“Why should I be righteous? That’s what makes us kill each other. I’m just trying to do the right thing for myself.” – Do Chi Hwang
Damn. My plan was to review another drama that I finished recently but once I started this gem of a series, I just could not wait to share this with my readers. Change of plans, the drama of the month is “Watcher”.
I have, previously in numerous posts, praised cable TV networks for their high quality dramas. Too bad they don’t get enough traction. This one is pretty recent, so some might have heard of it.
Yes, listen to this pretty lady pliss and watch this drama!!
Watcher is a crime thriller where three different people come together to solve a case and catch a murderer they are all related to. This also involves corruption within police and prosecution department. And now you will say, but all the crime thrillers from Korea have this exact same story line. You are definitely correct.
What stands out here is how the plot has been executed and the mystery of who that murderer is, you just cannot put one name to it. By even ep 12th, you would know people who are involved in the corruption, you would know who has been doing what all this while but you would just not know who that mystery man is. This, is what I call, a successful plot. Makes the viewers keep guessing.
I am on 12th episode while I have started preparing this post (remember I told you guys last week that I will need to prepare buffers for my posts since I might start working on weekends starting next week?) and I just feel like directly going to last ep to know who the person is. The suspense is killing me!!!
Always to the point Do Chi Hwan
Phew! After a few hours, finally finished it. I would hate to give out spoilers though. Here is the plot. The story follows a cop named Do Chi Hwang (Han Suk Kyu), a traffic policeman named Kim Young Goon (Seo Kang Joon) and a prosecutor turned lawyer called Han Tae Joo (Kim Hyun Joo). They are embroiled in one case 15 years ago when Young Goon’s father is arrested by Chi Hwang for murdering his own wife, Young Goon being only witness and Tae Joo acting as the prosecutor for the case. 8 years later, Tae Joo manages to procure some evidence deeming Young Goon’s father innocent but is attacked by someone in the police breaking her family apart too. The story is set in the present where these three form a team to find the corrupt police officials and prosecutors and reveal the mystery behind all these incidents around these guys.
As I mentioned before, not only the plot has been executed flawlessly without many frustrating points because you are just so busy guessing who the actual perpetrator is but the acting and OSTs are top notch too. But I am sure I haven’t praised anything this much for the plot. Plot itself can carry this particular drama, other things are just icing on the cake.
The minion doing all the dirty work ❤
The only thing that might be lacking is character development for Do Chi Gwang. You get to know his story, you come to know his POV but he still remains stubborn old man and that actually is his charm. Other characters really see great development, especially Young Goon. Seo Kang Joon also provide some comic relief to otherwise very serious drama. The struggle between what’s right for you, your emotions and what’s the greater good is real in this one though.
The one question they keep asking throughout the series is “Where does our humanity come from? What’s different between a human and an animal?” OMG, I have become such a big fan of this writer’s writing. I will go and look for more dramas from this writer or source material for this drama. In the meantime, you should go check the series out. It’s usual 16 episodes with 1 hour runs. You won’t be disappointed.
Conclusion: Good series need more watchers (Do you see what I did there? :P). I give this series a solid 10/10. 16 episodes, no romantic melo drama. Perfect for people interested in only crime thrillers. I personally also loved the wardrobe of our female lawyer. Those dresses are goals in life.
Personal Front: Nothing much to tell this time. I did get my first ko-fi last week. Thanks to the anonymous person and subsequent people who bought me some, I could prepare this post. I worked more than 40 hours this week and am going to work tomorrow as well. Gotta earn that extra monies lol.
Anyway, I am looking for animal shelters to volunteer for around my area. I could try the library too but I wanna work with animals. Not been very successful so far but let’s see.
Today was also the last day of my boss and a senior whom I had come to be great friends with at my current company. I’ll miss them both. Those last hugs TT_TT.
Today’s song: This new song this time coz haven’t been listening to any lately. Still dunno my feelings about this song from Stray Kids
Disclaimer: All images and videos belong to their respective owners and none of them are mine.
Hello everyone, how are you guys doing? Apparently, this was going to be my last post for 2018 but as usual, it didn’t happen. Do remember that this is a review and not a recommendation. I personally feel like I wasted too much time watching this drama. And I don’t want my readers to go through the same, even after the star studded cast.
This drama is a prime example of over-hyped actors in the drama and a haphazardly put bland plot. If you read the synopsis on the drama websites, you come across the words NIS agent, conspiracy, murder and a widowed female lead whose husband is the part of this whole conspiracy. Fans of criminal dramas like me are hooked.
But then you get 2 annoying kids who if they were my kids I would slap the shit out of them to make them understand how troublesome they are are the cause of each and every trouble in the whole drama. Basically, the whole plot rests on the fact that the two brats cannot control themselves.
The troublemakers and plot drivers
I envy them for having such a lovely mother though, they still cannot understand her plight. Some people would bash me over expecting too much from 5 and 7 year olds but trust me, you would get annoyed just watching them, imagine dealing with them in real life, ugh.
Anyway, this is a story about an NIS agent called Kim Bon (So Ji Sub) who was falsely accused of murdering a spy from North Korea, despite them being lovers. He is still being chased by some of the NIS agents so he’s gone undercover, trying to find real murderer behind his past lover. Go Ae Rin (Jung In Sun) is a normal housewife whose husband works for some big conglomerate and is killed when he witnesses a murder of some congressman happening.
That’s probably the most romantic moment in the drama?
Through fateful meetings and help of her extra nosy neighbors, Go Ae Rin realizes that her husband was actually part of a conspiracy. She also happens to start working for the same set of people who murdered her husband, coincidentally of course. Then she gets involved with actual NIS and helps Kim Bon clear his name and catch the murderers who are just a small part of a bigger chain involving all the bigshots from the government. They solve the mystery and fall in love too.
The synopsis looks pretty normal. But as I stated in the beginning, this story is just a bunch of loopholes and you end up pulling at your hair in frustration. (Another frustration filled update will be coming soon with The Golden Eyes).
Okay…
The only good thing about the drama is the acting of main leads. So Ji Sub is a veteran. This was my first drama with Jung In Sun and I really liked her acting. The villain was good too and the most comedic part of the drama. But other characters were so frustrating, especially Kim Bon’s friend in NIS.
I hate it when scriptwriters take us normal people as fools when it comes to criminal dramas. But they should understand that we viewers have so much material at our dispense, that although we obviously can’t be experts, it’s easy for us to point out flaws. I would give them though, it was hard to figure real villain out. The focus kept shifting from one person to other. But by mid of the series, that also became really obvious, so, yeah.
Me as the story progressed
Comedy was okayish too. The awkward Kim Bon with the kids was hilarious. I remember the OSTs to be good. Revisited and I actually like almost all of them.
I can’t really think of anything. Quite disappointed I was. The plot was so bad that it trumps everything. I don’t know why it’s rated so high mydramalist and other websites.
Conclusion: Watch it at your own risk. If you want something which you could watch without putting too much brain into it, and just pass time, you might give it a try. I personally would give it a 4/10. 16 eps and I was just wondering when it was going to end.
Personal Front: I went to look at an apartment today and it was really disappointing. I think I shouldn’t look at houses at all. I gotta find a new place for me as soon as I can.
In other news, the golden eyes is coming to an end and I absolutely hate the fact that Zhang Yixing would choose such a poorly written script. Or, perhaps, given that how close his character in the drama is to his life philosophy, he just chose the drama for that? That would be such a sad thing.
Also, as I mentioned in my last post that I won a few merch from this company’s prediction game. One of them was a manga portrait done by a professional artist. So, here I present my manga portrait. It would also be the first time revealing myself here lol, at least in part.
Yours truly
Today’s song: I really liked this one OST from this drama:
This week, I am recommending another short-sweet-love and slice of life webtoon from South Korea. It’s been very very long since I finished any manga/ manhwa/ manhua tbh.
I might review Barakamon when its last volume comes out late July. But otherwise, I’ll have to really dig out all the manga I have finished and probably read them again to review. I might actually do that someday but right now life is hectic and I will, perhaps, continue reviewing ongoing webtoons.
Webtoons are the craze these days anyway. Not only Naver’s original webtoons.com have it, but apps like Tapas and Tappy Toon have ever increasing collection. Not to mention, the Chinese webnovels being converted to colored webtoons have taken over the world by storm as well. People who’re already paying to read novels are now also engrossed in their respective webtoons, pouring in more money. *Cough Cough* Qidian is getting richer by the day… *Cough*
My Boo is the love story of a human girl and a ghost guy. When love transcends the boundary of dead and alive, that’s when you get My Boo. It’s not a new concept and I am following another webtoon these days on a similar theme called Ghost Wife.
I ship ❤
Anyway, the protagonist of this story is a girl names Yuri So who can see the ghosts for some reason. She has had traumatic past with them and tries to avoid them as much as she can. She finds it hard to maintain a balance between her powers and her urge to help when she sees one in distress.
She works as a freelance translator and moves into a new house whose previous owner was our ghost, Jun Ko. He died in the house and is stuck there for past 3 years. First Yuri avoids him and outright rejects him just to not involve herself with him. But slowly she starts understanding him and herself and they become housemates in real sense, ultimately falling in love for each other.
I love the dialogue delivery too. Peaceful yet powerful.
What I like the most about this webtoon is how maturely it’s been written. Each chapter starts with a glimpse from Yuri’s past, especially her traumatic experience after which she decided not to involve herself with the ghosts.
It also gives the POV of both Yuri and Jun and how their feelings change for each other. With just 47 episodes, the story is fleshed out so well, I can just feel all the feels again. The emotions in this webtoon are so real and so relate-able, I just can’t. I ended up binge reading it again.
As I said, you can just feel it all with just two characters. Like the whole 47 chapters is majorly with just two characters. OMG, I have whole new level of respect for the author Jeongseo. How can they make something so good with just two characters? You can feel Jun’s helplessness when he can’t save Yuri from falling from stairs or when he can’t drive her to hospital like her ‘human’ friends or when he can’t touch her or when he can’t hold her.
I feel so helpless just reading this one dialogue, dammit!
Same for Yuri, she can’t save him. She can’t bring him back. She can’t help falling for him either. But fate has something else for them. Their interaction is so fluffy, so awkward initially and turning into sweet moments later. Anyway, I’ll warn beforehand, this webtoon has a bittersweet ending, one which would make you cry and smile at the same time.
And the next best thing about the webtoon is art. Realistic, simple, cute and just amazing. I wish I could draw like that. There is also a 3-D effect about it. The author has real understanding of angles and perspective. Since Jun can pass through objects, most of the scenes need to be presented from unusual angles and I personally feel that Jeongseo-nim has done an excellent job regarding that.
I don’t really have anything negative to talk about. I loved the webtoon to the core.
Conclusion: Giving this like 110/10, highly highly recommended from me. It’s max 2 hours read and is so very engrossing. It has a rating of 9.77 at webtoons.com!!! So, it’s just not me lol. Also, forgot to mention earlier, it also has cute cats. Now I want a boo of my own.
Personal Front: I had a very rude awakening this week. So, I was telling some juniors of mine how since they’re in college, they should not be wasting time like how I did and they really have golden opportunity right now and of course I was rambling on and on. It’s actually become a habit to be lecturing those people because I thought I cared and didn’t want them to repeat the mistakes I did but well. And one of them really opened my eyes.
So, if I, as a person who’s like perhaps 6 years senior to those kids, tell them stuff like this, I am acting like their parents and lecturing but if another person who’s just 1-2 years senior to them says exact same thing, they listen. I realized two things then and there: the power of peers vs. anyone else and plight of parents.
We listen to our peers because we think that they relate more to us and understand us better while blaming our parents for generation gap yada yada. I do admit that parents’ way of telling us about adulting might not be the nicest and their advice might not really be suitable for the current economy and circumstances and times etc., but we can always mold their advice to suit ourselves. I guess I would be paying more attention to my parents’ teachings and try to understand them more from now on. Thanks for the valuable lesson whoever the person was.
In other news, I might have to update my last review for the Golden Eyes because the plot went downhill way too fast. After 18th episode, I am so frustrated but I cannot drop it because I have seen further trailers and they’re yet to tell the secret behind the power. Aarrghh, such decisions in life, I tell ya!
Today’s Song: I don’t remember if I have posted this song before but I am back to listening to this song since I have been watching Lay’s drama:
Edit: Updated the review to rant about it. The earlier review was till ep 12 and I really liked the concept till then, although there were flaws. 50 eps later, I am so disappointed that I can’t even bring myself to watch the finale. But I have read enough spoilers to know what happens and hence can complete this review. Also, note that I have changed it from reco to review unfortunately.
Updated Review
Okay people, results are in and the verdict is that this drama sucks. From plot being all over the place to less to no character development, I am just honestly so sad for this drama. It had great potential. At this point of time, I can’t even say if it had an excess of episodes and they stretched the story quite a bit or if there were too few episodes that they could’ve done better if they gave time to each character. I am just speechless at the bad quality of plot.
For plot, please read the original review below.
As I have said in some later post, I hate it when the scriptwriters think of the audience as fools. In this story, anything and everything happens. One moment the MC is acting so foolish that the truth is laying before him but he refuses to believe it, the other moment, he becomes so intelligent that most villainous person cannot escape his schemes.
The villains in this story are so torn between their feelings for MC (our typical kindest guy you’ll ever see) and their greed that they cannot really choose a side till the end. One can argue that it’s the actual human nature but in the end you have to choose a side. And till the end, you just cannot make out what’s gonna happen with whom.
My Google search terms tell me that there is a novel for this series and I would really like to read it to know if the drama did justice to the novel or not. If they did, then I am sorry to say, but please choose better plots to convert to drama.
Anyway, as I said, I am quite disappointed by the fact that Zhang Yixing would choose such a lacking script. If he did it just because the MC follows the same life philosophy as him, then I am sorry, gonna stay away from his other dramas from now. I personally think the producers of this drama were trying to ride the wave of popularity of media related to tomb raiding. And they probably succeeded because a lot of reviews I read on Viki really appreciate the drama.
Heck it doesn’t even look like tomb raiding because you cannot find a single cobweb in the tombs shown in this drama. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE? Those tombs are supposed to be laying there for thousands of years. If you can show blood sucking creatures there, how come the paths to the tombs are without any spiders even? Common sense?
I really appreciate adaptations of Daomu Biji series (The Mystic Nine, The Lost Tomb and The Tomb at the Sea) for this. They at least took care of such details, even if their graphics were lacking. The Tomb at the Sea is doing great in that aspect as well. Although that is another series I need to rant about.
But seriously, my rating fell from 7/10 to -100/10. Please do not watch if you cannot bear plot holes. Oh wait, this plot in itself is a hole, a black hole of frustration.
Actually, you know what, the whole premise itself is something that I don’t understand. The rich heiress sent thieves in a pawnshop to steal a worthless piece of jade. This is the first episode. The jade breaks and injures our MC giving him the golden eyes. If the girl was so rich, she could’ve just bought it. Why send thieves. OMG, what a realization!!
So, in the end, only good thing about the series remains the identity of actual villain. You just won’t ever imagine that they were the people behind whole drama in MC’s life. Anyway, I’ll directly skip to last episode maybe and watch it at 4x speed just for myself, that I actually finished the series lol. Read for the plot and everything else below. I’ve edited my conclusion and final feelings section as well. And I would really like to apologize to people who read my earlier review and started the series already.
Original Review
I was trying to refrain from posting the review before the drama was fully released. B-but I just could not stop myself. As I said in my last post, my two tomb raiding posts are popular as ever. And I have been on lookout for similar kind of dramas and novels. And I am sure my readers are dying to find similar stuff as well.
Unfortunately, there is so much dearth of entertainment media like this. So, although this drama is still being subbed, putting my trust in Zhang Yixing’s fans, I decided to review this drama. Let’s begin.
I watched the trailer for the golden eyes in another C-drama I was watching last year. Well, it’s the combination of Zhang Yixing and oriental mystery, so why not.
Except that I completely forgot about it till now and stumbled across it again 4 days back. As expected, I finished 7 eps released in 2 days and have been following the releases since then. And of course, thoroughly enjoyed the marathon. However, the drama comes with its usual annoyances.
The drama follows Zhuang Rui (Zhang Yixing), a simple and naive worker at a pawnshop, who has a degree in history and archaeology from Peking University. One day, some people broke into his employer’s shop and tried to steal an antique piece in shape of the eye made out of jade stone. By accident, the piece shatters and injures Zhuang Rui’s eyes, only to gift him with the golden eyes, eyes that can see through everything.
He ends up using his newly found power to do antique and jade business, archaeologically exploring tombs and learning about stuff along the way and meeting all sorts of people; people, who seem friends but might not really be and vice versa as well.
Those pretty ❤
He also gets to know about his long lost family it seems. Apparently, there should exist a dragon clan where two people also possess the same pair of eyes, but they haven’t been introduced till 11th episode, so I cannot say. (Edit: no dragon clan till 50th episode, sorry.)
Now, the plus points. I really enjoy Zhang Yixing’s acting (not a new thing, I guess my readers must have become accustomed to it by now). The story has been okay so far, slow to develop but the mystery is still there and the characters are developing slowly but at a good pace.
Graphics have been great despite it being an iQiyi drama. And music is absolutely fantastic, background music goes so well with the situations and some of the trot songs used are such honey to the ears.
And I also like the subtle comedy the drama puts in between which doesn’t look too forced given how serious some situations can become when the main villain and the protagonist interact. Oh yeah, this drama also has a lot of face slapping. Since our Zhuang Rui sees it all, he doesn’t give any face to the cheaters in the business.
But, as I said, the drama is not devoid of its flaws as C-dramas usually all have. First is some of the poorly written characters, especially females. There is this policewoman who is always on Zhuang Rui’s case for some reason. I see this character becoming the main love interest of Zhuang Rui in future.
But for now, the character is absolutely trash. The lady, despite being a policewoman has absolutely no skills of a detective. It seems to be a character there just for the sake of it. I hope they give her some more substance otherwise she’ll just remain as an annoying b**** despite having such a great potential.
The other female character, Bing Bing, she’s supposed to be heir to some very rich person, but she doesn’t exude that charm or elegance of a rich heiress at all. All she does is give orders to this one underling and just overall, trying to avoid the villain guy who’s set to make her his girlfriend. Like please give her something else to do, eh?
Same with all the professor characters. They’re not annoying but might use some more development. Since I am writing the review based on 12 episodes out of 56, I do hope my wish comes true. And that they properly finish the story this time rather than hanging us audience with the hopes of a second season that would never happen. I will make sure to update this review once the drama finishes.
Conclusion: Changing from original highly recommended to don’t watch it for your sanity. It might satiate people still struggling with withdrawal symptoms from The Mystic Nine and The Lost Tomb (I do hope they sub the sequel in Lao Jiu Men series, The Tomb of The Sea soon). But this drama pales in comparison to other two (and I really did not like The Lost Tomb that much either, trust me).
You would only like it if you can ignore the plot and just wanna look at Zhang Yixing’s acting in the main role, supposedly action. I personally felt like it was a waste of time to invest myself in this drama. Do comment how you would rate it.
Personal Front: I am running late with the schedule again! Actually, I went for getting my driving learner’s permit today, and it being a weekend, there was just too much crowd at the center. And I didn’t even get it because I still don’t have my new authorization card. Ugh, life is tough in another country. And I really wanted my learner’s permit today so I could practice driving and get my license by the end of the month TT_TT
Anyway, since I and my friend went too early in the morning, I came back and slept for like 4 hours. I could have prepared my post in advance, but last few days have been really hectic somehow. It’s the tax season in US and so it’s been more busy. Gathering all the documents, ensuring everything is in correct order and then sending them away is not easy after all. I hope all my US readers get huge tax refunds.
I don’t think I have anything really exciting to tell other than I almost got my learner’s driving license but just at the last stage, I could not. See you guys next week then!
Today’s song: I got one from the drama and really really love it:
To the uninitiated, as the name suggests, it is a show where 101 trainees from different idol companies in China compete to grab a spot in a 9 members group. They get training from the trainers of the show and through weekly missions, they show their talents to the viewers. And the viewers then vote for their favorite trainees.
Now that we have got that out of way, I am pretty sure fans of Korean Produce 101 series would bash me for recommending a blatant copy of the concept, but hear me out. There are two types of copies according to yours truly, one which fails to even be at par with the original and another that surpasses the original.
I claim that Idol producer belongs to the latter category. There are tons of idol/ singer/ rapper producing shows in the world, why this one you ask? First, as you guys might already know that I am a big fan of Zhang Yixing’s philosophy and attitude towards life, which is also portrayed in his book Standing Firm at 24.
This show draws on that philosophy and starts with very inspiring quotes and flashbacks on idol lives. I would rather say it’s replete with those kind of moments, where you just cannot help but be so encouraged that you wanna start working hard right at that moment. If you’re looking for some inspiration, please do watch it.
Second, the editing. Mnet of South Korea has been criticized heavily for their evil editing, where they portray a few trainees as a character who either are unhelpful or rude or something. Then those trainees get bashed a lot for no reason and then either they’re eliminated or rank very low even with great talents (Yoo Yeon Jung from I.O.I. anyone?)
The editing here is funny. Like I am laughing just thinking about the show lol. It’s full of comedy. I haven’t seen any trainee in bad light, even once. Plus their background music and the funny subtitles add icing on the cake. All these elements come together to become such a comic spectacular (Did I praise it too much?)
Sure, producers and directors are biased towards some popular trainees and they get even more screen time, but where does that not happen? I even suspect that they already have some people in their minds to debut and hence show them more on purpose.
Season 2 Trainers. Jolin Tsai ❤
Anyway, third is handsome bois *drools*. I am sorry, but apart from the 101 trainees in the show, the mentor themselves are so handsome and so….. handsome (Li Ronghao (❤ω❤) ). Not to forget Zhang Yixing. First season features Got7’s Jackson and pretty Kyulkyung and Cheng Xiao as mentors. Second season has got Xu Minghao from Seventeen and prettiest ever Jolin Tsai. Anyway, let’s not get into personal reasons here, shall we? ヽ(￣～￣ )ノ
I definitely dig the combo of inspiring and comedy when it comes to variety shows, or any other drama for that matter. It has helped me go through some of the toughest times in my life. And I would gladly come back to this particular show if, God forbids, I go through such times again.
Conclusion: So, my dear readers, if you’re lacking some encouragement in your life or are depressed about small stuff, do give this show a try. I guarantee that by the end of the show, something inside you would have changed. The best part is that it is entirely available on YouTube.
Final feelings about the show: (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
More info: This show has a second season going on right now called Youth Has You(?) ( 青春有你). Three episodes out currently, it is as good as season 1.
Watch here: They had the whole thing english subbed on youtube and I cannot find it. But the same people have those uploaded onto FB. Here: Watch Idol Producer Season 1. On their Youtube channel, there is a lot of content, so I am linking it here as well, just in case anyone is interested: Idol Producer Subs Channel on YouTube. And here is season 2: Qing Chun You Ni Subs 2.
Personal Talk: Did you guys notice the change in the format of my posts? There aren’t enough yet to notice any pattern or anything but I am hoping to set a schedule, so that people who are not interested in one particular type can easily enjoy others, albeit it will work on the condition that I write regularly. I am hoping to keep the schedule as follows: Saturday 1: Webnovels Saturday 2: Dramas Saturday 3: Webtoons/ Manga Saturday 4: Anime Saturday 5 (If any): Personal update/ Travel posts/ QnA if I receive any (If you guys have any questions to ask me, please do comment or send me at eastasianlover@gmail.com).
Today’s song: It’s hard to be searching for a song when I am not listening to any right now! Since we’re talking about idol producer, let’s go with a song I liked from here (It is actually Jolin Tsai’s classic and I love the original better. Original after this rendition):
I am finally back to write about the sequel of the drama I wrote about few days ago (I was supposed to publish that two weeks back but my trip back to home took up all my time. More about that later). Also, I did ask my Chinese friend and there are novels for both The Mystic Nine and The Lost Tomb. Called as Dàomù Bǐjì in Pinyin, this series is about the journey of a guy who comes from the family of tomb raiders (basically part of mystic nine, though he doesn’t know this in the beginning) called Wu Xie. In the novels, he is an antique shop owner, in the series he is an international student who has just returned to China to hand over an antique from Germany to his country. He feels strongly about foreign countries possessing Chinese artifacts.
Li Yifeng as Wu Xie (so handsome *drools*)
Plot: So, in the drama, Wu Xie (played by Li Yi Feng) comes back from Germany and encounters some bad guys who are after this relic. It turns out that this relic has a part of a map to some tombs which might contain huge treasures. He is helped out by a fat guy in shaking the enemy off initially. He later finds out the other half of map from a girl who claims to be one of the mystic nine families and it turns out to be a location of a famous tomb.
Wu Xie’s uncle gathers some men and they all set off to find treasures in the tomb. The men include a mysterious person called Zhang Qi Lin (played by Yang Yang) who doesn’t speak much and has some incredulous techniques with him. He always comes to the rescue of Wu Xie later when the adventure actually starts. He is successor of Zhang Qi Shan in the mystic nine.
Yang Yang as Zhang Qilin (more handsome *double drools*)
Anyway, they go into the tomb, only to face countless questions and weird enemies including man eating bugs and zombies and of course, the previous group, led by a foreigner as usual. They lose some people, get to know more about the mystic nine and of course…….. no spoilers 😐
Second part of the plot deals with Wu Xie discovering the real identity of the girl who gave him the other half of the map. He also gets a typical turtle from the tomb about which he wants to find out the truth. He has to get in touch with Huo grandma who is the only one from her generation remaining from the old mystic nine. She is a wicked lady who still exerts power in the antiques and tomb raiding area and refuses to entertain his party. Wu Xie finds himself in the clenches of his foreign enemy again and the end. THE END!!
That….. tha…..AAAAAAAAAAAA
Characters: Not much here. We get to know about Wu Xie a lot. He’s the main character after all. There is no other development at all. Last part of the plot ends so abruptly that I still cannot process what happened. Li Yifeng has portrayed a naive, kind character very well but I am not sure about diversity in the roles he takes. The other drama I watched, The legend of Chusen Season 1 also has a similar character portrayed by him.
Li Yifeng, some teammates and the annoying betrayer
The best acting though is by Yang Yang. That mysterious character of Zhang Qilin he portrays, draws you so much that my most of the frustration as a viewer is that I really wanted to know his background. Although, after watching Mystic Nine, one does come to know who he might be, but I still want to know. There is this chemistry between Li Yifeng and Yang Yang. People have speculated that there is definitely something between them and some people claim that there are author’s notes in the novels which do confirm this. However, bromance or not, their chemistry is amazing. I am no fujoshi but the subtle hints in the drama, I somehow like those.
THE BROMANCE!!!!!!!!!!
Other actors are veteran, their portrayal of characters is as usual. However, there is not much in the background of those people. 12 episodes are not enough. There is as usual that annoying fatty uncle (that’s how he’s called in the series) who is greedy for the treasures and ends up creating trouble for everyone. Then, I am not sure if this foreigner villain is descendant of the one in mystic nine but the villain in the movie of this series which I’ll review sometime later has same surname as the one in the latter series.
The Resourceful Third Uncle
Wu Xie’s uncle’s character seem so very pitiful. He wants to take out the treasures and help Wu Xie at the same time but he is unable to do both to the full extent. I still won’t comment about the Huo family as the next season should be the one to reveal their secrets. I am looking forward to next season though they are not going to cast Yang Yang as Qilin (*cries in a corner*).
The Wicked Huo Family and Fatty
Good stuff: Only Yang Yang and Li Yifeng
Bad Stuff: I have too much to complain about in this series. Their music is not good, especially the bg. They build up so much tension with bg music that the viewer is compelled to think that an important moment, a discovery, a monster, something is gonna happen only to find it a normal moment in the drama. I don’t remember the openings and endings at all as opposed to the mystic nine whose OSTs I still listen to, even after a month.
Then their graphics are not upto par at all. It’s like they hired all the newbies to do post production editing. The graphics seem like those in 2000s, probably 2000s had better graphics in their dramas which confuses me a lot. They do a better job for a variety show like Happy Camp, how could they do this to a large scale drama production like this.
Plot of course. Who would like that abrupt ending, there is no talks of season 2 although the producers have said that they would adapt 8 novels in 8 seasons. Plot wise, I am not even sure if I should criticize the drama or wait for next season as I am waiting for many other. What is wrong with Chinese Drama producers??? Ugh
And there are confusing movies which adapt the arcs but change the actors, and it’s so hard to let go the first set of actors to appreciate the second set in movies. I would rather go for animations than live actions, just because of this reason.
This was the start of their adventure
Then there is no clear female protagonist as of now. There are two potential people who come into mind. One is the girl Ah Ning who is the villain in this season but gets softer towards Wu Xie because he saves her life. Second is the Huo’s granddaughter. The intentions of both of these girls are unknown (AND I AM STILL WAITING FOR NEXT SEASON, DAMN IT!!). But then why can’t a female person go into tombs to search for the treasures? Same was in the Mystic Nine. (However that changed in the Candle in the Tomb).
Other things: All in all, I would rate this drama as 4/10. It has great potential if only they tie the loose ends, make subsequent seasons and hopefully cast the same people. Otherwise, it remains a mystery to everyone. I WANNA LEARN MANDARIN JUST TO READ AND UNDERSTAND THESE NOVELS!!
I will not recommend this drama until and unless:
You are going through withdrawal symptoms of Mystic Nine and want to see more tomb raiding.
There is some news about the second season of The Lost Tomb.
You have already read the novels and want to compare them with the drama just for your satisfaction sake.
You want to see Yang Yang’s and Li Yifeng’s chemistry (which happens in first part of the drama only coz Qilin disappears after their quest in the tomb).
You have been warned. But if you still want, you can watch the drama here: The Lost Tomb
Just for the sake, here is a trailer:
Today’s Song: The usual
Side Story: I wanted to do so much after coming back but I am still trapped into the cycle of long hospital visits and the medications. I don’t feel like doing anything anymore ;-;
And as I said before, I am hooked to the tomb raiding series and I finished another drama called Candle in the Tomb. I have all the praises for this one. And then I started another drama called My Mr. Mermaid while in between I finished 2-3 more dramas like When a Snail Falls in Love, Secret Forest etc. etc. I hope I’ll get to review all of these soon. Let me know if you guys want any one of those done first.
I think most of the K-drama lovers would agree with me, all rom com dramas follow a set pattern: out of the MCs, one would be rich (either son/ daughter of a business giant or a celebrity) and one would be totally destitute. First 8-9 episodes go into developing the plot, their meeting and their bickering. These episodes generally bring the comedy element but at the end, start getting serious. 9-14 episodes are full of drama, all the tears and such happen in these episodes. And the cause is generally the same: a disapproving nagging mom/ dad or other family member or another love interest. 15 onwards is the happy ending. The MCs either end up resolving the conflict with their family or any one else involved or running away, giving a sense of gratification to the viewers.
This drama does none of them. There is a lot of hurt as usual but since the number of episodes is just 12, it doesn’t give much chance to develop the tear jerking drama. Although, the story starts with the MC resigning from her job (and reminds me of my days, a lot).
Plot: Also called Glowing She, the story goes like this. Jun Ji Hyun (So Yi Hyun) always gets her work stolen by her boss. She decides to work hard on an upcoming proposal and not tell her boss about it. When the time comes for actual presentation, she finds that she has been cut from the presentation itself by her boss yet again. She ends up quarrelling and throwing ice on her boss (you go girl!) and quitting the job to fulfil her life long dream of becoming a writer for education channel. Her new boss is a PD whom she had dated for 5 years in the past, No Young-Woo (Park Kwang-Hyun). No Young Woo broke up with her and married her best friend, divorcing that girl too, 2 years later. He tells Jun Ji Hyun straightforwardly that she is not fit for showbiz and he’ll make it a point to make her life hell teaching her about this dirty business. She is assigned to bring Kang Min (Kim Hyung Joon), a narcissist hallyu star who has a phobia of singing live, to PD No’s new programme, which she is able to do successfully but circumstances lead her to resign yet again. Her 31 years of age doesn’t help her either. She still persists through her optimism but yet fails in her endeavours.
After all this mess, Ji Hyun keeps getting involved with the two guys. Her relationship with her best friend also keeps dwindling. In the end, who she ends up with and whether she is able to reach her dream are two main questions.
*Spoiler* It’s an open ended drama, you won’t know who she ends up with. So watch if only you can bear a little disappointing ending *Spoiler*
Characters: While I love all the three main characters, there is not much actual development. The relationship between Ji Hyun, her best friend and PD No has been portrayed well, I don’t know if people forgive each other like this in real life. Also, the friendship between Ji Hyun and her female friends is something to be jealous and at the same time proud of. But again, Kang Min’s past, Ji Hyun’s family and many other things are, kind of, all over the place.
I personally identify with Ji Hyun and her best friend a lot, and I am sure many others will too. I really love Ji Hyun’s guts (I mean, despite giving her best, she doesn’t get what she deserves. At the age of 31, she starts over. Who would do that?). The most impressive thing is, the show brings out the problems in show biz well, especially in the context of South Korea. How a small mistake makes people lose their jobs at lower levels and how upper levels remain untouched. How much managers work and use dirty tricks to keep their idols popular and how, many a times, idols have to have their feelings trampled over. How their small secrets can be fatal to their career and how it impacts normal people around them.
All in all, I’ll give this drama a 6/10. It’s one of those love stories, where you don’t need to use your mind. It just goes on because there is not much complexity. Acting is all good and you’ll laugh your ass off on Ji Hyun’s curses (she looks so authentic mumbling and cursing XD). As I said earlier, the ending might disappoint some a little. But if you’re looking for a rather short story you can definitely watch this.
The drama I am talking about is different from Taiwanese drama of the same name.
It’s available on youtube on this channel: sunshinejunnie (I don’t own anything here) Hopefully they don’t remove it.
I love variety shows. The most interesting ones are Korean Variety shows. One amongst them shines at the very top, and it’s called “Weekly Idol”. I have been hooked to this show for quite some time and continuously doing marathons. Not only this show has introduced me to new and old idol groups, which I would otherwise be reluctant to follow, but the laughter it gives is the best anti-depressant out there for K-Pop lovers, take it from the girl who has always relied on these kind of shows (variety or drama) for emotional support. I mean, I do sound biased then, but I can really, really, always, go back to the shows. They’re the best.
This particular one is very famous. Two MCs, Jung Hyung Don and DeffCon, also known as Doni-Coni pair in the show, invite an idol group for their weekly episode and then do different segments with the members. The instant reactions bring much laughter, especially when the idol groups are male idol groups. Doni-Coni, don’t hesitate in making fun of or sarcastic remarks on the idols. And in the process, get humiliated (in a comic way) too, by much much junior idols.
What’s the best thing is, the show has been on for more than four years, they shoot it in a basement room whose walls are totally white, no paintings, nothing. Sounds depressing, right? But the colorful CG and appropriate music doesn’t let you feel gloomy about the background. The effects are just too awesome! More awesome are the games they play. The show has come a long way since it started back in 2011. They have changed and added a lot of corners. Idols have started to come individually as well to promote their solo albums and all. There have been episodes where senior groups come to promote their junior groups. There have always been those summer specials, anniversary specials etc. where they do the broadcasts outside, sometimes even going international.
Although, the show is not going to be the same without him, I wish him good health recovery and please sir, come back soon!
Various corners they have/ had are as follows (I might be missing some, I haven’t come across more segments in the episodes I have watched, though I know more exist. Please, feel free to add in comments):
1. Random Play Dance: One of my favourites. They play the hit songs of idols randomly, starting from any verse and idols have to perfectly dance to the songs. There is always that black hole who forgets his/her position and leads to humorous situations.
2. Profile Verification/Rewrite: This is another favorite of mine. Idols have their profiles posted on their official accounts and fan cafes. These are generally specs like height and personal talents they have. The producers compile these facts and the MCs do their best to prove the claims false, going as far as negotiating the heights mentioned in the profile XD
Dong Woo from Infinite had to sleep during the show to prove that he can sleep instantly on lying down XD
3. DoniConi Idol Call Center: The Weekly Idol team receives calls from idol group’s fans and ask them to answer the questions or make them do what the fans want. A lot of times it includes doing aegyo, measuring various body parts, even the circumference of thighs or maximum length of open eyes, touching the butts etc. Hilarity ensues. Earlier, they used to take questions from Twitter, but now direct calls are taken.
4. 99 Seconds Challenge: The idols have to complete a team relay challenge in time specified by MCs, based upon number of people, generally 99 seconds. If, even one member fails, they have to start the whole thing again. If they’re unable to complete the mission, they are given punishment specified by group members only.
5. Idol Self-Ranking: MCs ask idols to rank themselves based on some random criteria and group members have to do so.
In recent years, they have introduced a lot of prizes for idols including Korean beef, housewarming gifts etc. on winning and punishments like toy hammer etc. on losing the games. I’ll try to compile the links I have got, where I go and watch the episodes. These might be overlapping and don’t belong to me. Due credits to their owners:
There are a lot of episodes out there on YouTube, frankly speaking. I tried finding more playlists, but posting links to individual is a little tough. Anyway, happy laughing!!!!!!!
One sentence for this show: Hilarious yet as an Indian and k-pop fan, downright embarrassing. Four episodes have been released for this series where some fan is subbing it on youtube, but KBS has started airing it officially on their KBS World YouTube channel with one episode out as of now.
Also known as Fluttering India or Exciting India, Bounce Indo is a variety show where five K-pop idols come to India to “exchange” their culture with ours, to see the scope of bringing k-pop into India. These five celebrities include: Kyuhyun from Super Junior, Suho from EXO, Minho from SHinee, Jonghyun from C.N.Blue and Sunggyu from Infinite.
I was actually looking forward to this, despite knowing that the stars were landing in Mumbai and not Delhi (which is nearer to my home town) because I wanted to see my country from their perspective (I love different point of views) and I wanted to know how would THEY like this relatively unknown place to South Koreans. I was utterly disappointed in the show and the cast as there were many other Indian fans which is evident from all the criticism I have read in articles and comments.
If the Indian K-pop fans are to believe, the Mumbaians weren’t allowed to meet their revered idols. I still don’t get the mentality. First of all, you’re coming in India to promote your culture and then you don’t deem the people, who are already familiar with your culture, worthy of the attention they deserve. In my honest opinion, they could’ve just let the fans meet, take pics and autographs and talk to them, off the camera, may be? One cannot deny the already established fan base existing in India. And how uncontrollable can a crowd of 20 odd people be? Agreed, the fans are, most of the times, a little difficult to manage, but we are talking about just a few.
Moreover, as one of the comments on the official video mentions, there were less preparations on the part of the people coming here. If one is going to survey a place for potential market, any common person would know to better equip themselves with at least a little cultural knowledge before diving into unknown waters. They needed it more so, because this was kind of an official expedition. I might be basing this on just first episode, but one can’t be expecting more from a five day trip after watching the first day.
In the first episode itself, they admit that India is not what they used to study about back in their school time. Also, the fan girl Babu, said that there are like a thousand k-pop lovers in Mumbai itself. I am pretty sure there are, a lot more in whole of India (they probably don’t know or are just underestimating the might of Indian population 😉 ) especially in big cities like Delhi and north Eastern States.
I am not criticizing every thing. Even if it was scripted (which I don’t believe), their acting is, no doubt, funny. The convivial environment they create and the way they bear strangers, who don’t even know them, taking pics with them, hats off! (I do envy Babu, who got to show them the way and click pictures with them). I also appreciate the pain they took, coming to a totally unknown country and trying to indulge in their culture (I would personally love doing that).
The major complaint is the way they tried to portray their popularity in India giving a somewhat false representation (Honestly, it was not surprising that they didn’t find a single fan on the Gateway of India. But if they had allowed the fans on airport, there might have been chances of them getting to know places where they could find more k-pop lovers. They did seem a little disappointed because no one recognised them here.).
All in all, with most of the comments and articles I have read from Indian fans, I am pretty sure I can safely say that it came as a little repulsive to Indian fans including me. Some things are embarrassing on our part and some on theirs. Even so, I do recommend it to people for the sole purpose of pure entertainment. As a proud Indian, I cannot give a green light to ALL the things shown in the show, but most of them are correct (It might take long posts to correct such things, which is going to be an excruciatingly painful process, so I would rather stay away from that. But IF someone has got any questions from the videos, or wants to ask something about India or anything else just out of curiosity, I would definitely answer them. Just post them in comments).
It’s really really difficult to find Japanese Variety shows online with some exceptions like Gaki no Tsukai. But those kind of comedies don’t appeal to me. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand what is so funny in there (obviously, I’m not at that level of Japanese). And my quest for Japanese variety shows (with no videos other than youtube working here ¬¬) led me to to two – Hey! Hey! Hey! and TORE!
Hey! Hey! Hey! is a talk show and only eng subs I found for were the episodes where DBSK have appeared. So I’m not gonna talk about that. I did stumble upon this game show – TORE! which made me remember all those game shows they used air on cartoon network and other channels when I was a kid. Takeshi’s castle and Wipeout are still popular because they are still aired on channels like Pogo and AXN.
But TORE! was kind of new to me. I remember seeing a variety show with some temple guards in it but the things are hazy and I’m pretty sure it was an English game show. I don’t remember the format either.
So, yes. About TORE! They say it’s kind of mummification program. Ah! Yes. If you get squeezed by the walls or you fall down through a hole whose end you can’t see from above, you’ll definitely become mummy unless you give the correct answers asked in the show. It’s super entertaining and thrilling. The setting is Egypt kind. The keys, the walls, the Pharaos with the most modern instruments and equipments, you’ll all find in here. I watched one episode only, today and unfortunately, the subtitles weren’t available. ¯\(°_°)/¯
You can actually feel their anxiety during the games. When they fall before finishing the sentence they were saying, the breath stops! I mean I know they’re safe and that the hole may not be that deep that they show, but that’s the magic of directors and the technical staff out there and they work for this only. As their audience, I salute them! (￣^￣)ゞ
For Japanese language learners, it can be very helpful. Most of the words can be looked upon in dictionary and I can already see changes in my kana’s reading speed. The contestants (generally celebrities) have to answer the questions so fast with their lives (kind of) at stake that you have to read things fast if you’re staying with their speed. Of course, you can slow the videos down, but where is the fun in that? One of the most fun way to learn Japanese. Highly recommended.
(Read the edited part below the video for sure before jumping to the site)
Yay! Yay! Yay! It is back. Yes my dear drama lovers.
Same interface, same huge collection (no, not same, but it’s still big, some things may have, as well, been lost), a lot of things same same. Check this out! (Almost sang it like they do in English movies) – http://dramacrazy.eu.
What is new you ask? The rankings! All I can see are Korean Dramas in their rankings. But oh well, it may take some time to be put up properly. We can understand. Just keep up your good work people. I am so happy that I’m gonna cry (just an exaggeration, I’m not that sentimental, you understand, right?).
And such a title you say? Obviously, why to cause all that drama when they were going to put it back again? They could’ve told us to wait for one week. Giving shocks like that!
Lol! And their server just went down because there are too many visitors. Anyways, I’ll just share this good news today 🙂
Happy Drama watching!
And on this happy occasion, today’s song is –
Edit – 12 July 2013 – Alright, I have to say this. I was pretty excited yesterday and wanted to tell the news to everyone. Now I have read a lot and seen the site properly too, there is a lot of difference – good and bad. Good – there are no ads (till now, touchwood). Earlier, whenever I clicked any link, an ad would pop up. Now, there is none. But this makes one wonder, how will they host the site for free then? Bad- there is no Speedy Joe. That can be attributed to the fact that the site has recently come up. But there is pretty much one mirror only.
When you check the FB page of Dramacrazy (.net one), they say, everything else with similar format is fake and even claim that these fake ones have virus/ are spyware infected. Dramacrazy.eu people say, it is the same. Don’t know, what to believe. I think I’ll wait for sometime and see if the new ones are able to bring back everything. In the mean time, we have gooddrama. (I had to post this because all traffic I’m getting on my blog right now, is on two Dramcrazy posts only. So wanted to clarify this.)
Update – 24th July 2013 – Finally, the original dramacrazy’s people have once again stated clearly that the new one is a fake. Seriously! Why all his drama? People have moved on. As for myself, I haven’t gone on new dramacrazy ever since, though I said I would wait.
Finally these are the words posted on their fb page – ” Just to clarify one more time since more and more people seem to think that we have come back on another domain. We have NOT (unfortunately). Any other site with our design/similar domain name is a FAKE! They are just a cheap imitation attempting to mislead our users. This goes for both Animecrazy and DramaCrazy. Like mentioned before, they are not us and are virus/malware infected. Avoid them at all costs.
Please Share/Tweet/ spread the (bad) news. Thanks.”
Now it’s up to you to visit new website or not. I’m done here.
Why? Why? Why? Please someone tell me it’s some kind of joke! July fool?
It was the first site to introduce me to the fantabulous world of dramas. Oh nooooo, what will I do? The user friendly interface, a lot of mirrors available, and a great collection of dramas from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, all went to waste. And unfortunately, I was one of the last people to know about it. Sigh! They were so regular and so fast, that the subbed episodes would be uploaded, the next day of their release. Of course, they were subbed by others but it was one place where I could find unknown dramas as well as some of the greatest variety shows. Now, I’ll have to find another site like this. But once you get habitual to something, it’s quite difficult to change it. TT_TT
But, I still don’t understand. They didn’t even give any reason. Was it some licensing problem? Or something else? But whatever it was, it certainly left the fans disappointed and sad.
This being said, all the links for dramas, I have provided, are from that site only. So, I’ll try to find out other site and post all the links again in the respective posts.
The Joys and Worries of an East Asia Lover 