What Dramas Am I Watching This Week?

So here's what I'm watching this week! Of course the list is split by country and episodes I've seen so far are written below! There will be spoilers from now on so if you aren't caught to the episode number on list, you might want to go watch that episode and then come back! If you're interested in previous lists, click here and if you want to see a list of my favorite asian OTPs and ships, click here!

KDRAMA

Best Chicken (2/12): A man works for a big company although his dream is to run a chicken restaurant. A woman who lives at a bathhouse that her late grandfather left behind, only leaves her home when she absolutely has to. She wants to become a webtoon writer. These two meet and grow with each other.

I started this show cause I usually like to give every new show a chance before continuing to watch it or drop it and seriously I really didn't think I would like this one cause nothing about the synopsis made me interested in the plot and there was no actor/actress in the show that I liked but I was oddly charmed in the first few minutes as soon as the main lead popped on screen and the sidekicks all did that evil plot to prevent the female lead's sauna from being rented out. I was honestly surprised that the lead of the show was the warm and cheerful Choi-Go and not the more broody Joon-Hyuk cause it's so rare for the kdrama lead to not be the cold stoic type and honestly that's probs a huge reason why I stuck around. I also liked the idea of Bo-Ah and Choi-Go working together along with Andrew in this restaurant and the antics of the side kicks will probs be fun in a found family kind of way. I was hesitant about Bo-Ah trying to ruin the restaurant so she could keep the sauna but I kind of love that she was charmed by Choi-Go's enthusiasm as much as I was and already by episode 2 she's wavering over her plan. I'm not the biggest fan of Bo-Ah right now cause she was acting like a spoilt brat and deciding who Choi-Go was without even getting to know him so I hope that we move past this quick enough to them becoming friends. I also assume that Bo-Ah's dream of being a webtoon artist wasn't destroyed cause she's terrible at it but because her ex partner or boyfriend blacklisted her name.

Dae Jang Geum is Watching (13/16): This food-oriented drama imagines how the descendants of the famous Joseon woman doctor and alleged culinary genius Jang Geum (the subject of the famous sageuk Dae Jang Geum) might live today if they inherited some of her talents. San Hae has been gifted with an excellent sense of taste which has mad him a huge fan and connoisseur of food. His younger sister Jin Mi has been gifted with an exceptional sense of smell, and their younger brother Jung Shik has such excellent cooking skills he has his own Youtube vlog channel. The story follows San Hae at his work and his relationship with a rookie employee at his company, a woman named Bok Seung Ah.

Ugh these last three episodes that I just watched made me so annoyed with everything! I hate the noble idiot trope and I knew it was coming though I was really hoping it wasn't! I also don't love when the second lead tries to force the main character to like them back because feelings can't be forced like that. Despite all that, I'm trying to give poor stupid Jung Shik the benefit of the doubt cause neither Seung Ah or San Hae are telling him the truth about how they like each other and San Hae just bowed out to help him and Seung Ah is just straight up lying so it's not entirely his fault. I also really hated that she didn't shut Jung Shik down straight and that she was so confused about why San Hae was suddenly giving her the cold shoulder cause like girl why wouldn't Jung Shik tell his own brother about liking her? You were literally dropped off at work by his brother, how wouldn't he have known? I also kind of blame San Hae who should have admitted his feelings before cause I never understood why he was hiding them at all since there was nothing really stopping them! On the other hand Jin Mi and Min Hyuk are still the most adorable and their kiss at the end of episode 12 was everything! I love how sweet he is with her and how he even carries around tissues cause her nose bleeds so much! I also knew that the secret about Min Hyuk being the CEO's nephew would come out and I'm interested to see where it goes though I'm sure it'll be fine! I'm also living for the hilarity between the office manager and the manager right under her cause they kill me every time they do anything!

Fate And Furies (20/40): Even though Goo Hae Ra is smart and beautiful, she is in a miserable situation because of her family. Her older sister attempted suicide and her father passed away. The only way she can escape her situation is with money. She approaches Tae In Joon. He is the second son of a shoe company owner. Tae In Joon falls in love with Goo Hae Ra.

We're halfway through this show and though I'm liking it less than I did when it first started, I'm still pretty damn intrigued by everything in this show. Like every character except poor In Joon are horrible and the plot is so obvious but something about it just works for me unlike a lot of other melodramas about revenge! I still think In Joon fell for Hae Ra too quickly but I like the idea that he's ready to leave the company for her because it really makes me curious about what she would say/do cause I'm pretty sure a part of her likes him for his money and power so it would be super awkward if he leaves the company and she's like nah I was in it for your money. That would be such a plot twist and then maybe he would turn evil too making everyone in this show horrible. But for real I do wonder if he'll care about why she approached him cause he's said a few times that he knows that she didn't reach out to him out of good will and that he doesn't care if she's just using him cause he likes her so I would be completely shocked if he's just like meh and yeah I understand why you went for revenge after what my family did! Speaking of, I'm sure that In Joon's brother is the one who tried to kill Hae Ra's sister but she's going to think it was In Joon so that's fun. I was also shocked when In Joon's father almost destroyed Cha's business with one phone call and it really makes me wonder why their family is still pushing the marriage and not trying to run as far as possible. I mean he literally admitted that he destroyed his daughter-in-law's family cause his son pissed him off so wouldn't the Cha family be terrified that the same could happen to them at the drop of a hat?? I also really want the daughter-in-law to destroy that family cause she doesn't deserve the way they've been treating her!

Memories of the Alhambra (12/16): Strong spirited Yoo Jin Woo is the CEO of an investment company with a degree in engineering and a knack for developing video games. He has an adventurous and competitive spirit. Suffering after his best friend betrays him, he takes a business trip to Granada, Spain in search of the mysterious inventor of an innovative augmented-reality video game. He ends up at a hostel that Jung Hee Joo owns. Hee Joo is a former classical guitarist who came to Spain to further her studies. After the death of her parents, she takes on various jobs to support herself, including running the old hostel. They are both drawn into a series of strange and unexpected events.

I'm so much more into this show ever since Hee Joo found out the truth about Jin Woo and the game and her missing brother cause it finally ends the lies that the show has been drenched in and allows Hee Joo to finally get some agency of her own. I'm also glad that she's finally part of the game or at least just wearing the contacts so she can see Emma and really understand Jin Woo even if she believes him now. I've assumed for a while that Emma must be important in finding Se Joo cause she is the only family member he added to the game so it only stands to reason that Hee Joo and Emma are the way to find him. I loved that when Hee Joo found out the truth she was angry but not in the over-the-top screaming way cause this quiet seething anger feels more real to me and I loved that despite that anger at his lies, she knows that ultimately Jin Woo isn't a bad man and that he spent a whole year looking for her brother and because of that she can't hate him. Their romance feels pretty real to me and I like it cause Hee Joo is unlike any woman Jin Woo has met before and she is the only one who still believes and cares for him after everything so she's like a safe haven for him and on her part Jin Woo is kind and mysterious and handsome and because he sees her as a safe haven, he treats her so well that she can't help but be into him. I'm glad that Professor Cha finally entered the game cause now he knows that Jin Woo isn't crazy and that everything he's been saying about glitches in the game are true and we can finally put the murder charges to bed. It does seem to take a bit of the wind out of the sails of this great evil if the game can be shut down by turning off the servers but I also like it cause it does give us a real way of ending this show once Se Joo is found cause I also refuse to believe he's dead.

The Last Empress (32/52): Set in an alternate universe, in which Korea is a constitutional monarchy in 2018, Oh Sunny is a bright and vivacious musical actress who marries the emperor. She becomes involved in the palace power struggle and a mysterious murder that sets off events that threaten the monarchy itself, while searching for true love and happiness. But, she ends up falling in love with Na Wang Sik who works as a bodyguard for the imperial family. He started working in the palace to take revenge on the person responsible for his mother’s death.

Wow I missed so many episodes during the holiday break and it was so much fun to binge them all back to back! I am still in love with this show especially now that Sunny and Wang Sik/Woo Bin know everything about the Emperor and Yu Ra and each other. I was living for the two of them working together to take down the Imperial Family with the help of others. I loved that the Emperor and the Empress Dowager told Wang Sik/Woo Bin to seduce Sunny cause it doesn't put up any red flags when people see them together and those who do and think they have gossip are in for a huge mistake. I loved their awkward flirting and the way they're trying so hard to protect each other. They have so much in common from the way they've been treated like dirt in the palace to how the Imperial Family killed their mothers. I loved the confession at the end of episode 32 and though I think he does really like Sunny, I think this was an attempt to find a solution to the Emperor trying to rape her while the real confession will happen in private next week. Yu Ra was taken down already too and though I figured that eventually the Emperor would move on from her especially once she started to show her jealously cause kings hate it when the women they're sleeping with are anything but pillars of support (ugh gag me with a spoon), I was surprised that she fell so far! Not only was she kicked out of the palace but burned in a car and tortured in a mental hospital. I was surprised to find out that the guard to the previous Empress was actually Yu Ra's fiancee and that she was truly in love with him which makes me wonder if maybe she entered the palace to get revenge like Wang Sik/Woo Bin and Sunny but unlike them fell for the money and power. It's also hilarious how the Emperor has fallen for Sunny and though the actors have chemistry, I can't help but just be disgusted cause he is a terrible person and I'm glad that Sunny isn't wavering even the slightest. Princess Ari is also just as much of a player as everyone else but I love her interactions with Sunny cause I do think that she loves her and with Sunny's good influence, she could be a good person. I'm also super into Yoon and Hel Ro falling for each other now cause they're adorable together. I died when the father found out and he was like "No Yoon! You can do so much better than my daughter!"

JDRAMA

FINISHED Blue Spring Ride (1/1): When she was a middle school student, Yoshioka Futaba liked Tanaka Kou who was unlike the other boys and quite gentle. Kou then moved away and they lost contact. At the end of Futaba's first year as a high school student she meets Kou again. Kou’s name has changed to Mabuchi Kou and his personality seems different from his middle school days.

I watched the Blue Spring Ride anime a few years ago and I remember it fairly fondly so when I found out there was a live action movie version of it starring Masahiro Higashide who I loved in Confidence Man JP, I was all in! It was interesting to find out that the movie actually went further than the anime did probably cause the manga was finished in time for the movie and not the anime! I ended up enjoying myself but it turned out to be much sadder than I remembered and though there's nothing wrong with that, it felt a little too much like Kou was ruining his own life on purpose and I didn't love the short amount of time that Futaba spent moving on. The second male lead was completely pointless in this movie except maybe to make Kou jealous and hate himself even more cause he was barely in the movie. It might have been better to cut him out and Futaba's friend who also liked Kou so that it was more about love healing the past than a bunch of triangles. I did enjoy when Kou and Futaba were together and I did like the ending with how she helped him move on from his past and move forward. I'd give this movie a 8.5 / 10.

FINISHED Heroine Disqualified (1/1): Matsuzaki Hatori is a female high school student who has a crush on her childhood friend, Terasaka Rita. She believes her life is like a shojo manga and Rita will eventually choose her as his heroine. However, Rita begins dating Adachi Miho, a nerdy girl in their classroom. Even though Rita dated before, Hatori feels that Rita really likes Miho and it is the first time Hatori feels threatened by Rita's girl. Because of Hatori's jealousy, the most popular playboy student, Hiromitsu Kosuke, takes an interest in Hatori.

I decided to check out this movie cause I saw a YouTube tribute video for it pop up in my feed recently and it looked really cute so I thought why the hell not and to my pleasure it was exactly as cute as the video made it seem. I have such a soft spot for jmovies set in high school centered around romance cause they give me such the warm and fuzzies. This one was especially adorable with it's heartwarming romance, adorable female lead and hilarious humor like the asides the heroine took every once in a while to punctuate a point. I adore Kento so I was thrilled to find out that he was the main lead Rita and though I had wished that he had a bit more of a backbone throughout the movie, I liked that it his kindness that prevented him from being with the girl he truly loved. It was the cutest scene when they first admitted their feelings for each other but also when they finally got together at the end. I loved the second male lead Kosuke too and did feel super bad for him at the end even if I never really wanted him to be the one cause I adored his spunky personality since this is the kind of guy that I'm into more than the strong and silent type Rita was. Miho on the other hand was kinda the worst even if we're supposed to feel bad for her because no matter her personal struggle, she forced Rita to be with her through manipulating his kindness. Overall I thought this was a fun rom com and I definitely recommend it if you like this sort of movie! I'd give it a solid 8 / 10!

FINISHED Orange (1/1): During the spring of her 16th year Takamiya Naho receives a letter from her future self. Upon reading the initial page of the letter, her class was introduced to a transfer student from Tokyo named Naruse Kakeru. The letter she realized was an account of the things her future self had experienced and regret the most. Frightened, she tries to avoid reading further, but as her interests towards Kakeru bloom Naho eventually decides to encourage him. Naho, together with the help of her friends, Suwa, Chino, Hagita, and Azusa do their best to avoid having the same regrets their future self had, and heals Kakeru from his desolation and self blame.

I started this movie for Kento (you know how much I love him) and after watching it, I wasn't the hugest fan of this movie but talk about a movie that makes you cry buckets of tears! I know right? I thought you just said you didn't love this movie but you cried during it? What gives? Tbh I don't really know what didn't work for me in this movie! I loved the message and the friendships and the idea of being more confident and living without regrets but I think maybe I was underwhelmed with the romance? Or maybe it was cause Naho was too shy and passive of a main lead for me to love her? Either way I cried and cried cause of Kakeru's death and how much the group loved him and how all he needed was a hand to reach out to him and pull him out of his misery. I think the friendships felt more real than the romance and that's what tugged at my heart strings. I love that the letters didn't change much except for teaching Naho how to be more confident but it was super sweet that even in the original timeline Kakeru loved Naho and she loved him even if those versions never acted on their feelings. It was a sweet movie with a sweet message so overall I'd give it a 7 / 10!

xoxo Allie