ShortCircuit

You can't see me, but I'm pouting because where is KIMURA TAKUYA?!!! He made me fall for doramas (and I admit I haven't given him a heart on MDL, but that's rare for me because of lazyness), yet seriously, he's one of the best, most handsome, and very popular Japanese actors. T_T (I mean, Hero, Pride, Mr. Brain, etc - why is there not enough love for KimuTaku?! T_T)

I've known Miura Haruma (RIP) from his Bloody Monday series, and he's rather good in it, aren't they popular? Hmm. I can't make myself watch TWO WEEKS (JP) because of how he ended it just before the dorama was released. (That and I love the k-drama, don't really want to see any changes I wouldn't approve of.)

And obviously Sato Takeru is probably one of the best known internationally, if only for the RuroKen movie series. (How on Earth did they find someone who is EXACTLY Himura Kenshin incarnated?! He fits the character like a glove.) But he was in Bloody Monday too, and he was great in Bitter Blood too (his counterpart, Watabe Atsuro, was hilarious, that was one of my favourite series :D)

I haven't watched Hana Yori Dango and don't plan to (because Boys Over Flowers was very much enough for me, despite the great soundtrack), but most of the top 10 seem to have some relation to HYD... I guess that one's the most known around MDL and that's one of the reasons... Oh well...

Ji Sung and Kim Min Jung were AMAZING (I totally bought her obsession with him right up to the end), I have a new fave actress to look up (she's new to me, so...)

Park Jin Young really grew up well. Can't wait to see him in more serious dramas (and some where his love interest can hold up their end of the stick, hopefully, in acting and/or script.)

The story happily is what it seemed to become from the first eps - Monte Cristo in a pretty good adaptation. I approve. I very much approve!!! This is one that comes almost up to Flower of Evil for me (can't help it, I VERY much appreciate Ji Sung, but I LOVE Lee Joon Gi *helpless hand gestures*), and I seriously needed that.

This is one for rewatches in a while :D

Now I NEED a cigar myself (isn't that what one does after finishing a good drama? :D)

It's only ep 5 and it's slowing down into romcom, which I guess should be adding to the comedy element, but it kind of takes the fun out of the police stuff.

Somehow, I can't really appreciate Krystal's acting, she has one expression only (pouty/annoyed), and did so even in "Search", where the romance fell flat too - not in small part because of her acting. I can't feel her being serious about the ML, and his interest is kind of phoned in too.

This seemed to be much more interesting when it started, but now it's becoming a bit meh.

Will keep watching for a while, at least for lack of something else to do, but it's pretty soon in the series for it to become laggy and uninteresting...

Í kind of expected more of this drama.

Mrs. Ji can't cook LOL. Ga On's FACE :D I was ROFL the whole time. And Elijah's smirk when he came to complain to her, LOL.

And yeah, all kinds of epic things happened, but that was the best part of the episode for me :D (Well, that and the family meal Ga On later cooks - but that's probably a huge foreshadowing or something and I do NOT want to think about it right now.)

Also, Ga On better not be trying to double-cross KYH, because I'll come down on his ass like a freight train, he better watch out!

After episode 9 - the biggest reveal of all times...

... On the other hand - Gun playing a double role :P (I don't see Off's appeal, TBH, but he and Gun DO have a good chemistry and I guess he was acceptable. Just not up to Gun's level IMHO.)

The scariest movie I've ever watched is John Carpenter's The Thing, there are no ghosts in it either, but OMG the creepyness of everything. I highly recommend it. It's supposed to be a scifi/horror/thriller, but the practical FX are awesome/horrific and it takes top of the cream for me in the genre.

And the second scariest is Misery (well, I love the book too, maybe more than the movie). Nothing ghosty, nothing supernatural, not even aliens in it... The scary part is humans and just humans.

Not Me's going to be good, judging by the trailer, but one can never know with Thai BL. I hope they keep the BL down and let Gun shine more, LOL. :D

SEA is South East Asia (in MDL present dramas, that would mean Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore; there are a few more countries, but I never watched dramas from there.)

And I mean Gun would probably rock any role in any drama, anyway, I just didn't have a chance to see him in an international drama (yet. Keeping fingers crossed.)

I always meant to watch The Gifted, but the trailer also seems to show it's kind of a horror supernatural story, LOL. I kept postponing it because of that. One of these days I'll bite the bullet - unless Not Me comes first :D

I first watched Gun in The Blue Hour, that is a freaking horror story (I don't really watch horror, LOL.) I noticed the acting chops, the looks were so-so for me. But then I watched Theory of Love - this guy not only can act, he's an acting powerhouse compared to other Thai actors (particularly in BL), and also most of SEA actors, as far as I'm concerned (I admit of not having watched them all, or most of them probably, BUT you can see him shine from a distance. Can't wait for his next works!) And the looks are very cute, too, even if he's unconventionally beautiful.

TBH, the hearts given by MDLers might not be the best recognition system - I only marked Lee Joon Gi and Xiao Zhan, for example, and I definitely like a whole slew of them. I just didn't even notice the hearts system and when I did, I was getting in a groove and never found the time to keep giving them hearts, LOL. I might be not the only one either. Maybe a poll added to the article, if possible, would share more light on current favourites among MDLers?

After ep 4... Oh, this is Monte Cristo!! (a dystopian take on it, but still recognizable. I don't even care if I'm way off at this time, LOL, it looks so Monte Cristo as of now.)

Okay, I'm all for that!!

I've watched dramas with 8 of the 10 (not the first two in this top). (And yes they were mostly BL, LOL.)

IMHO, Gun is the most talented actor, and Saint is the cutest among them. But then I might be biased.

I was kind of expecting to see the newest stars in here, though - people like Billkin or PP, for example.

Coming here after the first two eps just to say this - the OST is amazing, epic and dark. I'd have watched the series if only for it, LOL. Ji Sung and Park Jin Young are a bonus :D

I still have no idea what's going to turn into, but so far, so good. I'm just glad I didn't watch it as it was realeased, I hate waiting :D

The first - 2012 - one can be watched as stand-alone. The next two have a first and second arc and greatly profit from having watched the first movie (because that one introduces the characters.)

The 4th and 5th also are two arcs of the same story, and also would be better if you've seen the previous releases.

However, the last one, The Beginning, could be watched separately as a stand-alone, too.

Ah, can't help myself, I'm a fan of the Tsuikohen (don't watch the Seisohen, or the Shin-Kyoto-hen, LOL, if you dab into the OVAs, just Tsuiokuhen).

So I want to recommend it again (I kept mentioning here a lot). The story is the same, but the grade of execution is just amazing - the art is great, the music is perfect, the seyuu did a wonderful job. I can't help it but compare it to the movie, and the OVA still gets a bit higher mark from me. Somehow it imparts the message way more thoroughly, and ends up being more heartbreaking. I prefer Tomoe of the OVA to the one in the movie but the actress did okay, too. And well, it explains Kenshin's motivation to join the Restoration movement better, and also the ending is more fitting IMHO. And you get to see Hiko Seijuro again :D

The Beginning is a completely different beast than any of the other RK movies, including The Final, IMO. It deals with emotions more than action, and it's supposed to be considered after all the bluster and fuss of the rest of them. Not to mention that it involves a completely different Kenshin than the one we've seen in the other four movies - a younger, less wise Kenshin, and a much more violent era (even considering the whole strange enemies from the Meiji, the ones in the Bakufu hit differently because THOSE people are based on real historical figures, and a lot of the slaughter and strife have roots in actual history.) Despite the tons of blood and killing, I see it as a muted love story and kind of gloss over the action. The OVA might have coloured my impression on the story, I admit.

I watched The Beginning as a coda to the RK movies (just as much as Tsuiokuhen is a coda to the anime series and the manga.)

But obviously, one should watch them in any order they prefer and enjoy most :)

You could give the OVA/animated version a try, if you're in the mood - the animation is top-notch, the story is great, the voice actors/seyuu did a great job.

It would help for a better understanding of the story if you know some background info on the Bakumatsu era - when the Shogunate was trying hard to keep the power and the loyalists, who wanted the restoration of the Emperor's power, were fighting hard to defeat them. The fact that the Mibu Wolves are mentioned and included in the story has impact on the next movies - former Shinsengumi captain Saito Hajime is one of the characters in the (release order) first movie and keeps on appearing throughout the rest of them, for example. He's a historical figure too. Okita Soji, another person appearing in The Beginning, is also a real person, and HE is the one who inspired the mangaka, Nobuhiro Watsuki, to create Kenshin himself (and another future enemy, Seta Sojiro, too.) Actually the first (release order) movie starts with the same scenes The Beginning ends with, and Saito is there (Okita died of tuberculosis before the Meiji era started). The Bakufu - and the first years of the Meiji - were really bad times for most of Japan, so the gloom and doom atmosphere is justified.

Hint (and spoiler): at the end of the (chronological order) first movie, Katsura (another historical person) tells Kenshin he won't be asked to do the assasinations any more, because they found another slayer. That slayer is going to be a MAJOR enemy in the following movies, but I won't tell you more than that.

What you CAN expect from the next movies - well, they're based on a manga. That means physics is suspended (faster-than-lightning moves, impossible jumps, last-second escapes are the norm). For a live action (manga-to-movie) this series is amazing, basically the best one yet. Just one needs to be aware this is not supposed to be deeply rooted in reality, LOL.

Yes, That's the way the manga progression goes, too - we first met the already wandering Kenshin and we learn his backstory slowly. It's the best way to meet the characters, IMHO. The first three movies are closely related, from the first one introducing Kenshin and his newfound family, to the last one where he defeats his greatest enemy in the Meiji era.

The last two (The Final and The Beginning) are, respectively, the ending of an arc regarding Kenshin's actions as a slayer for the Restoration party, and the beginnings of it - what he did before he became the Rurouni Kenshin of the Meiji era. Also IMHO, the last two are related but separated from the first two (well, as much as they can be separated while having some of the same characters). And yes, that too is the right order, LOL. First the ending, then the beginning.

If you ever watched the anime series, and know the characters, you'll be pleased. If you read the manga, you'll be even more pleased. If you did neither and this is your first time meeting Kenshin... well, welcome and have fun watching the stories! :)

She didn't fall in front of his sword, she was protecting him with her body and attacking the assassin at the same time.

The second scar is more complex - she's cursing him not to forget, or to always remember not to kill again. Also, she had a lot to tell him that she would never have time to as she lay dying, so it might have been just a hint that her scar is related to the one given him by her fiancee Kiyosato, so that he knows WHY she betrayed him, at least in the beginning.

If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend the OVA version of the story, Trust & Betrayal (or Tsuioku-hen), It's one of the best pieces of animation to come out of Japan, and that says a lot (it's way more levels above the anime series animation, too.) The story is heartbreaking (well, now you know), the voice actors are sublime, and the music is perfection itself. One shouldn't miss it :)

And they did keep that piece of dialogue when Kenshin says he'll never kill again, too. I have to say it, I like Suzukaze Mayo's delivery better. Her voice breaks on it, which is really painful to hear, but well, that's why seyuu like her are the best.