Let's Fight, Ghost! - KDrama

There’s nothing like a good supernatural story that has the right amount of scary and still doesn’t take itself too seriously. That is what I found in the kdrama I recently finished watching. If I can say one thing about that drama, it’s that even as it brought about a few predictable clichés it still came through as an enjoyable scary romance that I personally think anyone should watch if they love scary and fantasy genre stuffs.

The drama, Let’s fight ghost, was a rather surprisingly good story that followed Park Bong Pal who has the ability to see ghosts and uses this to be an exorcist at a somewhat pricey cost as he tries to raise funds in order to have surgery on his eyes. An isolated individual due to his ability we see a smart and withdrawn guy get dragged into some interesting situations where ghosts are troubling people for various reasons. One such situation has him meeting a rather unusual ghost, a high school girl who is in search of her name and who she was.

Enter Kim Hyun Ji who has roamed the earth for the past five years unaware as to who she is and how she died. Not much of a trouble maker we see her run into Bong Pal and immediately the two start fighting. Witness to this are the most lovable duo ever, who are in search of filming ‘real’ ghosts. Choi Chung Sang and Kim In Rang are just your average ghost seekers scared to death of seeing anything undead but determined to catch it on film and make it big.

This interesting group come together and formed a sort of ghost Extermination Company run by the special leader Chung Sang and funded by the highly skeptical grandmother of In Rang. Of course the anti-social Bong Pal is manipulated into joining while Hyun Ji does so simply because she wishes to hang around Bong Pal who has already unlocked some of her memories from the past.

As the story progresses we see Bong Pal grow as a person as he falls in love with Hyun Ji, who slowly comes close to the truth of the circumstances around her death. Making things more interesting is the events that lead to the realization that Bong Pal’s life is also in danger and that that danger is something Hyun Ji also needs to be wary of.

The story keeps you hooked as it develops smoothly, never dragging out the obvious for too long and ensuring that the clichés and predicable storyline plots work for the story as opposed to against it. The cinematography is pretty decent and the ghosts are bound to give you a chill or two as they prove to be more gruesome and bloody than you would assume a romance to allow, especially a kdrama romance.

The acting, though not perfect, was good enough to keep you interested in the characters and allow yourself to fall in love with them, imperfections and all. Of course not all acting was like that. Some acting, such as the adorable stupid duo, was quite brilliant. I mean one can’t watch In Rang and not feel all fuzzy inside.

All in all I liked how the story went and though I found the ending a tad soft and maybe a little incomplete, I guess I can understand why they would do that. So if you’re into science fiction and horror, I would definitely suggest this drama.

My Love Story - JMovie

If it’s one thing I’m a fan of it’s the adaption of manga into anime and if you’re lucky enough (and under the right circumstances) the adaption of anime into live action. There’s just something satisfying about watching still figures come to life and the voices in your head be brought out into reality, even if they sometimes sound slightly different to what you’ve expected. Of course this isn’t to say it’s ultimate satisfaction all the time. In any case this time for me it most definitely is.

My Love Story (Ore Monogatari) the live action movie was probably one of the better adaptions from anime that I have witnessed in a while and I must say I’m glad I stumbled across it, without even knowing it existed. The innocent love story of a boy/man-bear that blossoms on the screen was beautifully brought to life in the movie and while there were similar scenes pulled through from the anime, it still was able to hold its own with a little original flair here and there as it stayed true to the overall journey that the adorable Takeo Goda goes on.

Following the same storyline we see as our kind-hearted, monkey-looking teenager saves the life of a girl from another school and promptly falls in love with her, only to have his affections dampened as he suspects the girl to be in love with his cool and handsome best friend who always seems to attract the girls. Though he struggles with the conundrum he has placed himself in we see how truly a great human Takeo is as he sets himself aside in order for the one he loves to find happiness with another someone he cares for. Honestly, such self-sacrifice is rare and admirable but in this case possibly the most sweetly foolish thing our hero could have done.

As reality would have it, the girl, Rinko Yamada, is indeed in love, star-struck even, but not with the prince-like human that our brute suspects. Instead, we see the story unfold in a way that has us, though at first suspecting, eventually confirming that she is smitten with Takeo. Of course our two leads are overly ignorant of the obvious, even when it comes to simple conversation, and it takes his good friend, Makoto Sunakawa, to show Takeo what is really happening.

The movie is lovely and a joy to watch, especially when you realize the overused- love triangle thing is nothing more than our lead’s imagination and not a plot device to fully influence the story as most dramas tend to push. What makes this story stand out is the appreciation it shows for good friendship and the sweet progress of innocent first love.

Even more brilliant is how well the actors brought to life their anime counterparts, a feat not very well done in many adaptions in the past. So it becomes a pleasure to see the natural way the actors portray the characters that once only seemed fictitious before being made just a little more real. A very well done job in the casting I would say.

My favorite scene though, and I doubt I’m the only one, was the one you had to wait to see at the end of the credits. This scene, so highly anticipated from the anime, was no doubt cringeworthily worth every second it played out. I honestly look forward to possible sequels, though I’m skeptical it’ll have any. Either way, this was a movie well worth my time and feels.

Mr Baek - KDrama

Have you ever felt so uncomfortable yet equally satisfied with something that you just became so very confused with yourself? I have, just recently upon finishing a kdrama that I had on my backlog, all the way from 2014. It was an intriguing experience that I don’t quite know what to make of it just yet. One thing is for sure though; I have watched something good but don’t know how I feel about the realistic applications of the outcome.

The drama that has me so troubled is Mr Baek, an interesting story revolving around a grumpy old man who has the rare opportunity to turn back the biological clock and relive his life a little differently. Following Chairman Choi Go-Bong, we meet a 70 year old man who is less than pleased with the world but finds himself convinced that he is all that as he carries on his life without trusting or acknowledging anyone around him. However things begin to change once he meets the young lady, Eun Ha-Soo, whom he eventually addressed rather sweetly as the ‘the milky way’, a play on her name that makes more sense in Korean than it does in English.

Anyway, after their fateful meeting our grumpy old man finds himself standing on death’s door but like most humans he finds he still has much to do and has no desire to leave just yet. Luckily for him though it seems someone is listening up there as he gets a strange transformation where his biological clock turns back a few decades, leaving him a healthy and active 34 year old man.

Not sure what to make of his situation he tries to get back into his old life in order to fix the many misunderstanding that had been left as he ‘died’. Thus we see him successfully presenting himself as his own son, Choi Shin-Hyung, a revelation that takes many of those around him by surprise, especially his one and only true son, Choi Dae-Han.

However, things don’t go as he plans as things keep forcing him out of the business he thought he was still busy with and instead he finds himself constantly coming across the cute and naïve Eun Ha-Soo who he slowly starts falling in love with. Of course Eun Ha-Soo also finds herself attracted to the strange and rather rude Choi Shin-Hyung, while having not the slightest clue who he really is.

Along with the sweet romance that blossoms between the two leads, we see Choi Shin-Hyung also begin to develop a relationship with his estranged son, the only other family member who actually seems to be missing him, while the rest of his family fight over the business he started and grew. Their relationship grows stronger as they face the evil Jung Yi-Gun, who Choi Go-Bong had always favored without knowing his true colors.

The story is very interesting and can get you pretty engrossed. But I must admit the relationship between Eun Ha-Soo and Choi Shin-Hyung had me just a little disturbed when I thought of the little details of who he was and how old he really was. I know age is but a number, but that number was just a bit high for my comfort levels. It was especially weird when they introduced the classical love triangle and his son, Choi Dae-Han, was the other competitor. I felt awkward rooting for the main couple when this happened. This kind of theme seems to suggest many disturbing things about our society, especially where old men are concerned, for example should it be okay for a 70 year old to be dating such a young woman? I mean its love right? Even still my brain was having some difficulties justifying why I got so excited for their romance.

Of course my troubles could only have been so great because the acting in this was amazing, especially where the actor who played Choi Shin-Hyung was concerned. The way Shin Ha-Kun portrayed being an old man, while also learning the things he was so surprisingly inexperienced with was adorable and worth watching. The relationships between the actors felt so real too so that has to be acknowledged too. Indeed the actors and actresses did a brilliant job portraying their characters.

All in all it was a good drama and I’m glad I spent 16 hours of my life watching it. I also admit that I will be looking for more works with these actors in. I’m very interested in seeing Lee Joon (aka Choi Dae-Han) in a lead role where he actually gets the girl. This drama definitely left me with many memories and feelings, along with a possible change in perspective when it comes to love and the limits of what can be considered an ‘okay’ age gap between couples.

Boku no Hero Academia - Anime

Good long running anime are becoming hard to come by, but luckily enough there still exists those few that have enough potential to stand with heavy weights such as One Piece and Naruto. Of course they are but fresh little baby anime still in their prepubescent stage, not quite fully grown, so it’s understandable when you come across a few hiccups here and there.

The anime I speak of is Boku no Hero Academia, an awesome adventure shounen manga that has recently been made into an anime. One could argue maybe even too recently as the manga holds not as much plot revealed as any anime would need to be considered as ‘long-running’. In fact this might even be why the season itself is shorter than what veterans would expect from an anime with such potential. Still one can’t deny that it’s good, though its general plot may seem as if it draws on previous work. But shouldn’t that be okay, after all inspiration is born from something already there (arguably) so it would be inevitable that the story would seem familiar as it follows a formula that is already known to get in the views.

In any case, the hero-based story follows young Izuku Midoriya, a normal middle school student with dreams of one day becoming a great hero like his idol, the symbol of peace, All Might. However, in a world where superpowers are the norm and are gifted to many people as they reach puberty, we see that our unfortunate lead is not one with the supposed genetic marker that would allow such gifts to be bestowed on him. Crushed by this reality at a young age we see a resilient little boy power through such a depressing situation and become someone who is almost always documenting every hero he encounters or has an interest in, which in his case tends to be all of them, an obsession that will serve him well in future.

It is while he is documenting such a hero that he falls into a very unlucky predicament that allows him to actually meet his idol in person. But things don’t go as planned and secrets are quickly revealed as young Midoriya discovers his hero might not be as invincible as he portrays himself to be. Still those revelations don’t phase our lead, it also becomes an historical meeting as our ‘quirk-less’ young boy is given the opportunity to become what he has always dreamed about, along with the encouragement and support of his ultimate role model who bestows on him something impossible.

Having received the ultimate gift we see as Midoriya now has a chance to attend a place that is meant to guarantee his rise to heroics, the legendary UA, where heroes are taught from young on how exactly to be heroes. Gathering with other young potential candidates who show great promise, Midoriya begins his high school life living up to his dreams as he learns that having a ‘quirk’ is harder than it looks, especially when it’s borrowed.

Like all coming of age stories and adventure manga that promise a fulfilling and eventful journey, Boku no Hero Academia, shows great promise in what it can and will offer its audience if we stick with it long enough. No doubt fans of Naruto will find this interesting, though maybe a bit ‘re-hashed’ if you think too much on how it all plays out, but meh…. Still worth a shot I think.

Entertainer - KDrama

The one thing you always get used when watching kdramas is the romance element between the lead couple. It becomes quite refreshing when this element is overlooked for a change and a different approach is made when addressing the storyline. This is the case with a recent kdrama that has finished and I must say I am happily impressed with what I have watched and experienced.

Entertainer strays from the usual romance plotline we see in so many kdramas and instead it focuses on the importance of the people around you and the relationships you have that can both make or break you. Yes sure, there is still a little bit of romance implanted here and there but what I love about the drama is that it doesn’t focus on it and in doing so gives us quite a refreshing story about life and consequence.

The drama follows a music director, Shin Suk-Ho, who leaves his company in order to start his own. However, things don’t go smoothly for our lead as his former employer holds a slight grudge at his leaving as well as his intent to take one of their famous groups with him. Things go pear-shaped and poor Suk-Ho ends up landing in prison for a brief while as well as having his barely started venture going under.

Luckily however fortune smiles on him as he comes across a new talent while in search of funds. Enter Jo Ha-Neul an aspiring singer with a sad past and complicated situation that could break the fragile hope that Suk-Ho has. Here we have a good singer who has been falsely framed for sexual harassment by his best friend, who just so happens to have recently been taken in by Suk-Ho’s old company as a new talent.

Believing in Ha-Neul, Suk-Ho makes it his mission to clear the young singer’s name in order to make him a star and thus he begins forming a band. Joining the band are quite a few interesting characters, each with their own interesting and sad past. First we have the ex-student from Julliard, Kyle, who makes his living playing as a stand-in for others. Then we meet Na Yeon-Soo who works at night in karaoke bars in order to support his son Chan-Hee and last but not least we have studious Seo Jae-Hoon who is somewhat pushed harder than most to study and make something of himself that his mother approves.

Taking this bunch of interesting and mismatched group of boys, Suk-Ho goes on to create the ‘Ddanddara Band’, meaning entertainer in Korean. However things don’t go easily as Suk-Ho soon discovers that clearing Ha-Nuel’s name will come at a cost. It also makes things more complicated that the incident is connected to his previous company and the workings of the devious CEO that has various reasons for which to block the band’s success.

Another interesting thing is that Suk-Ho and Ha-Nuel actually have a past connection through Ha-Nuel’s deceased brother, something that also brings a bit of complication into their lives as there turns out to be some undiscovered sadness in their connected past.

Honestly this drama brings so much to the table in terms of storyline it’s hard to outline it all here. It kind of makes sense that the romance plotline would take a backseat as all the other stuff happens. But we still can’t deny the drama’s love triangle between Suk-Ho, Ha-Nuel and Jung Gue-Rin that occupies a good chunk of the drama, but not enough to overshadow the overall beautiful story that follows the lives of a few entertainers trying to overcome their struggles and make it on their own.

I loved this show and the relationship between Suk-Ho and Ha-Nuel, maybe a bit more than the romance story even. This drama had good writing and the pacing was on point. I can’t even deny that some scene’s brought a bucket of tears to my eyes while the little victories that the band had made me cheer like a crazy person. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in storyline over the love-love aspect.

One must also acknowledge the amazing songs that were churned out of this drama as they moved your feels into all kinds of frenzy. From the band’s first song ‘I see you’ to the heart aching duet between Jo Ha-Nuel and the deceased Jo Sung-Hyun. These are all memorable songs that you just have to love as they bring more life to the drama.

Blood Lad - Anime

If there’s one thing I enjoy watching it’s the antics of other otaku because let’s be honest that’s always a hilarious treat, especially when it’s depicted in anime and other media. One such anime recently caught my attention and it was quite an interesting watch though I have to admit it let me hanging there at the end.

Blood Lad was an amusing anime that had me curious from the introduction of an otaku-vampire in the underworld. It became even more interesting once I watched the plot unfold and I saw that there was more to the obsessed leader than met the eyes. The story follows Staz, the leader of the east region, who lived his life like your average obsessed otaku as he dreamed of the human world and all its wonders. One day he comes across a human girl who has unwittingly stumbled into the underworld and into his territory. As you can imagine Staz is excited to see the human, while also being quite attracted to her blood.

However, before Staz has the chance to suck her blood she is eaten by some random Venus plant destroying Staz’s opportunity to enjoy the human fully, thus poor Fuyumi turns into a ghost, which turns out to be very uninteresting to our otaku leader. Still determined to own the human he sets out on a quest to revive Fuyumi all so he can ravish her human flesh.

Things get interesting as they travel between the human world and the demon world in search of the answer to Fuyumi’s resurrection. Things also become complicated as Staz slowly begins to change his reasons for reviving Fuyumi.

The anime is quite interesting, though I feel like it lacked progression in terms of the main plot and the reason I say this is simply because once you get to the end of the anime you basically end off right where you started. It’s slightly frustrating, even if they throw in some good fighting scenes. For me, the anime felt like it lacked any sort of conclusion. I can understand if the manga isn’t finished and that prevents the anime from actually having an ending, but even then some form of closure would be nice. Of course I suppose if you’re going to have a second season that wouldn’t be necessary, but in a world where things can get so easily cancelled and cut short, it’s still would help a lot to properly sendoff even one season.

Would this be an anime I recommend? Depends on all sorts of things, like whether or not you like being frustrated. If the answer is no, then it’s probably best to steer clear of this one, but that’s only my opinion. Who knows maybe you’ve been waiting for this to be an anime and wouldn’t mind being slightly disappointed? All to his own I guess.

Healer - KDrama

Sometimes when you have nothing to watch you find yourself digging into the backlogged list of things to watch and low and behold you find pieces of gold that have been sitting unwatched waiting for your eyeballs to grace its glory upon. Such is the case with the recent drama I finished and I must say, save for the ending, it was an enjoyable ride I wouldn’t mind repeating. And one should mention that such rides are not so often found, especially in these times where people cater more to the quick fix for the short attention spans instead of catering to the long and in-depth and well-crafted storylines that we all secretly crave.

The drama I speak of is Healer and you wouldn’t have to stray very far in the kdrama world to find a few fans praising its awesome. Of course it should be expected when you deliver such an intriguing story with so many intertwining parts that draws your attention and tugs at your heartstrings while also giving you some truly interesting characters to both drool and hate on. The cast is diverse and the episodes leave you breathless and wanting more as it takes you on a rollercoaster ride of action and conspiracy while slipping in some romance and drama.

The plot follows a night courier who has made a name for himself in the business as he runs his latest errand for his customer but it turns out he’s taken on the wrong kind of client as things get messy and he’s framed for murder. But that doesn’t stop him from doing his job and taking on another errand from a famous reporter in the meantime, one that has him tailing another, lessor known, reporter. Things get even more interesting as he discovers that the two jobs might just be connected and he investigates things further opening up a whole can of worms that has not only the dirty secrets of a politician coming out but that of his own parents whom he knew little to nothing about.

Following the epic stunts pulled off by our lead, Seo Jung-Hoo is really a treat for any action loving fan and the troubles faced by the one who calls on our action hero, Kim Moon-Ho, makes for some heart rendering scenes as you sympathize with the troubled man who has kept so many secrets locked away for too many years and has one hell of a story to tell. 

Of course you can’t forget our female lead that brings out the soft side to our supposedly cold and isolated night courier and makes him more human as the drama progresses. Chae Young-Shin does a good job of running the story along as she connects a few plot points while being herself oblivious for most of the drama. You can’t help but fall for the chemistry that the two leads bring to the table, making it all the more worth it to watch.

But there is one more character that must be mentioned, the ahjumma that makes things interesting and honestly worthwhile watching for a lot of reasons other than romance as she brings in the tech and gadgetry. Jo Min-Ja, the recluse ex-detective who has decided that her hacking skills are best left to the night world makes things enjoyable and brings in the comedy and epic banter.

There are more characters I could mention but that would take too much time and create too much spoilers, instead let me say that this drama brings to the table some lovable and utterly despicable characters you will either enjoy or pass over. Obviously the impact of their performances must be thanks to the actors and actresses who played them and made the roles their own as they brought their A+ game. I have nothing but respect for them. The same goes for the writers who created these characters and the story.

One thing I will say though is that ending….that ending could have been different. For so many reasons that ending could have been different, but I guess perfection would have been too much for one drama to go for. And that is all I’ll say about that.