GOT7 – They are finally back!

This year has not been particularly great so far, so it was a nice surprise to hear that the guys would have a comeback in May. And here it is! Such a happy-go-lucky, summer-ry song. This made my day… no, my month. 😍

Of Monks and Masters has subs! 😲

OMG, seriously!! I had more or less given up hope ever seeing subs for Monks.

I went on YT just a while ago to check something in the last epi and saw that it was subbed! I was utterly flabbergasted but ecstatic. 😀 I then checked all the other episodes, alas – epis 2-3 and 8 are still unsubbed. Still, that’s better than nothing and having the last two episodes with subs is more important anyway, as those are the crucial ones. Gosh, what a wonderful surprise this was. Guess I’ll be rewatching all the subbed epis in the near future. *happy dance* 🎉

EDIT 18.7.2022 – All episodes now have subs! 🎆 Here’s a playlist for all of them.

Under the Skin – Final Thoughts

Under the Skin will probably end up being one of my fave shows of this year. I’m still trying to process my thoughts about it, so I’m sort of struggling to find the right words to convey what I actually want to say, ha. This isn’t one of those “thrill a minute” shows that often resort to cheap gimmics to paste over the otherwise flimsy plot and gaping plot holes. Some of them can be quite watchable if all you want is easy to diggest entertainment, especially if the actors and director are are putting their best foot forward. If you want a well made crime show that isn’t too dark or harrowing, this may fit the bill. I really liked Into the Darkness too but one such show per season is quite enough, thank you. 🙂

Under the Skin – First Impressions

Don’t you just love it when you come across a show you didn’t even know existed and end up enjoying the heck out of it? Some of them are real hidden gems, others just ones that people may well be watching but not writing/talking about. I don’t really know which category I’d put Under the Skin in but I did come across it only because Karie the Magne @ Dramas with a Side of Kimchi posted her first impressions of it. I was intrigued enough to check it out myself. Yup, loved it. Enough to go through all 10 episodes available @ Viki so far. 😀

Grid – First Impressions

I do feel a bit apprehensive to be writing a first impression post after just one episode as the whole thing can go to pot later on *cough*The Veil*cough*. But… Grid is written by Lee Soo Yeon, who penned Stranger/Forest of Secrets, so one can be somewhat assured that Drama will stay on course.

Drama Grab Bag

I sometimes wonder how some long time drama watchers like kfangurl have been able to keep their interest in dramas intact. Many of those who were around when I got into dramas myself have disappeared from the internets, some probably moving on to other things. My own interest has sadly been slowly but steadily waning as the years go and the current RL situation with work has put another nail in the coffin. Apart from the very early years, when I watched just about anything I was able to get my hands on, I’ve always been kinda picky with my choices. But in the past couple of years it’s been uncommonly hard to find stuff to watch and even when I liked a drama enough to finish it, I often didn’t really have any deeper feelings for the story or it’s characters. In many cases I’d be hard pressed to recount what the drama in question was actually about. I watched it but wasn’t able to truly connect or care. I’ve also realised something while pondering upon why I’m enjoying Sword Snow Stirde. It’s sort of like a familiar, warm blanket I can wrap around me and feel content. The past year and a half have been mentally exhausting and I don’t have the capacity to process anything too complex or intellectually demanding. Comfort food is what mainly feels good right now.

Drama Year 2021

This has been a strange year. In a way it’s just like kfangurl wrote in her year end post – seems like the year went by fast but also it feels like I was stuck in time. It also feels like 2021 has been a continuation of 2020, only worse in some ways.

At the beginning of the year I decided to take a break from dramas and blogging but as the months went by, I realised it was actually more of a break from blogging. I’ve been battling exhaustion all year from ever increasing workload that usually leaves me totally drained. Weekends are mostly spent recovering from the previous week. The saddest part is that I don’t think next year will be any different. Sigh. Writing a blog post takes time, effort and some brainpower, none of which I have in excess and it shows. I made all of 4, yes frour, posts in 2021 and two of them were about GOT7, ha. I also seem to have developed an attention span of a gnat. I tend to “wander off” from dramas I’m watching after couple of episodes, never to retun. Even if it is something I was mostly enjoying. I did manage to stick to few dramas long enough to finish them and there are couple I do intend to continue with (Move to Heaven, Hospital Playlist 2, Luoyang). I’m also currently watching Sword Snow Stride 雪中悍刀行, which is quite entertaining and the cast is grrrreat.

Here’s what I watched this year (as far as I can remember^^):
Korea
Awaken, Forest of Secrets/Stranger (re-watch), Imitation, Navillera, Run On, Sell Your Haunted House/Daebak Real Estate, The Silent Sea (pretty good for a Korean SciFi drama – watched it from behind a pillow 😂 ), The Veil/Black Sun

China
Be Yourself (a nice college/coming of age drama), Definitely Not Today (darkly quirky and fun), The Imperial Coroner (bit of a hidden gem), Nirvana In Fire

Taiwan
Some Day or One Day

Black Sun (aka The Veil) – First Impressions

I don’t watch all that many Korean action/spy shows and I’m especially hesitant to watch any while they are airing. So many have gone wonky at some point, one way or the other. There’s just often too much of The Stupid in them. Yes, most action shows tend to be the same world over. Plenty of explosions, car chases, violence that tends to lean on the gratuitous side and so forth, pretty basic stuff. To make any show stand out in a sea of similar content, is the writing, execution and actors. I know there are plenty of people who are happy with just “thrills per minute” but I get bored if there is nothing else to latch onto. I want a good , engaging story no matter what the genre is!

Drama Grab Bag

Well, I’m back. Sort of. I still don’t have much time for blogging nor all that much incentive either, but I’m watching stuff and I actually found it in me to write one of these again. 😄 So, I guess things are moving to the right direction…

Encore – Here’s to new beginnings!

For someone who’s not an Aghase I sure post a lot about GOT7 but in my 10+ years of following kpop, they are the only group whose music truly speaks to me. I do like them as a group too, there’s just something about them that feels so organic and wholesome. 😀 Anyway, when they said that they are not going anywhere, they really ment it. To everyone’s surprise GOT7 just dropped a new song, totally out of the blue. Even cynical olde me got tears in her eyes watching the video. 🙂