Tag: kdrama

Binge worthy k-dramas

Introduction:
Korean drama or popularly known as k-drama are television series which are made in the Korean language and made in South Korea. These days, these dramas are popular worldwide due to the spread of the Korean Pop culture which attracted many more audiences and now it’s appreciated everywhere. They’re also easy to stream as subtitles in many languages are offered. They’re also very engrossing and compelling. In this article, I’ll be writing about 5 such k-dramas which will forever be my “all time favourite”.

1)Hotel del Luna:
This drama was aired in 2019 and was loved by many fans. The genre is Romantic Comedy and Dark fantasy. In the heart of Seoul, we can find a curious and peculiar hotel which is very antiquated and something very new to the sight. This hotel is only visible to ghosts who have grudges from their lives and Jang Man Wol ( IU) is the establishments acting CEO. She is a bitter, greedy and materialistic soul who spent the past thousand years in hatred as she can’t leave the hotel because she is tied down to by a deity so she doesn’t self destruct herself with rage and mania. The only way she could escape that life of hell is if she gets over this hatred and finds love.
Things get interesting when Goo Chan Sung (Yeo Jin Goo) shows up. Fate ties them together. He is the youngest assistant manager to ever work there. He is forced to work there because of a deal his father made with Jung Man Wol. With his arrival, things start to change around her life and the hotel. He’s an excellent money manager and therefore starts to put her affairs and financial situation in order.

2) Sweet home:
Sweet home was aired in 2020. The genre is Korean horror and Apocalyptic and post – apocalyptic fiction. It’s about a boy named Cha Hyun Soo (Song Kang) who becomes a loner after an incident which caused the death of his entire family. He then moves to a new apartment. Not soon after his move, strange things begin to happen around him and throughout Korea. The strange event is that people start to turn to monsters and Hyun Soo and the other residents need to fight these monsters in order to survive.

3) It’s okay to not be okay:
This k-drama was released in 2020 and this is a romantic genre and rated really high among fans. The male protagonist Moon Gang Tae (Kin Soo Hyun) is a community health worker at a psychiatric ward who is favoured and privileged with smarts, a good looking face, ability to sympathize and patience, etc. On the other hand, the female protagonist Ko Moon Young (Seo Ye Ji) who seems selfish, rude and arrogant.
The whole series is about how one person who doesn’t allow love to be in his life and the other one who doesn’t know what love is, fall in love and defy fate, finding themselves in the process.

4) Vincenzo:
Vincenzo is a dark comedy released in 2021. Park Joo Hyeong (Song Joong Ki) was abandoned by his mother and went to Italy after being adopted. He is now known as Vincenzo Cassano. He is employed as a consigliere for the Mafia. Due to the war the Mafia families have been in, he flees to South Korea and his involvement with Lawyer Hong Cha Young (Jeon Yeo Bin) begins. She is the type of attorney who would do whatever it takes to win a case and never backs down from any challenge. Their main aim is to defeat the corrupt and twisted conglomerate and prevail justice.

5) My roommate is a gumiho:
This is a romantic comedy which was released in 2021. Shim Woo Yeo (Jang Ki Yong) is a nine tailed fox who is about to complete his 1000 years on earth without transforming into a human. His main goal is to be turn into a human in order to not disappear. He is a smart, rich and handsome writer. He collects human energy through a bead in order to become a Human. Lee Dam (Lee Hye Ri), a university student who accidentally swallows his bead and for the sake of him turning into a human, he decides to protect Lee Dam who has the bead with her. They end up living together and face many struggles in their journey.

Conclusion:
I recommend these k-dramas for audiences who are just getting into the K-pop culture freshly. These are perfect for beginners as these 5 k-dramas explores many genres and you can later add on to your list of things to watch after making yourself acquainted with this side of entertainment.

Top 5 Best K-dramas Will Worth Binge Watching

The story’s & characters you will fall in love with

1. True Beauty

Im Joo Kyung is a high schooler who is positive about most things, except for her appearance! She hates the idea of being seen in public without makeup, but fortunately has become a self-taught makeup expert, with a little help from internet video tutorials. What she has learned online has transformed her life. At school, she is known as “Goddess of Beauty”, although she secretly lives in fear of her schoolmates and friends discovering what she looks like behind the makeup! In fact, there is only one person from school who has ever seen her without makeup – Lee Su Ho, topper of the class. He is also dashingly handsome. However, Lee Su Ho has a few dark secrets from his past. There is one more student – Han Seo jun. He is a bad boy, who has nothing to do with his studies however he is hot, handsome and caring. He is an idol trainee, a model and has a crush on Im Joo Kyung.

Slowly, these three individuals become drawn together and learn more about one another’s secrets!

2. Descendants of The Sun

A love story that develops between a surgeon and a special forces officer.

Kang Mo Yeon is a pretty and assertive woman who works as a cardiothoracic surgeon at Haesung Hospital. She isn’t afraid to admit her mistakes and believes that capability overrides whatever connections you have. However, she is soon faced with the reality that she cannot advance with just capability. Her life is forever changed when she encounters Yoo Shi Jin, the Captain and team leader of Alpha Team who cares more about protecting anybody in need of help as well as his country, even if it goes against the order of his superiors. He is funny, caring and has a lot of secrets.

This drama will tell how they both bond together in a time of war and overcome the odds against them.

 

3. While You Were Sleeping

A young woman with bad dreams meets two people who suddenly develop the same ability.

Nam Hong Joo lives with her mother, who runs a small restaurant. Jung Jae Chan, a rookie prosecutor and his younger brother, Seung Won, move in across the street. Since she was young, Hong Joo has had the ability to see bad events before they happen, but she is unable to do anything about it.

One day, Jae Chan has a strange dream about an accident involving Hong Joo and Lee Yoo Beom, a ruthless attorney who used to be Jae Chan’s tutor. Jae Chan decides to interfere in the course of events and ends up saving the lives of Hong Joo and Han Woo Tak, a young police officer. Then Jae Chan, Hong Joo, and Woo Tak start having dreams about one another, they realize that their lives are somehow connected now.

But can the three discover the reason that they were brought together and can they prevent the people closest to them from getting hurt?

4. Strong Women Do Bong Soon

Do Bong Soon is an unemployed woman who is honest and kind. She appears small and sweet on the outside, but she is very, very strong. In her family, for generations the women have been gifted Herculean strength to use for the greater good. If abused, however, their power will be taken away. Whilst standing up for herself after gang members bully her, she finds herself approached by Ahn Min Hyuk, the handsome and somewhat childish CEO of Ainsoft, a gaming company. Ahn Min Hyuk, who holds a great distrust towards the police, witnessed the whole exchange of Bong Soon’s superhuman strength, and now wants to employ her as a bodyguard after being threatened by an unknown enemy. Min Hyuk falls in love with super-strong Bong Soon at first sight, but there’s a catch. Bong Soon has eyes for someone else; police officer and childhood friend, In Guk Doo, whom she has known since high school. When chaos ensues after a series of kidnappings in Do Bong Soon’s hometown of Dobong-dong, Dobong-gu, Bong Soon must decide whether to use her strength and stand up to evil, or play it safe and keep her powers hidden from the world. Combined with the love triangle she faces between In Guk Doo and Ahn Min Hyuk, as well as having to keep Min Hyuk safe, Bong Soon’s life is thrown into turmoil. Can she use her strength for the greater good, or will it prove in the end to be too much?

 

5. Extraordinary You

 

What would you do if you found out that you were in fact a character in a comic? And on top of that  an extra character? Obviously! You will try to change the course of the story.

Eun Dan oh is a 17 year old high-school student from a wealthy family who suffers from a lifelong heart condition that inevitably means she won’t live long. However, when Dan oh realizes she is experiencing long gaps in her memory as well and she is a character in a Korean comic and all of her actions are predetermined by the artist who draws her. To make matters worse, she discovers she is only a supporting character in the cast. One day she experiences a sudden change in stage because of – Ha ru, an extra character.

Its really interesting to watch what will happens in the end, does Danoh succeed to change her stage?

 

The Rise Of Hallyu

The Korean Wave or as it is more popularly known the ‘Hallyu Wave’ is the rise in the popularity of South Korean culture globally. 

The word ‘Hallyu’ finds its origin in the chinese word Hanryu meaning “Korean wave”. The Korean wave refers to a global awareness of several aspects of South Korean culture, such as television and film (especially “K-dramas”), K-pop, manhwa, the Korean language, and Korean food. 

Hallyu first started gaining prominence in the 1990s and was originally only limited to Japan and China. That all changed with one movie. Released in 1999, ‘Swiri’ is a North Korea/South Korea espionage film. The film was not only popular in China and Japan but soon gained popularity in several South East Asian countries as well. This momentum was carried forward with dramas such as ‘Autumn In My Heart’ and ‘Winter Sonata’ and films like ‘My Sassy Girl’. The popularity of these entertainment products generated a lot of hype about Korean culture’s exploding prominence. 

The Korean government’s decision to relax the prohibition on Koreans travelling abroad in the early 1990s was perhaps the most crucial element that ultimately paved the way for Hallyu. This allowed a number of Koreans to go to the western world, primarily the United States and Europe. These western-educated Koreans carried with them new business approaches, new nuances and interpretations of art, movies, and music, as well as new means of expression. This resulted in a massive pool of young, energetic, and highly competent people eager to explore prospects in Korea. 

At the same time when the restrictions were repealed, Asia (including Korea) was experiencing the terrible Asian financial crisis of 1997-98. The Asian financial crisis was a perfect storm of bad debt, lender anxiety, and regional economic difficulties.Because many worldwide stakeholders still felt Korea was in terrible health after the crisis, the nation lost foreign direct investments, tourism, and faced global mistrust. To address the issue, the then newly elected president Kim Dae-Jung and the Korean head of global PR agency Edelman co-authored a book geared towards foreign investors titled “Korea: On Course – and Open for Business.”

Since the 2000s, the Korean Wave has seen a steady increase in popularity but that all changed with the growing use of the internet and social media. Hallyu has been spreading for over 20 years, but K-pop in particular has grown more visible to worldwide audiences in the last five to ten years. K-pop is a noticeable and distinct addition to the domain of pop music for three reasons: very high-quality performance (particularly dancing), an exceedingly perfected aesthetic, and a “in-house” technique of studio production. The international breakthrough of “Gangnam Style” was followed by a boom of K-Pop idol groups such as Big Bang, Girls’ Generation, 2PM, EXO, Wanna One, BTS, Twice and Blackpink.

Korean films and filmmakers have increasingly piqued the curiosity of international cinema communities. Train to Busan, has gained international acclaim as a must-see Korean film due to its intriguing subject matter and good narrative structure.Films such as ‘Parasite’ and ‘Minari’ have won several accolades worldwide. 

Korean skincare products have also grown in popularity throughout Asia. Amorepacific and LG Household & Health Care have risen to the top of the Asia-Pacific beauty industry. K-dramas and K-pop boosted exposure of Korean beauty goods and brands, which increased demand among Indian women, resulting in the establishment of several specialist e-commerce businesses. Korean consumer brands are expected to be in great demand in India by 2020, with items ranging from food to cosmetics and toys, in addition to household gadgets. 

The Korean Wave’s budding global surge has not only boosted South Korea’s economy but also enhanced its soft power and cultural diplomacy. People all over the world are interested in the Korean Wave’s future because the continued flourishing of a local culture in global cultural marketplaces might send an inspirational message of acceptance and inclusiveness. The Korean Wave’s rise may also be an indication of changing relations between Western and non-Western cultures.

Descendants of the sun :MUST WATCH KOREAN SHOW

Television still of Descendants Of The Sun, starring Song Hye Kyo and Song Joong Ki.

Whether you love this show or hate it; whether you think it’s the drama gods’ gift to mankind or the most ludicrous thing to ever grace our screens – heck, whether you even watch kdrama or not – you just can’t ignore it.

When I first started watching Descendants of the Sun sometime last week, I had no idea how popular it was. During its original run in South Korea, it broke record ratings with a 28.5 percent viewership surpassing another insanely popular kdrama from two years ago called My Love From Another Star (that one was so popular, there’s going to be an American remake, although I don’t know what happened with that project) in only six episodes. It then continued to surpass its own ratings as the show went on. It currently has over 440 million views in China on legal and not-so-legal streaming sites and has been sold to 27 countries and translated into 32 languages.

 I watched the first episode and at about maybe 20 minutes into the first episode, I had fallen head-over-heels in love.

Descendants of the Sun Review – Epic Romantic K-Drama

The story revolves around a special task force officer, Yoo Shi-Jin (Song Joong-Ki) and a surgeon Kang Mo-Yeon (Song Hye-Kyo) who meet under extraordinary circumstances. Their fate seems to collide again and again and they slowly realise their feelings for each other. Either their relationship will be strong enough to handle everything or will one be left behind forever.

Yoo Shi-Jin and Kang Mo-Yeon😍 indeed meet under extraordinary circumstances which leads to a misunderstanding. Yoo Shi-Jin is immediately attracted to the feisty surgeon but they don’t get enough time to know each other. When Kang Mo-Yeon and her team are sent to Urk for medical works, they come face to face once again and their incomplete story begins again. This show is kind of cheesy too but it’s worth it! I couldn’t stop smiling at some of the moments and most of their interaction was pretty hilarious!

Review – Descendants of the Sun | subtitledreams

But the story had its serious moments too, especially when the earthquake happened and everything was in chaos, also when the epidemic broke out, I loved how the characters handled things. It kept me on edge and I was glued to the screen to know what happened next! There were also a loooot of side characters and I definitely enjoyed the fact that all the main focus was on always on the main leads but we were getting to know about the others as well.

Descendants Of The Sun - Korean Drama Review

Anyway, their precious moments were interrupted a lot due to Yoo Shi-Jin emergency duty calls but they took their chance in the small moments possible. Their chemistry was crystal clear from the very start although the relationship slowly develops. (And I loooooove that now they are married in real life!!!) Trust was one of the most important factors and their trust in each other was the strongest! I absolutely loved the romance. 

Also, I absolutely loved the secondary pair. Seo Dae-Young (Jin Goo) and Yoon Myeong-Joo (Kim Ji-Won) were just adorable!! Yoon Myeong-Joo was an army doctor but due to her father who was the General, Seo Dae-Young was forced to stay away from her. It broke my heart to see those two hurting but I loved when they finally stood up for each other!

K-Drama Review: Romance Between a Soldier and a Doctor in a War Zone in ' Descendants of the Sun' | Channel-K

Descendants of the Sun was a fantastic watch! One that will stay will me forever! The plot although a little cliched was executed perfectly and loved the characters and the romance!! But the last two episodes were kind of crazy, I didn’t feel it was necessary to do that of an extreme thing but well, I was satisfied in the end!