Fandom Friday: Korean Dramas!

June 1, 2018

Happy Friday! Do you like Asian dramas? Today's Fandom Friday is on four Korean dramas I am currently watching. I've also been watching other Asian dramas, these four just happen to all be Korean.




image from dramafever.com
If you like dramas that don't follow one single plot point and are more like short stories, this is for you. Each episode is its own story for the most part, although some characters make recurring appearances. This is a heartwarming, sometimes cry-inducing 2015 drama based on a Japanese manga Shinya Shokudo by Yaro Abe. It follows a chef and his restaurant that's open from midnight to 7am. He has one item on the menu, but he will cook anything a customer requests. Each episode is a story about a customer narrated by the chef, who has a mysterious past of his own as we can see by the scar on his eye. I love the stories, and the food looks so appetizing! I always want to eat when I'm watching this. There is also a 2017 Chinese adaptation, and a 2016 Japanese adaptation (Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories) with different stories that can be found on Netflix.

image from dramafever.com
I read that the word does not translate the same into American English, as "goblin" means something else in our language. So this doesn't refer to those little evil creatures that you kill in games for points. Another translation may be "Guardian", and in this story it refers to a man who was once a human, and was turned into a god as punishment. In his human life, he was a general who served a young king, and as a military man, he killed many people. Though it was part of his job, this was considered a sin, hence the punishment. His human life ends by his own sword, he is granted immortality so that he may watch all his loved ones die, and the story is that once the sword is pulled out, he can finally die for good. The only person who can pull out the sword is the Goblin's Bride, as she is the only one who can see it. I really like how this is written, I love the music as it really draws me in, and I love the side plots as well.

image from kdramastars.com

If you've read this previous post, yes, I am still watching Kill Me, Heal Me. I hit a rough patch that I could not get through, but I have a few more episodes to go. If you haven't read that previous post, this is a drama about a wealthy man with 7 personalities and his secret personal psychiatrist. Without giving away too much, I'm more than halfway through, and in recent episodes there have been many slow-motion scenes that involve more crying and what feels like over-acting. The story drew me in at first because of its more or less accurate portrayal of Dissociative Identity Disorder (or at least more accurate than anything I've seen from Hollywood), but the psychiatrist Dr. Oh Ri Jin is not that likable anymore. It may be the acting, or it may be how her character is treated. Although trauma is a huge factor in the development of DID and treating that trauma may help in the healing process, I feel like they focus way too much on one aspect of the trauma. I have only a few episodes to go and they still have not covered why the other 4 personalities developed, how they will be helped, and although the description is that there are 7 total personalities, I have only seen 6 so far. I'll keep you updated on the blog's FB page.



image found at https://www.daebakkpop.com/user-posts/first-impressions-unfiltered-thoughts-go-go-waikiki
image from daebakkpop.com
Go Go Waikiki, (also Welcome to Waikiki or Eulachacha Waikiki), is by far one of my favorite dramas I have watched so far, ever. It's made me laugh SO HARD and so much! The story begins with 3 friends who run a guest house for tourists that's not going so well, and the baby they find in their guest house one day. You end up with six young adults and a baby trying to pay the bills and follow their dreams while making many mistakes (not the baby), falling for the wrong people, sometimes failing at life, and sometimes achieving things. It's hilarious.

I have others on my list, waiting to get started, including the following:

The Best Moment to Quit Your Job


image from dramafever.com
I haven't yet finished the first episode but this feels like if Sex and the City and the reality that most women are not enjoying mostly carefree and glamorous lives in the city had a baby. I'm looking forward to watching it, but the first few minutes of the first episode bummed me out. That's how real it feels.

The Scholar Who Walks The Night

image from dramafever.com
The DramaFever description of this states it is about a woman who must disguise herself as a man to sell books, and falls in love with a vampire.

The King's Woman

image from mydramalist.com
Another one with Dilraba Dilmurat and Vin Zhang. I mainly want to watch it because those two star in it. That's it, that's why.

Have you watched these dramas? What do you think? What are some dramas you would recommend? ♥

Post Comment
Post a Comment