EllisDream

Np :) if you have any problem feel free to PM me and I'll try to help

I actually downloaded the raw episodes and added the subtitles found on subscene (there are a fews where in the comments it's specified that they have been corrected) using VLC.
I don't think a version with the better subtitles has been uploaded on the various streaming platforms.

I did honestly took for granted that CLOY was more on the dramatic side...but indeed, it seems I didn't even check the genre tags...there's definitely 'comedy' listed there and at the first place too... *cough*embarassing*cough*
I think the only drama I watched that touched on the duality of NK/SK was King2Hearts but beside the fact that it was definitely not serious at all, it was also very bad and not just because the FL was Ha Ji Won.
I'm kinda looking forward to see a depiction of the North that doesn't make things extreme either way.

I'm probably among the majority when it comes to physical chemistry in dramas. I appreciate it and I definitely give extra points if done well, but I'm good with the more conservative take of most Asian dramas. And if the kisses are really REALLY unnatural...well there's always the fastforward button :P
Still usually I need the leads to show some kind of chemistry...it could also simply be in the way they look at each other.
But even then, now that I think about it...I definitely watched several dramas in which the chemistry was lacking on all fronts, but I still found the story intriguing and the characters likeable enough to complete them. So, yeah...you can say that good chemistry for me makes a love story great, but it's not mandatory to make me enjoy one anyway.

I don't think my preferences are actually that dependent on age when looking at actors...I mean I do find Ji Jin Hee to be quite actractive (his eyes are a bit too sad, but it's part of his charm) and he's definitely past 40. Jang Hyuk (and I see he's among your favourites) is another one...I don't find him conventionally good-looking but, damn, he definitely has charm.
There are just some people I do sometimes not like.
In real life I'm often proven wrong when I get to know them better and I made friends more than once with people I really disliked at first (or even second...or thirtieth) glance.
But actors need to sell me a character in a quite short amount of time...so if I'm not liking something in them, it makes it more difficult for me to empathize with their characters. And since they portray a different character in every drama/movie it's not even like I can get familiar with them across their works.
So, I'm pretty sure Gong Yoo is quite a decent guy, but I'm gracious and I'll be leaving this oppa to you :P

Uhm, the more you talk about Lovers the more it actually intrigues me. It may indeed end up not being my cup of tea, but I'll never know unless I try to watch it...
I don't think I'm one of those female viewers who scream 'abuse' at a wrist grab or at a bit of harsh talk, but there are some some lines that I don't like crossed too much. There's no need to be deferential to the FL, but some sort of respect of her as a person is due. My limits are also definitely depending on the environment the drama is set in and the background the character is supposed to be from. If a ML is part of a mafia gang he can get away with way more abrasive and harsh behaviour compared to a ML who's a simple office employee, for example.

About weak FLs...honestly I don't agree on how most people on MDL seem to classify a FL as weak or as strong. To me for being strong a FL does not need to be a smart-mouthed, competitive career woman with a karate black belt under the table.
I don't exactly love the wilting violet kind of FL who's faints at the slightest provocation either, but there's a balance in the middle. A strong FL for me is a FL who's well-rounded, who has her own set of skills and is able to recognize weaknesses but is determined not to give in to adversities anyway. She can be smart, but timid; a good fighter but not particularly insightful; sassy and opinionated, but often wrong...I just need the drama to highlight both her strong and weak points otherwise I don't care how much 'strong' they are, they still fall flat for me.
I gotta admit though that the traits I like most in FL are kindness and warmth (....within reason). I think these are attributes which are often associated with weakness, but for me are actually strenghts as long as they aren't taken to the stupid extreme. They are also character traits that I personally find to be more feminine than masculine, even if I do not mind having the roles reversed once in a while.

Btw, I got at episode 7 of Something about 1% and while I still do find the ML too controlling for my tastes and the FL too forgiving of that behaviour, it's getting better. It'll probably won't get an high score out of me (unless it amazes me in the second half), but I definitely can see myself finishing and enjoying it.

Nah, you're the perfect amount of talkative! Actually, thank you, it feels so nice to talk with someone about dramas and personal preferences in an adult way! :)

I do like the idea of noona romances partly because most of my relationships have been with younger men. I just tend to be attracted to guys who are a bit childish...not that it works well in real life, I admit, but at least I can see thing work out on my laptop screen. I personally find myself a little bit more awkward with older men (I'm talking about guys older than me by 5 years and above), I constantly feel like I'm getting judged and freeze up, therefore I end up barely talking at all.
Regarding the power dynamic, it's true that it's basically the same in reverse, but in noona romances it's usually the younger guy who chases the woman first. I'm not sure why, but that makes the difference for me. So, basically, in oppa romances I'd need the younger woman to chase after the older guy first, but I think it's less common to find.
I don't think I've watched any dramas with a main couple like that, but back in the day I had definitely read a few mangas with a similar concept.

If I'm not mistaken the age difference in Something like 1% is 6 years. It's not a huge difference, but it's not insignificant either. But honestly, if the interactions between the protagonist is as you commented before I can simply ignore it and pretend as if they have the same age. It wouldn't be the first time I purposefully ignore details I don't particularly like in a drama and you really made me curious about this show now!
I'll give JHM a chance as well. It seems to be lighter compared to CLOY (which I'll check out sooner or later anyway) and I'm more forgiving when dramas do not take themselves too seriously. Maybe I'll finally manage to complete a drama with Hyun Bin!

I agree that some actresses and actors can definitely put me off. The ones you mention (Ha Ji Won, Kim Ha Neul and Park Shin Hye) are included in this list.
It's generally not enough for me to drop a drama by itself if I really like either the story or the other leads, but it definitely could be a factor.
It's an unpopular opinion, but another similar (even if not on the same scale) actress for me is Park Min Young and I honestly don't even know why I don't like her. She's definitely pretty, she's not a bad actress at all and she even seems quite a nice girl, but I still feel some twinge of irrational antipathy for her.
There are also a few male actors that are like this for me...some of the more famous ones would be Ji Chang Wook, Oguri Shun and (please don't kill me?!) Gong Yoo. I don't hate them, but I can never fully sympathize with them either.
Most actors/actresses though for me are hit or miss....I often love them in one or two roles and then don't like them in anything else.

Temptation is a drama that was never even on my radar...but damn... I'll make sure to steer clear...
On the other hand I've noticed you mention Lovers as a favourite and I think I have ignored it up till now because the synopsis was kind of confusing, but I'll look into it!

As you can see you're definitely not the only one getting carried away with a comment... Apologies in advance.

- Hyun Bin is definitely an actor I should check out. Up till now I've only watched these two dramas and I hated his character in both of them, but he's definitely a charming actor and not only because he's hot.
I was put off by Jekyll, Hyde & Me because of the several bad reviews/comments... but maybe I should give it a shot. Crash Landing On You is so hyped, I'm a bit hesitant as well. I have Memories of the Alhambra on my Plan to Watch list, but in that case my hesitance is due to Park Shin Hye. I don't hate her, but I don't find her very compelling or likeable as an actress.

- Daniel Henney is definitely not a good actor, but I was expecting him to be so bad from the comments I read, that I found him decent. His role was quite flat anyway, so it's not like he could have portrayed a wide range of emotions. I'm quite forgiving about flat acting. I won't give any brownie points for it but I won't be dropping a show just for that unless it's a problem shared by the whole cast. Overacting on the other hand requires me to really find the actor/actress likeable.

- I was so happy with Queen In Hyun's Man for the first few episodes...but the amnesia plot point made me sigh in disappointment. It's weird because I don't hate the amnesia plot device as much as others do, but in here I just couldn't stomach it. It's one fo the dramas I should give a second chance to, though.

- Kim Eun Sook is not my favourite screenwriter, which is why DotS is probably going to rot in my Plan to Watch list...and it's there in the first place only because I think I should give it a chance considering the hype. I gave Goblin an 8/10, but it's not because I liked the main couple. Had it been just for them, it would have gone to the dropped list. What I gave the show points for was the bromance (I am a sucker for bromance), the secondary couple (which I really liked) and the overall acting and production. The writing was solid, but I didn't find it amazing.
I barely remember anything about City Hall. I think my dropping it had more to do with the fact that there were other dramas I was looking forward to and the side I was streaming it at had some bad quality video. I should give it another chance and at least watch a couple episodes before deciding to drop it again.

- Kim Ha Neul and Ha Ji Won aren't black-listed yet but I generally do not find them likeable either. I do hope the latter will prove me wrong with Chocolate, even if I'm not too confident about that.

- Ugly Alert was a weird experience for me. It's one of those dramas I liked but I was also glad I managed to stop watching. I remember finding mostly (if not all) the female characters somewhat interesting. The FL started indeed to become a little bit too 'perfect', but at the beginning she was a cold and abrasive yet not bitchy, which I found refreshing.
The two sisters are indeed not very likeable, but if we're not talking about leads, I do sometimes find unlikeable characters to be interesting as well. The elder sister in particular was sort of compelling to watch. She was indeed spoiled and entitled and whiny...but she had accepted a difficult situation begrudgingly and became even more bitter because of that, I found it realistic.
She was a conflicted character...she hated she had to sacrifice her dreams for her younger siblings, but what I felt she hated even more the fact that she had that sort of hate, that she couldn't be able to do it as willingly and happily as the ML used to. I think that was what she resented the ML the most. That he could sacrifice himself without even getting a kind word in return and still be happy, while she was so miserable about it.

- Something About 1 Percent...you're actually probably right, because reading your comments I can see myself liking this drama. I think my feeling of him being overbearing was due to the fact that he is quite a few years older compared to the FL and he points it out. I don't mind age gaps, even when they are quite a bit larger, but in Korean culture older age seems to come with a whole baggage of respect-your-elders connotations and it tips the power dynamic in his favor, which I do not like considering he seems to be the one initiating all physical contact.
In any case, I'll give it another (fair) chance and get at the very least halfway in!

Thank you very much for sharing your opinions with me :) I do not have anyone to talk about dramas in my day-to-day life so I really appreciated it!

Thank you for your comment! It's really reassuring to feel alone in my lack of love for at least some of these dramas.
Now that you mention it, Coffee Prince might be the only one of the list I should give a second chance to. I watched it almost two years ago when I had barely watched a couple Korean dramas before, so my quite low score might be because I wasn't probably used to the way they are generally paced. Nowdays I usually tend to be a bit more forgiving about pacing issues.

I'm very hesitant about watching Crash Landing On You, even if everyone seems to rave about it. Reading your profile we have different tastes, but I think we do share some general gripes with dramas, so your lack of enthusiasm isn't a point in its favour...

I'm not a fan of the death penalty for (almost) any crime, but I really find your comment refreshing and I for once can agree with pretty much everything you've written.
While certain acts should never EVER be condoned, we certainly need to be aware that we live in reality and try to protect ourselves. Thinking that no one will harm us simply because they shouldn't is naive. There're bad people out there...they are the minority, luckily, but you just need to meet one of them at the wrong time to have a potentially life-ruining experience.
It's not always possible to avoid dangerous situations and certainly victims shouldn't to be blamed for that, but it's a fact that certain behaviours put us at risk more than others.

It is well filmed, the performances are solid, the characters likeable (even if sometimes a little farsical), the story good enough and the music very pleasant.
The reason why I dropped it during the first watching was because the subtitles were really horrendous. But when I tried to rewatch this show I found that some better subtitles were released and, while not perfect, they are infinitely better than the old ones!

The writing isn't ground-breaking, but it's coherent and solid meaning that nothing felt improvised or added in as an afterthought. The actors do a good job with their characters and while I didn't find the acting award-worthy I couldn't find any fault with it either.

The directing is smooth and the cinematography really good. The scenery is so stunning that it made me want to try and live in a remote island for a couple of weeks...even if I doubt I could resist that long without internet...
The soundtrack is quite unique as it mixes new songs to old ones in a very pleasant way (and also a couple of songs from other dramas...I definitely heard something from Falling For Innocence and Moon Embracing the Sun).

Overall I think it's a quite good romcom with some good amount of comedy and some quite emotional moments.

This show is definitely special, especially considering it came out in 2007.
The story presents quite a wide array of complex, likeable and strong female characters. And they are the sort of female characters that I like the most: strong but neither rude, mean-spirited or unrealistically perfect. They are smart, but flawed; sometimes frivolous, yet usually hardworking and determined; romantic and realistic at the same time.
The acting is quite marvelous. The whole cast portrayed their characters beautifully even in the weaker parts of the drama. The OST is quite unique and I enjoyed the use of some very iconic western songs and soudtracks.

There are some elements (like people having strong prejudice against divorced women and women having relationships with men even if they are spearated) which do seem a bit exaggerated if I look at the drama as a modern European. I suppose this (together with the 'respect your elders' theme) is something closer to Asian culture that, as foreign viewers, we just have to accept...even if I can only hope things aren't still so bad for women in SK!

The show though is not perfect...
One bad point of the show is that it uses way too many tropes. Most of them are actually solved in quite a clever way, but others not so much..and it does make the drama feel cliche. But this is from 2007 and maybe some of these weren't so overdone by them...
What I can forgive a bit less, is the fact that the story gets a somewhat bland after episode 14 or so. It's decent, but it was uninteresting enough to make me get distracted by some other drama and drop the show at episode 16 the first time I tried to watch it. The second watching went much better, but the last third of the drama (ending included) is definitely the weaker part.
Another less important complain is the fact that we're supposed to believe this whole drama took place in about 3 months...but it honestly feels more like 8-10 months worth of events especially considering the relationships that are being cemented during this time period.

Overall it's a good show, one I'd definitely recommend especially if you're a woman in your 30's or late 20's.

Thanks for your reply! :D
I posted this comment because I felt lonely in my not-so-positive opinion of this drama and I'm so glad there is someone else who hasn't enjoyed this drama much either. I do no wish anyone not to like a drama (it's so much better to love them!) but sometimes validation does feel good :P

First of all, thank you very much for your very informative reply! :)

I honestly put this drama on hold I think at episode 5 or 6. I haven't dropped it completely, but it's on the cliff.
Basically, I do want to like it, I see things to like, but I'm not getting invested into it.

The cutesy aspect (and, thanks to you, I do now understand it's quite linked to the culture and what's expected by these shows) is definitely one of the reason.
I do not mind a few cheesy moments in dramas, but this shows pushes my limits and it's definitely more the editing fault (the slow-mos...) than anything else. I could take this into smaller doses though and the fact that it's definitely self-aware and mostly comedic definitely helps.

As for the dialogue, I don't really know how to explain it...I mean it's obviously not realistic, because the plot and situations themselves aren't, but what I meant is that to me it doesn't feel like it flows in a natural way. The arguments made and the reactions/replies do not feel like they are something that I could see happen in real life, which is why I was thinking that maybe there's some other cultural reason I can't pick up.
I do not remember a particular instance I could bring as an example right now, but if you'll be available for help once I'll pick this back up (I definitely will in the near future) I'd be very grateful.

Thanks again and have a wonderful day :)

I'd love to watch this movie if only the purchase of a digital copy was available anywhere on some streaming site, but I couldn't find any other way to watch it beside buying the DVD and just the thought of having to deal with the customs makes me cringe...

I'm 4 episode in and I'm fascinated by this show. I don't think I've watched a Korean drama quite like this.
I tend to prefer my black comedies to be more surreal, more exaggerated and definitely with faster pacing (like Psychopath Diary for example) but I'm finding this more melancholic, slice-of-life, bittersweet approach to comedy to be quite appealing as well.
The pacing of the story is kinda episodic, which I didn't expect and found confusing at first. Each episode seems to have conflicts for one (or both) of the male leads and the events usually get concluded by the end of the episode even if there seem to be some sort of longer character arc that will be explored during the course of the series. It seems like they were aiming to create a sort of sitcom with new seasons each year, but due to the poor public ratings this project was dropped.

There's a comment below from fo108932 suggesting the following link: http://tv.naver.com/whynot
I have watched it there a few months back and it seemed a decently funny watch, but without subtitles it's kinda hard to get the full meaning.

There's romance between the FL amd ML.
There is also a bit of bromance between the two male leads, but I wouldn't recommend this drama only for that.
In any case, I admit the FL is kinda annoying at the very beginning, but personally she grew on me and I ended up liking her.

I had watched this a while ago and I'm thinking I should try a rewatch soon.
My first viewing was very positive. This isn't a masterpiece but for the enjoyment it gave me it's still in my personal Top 20 list. So I'm here to offer my 2 cents :P
I understand why some people were put off by the FL, I honestly hated her hairstyle as well and I don't know why they went with that look for the lead actress. But...contrary to what seems is the common opinion, I ended up really liking her character. I mean...in one of the first few epidoes (2 or 3? can't remember) she apologizes and does so while being calm, nice-mannered and rational *sheds a tear*
It's a small scene, but it totally made me reevaluate her character and it elevated her right away from 'weird, nosy and slightly annoying' FL to 'still weird and nosy but also reasonable' FL.

Anyway, it's true that the romance isn't the strongest ever portrayed in a K-drama and indeed there no real reason we can decipher of why it gets started...but then again love doesn't always have reasons. I personally could still believe there was attraction, doesn't matter if I wasn't told exactly why and how.

I'm at episode 4 and up till now I'm finding the show moderately enjoyable.
The two leads are really good and some supporting actors and actresses are also quite interesting to watch. The ML had good comedic timing and while I'm not a fan of the moments when he actually 'man-handles' the FL (as other commenters pointed out) I'm willing to simply pretend they didn't happen because I'm finding him generally charming and I believe this FL could put him in his place if she really wanted to.

I'm having some issues though...but I got to admit that these are issues I have with most if not all Chinese romcoms.
One is regarding the dialogue...I find it to be a bit stilted and not realistic. It's not the actors' fault as they are overall doing a very good job with their roles, but I'm simply not buying the lines they are saying. It might be that something gets lost in translation. I have usually no trouble with Japanese and Korean dramas (unless they written very poorly), but that might be because I'm simply slightly more knowledgeable about their culture.
Another (and more annoying) aspect of this drama that I'm finding a bit troubling is the editing. Some scenes are way too dragged out and we get way too many slow-mos and flashbacks. This makes the (inevitable) cheesy moments even cheesier and so second-hand embarassing to watch for me that I cannot avoid to make use of the ff button at least a tiny bit.

Everytime I was tempted to just stop watching the show entirely, though, the OST started playing and we got a little dancing break and that is so cute and catchy I just want to keep watching!!!

It's not really a matter of whether they could afford it or not, even if it made me wonder, especially in the case of the ML... I put this show On Hold at ep. 5 for another issue I had with it and I hadn't yet fully understood how high their social/economic status exactly is.
Anyway, the matter is that Maserati simply isn't car brand that you see around often. Most people would go for an high-end car (Audi or Mercedes or something like that) and not a sporty luxury brand, even if they could potentially afford it. And even in that market Maseratis don't seem to be the most common choice, from what I see around at least.
They also had quite a lot of driving scenes in the first few episodes. I might not have noticed/cared that much if they were shown less often.

It's a silly complain and I recognize it, but it sadly pulls me out of my suspension of disbelief more than any other PPL I've watched in a drama up till now.
On its own it definitely wouldn't be enough reason to drop the show, though.

I think it's worth a try mostly because it's surprisingly different in the way it portrays women compared to other dramas from back then.
Sadly, the romance side of the story is a bit cliched, especially by today's standards. It's not TOO bad, but I personally lost interest in it after 15 episodes.
It's on my list of dramas to get back to and rewatch, though!

I personally have a few additions, all three regarding the first half of the last decade:
- Queen of Reversals (2010) - Hwang Tae Hee played by Kim Nam Joo
- I Do I Do (2012) - Hwang Ji An played by Kim Sun Ah
- I Have a Lover (2015) - Do Hae Gang and Dok Go Yong Ki played both by Kim Hyun Joo

I think another honorable mention should go to Dal Ja's Spring, a drama from 2007 which had quite a few strong female characters and was quite unique for that time.