Ruler of Your Own World (2002)

Anti-heroes. Down to earth. Authentic. Harsh. Compassionate. No Cinderella story, yet a love story.

I stumbled across this comparatively 'old' KDrama (2002) because of actress Gong Hyo-Jin. But actually here particularly Lee Na-young and Yang Dong-geun impressed me with their strong and down-to-earth performance. Once again I discovered a little gem of early KDrama art.

Rather tranquil. True to life. Authentic. No fairy tale. No Cinderella story. No power games of the mighty, but simple everyday life of anti-heroes. Yes, down to earth. Very. I was delighted. This KDrama - like "My Mister" or "When the Camellia Blooms" - is centred around a quite authentic, ordinary world. Not spectacular. Neither in action, nor in scenery. The story is also not about the rich, beautiful, successful people that are always welcome, but about those who are less noticed (in the media): about ordinary people who didn´t have an excellent education, yet earn their money somehow. It is about a world comparably most people unfortunately live in - about their worries, hardships and, if it can´t be avoided, illnesses, too.

In its centre: a young, inconsiderate, unwieldy pickpocket who is confronted with the diagnosis of brain tumor. It is about the people in his immediate environment: family, friends, girlfriends, police. About a love traingle. About choices in life. Reconsideration, too. That's not really 'exciting'. But touching. Unspectacularly impressive. A mirror of compassion and humanity.

"Ruler of your own World" dates back to the early days of KWave. At the time, this KDrama was not as successful (also internationally) as i.e. the productions of the "Endless Love Series". However, it was highly valued and appreciated in its own country for the authentic story (with comparably hardly in KDrama otherwise frequently elaborated makjang). "Ruler of your own World" is considered the ´best´ serial production of 2002 (vs. "Winter Sonata" as the most ´successful´ of the same year.)

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It is a great story about a man( Bok Su )that changed his bad habits and learned to give love to the people arround him without any bitterness even if he sufferd being abandoned by his mother since he was a child when she left her family until he found her when he was adult also abandoned by his father in an orphanage for three years and diagnosed with cancer without having any resentmet.. The story is also about a rich girl ( kyung ) that plays in a music band , but she has many family problems , and feels rejected by her father . Bok Su and Kyung fall in love . The ending feels like incomplete , you feel like if something is missing
The acting is great between the main leads they have great chemestry even if they don't kiss each other at all . I would like the main actress to be more femenine and would dress better, but many KDramas love to show main actressses as tomboys.
The music is good

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I guess this is the first time a Kdrama inspires me that much for me to write a review, from my point of view this drama is a jewel so I decided to express my love for it though it might be an unpopular opinion.

It's true I only got interested in Ruler of Your Own World because of Lee Na Young as I've always wanted to see her in at least one drama (her movies are not enough for me I needed more of this actress and a drama would be the perfect length), if it was not for her I think I would have never heard of Ruler of Your Own World and miss the opportunity to watch such a great and passionate drama. She was the one who brought me here indeed but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Yang Dong Geun was also in this drama as the leading guy, I discovered both main actors in the awesome movies (Our Happy Time with LNY and Fighter in the Wind with YDG) so without any doubt I was even more excited to start this drama, and I was not disappointed, the opposite I'd say.

RoYOW really impressed me and I still can't believe I did not stumble upon this drama sooner as I fell under the spell of all the characters and the story, the reason is that it feels so real and genuine and for the first time I watched a drama with almost zero clichés and it's a first for me saying something like that about a Korean drama, I know I did not watch that many but among those I watched no one is as authentic as RoYow which at first really surprised me, I was like ''Am I really watching a Kdrama'' anyway I'm glad I can now say that about a Kdrama as it was about time for me to watch something new and different from South Korea and for me this is a magnificent piece in so many ways. I really loved this drama for all the mentioned things above but there are more than that, the story itself is very uplifting and heartwarming largely thanks to the great supporting cast, all of them bring a lot to the drama. I also need to say it's very depressing because of all the things that are happening/happened to the characters however I was very amazed to see how they cope with their own issues so calmly and bravely.

I love how the relationships between the main and the supporting cast are developing in the drama, really wonderful and honest.
BokSu and Kyung are the center of the story, this is obvious (and when they are together it's definitely like they are the ruler of their own world) but the supporting characters play also a big part in the drama, their bonds with the main characters are strong and deep and the drama also takes time to develop their parts. I decided to Edit my review and put the part about the characters in the spoiler tag, feel free to read, there's no spoiler but I think it was better to remove that part from the review.

The Ost was one of the other good points in this drama, anyhow there's not a single bad thing to say about Ruler. and yes the Ost was the part I love the most, so beautiful & relaxing. At first I did not pay much attention as the songs and intrumentals played in the background are so discreet, I was more immersed into the story but I came to notice them and they are a pure delight for the ears. So many great songs I could mention especially by the singer ''Lee Hyun Wook'' a real discovery ;D

I'll end this review saying this drama is really worth the watch and that Kdrama fans should give it a try, especially those who like old Kdramas. If I fell in love with this drama it's because its storytelling is simple yet so heartwarming, it's not the addictive type but it has its own qualities which I generally appreciate in dramas : greatly written characters, great story and Ost. The interactions between all of them are always natural and mature, I'm almost sure that teens would probably find this drama too slow and maybe boring but a mature audience could appreciate it for its qualities.
Okay the chemistry between characters is great especially between our main couple and for me it was so beautiful seeing them this close but it's not the kind of chemistry a romance drama fan would expect I think but for me it was perfect, I did not want more, it was good this way.
If I have to find some flaws it would be about the last eps which were a bit too long and in my opinion 16 eps would have been enough but I won't complain cause I could see Lee Na Young and Yang Dong Geun a bit more and I have to tell how outstanding they were in their roles, I was feeling all what they were living because their lives are not like a fairy tale, they are all struggling and living with their own problem courageously , and this doesn't apply only to them but also to the other actors who did as great especially Gong Hyo Jin , Shin Goo, Lee Se Chang & Yoon Yeo Jong. My other complaint is about the last ep which was for me a bit ridiculous at some moments, certain events happening in this episode were exaggerated and upset me a little bit, one of the reason I can't give a 10.

I don't think I would rewatch it, I loved it but it was depressing enough so once is good but twice not, maybe after 5-10 years have passed;D

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if you find your going to die you can do anything now

it just so misrable story that because he know he is going to die soon he has right to make both the female lead suffer WHY because he is dying
Anyone can die in traffic accident or other incident can happen so what so special about knowing time of your death ?
female lead love that guy dont know why because he is dying so it is love or PITY for him
he is using everything to make people suffer around her so when he die no one want to remmber him in good light
second female lead is like very submissive to that kind of guy, she never slap him for cheating
when he start this all cause he is dying i would have killed him myself
DIE if your dying why want to take advantage of female lead,
let me prove he never love any of the female leads, because he wasnt honest with MI RAE about his illness
and to female lead he uses his illiness to take advantage of her feeling and making her fall in love with her knowing he is going to die and will leave her alone with all those feeling it was
selfishness he showing to her that will make her life misrable from death of her lover
making the person life hell and saying its love is selfishness at its peak.....
whoever think this is love story it is a story of how human can be selfish at the time when death come they will do anything to satisfy there greed and desire
WHAT IF in all this shitty love MI RAE died before our GREAT LOVER
is there LOVE so great to kill a person ?

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