Mischievous Kiss

The original Japanese manga "Itazura na Kiss" has been made into TV drama in 3 countries. It started in Japan, then Taiwan with a different title "It Started with A Kiss" and now it's in Korean TV titled "Mischievous Kiss".

The setting is high school. Like most school romance stories, there's a girl who is in the worst section and a guy who is the smartest in the school... or in the whole country. The girl has a major crush on the guy like most of the girls in the school does and when she tried to confess her feelings to him she gets rejected... a total humiliation. Then due to some natural calamity (maybe fire or earthquake), the girls house has collapsed and the guy's parents find them after seeing it on news. So the girl and her dad move in to the guy's house. The guy's mom has only two very boring sons so she welcomes the girl as if she's her daughter. And the love story begins....

I watched the Taiwanese version "It Started with a Kiss" and "They Kissed Again". They Kissed Again is part two of the first title. The acting was good. It was really funny and sad when it had to be. I like the actress Lin Yi Chen or Ariel Lin. She isn't very pretty but quite cute. The more you watch the more you fall in love with the character. Of course there's the male actore Joseph Cheng. He's not really handsome either. But kind of charismatic.

I decided to watch the Japanese version before watching the Korean version. Well , it's quite old one, aired in 1996. It was funny too, although looking at their hairstyle and clothing made me think that it really was old  HAHA. The girl and the guys (actor's name I do not know) were quite good actors. I actually enjoyed watching it even though I already know the flow of the story.

Okay, the Korean version titled "Mischievous Kiss". OMG! It's in HD so the graphics are good, they added some CG. The Korean actore Kim, Hyeon Joong is good looking and fits perfetly for the role. It only aired 2 episodes so I can't really comment on his acting. But the girl, hmmmm I guess she was trying too hard to be cute, like the character is supposed to be. It looks awkward for her. And to see blond haired students and long-haired guy at school... it's really impossible in Korean schools, oh well Boys over Flowers were quite exaggerated anyways. I also didn't like the guy who has crush on the girl. He totally doesn't fit the character. Super OVER exaggerated with his character I think.

Anyways, I really got disppointed in the Korean version. No wonder they have low TV rating (around 3.6%) while its rival drama has like 46% rating. And this is just my oppinion. I don't have anything against the Korean drama or the actors and actresses.

US TV

These days I have some time to watch US tv dramas... unlike before. And it's hard to catch up with dramas that has already started with 2nd or more seasons.

So I am starting to watch new US dramas.. although it's summer there are some pretty good US tv dramas to watch.

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  100 Questions: I just started watching this... aired it's 4th epsiode already. It's a sitcom actually. But it is quite funny. Somewhat similar to "Romantically Challenged" but FUNNIER. I do recommend it.. it's not cheesy or corny .... PROMISE! "100 Questions" is a new comedy series that provides hilarious answers to 100 questions about love. And I don't know why but I do like when Koreans are one of the casts.... :D

  
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  Drop Dead Diva: although it's in 2nd season. I had the chance to watch Drop dead diva 1 in a marathon :P. It's not just about typically beautiful, slim, smart lawyer but funny, fat, smart lawyer who can get love and work ...

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  Pretty Little Liars: It's not the typical high school drama. It's about 4 high school girls who's friendship breaks apart after the mysterious diasappearance of their friend Alison. And after 1 year of the incident, her body is found. The 4 friends get back together as they receive text messages from "A", knowing all of their darkest secrets... It's interesting and intriguing... at least it's not like Gossip Girl where everyone is sleeping with everyone :D 

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   Three Rivers: It was actually cancelled but then it was aired again for some reasons. I guess maybe they didn't have any other drama for the off-season. But good for me coz I really like Daniel Henney and Alex O'Loughlin. Well, the drama is another medical drama... not about surgeons or ER but about Organ Transplants. Well... nothing much to say about it but I would live in the hospital if my doctors were as hot as Daniel or Alex. :D

Pasta

If you are wondering if I am gonna write about Pasta... well sorry for misunderstanding but am gonna write about the Korean TV drama Pasta (2010).

My favorite kinds of Korean drama are Coffee Prince, My Name is Kim Sam Soon, Full House... if you have watched all these, you will know what genre I am interested in. For those who haven't wathced, those are romantic comedies where the main actor and main actress doesn't usually like each other, keeps fighting but falls in love in the end :D

Pasta, as the title suggests, plots in a Italian restaurant. Seo Yu-Kyeong (played by Gong Hyo-Jin) has been a kitchen porter for 3 years, and with the new chef Choi Hyun-Wook (by Lee Sun-Gyun.. also was in Coffe Prince), a new kitchen porter is hired.  Yu-Kyeong finally becomes a cook but one of Hyun-Wooks regulations in the kitchen is that no woman is allowed. He fires all the women in the kitchen and brings in his "followers" to the kitchen. Yu-Kyeong would not accept this and keeps on coming back to the kitchen. He tests Yu-Kyeong to determine whether she can stay or not... obviously she passes.

The reason Hyun-Wook doesn't allow woman in the kitchen is because of Oh Sae-Young (former Miss Korea Lee Hani). She was Hyun-Wook's lover back in Italy where they both worked but she betrayed him and sabotaged his food during a cooking contest. Wanting to get back with Hyun-Wook, Sae-Young works at the restaurant with them.

The story goes on... with 2 chefs in the kitchen, and conflicts amongst the cooks. A love triangle between Yu-Kyung, Hyun Wook and Sae-Young.

What I loved about this drama is Lee Sun-Kyun and Gong Hyo-Jin's realistic acting. I loved him since Coffee Prince and it's been a while since he acted in TV drama. Gong Hyo Jin is one of the few favorite actresses in Korea. She is not so pretty as other actresses here but she has her own color and a great actress.

I recommend for those Korean drama fanatics to watch this drama. You won't regret it. And for those who haven't even tried Korean drama, you might get addicted to it once you've watched. :D

Romantically Challenged

I am fond of watching US TV series... though it's not so easy to watch them on TV since there's the Korean dramas on local channel, you can only catch them on cable.

One of the new TV series that I started following and enjoying watching is "Romantically Challenged" starring Alyssa Milano, Kelly Stables, Kyle Bornheimer, and Josh Lawson. The drama evolves around Rebecca (Alyssa), Lisa (Kelly), Perry (Kyle) and Shawn(Josh).

Rebecca is recently divorced after 15 years of marriage. Having never really dated before she was married and she finds it scary to start over now. She is clueless about dating and hopes to get some help from her equally romantically challenged friends.

Perry is Rebecca's best friend since childhood. He is a successful financial planner -- but also one of Pittsburgh's most sensitive hopeless romantics.

A struggling novelist, the witty and affable Shawn has been Perry's best friend and rent-free roommate for six years. Shawn is the emotionally unavailable cynic to Perry's hopeless romantic.

Lisa is Rebecca's younger sister Lisa. Behind her deceptively sweet appearance is a sassy pit bull ready to protect her older sister.

I guess the title itself made me start watching, am "romantically challenged" as well.... since am a 30 year-old single female... but I love Alyssa Milano. I loved her since her acting days on "Who's the Boss?" and loved watching "Charmed". She was my favorite character in the TV series. I think she's really pretty and a great actress. I do think I deserve some laugh now and then. It's really funny and I truely hope that it will have a season 2...and many more :D.