT open - she left him because otherwise he wouldn't be allowed to paint anymore, that is all (back to the painting being the most important thing for them both) and he keeps living longing for her, painting her portrait.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The Painter girl doesn't sound like a girlcrush type of girl for me at all though - I dislike Moon Geun Young and the girlcrushes I get are on girls like Sujini or Yi Nok (the really loud, in-your-face ones) which she doesn't seem to be.

Plus, the stuff about painting is so not my thing at all.

Ooooh, that ending sounds so like not my thing but I suppose it could work in context.

ETA: OMG, looked it up, they have almost a 20-yr age difference! Yikes. I am out.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Yep, if this for some reason strikes any of your "Oh no!" chords , it is really a no-go.

She is quite feisty, though and i-know-what-i-want type, but in no way silly or naive (which both Yi Nok and Sujini are). She is may be something of the herouine of WW is, but in old Korea - speaks her mind/headstrong/gets in trouble. Much less of a lady than the girl from "Jejungwon".

butting in myself

[intermezzo]

Watch it, watch it! It's oh so good. There's romance, cross-dressing, identity/sexual crisis all woven into the relationship (FTW! I end up shipping everyone/everyone at some point XD), drama and political schemes. Also, BAE SO BIN as one of the best Kings evah! *fangirls* Moon Geun Young and Moon Chae Won rocked their parts.

If the age-gap doesn't squick you too much then go for it. Me? I'm usually not against them, but when I saw the promo pics I was kinda iffy about teh whole thing. When I watched it onscreen? I changed my mind. It was totally believable. As they were all the other pairings.

Re: butting in myself

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The age gap doesn't bother me, it just seems so slow and all about painting (I want swords and horses and sexy noblemen in my period dramas, I am shallow). Is my impression wrong?

Also, is the ending an open one?

Re: butting in myself

[intermezzo]

Ok, if you want something like Chuno, then no, you're not wrong. But it's not completely devoid of action. It's more similar to the Return of Iljimae, imho, than Chuno, but with less fight scenes. The painting is not that slow either and IDK, they managed to make it seem interesting and entertaining? Maybe the first couple of eps are a bit slower, but when the political conspiracies kick in, then you're in for some action. It's less fast paced than Chuno for sure.

Hm, I'd say yes and no. Sorry, I know that doesn't help much, but I don't want to spoil you completely.

[biases.livejournal.com]

It turns out I haven't seen even ONE of your favourite kdramas, but most of them are on my to-be-watched list (I'm particularly looking forward to Capital Scandal, Painter of the Wind, A Love to Kill and Mawang. I have all the episodes of all four series downloaded and ready, I just need to find the time to watch them!)

I love seeing everyone's different tastes, it's so interesting! ♥

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Yes, although I enjoyed almost all dramas on your list they didn't get into the top 10.If I have to do a top 20 a lot of them will be in ("Full House" , definitely)

Seeing you like romantic comedies, I think "Capital Scandal" is definitely a must, it is not a romantic comedy 100%, but it includes romantic comedy as a big part of it.

[biases.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Full House! It's silly and implausible but Rain does such a wonderful job and I can really get behind the OTP, they're just so perfect together. :D

My tastes tend to change a lot as well - when I watched Spring Waltz I really got into a mood for more serious dramas, so if I'd done a top 10 post then, I'd more than likely have several different entries. Lately I've been watching romantic comedies (Wish Upon a Star and Pasta) so they informed this current list. I think I'd need to do a new list every month at the rate my tastes change!

I've heard only good things about Capital Scandal from most of my friends, and I love Kang Ji Hwan, so it's definitely going to be watched soon. Thank you for the recommendation!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I love rom coms, in fact , I swear to myself never watch anything but rom coms after Chuno ends - I am really struggling to come in terms with the possibility of a very BAD BAD ending.

I love both "Pasta" and "Wish upon a star" too.

Friending you...

[cranberrysheep.livejournal.com]

I really need to get around to watching Last Scandal.

Re: Friending you...

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I have added you too!

"Last scandal" is really quite trend-setting. I haven't seen another over-30 drama I liked so much.

[sodahands.livejournal.com]

I've seen half of your list and they'd be in my top 10 as well.

I really need to watch A Love to Kill since you, dangermousie and mishane love it so much. I've been avoiding it cos I'm not a fan of Rain.

And I was really interested in Paiter but the subs were sort of horrendous so I gave up :/

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Ypu see, I have divided Rain in my brain in two parts: 1) Cute Rain of his drama-acting days 2) THE WORLD STAR rain. The two are really quite different from each other. :D

And I was really interested in Paiter but the subs were sort of horrendous so I gave up :/

I know! They were! I faithfully struggled through, but I would have enjoyed it even better with decent subs.

[sodahands.livejournal.com]

All right then I have bumped it up on my to-watch list :D

I really do want to see it. It seems like the kind of thing I'd like. Maybe I'll watch it when I have more patience.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

YAY! I hope you'd like it when you get chance to watch!

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

SOUL LOVE!

Since everyone's already commended your taste on the others. :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Hee! Soul is so under-watched!!! I want to make everyone to watch it!

[timescout.livejournal.com]

Just about everyone I know in the drama-world is doing this. *g*

I've seen 7 out of your 10 and I think at least 5 of them would me in my list too. Hmmmm..... I have to think about this.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

YAY!

I find your recs aways very useful . :D

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Is Soul the 10 ep series with Lee Seo Jin from last year? Because I've been poking around, looking for it, and haven't had any luck.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the one - he is most awesome there. am-addiction have it, with subs now (you will need to register, but it is quick and painless - I rec).

I watched it on viikii last year, like you I couldn't find the subs at the time.