pcmodem wrote:

Actually, I don't mind dissenting or different opinions at all, as long as they are expressed in an respectful manner and there is logic behind the choices.

True, true.

But more times than not, they end up being mutually exclusive of one another..

This is for qilver -I like Unmarried Family a lot too, it's under: Hikon Kazoku

pcmodem wrote:

Actually, I don't mind dissenting or different opinions at all, as long as they are expressed in an respectful manner and there is logic behind the choices. Viva la difference! -PCM

Exactly.


The key word is "respectful".
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aishetru wrote:

yeah true. but i found it kinda long. they could have made it shorter. it was a lot of the same thing going back and forth with the same arguments about him being lazy, not earning money for the rent and food, ........... i think the only part i kinda liked was when her boss wanted her to be his girlfriend. cuz he was decent and treat her good and believe in her. but she end up with her roommate. oh well. but the leads always end up together. still i think this drama was a bit long and draggy in the middle.

I liked Attic Cat, it had an addictive quality for me, but found the same flaws. It is harder to maintain a great storyline for 16+ eps than 12.
But also as viewers we dont tend to watch a series only one ep a week. So in some sense we are harder to please than the standard TV audience.
Even so, frequently the korean dramas allow the male lead characters to act like, what a standard American woman like me would consider a total chauvinistic jerk!! I was rooting for her Boss too. He was so nice!!
But I think some of my fascination with the dramas is that they are so different culturally. Having been raised in a very liberal and liberated NYC family I find much of what I watch quite extraordinary.
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aishetru wrote:

i watched Attic Cat and i thought it was so-so. to me it was somewhat long and some parts dragged on and on. and the actors' acting were mediocre. it's like they just say their lines and not much feeling coming out. i hate the parts when the leading female would cry over her guy roommate who is a freeloader and bad gambler who is being chased by a bunch of bad guys for his gambling debt. and he was such a flirt and a liar. always chasing after that one b-tchy witch (his college classmate) who is so freaking mean. but he still got the hots for her even when she does the bad things. in the end, him and his roommate end up together after so many ridiculous fights and a few years apart. Like you haven't seen this plot in a japanese drama., duh. in general - i hate korean dramas. they are too long and boring! usually use the same old lines and too much crying! talk about being melodramatic! and the bad acting makes it not believable. and plus i hate korean movies too. i watched one and that was it. boring! like hell! This statement says it all about you. Why try and reason with you when you hate everything Korean. You watched "ONE" korean movie and you now hate all korean movies. How pathetic is that. i have also watched many Taiwanese dramas, i like some of them. but then when i watched Japanese dramas, i totally fell in love with them and the acting is super good and they are short! i like the fact that Japanese dramas last like 11 episodes instead of the 20-40 Korean and Taiwanese dramas. In general a mini series korean drama is usually 16-20 episodes. Of course some of them can be much much longer. But I have watched some jaapanese dramas that also 40 episodes or llonger. Of course most of them are 11-12 episodes in length. What does the number of episodes of a particular drama have to do with anything. You must have the attention span of a *****.

[/b]

I guess I should not be surpriised with all this korean drama bashing coming from a japanese drama message board.

Yes I admit I have been watching korean dramas for over 15 years. But in that time I have also seen my fair share of japanese dramas. But you won't see my bashing them. They are bad and good korean and japanese dramas. You want to know what bothers me the most about korean dramas. It's usually how they end. The korean writers have no idea now to end a drama.

What even more strange is that you look at people's distro/trade/sell lists on this message board and I see all kinds of korean dramas on that lists. A few years ago you would of not seen anything.

A few years ago there is a well known member here that I was checking out her j-dorama distro lists. She had no korean dramas on it. I started to send her korean dramas for some of her japanese dramas. From what I heard back from them she really like them. Of course her first love is japanese dramas. I look at korean and japanese dramas just as a form of entertainment. Heck if you don't like them. Then do not watch them plain and simple.

Jeff Chung (General Manager) of KBFD-TV Station. Since May 01, 2005 has started writing a article in our local honolulu advertiser paper each sunday. He is providing weekly synopses of its four most-watched soap operas, along with a little explanatory insight into the culture. Maybe this will give you a better understanding of these korean dramas and their culture.

1. Catch up with details of top Korean soaps

2. 'Ballad' appeal set standard for soaps

3. As the Korean world turns ... always a new soap opera

4. Cultural cues help with Korean soaps

5. Keeping it 'real' with today's societal issues

6. What's with all the kneeling, eating?

Thanx for the great links olnil

I must say I adore good dramas from all countries whether Asian or American or anywhere else.

Ive loved long series from Tiawan like AT THe Dolphin Bay or from Japan Toshiie TO Matsu and from Korea Winter Sonata.
I have loved short series from all three too.
Ive also stopped watching after one ep series from all these places.
Good drama is good drama and bad is bad.
Currently on my list is Snow WHite.
My Love Patzi didnt hold me. (though I love KJW)
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My colleagues here are big fans of Korean drama, so I thought I should give it a try.

So far, I have struggled through the first episode of Winter Sonata. After a week.

I guess if you a hopeless romantic, Korean dramas are great. They remind me of those old Taiwanese movie somehow. The storylines are somewhat old (thanks to my colleagues, I was given a synopsis of every show out there) and always involve love triangles, someone dying, brother-sister falling in love without knowing it.

Someone please encourage me to continue with the rest of WInter Sonata. I have another 23 episodes or so to go...

wan wan wrote:

Someone please encourage me to continue with the rest of WInter Sonata. I have another 23 episodes or so to go...

I enjoyed Winter Sonata but you have to be in the mood for a real sobfest. And if you dont like the beginning forget about it. Try another storyline that might be more up your alley.
Bodyguard was fun, and so was Oh! Pil-seung. Fresh and different.
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wan wan wrote:

Someone please encourage me to continue with the rest of WInter Sonata. I have another 23 episodes or so to go...

Ganbate!
Imagine how much more you can express in this thread after you finish the whole show!!!!

Olnil

i have the right to my own opinion. you don't have to think you are all so god damn high and mighty. this board is freedom of expression. if you don't like what i wrote, then don't read it. don't need to go calling people names.

i'm not gonna go and waste good hard earned money on stuff if it is gonna be crappy shit.

Deceased wrote:

I watched K-drama a few times but never like it. Probably most of the plots are kinda slowwwwww and over dramatic that almost like the taiwanese dramas, crying for the sake of crying. BUT, K-movies are definitely worth watching. It seems like they are better producing movies than dramas. Eg, Brotherhood, My sassy girl, Old Boy, etc. And they do have decent looking actor like Won Bin. i guess he looks much better than Kimura. Kimura is one of the most over-rated actor. At least he acts better than kimura? Yes , no? If you notice, Kimura had this typical signature acting for almost every dorama he acted. Smirk smile with heck-care attitude towards women.

Hi, why you give yourself such an odd name huh? :-)

I do agree that K movies are better & their drama is like slow trgic tw drama in the 70s & 80s. Won Bin is the most refined looking K actor. I find the rest of the K actors very squarish & rough looking... I guess I prefer "pretty boys" or more refined features? Won Bin has the classic good looks while Kimura has that look of the new generation... hmm... more modern & with X- factor... something like that?

Yeah... I do agree with your comments on his typical expression. I guess that sells that's why the Japanese tend to stick to a formula. If you notice, their idols have different forte & appeal compared to say the Hollywood ones.

I watched Glass Shoes and I think its great! However, korean shows are always rather draggy. Glass Shoes was great though, i cried buckets most of the time. Ya i agree u hav to be in the mood for such shows, if not you'll just hate it.

Gee... no way does won bin look better than kimura!
i'm not a kimura fan but i think that he's got heaps more style than won. kimura may not be super tall and may not be the classic deep eyed, cheek boned, chin cleft type but he reeks of modern sexiness. maybe it's the way he walks and acts. he's truely charismatic. just check out the advertisements he did for levis a couple of yrs back. truely sexy!

in comparison, check out the advertising that bae yong jun does... he looks like an ojisan with ab muscles!
i dunno why but k actors never really strike a chord with me. they all seem quite plain in comparison...

another example is kubozuka yousuke. he's soooo skinny and pale and definitely not the perfect handsome macho guy. but he's talent and somehow super attractive, at least to me.

fybabe wrote:

they are full of sick people falling in love with their brothers or sisters or suddenly dying of a fatal genetic disorder in episode 34. And finally in episode 53 you realize they are not blood siblings... Or they are always confused till the last episode where they fall for the date's brother or something... I'd rather watch Bollywood... I always get cheated into watching them. It's always one of my friends telling me how 'great' this drama or that drama is... I think Korean dramas are why they invented the fast forward control in the first place. Geez... thank god for the fast forward control!!!

I think that the "trendy" K-Dramas do have unfortunate situations but as long as I have watched Japanese dramas, every season, a lot of J-Drama enthusiasts complain about similar things.

For those who are hardcore... they tend to diversify watching dramas from other countries, so if you get tired of a K-Drama, Chinese Drama or J-Drama...you have many to choose from.

As for Japanese dramas, there have been years that I've complained about "disability" dramas or darker dramas. Every season, no matter which country...you expect dramas like these that will definitely tick you off, make you happy or depress that crap out of you.

The difference is...you put 12 weeks into a Japanese dramas (trendy/non-NHK), 30-60 weeks to a Korean drama, much more for a Chinese drama and years for a Filipino drama. Definitely a taste of your patience.

kndy

Ren_yumi wrote:

I watched Glass Shoes and I think its great! However, korean shows are always rather draggy. Glass Shoes was great though, i cried buckets most of the time. Ya i agree u hav to be in the mood for such shows, if not you'll just hate it.

how come the korean dramas i watch are off the hook?
i dunno maybe we are watching different shows??

fybabe wrote:

Gee... no way does won bin look better than kimura! i'm not a kimura fan but i think that he's got heaps more style than won. kimura may not be super tall and may not be the classic deep eyed, cheek boned, chin cleft type but he reeks of modern sexiness. maybe it's the way he walks and acts. he's truely charismatic. just check out the advertisements he did for levis a couple of yrs back. truely sexy!

I just DLed them.
Still I have a friend who calls hima "poor man's Won Bin"
She's more into Kdrama

fybabe wrote:

i dunno why but k actors never really strike a chord with me. they all seem quite plain in comparison...

I think this guy is very handsome from Bodyguard. And tall too.

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Yup yup! I agree with this totally, me not so crazy abt him but generally Japanese guys are more modern with styles. Those who like greasy abs or macho-ness will probably prefer Koreans to Japanese. Won Bin is not bad lah, but stylewise i prefer Kimura. My personal preference is still the look of the new generation, a little short or skinny nevermind, pretty boys are nice too, manliness is really passe for me. No wodner I find gays attractive

ohh... I'm just thinking if you take Won Bin to Japan, let him grow his hair out, style him up & package him in a jappie way, he'll probably will look more more dashing!

right.
i think the 'skinny' look is in
i just told all my potentially cute guy colleagues and my brother to lose weight!!! the funny thing is, they are also aware of this weird trend! it's simply refreshing to see the guys going on diet as well...