Historical Dramas Club

 fiflydramalover:

Hmm you might want to try Painter of the Wind? My memory is a bit foggy, but I think the crossdressing wasn't bad there. Though i didnt really appreciate the pacing of the story if im honest. 

I also liked how they did it in My Journey to You just because to adjust for the characters breasts, they padded her shoulders and had her always keep her back straight so it looked like she had a muscled chest. I thought that was pretty clever. What I thought was ridiculous though, was the way people found out she was a woman was she let her hair down XD this makes no sense because men also had long hair!!! Whether it was a man or a woman, assuming that the crossdressing is convincing, they would look the same when they let down their hair no? How silly lol

But also hey, some people just don't like it, which sounds like your case. Won't push you to try these dramas. I personally love the trope so I couldn't help but mention them ?

I saw "The Painter of the Wind" and, as I remember, that's true, it might be better than the cross-dressing in recent rom-com sageuk.

I don't watch Chinese dramas so I can't tell, but from what you explained, yes, it seems they put more effort to make it realistic (although the thing about the long hair is indeed silly ^^).

That's actually not a trope I dislike in itself and I think it can actually be enjoyable if done well (or if they decided one day to make a male character to fall in love with the woman, but truly believing she is a man, that could be interesting or fun, but there is a long way to go before that I guess), I think Koreans just do it very poorly in sageuk because of their obsession over the beauty and how good actors must look in dramas. 

It's true for "Coffee Prince" indeed, and that's probably part of its success too (I personally liked it a lot), but it's exactly because they didn't try to make Yoon Eun Hye all pretty, while passing as a man, I think. And that's not a sageuk, so it's different. ^^

However it's true for "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" too, yes. It's one of the sageuk I liked a lot, and maybe I would find it silly if it was airing nowadays, but crossdressing in sageuk was still relatively new at that time and it was okay ten years ago and before. Even Ha Ji Won's crossdressing in "Empress Ki" doesn't bother me. It's probably because these older sageuk had a different vibe, and my jugement too because with recent sageuk putting crossdressing everywhere, with cheesy rom-com, that totally put me off.

"Queen Woo" ? Definitely the drama I look forward to the most this year so far. Despite its short format the subject is very interesting,  no rom/com, with a brilliant cast, and knowing the quality of sageuk productions, it will be amazing I believe. I'm really excited for this one.

 hoshthegoat:

The tale of Nokdu 9/10

Well deserved, Tale of Nokdu is absolutely one of my favorites. It's a real gem ^^

 Knavery:

Fighting for Love 

Snippet from synopsis:

It tells the story of the founding female general of Nanxia who took off her red robe in exchange for battle gear and became the goddess of war.

Crystal Zhang is amazing but my worry is that she recently aired out that her boyfriend(?) was cheating on her.

So I was 1 year and a few months too early back when I posted what's quoted but it's finally here!  I'll probably give it a start tonight. It's hard to undersell Crystal Zhang so even if the writing is average she can still make it work.

"Knight Flower" ended airing a few days ago and I must write it was a good surprise. I watch (almost) all sageuk, but I usually have a hard time watching rom-com sageuk (unfortunately we are flooded whit this the last few years because the general audience like it...) because it's really not my cup of tee. But I still like to watch historical productions like that, firstly because they usually have actors I like, and mostly because they are always of a great quality when it comes to depiction of historical periods, costumes, architecture, customs, culture of Korea with beautiful sceneries and they are always visually appealing. They also, sometimes, develop nice storylines outside of the romance or dive into interesting or not well know episodes or aspects of Korea's history.

"Knight Flower" has all of that, and it was also very funny. It's very subjective because humour, even though it's universal, depends on anyone's feelings and sensibility. But usually, sageuk rom-com are just cheesy for me and what they expect to be funny appears ridiculous to me. For "Knight Flower", I actually laughed while watching it, so it was a great success for me. The unexpected romance between Cho Yeo Hwa and Park Su Ho was a nice surprise too, and the chemistry between Lee Ha Nee and Lee Jong Won was perfect. A solid 9/10 for me, which is probably the only rom-com sageuk I have rated this high. I highly recommend to watch it. ;)

I want to join too

A familiar stranger 9/10

Butterflied lover 8/10

Maid's revenge 7/10

The eternal love 7/10

The king's woman (2017) 7/10

 Ari:

Both parts?  <_<<

Yes, because I rated both parts as a whole.