Drama Review: To The Beautiful You

Happy Friday everyone! So, one of the dramas that I've been watching lately, To The Beautiful You, just finished yesterday. And I wanted to post the review now while it is still fresh in my mind :)

TITLE: To The Beautiful You
GENRE: live action, comedy, gender-bender
EPISODES: 16
BROADCASTING NETWORK: SBS

AIR TIME: Wednesday- Thursday
AIRING PERIOD: August 16 - October 4, 2012 

SYNOPSIS:
It is based on the Japanese shōjo manga series, Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (For You in Full Blossom), written by Hisaya Nakajo. The Korean series is the fourth television adaptation of the manga following the Taiwanese Hana Kimi, the Japanese Hanazakari no Kimitachi e and its remake Hanazakari no Kimitachi e 2011.

It is a story about a Japanese girl (living in the US) named Ashiya Mizuki who went to Japan by herself and entered an all-boys school to see and encourage Sano Izumi, a popular high-jumper, to compete again.

CASTS:
Choi Sulli of F(x) as Goo Jae Hee /Ashiya Mizuki
Choi Minho of SHINee as Kang tae Joon / Sano Izumi
Lee Hyun Woo as Cha Eun Gyeol / Shuichi Nakatsu
Kim Ji Won as Seol Ha Na
Seo Joon Young as Ha Seungri / Nanba Minami
Hwang Kwang Hee as  Song jong Min / Senri Nakao
Kang Ha Neul as Min Hyeon Jae / Makoto Kaguraza

Watch the English subbed videos at MyKimchiDrama. Just click here to go to the page.


MY THOUGHTS:

As I've said before, Hana Kimi is one of my favorite manga and this had been translated into live actions by Japan and Taiwan simultaneously years ago. Both live action adaptations garnered a huge fan base and the Japanese version (the original...I hate the remake) is my favorite because it is really fun to watch and and the way it was directed made it look like a live anime. I believe I watched that drama at least a dozen times already and I still enjoyed it. In short, I really have a very high emotional attachment with this story and I don't want to get disappointed. 

I was actually skeptical to watch this Korean adaptation, To The Beautiful You, at first when I heard Minho of SHINee and Sulli of F(x) will be the main cast. Hyunwoo is a great actor so I know he will do well for his role as "Nakatsu" but I had doubts for Minho and Sulli because this is their first time acting and Sulli is too girly to pass as a boy. I just told myself to give it a chance and watch the first 2 episodes... If I don't like it, I'll just pass this up like what I did with the remake Japan made last year. Luckily, I liked how Sulli turned out so I followed this drama every week. 

The last episode was aired yesterday and the English subbed version got released today so I was able to watch it already. All I can say is, this is really a good drama. It did not disappoint and I liked how the director wrapped everything up. Everyone has a happy ending and I am glad they didn't copied anything from the Japan and Taiwan versions. The Korean version created their own adaptation based on the manga itself so it gave To The Beautiful You a uniqueness of its own and it became a must watch live action for fans of Hana Kimi.

This version focused on the friendship between Goo Jae Hee - Kang Tae Joon - Cha Eun Gyeol and also the rivalry between Tae Joon and Hyeon Jae. There's no excessive competitions like in the Japanese version...they just used the important ones like the Miss Genie competition and also the high jump events. Dorm 1 and 3 are also not as important as with the Japanese version because TTBY were more focused on the Dorm 2 activities and characters.

I think I prefer this version of Sano Izumi portrayed by MinHo because he really became playful and caring and full of life once he accepted that he likes Goo Jae Hee as a girl and not as his roommate. I also prefer the ending because it had closure to everything :)


I'll stop my review here so that I won't give out spoilers. Do check this drama out if you liked Hana Kimi, Coffee Prince and You're Beautiful.


OVER ALL RATING: 5/5

 Definitely a must watch! I really don't get it why this got a low rating in Korea. The acting is great and has a very light storyline so everyone in the family can watch this. Although it did not garnered a lot of local support, this definitely received a lot of love from international fans like me. I hope SM Entertainment decides to create a Youtube Special for this just like what they did with Playful Kiss who also had the same fate hehe :)

Faith is still ongoing (1 more month to go) and the subbing for When Love Walked In is still not done (only until Episode 15 as of October 4) so I'll probably watch The Panda and The Hedgehog (where Donghae of Super Juinor is the lead actor) every Wednesday and Thursday to replace To the Beautiful You timeslot hehe.  

What about you? What's the current drama you are watching?

Thanks for dropping by!

Drama Review: K-pop Extreme Survival

Hello everyone! Okay, so remember my post about the new dramas I was watching? This drama is one of them and it has come to an end last week, sadly. 

Title: K-pop Extreme Survival / K-pop Ultimate Audition

Genre: Musical, comedy, cross-dressing

Episodes: Supposedly, this was meant to be 16 episodes but I don't know what happened that it ended at 14. That is the reason why I just did the review now and not last week coz I am  hoping that it will still have  16 episodes. 

Broadcast Network: Channel A

Broadcast Period: March 19 - May 1, 2012

Air Time: Monday - Tuesday @ 8pm

Synopsis: This is a story about Ji Seung Yeon (Go Eun Ah), a great pianist who wanted to do hip hop music. She is a tomboy and was able to join an audition to become a K-pop star. The catch? She needs to stay as a boy in order to stay in the audition because the winner of the event will be part of a famous all-male idol group, M2.

Kang Woo Hyun (Park Yoo Hwan) is the charismatic leader of M2. He hides his bad attitude and selfish personality from fans through his killer smiles and gestures. He is conflicted whether to stay in M2 or go solo because he doesn't like to be part of a group.

Kwon Ji Woo (Kwak Yong Hwan) is the best friend of Ji Seung Yeon. They grew up together and are very close. He is very shy and have a strong stage fright even though he is a very talented singer. He always depended on Ji Seung Yeon ever since they were children and that is one of the reason why Seung Yeon needed to stay in the competition until the end...to give strength to her best friend so he can reach his dream of becoming a singer.

And the other important roles in this drama are the M2 Junior members. This consist of 8 members including Ji Seung Yeon and Kwon Ji Woo.They are the contestants fighting for the spot in the M2 idol group.

You can check the complete info about this drama in D-Addicts. Just click here.

If you want to check this out and watch it with English subtitle, just click here. That is the site where I watch my Korean and Taiwanese dramas. I so love Kimchidramas,net hehe ^_^

If you want to check my initial impression on this drama, feel free to click on this link ^_^

Now, moving on to my actual review. 

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THIS DRAMA:

- It has a very light story line and has very few drama scenes. So it makes me feel good after watching an episode and I keep looking forward to the next one.

- It is comedy so there's a lot of  laughter and fun scenes. Even the "romantic" scenes between the two main characters is fun to watch.

- I think the casting team really did a great job in choosing these actors for the role. Everyone is great and they really portrayed their role very well.

- I love the soundtrack! My favorite is the one called "Stand Up". It is sang by the M2 Juniors and it has a great meaning and the melody is catchy. Check it out below. I chose a video that is English subbed so you can see the lyrics too ^_^

- The other supporting characters are great too. I can't believe that they were able to find great actors to be part of this drama. Even the idols like Kevin (ZE:A), Tagoon & Maeng Se Chang (BoM), and Kim Eun Jung (Jewelry) did great.

- The cast are either idols themselves or siblings of an idol so it is a great combination in my opinion because they are talented in the first place and they have personal experience of being/ or being related to a Kpop idol. They can really show the feelings and hardships of becoming an idol in the Kpop world. Very authentic information.

- There is character development with everyone. It is not just focused on the main characters. They allotted one episode per member of the M2 Junior, the administration and of course Woo Hyun and In Young.And after the series, as a viewer, I was able to get to know them all a lot better.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

- The ending is so bad! Since this is meant to be a 16 episode drama, I think they squeezed 3 episodes into 1. Episode 14 is so all over the place and it really feels rushed. I was unable to see any closure in the different conflicts that happened in episodes 12-13. 

There is no closure in:

1. How did the fans reacted when they knew Ji Seung Yeon is a girl?

2. Did the CEO and Team Leader Han ended up together?

3. What happened to M2 Junior members? Did they debuted?

4. What happened to Ji Seung Yeon's career?

5. What happened to Sunny Entertainment after the scandal?

There are a lot of unanswered questions because the ending, Episode 14, is  so rushed. I really don't get it why they needed to cut 2 episodes when it is already ending. If they really needed to cut 2 episodes off, they should have started compressing the story starting Episode 11 so that they can still finish with a complete story.

Aside from the ending, I love this series. I think acting wise, this is better than You're Beautiful. Although the two dramas are quite different, I just loved the fact that everyone here can act. Soundtrack wise, I like You're Beautiful better coz there's a lot more songs that I loved. So if you like YAB, check this out too coz you'll probably like this too ^_^

- I can't find  good English subbed videos. I think each episode was subbed only 83-90% unlike other Viki subbed videos that every part and dialogue has subtitle.

OVER-ALL RATING: 4/5 - If only the ending is right, I would have given this a higher rating. I really enjoyed watching this drama until Episode 13. Very fun and light and is really a feel-good drama. The characters have chemistry together and is really believable that they are a couple.

If you wanted something that is not full of crying and tragic problems, then I suggest you try checking this out.

Till my next post. Thank you for dropping by. Bye! ^_^