Rooftop Prince (2012)

So many layers - such a good story

9.5 out of 10 is my rating. This is a 2012 South Korean fantasy romantic comedy television drama spanning 20 (60 minute) episodes. After the Crown Princess is seemingly murdered, Crown Prince Lee Gak (Yong Tae Yong) is transported to modern day South Korea along with the three individuals he retained to help him solve the Crown Princess's drowning. Park Ha (Han Ji-min) is a cheerful person who is surprised when her calm life is disrupted by the arrival of four unseemly guests who "land" in her rooftop apartment. Through a series of strange and hilarious events Park becomes the guardian of the four as the only person who knows them at all in the modern era. The Prince considers it is his mission to discover what happened to the Crown Princess and senses destiny when he spots, Hong Se Na (Jung Yoo-mi), the reincarnation of his dead wife. The Prince is the reincarnate of the son, Yong Tae Yong, of a wealthy family whose son and heir went missing in the United States. This twisted who done it tale has many hilarious hijinks as the Josean Power Rangers (called that because they are color coded in track suits) learn the changes that have occurred in 300 years, sometimes the hard way. Can the Prince figure out not only who murdered the Crown Princess but figure out what happened to Yong Tae-Yong? Who will he love?

Spoiler 🚨 I laughed so hard in so many parts of this one. The Prince's power rangers which I thought of more as minions were hilarious. They got in many crazy situations and their reactions to things was beyond amusing. I am going to quit being offput by titles because I paused on this one with the title making it seem "silly." It wasn't silly but it was very funny in a good way. But it also had other aspects such as suspense, mystery, drama and action. I would have rated this even higher but there was a sad/unfinished aspect to me. It is unreasonable but I want all the characters I like to end up happy so it diminishes a bit for me if that doesn't happen or if all the loose ends are not tied up. This is up at the top of my list when I recommend things to watch for others. Fully enjoyable.

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First of all, I got interested in watching this because of Jung Yoo Mi, she is one my favorite actress in Dong Yi, and I really love her cute features and her being an antagonist just makes me feel weird in the beginning. But actually, even I like her, the character she portrays just makes my angry which is really good, but there are times I can't help but to think about her cute features doesn't suit her being an antagonist but well, she actually did well. Actually, that was a good idea, her looking so cute and pretty yet has evilness in her can really be a deceiving character. And almost the end of this, for her character I was like seriously, why evil people can be forgiven easily just because they do good thing for only once. But thankfully I get and ending for the antagonist that they actually deserve. Well, we never know what happens but at least. an ending that they go to something that is actually a punishment of what they do.

I'm gonna talk about the ending-historical, the killing with sword; it feels really weird. So bland it pisses me off.

As for the plot, I mean the murder case in 300 years ago, I didn't think much of that cause there are a lot of problems in the present, but actually it's cool, but I already expected all the moment park ha got into an accident, and even at the beginning, even I don't think about it that much, I already know it is boo young, I think everyone who watch already know, and ecpected park ha to be in an accident for it all to be resolved.

I know it was just 20 episode so there's know time for unnecessary scenes, like the ending when Tae Yong just suddenly there, I'm curious about the life of Tae Yong, the younger sister of his grandma and the guy who help Lee Gak, I need more. But even if I need more, there are some scenes that for me is boring that I need to fast forward.

Park Yoo Chun and Han Ji MIn, I feel inlove with their characters especially Park Ha, like seriously, I like how she can be strong at times towards Sena, I really hate when the main is being so weakling like please fight, but still even though she kinda stood out for herself. There are scenes that she keeps getting deceived like so naive, I know maybe she have desperations well that's for the plot, it won't be executed well if she didn't get deceived, but for now I'm satisfied with the character of park ha now being too good for her own good.

Btw, there are some scenes that I was like is that even possible? Even fantasy won't accept that kind of scene, in fact it is a real world scene even you have fantasy in your genre, I don't think anything is possible.

The three guys was really amazing, without them, this movie would be kinda bland, they give some flavors to eat. The comedy was just for the beginning episodes expecially for Lee Gak, but with the three, until the end they keep being the hapiness of this series. especially choi woo sik, jung suk won was this serious but will make you laugh, and Lee Tae Ri's character is a perfect blend to complete the trio. I can't say four cause in my mind i is "Lee Gak as Tae Yong ft. the Trio" I honestly enjoy the trio than the main, just kidding!

Lee Tae Sung as Tae Moo just makes me stop or pause watching not because he is a bad actor, he actually did so good and just by seeing him ruins my mood the entire series, I want to punch him, make him suffer, I literally cry out of anger because of him, he did so good, not just his character's evilness that makes me anger, his facial expression keeps running in my mind that I was shaking in anger. Good job too him, sorry cause I want to ruin his face I almost forgot he is just a character cause he seems so real to me, his face's facial expression suits tae moo's evilness.

The story is good but actually the main mystery is already expected and there are scenes that I don't think is acceptable. I still stay cause well the characters, there are still good reason to stay. ost is good, i'm not sure if I would rewatch this, maybe for the beginning, cause I had a good laugh on those, we never know if I'm actually gonna miss this.

I think I would have a better watching experice if I know korean and the difference of the modern and the old way how people in korea speak, I mean I definitely have an idea but still it would be better for koreans or know korean watching this, I envy them.

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Rooftop Prince (2012) - should have been one of my fave dramas but I already know the ending so the excitement was not there anymore while watching the drama. The first part of the dramas made me laugh, I still remember funny scenes from this drama, and I had fun for sure. Historical dramas really do tend to get serious, and I must say this drama hurts. The villains in the drama are really a good pick since I felt rage to them. The story itself is well written for me, at the same time I liked the suspense parts that I keep thinking who the culprit really is but sadly they did not give a back story to the side characters to at least justify why they are in the drama. Not on my favorite list but one of the best dramas for me at that time. It's worth watching.

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What in The Disney Channel...

I really should have been writing things down because I have so much I want to say about this drama. I’m going to start with the reason for my review title. Warning: major spoilers. Sena is an absolute irredeemable character, and the fact that the writer dared to suggest otherwise is absolutely disgusting to me. Not only did she try to steal her sister’s lover (twice!) and tried to never let her meet her mother (btw, can we talk about what a useless plotline that ended up being?), she sabotaged her and Tae Yong at every turn and felt absolutely zero remorse for it. She’s an absolute sociopath who played with people’s feelings only for them to let their guard down so she could do it even more. The fact that she had some sort of redemption arc is absolutely hilarious to me because she was FORGIVEN by Park Ha for “saving her life” after Sena was literally the #1 REASON why Park Ha was on the brink of death to begin with. The Disney Channel “villain redemption arc” was terribly done and absolutely laughable after everything Sena had done. She doesn’t deserve anything she has and you can’t convince me otherwise. Park Ha is incredibly stupid as a character. This ties into my short rant about Sena and the fact that not one person on the planet could ever survive if they were as nice/idiotic as Park Ha. Like, girlie literally went to see Tae Moo the DAY after he stuck her in a freezer and tried to kill her, and yet she didn’t do anything about it. She forgave her sister because of a stupid liver transplant and even before that never really hated her for all the bullshit she put her through. All I need to say about Boo Young is that she’s a stupid idiot who ate persimmons straight off a plate instead of taking the whole plate with her and dumping into a river. That’s all I will say about that. Perhaps my biggest turn off about this drama was the odd romance development and the absolute mess of a toxic relationship that the leads had. Like, cmon, ML literally berated the FL and screamed at her whenever he didn’t get his way all the damn time, and half the time she screamed back while the other half she stared at the manchild with lovey dovey eyes. The relationship progression was just odd and it felt like the romance kind of came out of nowhere. Chemistry was absolutely absent and I honestly didn’t really care about the relationship nor “feel” their love for one another all the way until the end. This drama is also simply too long. Don’t get me wrong, it was entertaining enough and was pretty nice to watch in the mornings before class while I got ready, but at some point all the plotlines were being reused, they were just ~slightly~ different, and the show became an annoying drag. It was always either Sena doing some stupid shit and sabotaging Park Ha or Tae Moo making moves against Tae Yong in their stupid business. Not only were the plotlines super generic and very much the exact same as the plotlines in other 2010 type kdramas, they were just reused constantly to drag out the screen time. Now for my final grievance (as far as I can remember at least) : that ending. What. The. Absolute. Hell. Of. A. Monstrosity. Did. I. Watch? Not only was the ending weirdly vague (which is fine sometimes but I usually don’t enjoy it), it also seemed to contradict itself and didn’t lend itself to any solid interpretations. I could only see myself making “partial cases” for Tae Yong having Lee Gak’s memories and Tae Yong not having his memories at all. Any of the clues that the viewer was given to puzzle out whether Lee Gak’s consciousness traveled through 300 years did not add up, and if you found yourself arguing for either side, you would come across plot holes that would blow your theory out of the water. I would’ve been more content with either a sad or happy ending (or bittersweet) and the writer utterly failed trying to create an ending that’s “up for interpretation” by leaving way too many clues that all contradict one another. Random point, but why did everyone seem so OK in the end? Nobody was bawling their eyes out, nobody was depressed, they all kind of missed each other and got a BIT sad, but that’s totally not how I would react if I lost the love of my live. Everybody was just so damn calm and logical the whole time. Like what?
PHEW. If you read this far, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, and I hope you learned that this drama absolutely does not get my seal of approval. It was entertaining enough, but I’d definitely think of this show as one of those “it’s so bad it’s ALMOST good” shows that I will absolutely never watch again but will sometimes think of fondly as a mildly entertaining waste of 20 hours of my life. Ciao!

PS: contrary to popular belief, I absolutely hated the last 4 episodes :D

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Awesome!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the story line, it made me laugh and I had tears rolling as I kept anticipating for Park Too Chun's role to disappear. All the main actors were superb and I have now become a fan of Park Too Chun. I started watching Korean dramas about 5 months ago and I am completely enamored with these dramas. I watch them every single day and as I finish one I look for another one to start. The writer did an excellent job in this drama. It always kept my interest and I am one of those individuals that loves romantic movies and happy endings. Thank you for this drama.

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There is no time travel without a reason

I enjoyed watching this drama as it was funny and thrilling to follow up with but how can they make out a fool of the audience?
First, the death scene of the crown princess drowned, i suppose it was detected hours after its onset so the body wouldn't have been degraded yet to make it difficult to identify it, then why didn't the crown prince verify that it was his wife that is dead while it was his in law thus he must be allowed to do?
Second, in the final episode , prince moon chan is caught red handed trying to kill him with his men and we all known that he is the past life of tae moo who the same crown prince has confronted in his days in seoul then why did the crown prince recognized him or recall his fight with the future one?
Third, when he went to the present and find the reincarnate version of his princess and sister in law, he discovered the evil se na and the kind park ha that were real sisters without knowing, he studied each personality of them and fall for park ha knowing what se na personality is, it took 15 episode to recall park ha as his sister in law reincarnate and this is a waste
Fourth, when he went back to Joseon he directly punished the crown princess who was alive because of bo yong plot and sacrifice, we only knew that she was jealous from her sister accompany to the crown prince and was obliged to follow her family wishes, but her evil deeds weren't proved as they were rumors only then why to take it out on her? His infatuation with park mislead him to such disrespect his crown princess without listening to her at once...
These contradiction and others made me think that this drama needed more framework and a change of story to a pure sageuk or at least past-present connection between the episodes would import more success and light to it

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enjoyable

●HOW I CAME TO IT
I had thoughts of watching this drama after coming across a few of its hilarious clips. And yeah it entertains to the fullest possible way despite having flaws in the story.

●FIRST IMPRESSION
The story is simply cute and suspenseful, but the uncovering of suspense took a really long time. This drama could have been wrapped in 18 episodes if they didn’t go into the identity crisis of Park Ha.

●PLOT VIEW
The character doing their historic stuff and adjusting to the modern era was hilarious but genuine. the transportation concept wasn’t cleared as in firstly the characters made us believe that rooftop is the reason but at the end that was just for nothing. And they were running on during the historic period but in the present time, they were in Lotus position as if meditating.

●ACTING/CAST
All the characters were amazing, vibing the historic time with their gestures, costumes, and body language. I personally enjoyed Choi Woo Shik as Do Chi San, he had the charm to crack jokes with his pity side.
FL Han Ji Min as Park Ha was a little immature with the expressions but had good chemistry with Park Yoo Chan as Lee Kak.
Negative characters are made to be hated. So there it was but the grandmother took every chance to fall whenever there is a tense situation, the most annoying character.

●MUSIC
it was cool and refreshing, I enjoyed the flute BGM and even searched it. It had a rhythmic tone making my feet move to their tune.

●REWATCH
I would like to watch the comical scenes rather than the whole drama.

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Fun watch with some disappointment

The story had a great start. It was hilarious and suspenseful. For the first 14 episodes it was amazing and very well executed with proper pacing and structure. Watching the whole cast was a treat and very funny. Watching this drama was so much fun! I enjoyed the music and among the cast, I enjoyed the interactions of the three minions the most. My favorite part of the show was how these 4 guys adjust to the modern world. From episode 15-19, the story was concluded in a very lame way. Many intelligent characters became stupid, some characters changed suddenly and it seems not much effort was put here to keep up the quality with which the show started and I had high expectations on how they would have concluded. Ep 20 was good though I was expecting some more detail. If they had wrapped the show in a more structured and clean way, it would be one of my top shows. Despite the flaws, it was a treat to watch and a fun and enjoyable ride overall!

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