Drama Grab Bag

Yes, I’m still here and watching stuff too. I’ve even somehow managed to amass a full roster right now. 😀  It’s just that RL issues have not magically disappeared, soooo… still not much time nor energy to be dedicated to blog posts. Unfortunately this will be the state of things for quite some while yet, but at least I know there’s an end in sight… some time next year.

Drama Year 2022

I could probably copypaste most of last year’s end of the year post here as nothing much seems to have changed. Well, save for the dramas I did manage to watch. quirkycase @dramabeans pretty much said it in her post – “There were some dramas I enjoyed, but not many stuck with me afterward or made a strong impression.” Which is one reason I struggled with trying to write something, anything about most of those I watched. So I didn’t. The dramas I enjoyed the most were Under the Skin, Kikazaru Koi ni wa Riyuu ga Atte and New Life Begins. No surprieses there as those are the ones I was compelled to make a proper post about. All three were excellent in their own way and gave me planty of happy drama hours.

Thoughts On: Kikazaru Koi ni wa Riyuu ga Atte

Kikazaru Koi ni wa Riyuu ga Atte (There’s a Reason for Dressing Up Love) is a drama I watched quite a while ago but never managed to write about then, despite of how much I liked it. And I did like it a lot! There’s something about slice-of-life jdramas that just seem tailormade for me. 🙂 No high drama just for drama’s sake or convoluted plots, relatable characters who feel like real people with real jobs they actually go to and not one uber rich asshat in sight (yey!). I’ve also come to appreciate characters that are generally really nice, even when they are supposed to be e.g love rivals. Thumbs up for loving, supporting parents as well. It’s all so refreshing after, say… kdramas with all these nasty, borderline basket cases. 😀 Besides ticking off all the right boxes, Kikazaru Koi put a big grin on my face and that is something I love in dramas these days. If you are looking for a heartwarming, “healing” drama, this might just be it.

Drama Year 2020

This has been a difficult drama year for me. I’ve struggled watching dramas and struggled even more trying to write about them. Which is why the “cold winds of no content” has been blowing through this blog for most of the year. The state of the world has probably had something to do with how things stand but mostly I believe it’s just overall, persistent drama fatigue. Which is why I’m probably going to take some time off from the blog and dramas, as both have sort of started to feel like a chore, something I have to do insted of something I enjoy doing. I may still keep tabs at what my blogging pals are doing and even comment if the mood strikes. 🙂

Thoughts On: Seirei no Moribito

I wasn’t really in a mood to watch anything on my current rosters so I decided to go back to my List of Doom and picked a drama I’ve been meaning to continue with for ages. I watched the 1st season of Seirei no Moribito when it aired but then never seemed to find the right time to watch the last two seasons. Until now, that is.

End of the Year Musings of 2019

So, here we are again… it’s December. Where did the year go?! 2019 and the decade are winding down to their ends. I’m also wondering if my kdrama ‘obsession’ is winding down to it’s own end.

Drama Grab Bag

I finally managed to find some time to put together a long overdue post. So yeah, I’m still here, watching stuff – an epi here another there, with an occasional dramathon thrown in for good measure.^^

Drama Grab Bag

With the end of God’s Quiz, Children of Nobody and Ever Night I found myself sort of dramaless. I tried this and that but nothing really struck a chord. Until I decided to pick up The Story of Minglan on a whim. I first watched all of the subbed episodes available at that point and then continued on as the epis got released. It’s now kind of a daily ritual to watch at least couple of the epis. 😀 Then just yeasterday I started Sandglass. I initially thought I’d watch a fiew episodes at a time but as it sometimes goes, I got throughly hooked. I also gave The Crowned Clown a go… but ended up dropping it. A well made drama with some great acting and the story isn’t too bad but it just didn’t stick. It took me longer and longer to get on with an episode and I finally had to admit defeat. A pity but can’t be helped. Them dramas keep on coming, so I guess… better luck next time? Besides, now that I’ve sampled one item on my List, I could always pick another one on it. There’s plenty of content where Sandglass came from.

Year in Dramas 2018

As people have probably noticed, I haven’t been doing a lot of posting this year. Mostly due to lack of time as I’ve been a lot busier with Real Life than I used to be. That’s not the only reason though. As time goes by I’m finding it much harder to find dramas to watch. I don’t think my taste has dramatically changed but rather I’ve become more and more picky and less forgiving for some of the flaws even decent dramas inevitably have. I’ve started and dopped SO many dramas this year and there are even more that didn’t interest me enough to even check them out.

“Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi” Revisited

Korean adaptations/remakes of Japanese dramas have a tendency to go somewhat awry as each country’s approach to making dramas differs in places. Japanese dramas are often more down to earth and mostly feel quite real. Of course they can also be quirky in that special jdrama way that is hard to reproduce. The characters are usually pretty average as well, in a sense that there are generally no uber rich chaebol types or “geniuses” of every field ever. There’s plenty of normal worker bees of differen fields, middle class office workers and well paid professionals though. I’m talking about the “regular” jdramas here, the multitudes of manga adaptations and school themed dramas are different beasts altogether. Kdramas on the other hand often notably put an emphasis on romance, even in stories where romance doesn’t really fit in, as that seems to be what the viewers mostly want. And kdramas on the whole are very, very serious about giving the viewers what they want, even if it proves dergatory to the plot. When you mix that particular quirk of kdramas with a Japanese melo you’ll more than likely get a “Hundred Million Stars Falling From the Sky/Smile Has Left Your Eyes”. A watered down version with a tragic romantic OTP and an ending that felt like a cop-out to many.

I knew from the outset that I would not be watching the Korean remake. I’d seen the original and had no real interest in the Korean version as I had a feeling it would’t be able to capture the feel of the jdrama. Korean’s don’t generally do controversial topics, so I was sure they’d not go with That Ending, which would mean that the characters wouldn’t be the same either. I wasn’t too far off. I was curious enough to read several recaps, reviews and comments though and I realised that I’d forgotten many of the details of the original. So, I decided to rewatch Sora Kara to refresh my memory and to see how I felt about the drama now.