Dramas I Can't Help But Re-Watch

I think I have always had a weird taste in dramas. I rarely watch hit Korean dramas currently airing. I always wait years and then watch it when I feel bored one day. I love to watch cliche dramas with a smaller budget. I don't know but there is just a simplicity to those dramas.

Fifteen Years Waiting for Migratory Bird

Year: 2016

Episodes: 24

Synopsis:

Li Li (Sun Yi) is an honors student who happens to befriend Pei Shang Xuan, (Zhang Ruo Yun) a less studious student whose focus is on soccer. Despite their many differences and conflicts at first, they soon become each other's best friends, but Li Li starts to fall in love with Shang Xuan. Shang Xuan, however, dates Li Li's cousin, Han Yi Chen (Sophie Zhang), a pretty girl who grew up in a wealthy family. Throughout fifteen years, they remain by each other's side but their relationship never progresses. Every year, Li Li's wish is to stop loving Shang Xuan, but each year she fails to do so.

Comments:

This drama came out in 2016. It is currently 2017 and I have already rewatched this drama at least 4 times, possibly 5. This drama has a very special place in my heart because I first saw this drama when I visited China and I quickly fell in love with it. I remember watching it on my relative's iPad and waited for the day I return home so I can binge watch it comfortably. I rewatched it immediately after I finished it and then I rewatched it again immediately after. This is now one of my favorite dramas of all times because it is very simple and relatable and lovely. Everyone has had a crush on a best friend and wondered if confessing is really worth it.

Say That You Love Me

Year: 2012

Episodes: 32

Synopsis:

Chi Zao Zao (Genie Chou) has had a crush on Ou Hao Chen (Sean Sun) since high school. However, their love does not seem possible, as Hao Chen is handsome, well-off, and smart, while Zao Zao is not very attractive (lies, she is hella cute) and has poor grades. For her Hao Chen, she works her butt off to get into the same college as him and is determined to confess to him. She accidentally confesses in front of the entire school and is now mocked at school. She gets kicked out by her snobby dormmates and moves into her dad's friend's house. Wow, what a coincidence! It just so happens to be Hao Chen's house. Despite Zao Zao's many confessions and many attempts to make Hao Chen like her, he seems rather indifferent towards her, and often is annoyed by her. When Shang Guan Yi (Zhao Ji), a girl as outstanding as Hao Chen, is thrown into the picture, Zao Zao starts to believe that her crush will never love her back. But have no fear, a best friend will always appear. Hao Chen's best friend, Han Fei (Eric Wang), moves into his house and quickly becomes Zao Zao's best friend. He tries to help her win Hao Chen's heart.
Comments:
This is basically It Started With a Kiss but the Mainland Chinese version. I rewatched this maybe around four times already. Zao Zao is just so bubbly and cute and her innocent love for Hao Chen is just too cute. I really admire her courage to confess her love because I could never confess first.

Prince of Tennis


Year: 2008, 2009
Seasons: 2
Episodes: 22, 20

Synopsis:
Long Ma (Qin Jun Jie) who won first place four years in a row in the American Junior Championship for tennis becomes quite cocky. His father, once a top 50 tennis player in the world, is now a stay at home dad. Afraid of his son's growing cockiness and isolation from the world, he wants his son to experience being a part of a team. He forces his son to return to China and attend his old university. At first, he looks down upon others on the team until he starts to warm up due to their friendliness and learns that he has a lot more to learn.

Comments:
Disclaimer: I am not saying that this is the best-produced drama but this drama just captivates me for some reason. This drama is super exaggerated due to the special tennis moves and because it is a bit old, I don't really expect great effects. I think the reason why I watched this drama over 6 times is because of the brotherhood and teamwork. In this tennis team, they are always looking out for each other but there are many times when conflict would erupt. This drama is not packed with unrealistic relationships similar to Fairytail where love and friendship can trump anything. Here, the brotherhood is very realistic. They fight and often it is hard to make up. They all learn to respect each other and to be patient and understanding with each other. I loved Long Ma because you get to see this cold, cocky boy warming up and learning that he still has ways to go, which helps him enjoy the sport. Long Ma is played by Qin Jun Jie, a child actor, who I thought disappeared from the industry after this drama. I was so wrong. Now he is one of the up and rising stars after starring in Noble Aspirations. Also, most of these boys were a part of a television show/competition called My Hero 2007. They are almost all singers so many of the OSTs were by them. Most of them disappeared from the entertainment industry but once in a while they would appear in a production and I would be so happy and proud to see that they are still active. I really hope to see more of these boys active.

KO Series

I will devote an entire blog post to this series, one of my favorite series ever, so please stay tuned. Though the dramas in this series are related in some way, they can be watched on their own. Up until now, there are nine dramas in this series and they won't stop making dramas for this series anytime soon. I only like to watch the first four in the series and the one currently airing, Zhong Ji San Guo 2017.

KO ONE


In the Gold Dimension, fighters have battle numbers/index (I tried to translate this to the best of my abilities. Please correct me if I am wrong) and are ranked on the KO Chart. Zhong Ji Yi Ban is a class of delinquents in Ba Le High School. The leader of the class, Wang Da Dong (Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit), is KO3 and is willing to do anything for his friends and classmates. Two new transfer students transfer into the already chaotic, scary class. First is Wang Ya Se (Calvin Chen of Fahrenheit) who is tied with Da Dong as KO3 with a battle index of 9000.  Then there is Ding Xiao Yu (Aaron Yan of Fahrenheit), KO4 with a battle index of 8500, a quiet guy with powerful fists. Though enemies at first, they soon become best friends. Soon they are met with conflict. They have to defend themselves and their class from evil powers.

This one, I have only rewatched around 2-3 times. I am not the biggest fan of this one because many fans of this series insist that this is the best from the series but I prefer X-Family.

X-Family


In the Iron Dimension, one of the twelve dimensions excluding Mo Jie (the dimension for evil powers), most people are Ma Guas (Muggles). Those with special powers, or Yi Neng, reside in secret. One such family is the Xia Lan Xing De family. The second son of the family, Xia Tian (Jiro Wang) is very kind and gullible and his evil counterpart is Gui Long, who is sealed away by a Feng Long Tie. When Xia Tian is discovered by a guitarist named Xiu (Shu Chen), he is told he can potentially become the Zhong Ji Tie Ke Ren, the savior of the worlds.  He strives to control his powers and help fight evil in hopes of being the Zhong Ji Tie Ke Ren and protecting the many dimensions who have fallen under the influence of evil powers.

This is my favorite drama of the series, period. Nothing will ever beat this drama. This drama has the many great aspects one looks for in a drama. It is funny, quirky and full of family love and romance. I rewatched this drama at least five times. This drama made me hooked onto the series. If I had to explain this drama very simply, I would dare to say this is the Taiwanese Harry Potter. There are muggles and people with special powers, they have spells or curses, there are dark forces. I think after this drama aired, there was a cult who dreamed of having Yi Neng. Also, there is a musical aspect of this drama. Fahrenheit sings the title song for this drama and Dong Cheng Wei, a rock band formed by Jiro back in the days, is also a part of the drama. They all act in this drama and their musical equipment have special powers too. This might be too weird and different compared to other dramas for people who just start to watch Taiwanese dramas, but this is a funny show and stars some of Taiwan's most popular actors and actresses. Please do not shy away from this drama.

K.O.3anguo


This drama is a spoof of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the Silver Dimension, Liu Bei (Shu Chen), Guan Yu (George Hu), and Zhang Fei (Bo Yan) become sworn brothers in order to attend a prestigious school, but immediately after they become sworn brothers, Liu Bei is severely injured by a large boulder. In order to cure Liu Bei and maintain order in the dimensions, Liu Bei is brought back to the Gold Dimension to recover and Xiu is left to pretend to be Liu Bei. The three sworn brothers attend school and there they meet Cao Cao (Nylon Chen), the school's president and a man who aspires to rule the world. They also meet three other powerful classmates; Zhao Yun (Benji), someone as powerful as Guan Yu and a lady killer; Ma Chao (Shao Xiang), a kind person who is the least violent of the bunch; Huang Zhong (Si Wei Hong Zheng), a master bowman. Together, they create the Five Tiger Generals (not including Liu Bei) and protect the school. They are met with evil powers, like Dong Zuo (Chen Bo Zheng), who also try to rule the world.

I rewatched this one probably around 4 times. I really enjoy this one despite the leads being very much different. For X-Family, the lead actors were in KO ONE. I am not mad at this one because the plot is unique, as it ties one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with modern effects and humor. They remade this drama in 2017 and the plot is the same. The script is so similar that even I can recite half of the lines. I still prefer the 2009 version but the new 2017 is not too bad.

KO ONE 2 or KO ONE RETURN

While transporting the real Liu Bei (Shu Chen) back to the Silver Dimension, Wang Da Dong (Jiro Wang) experiences a timequake and is transported ten years into the future. He returns to his high school only to discover all his classmates missing and they, including him, have been missing for ten years. In order to further investigate the disappearance of his classmates and his loss of battle numbers/index, battle abilities/powers, he once again attends Ba Le High School and joins Zhong Ji class. The respect he once had as the class leader is now gone. He meets their new leader, Lei Ting or King (Pets Tseng), a rich girl who is a great fighter. He tries to investigate the reason for the loss of special powers as the other students try to kick him out of the class.

I rewatched this around 2 times. I clearly remember the day when the first episode came out. I was so happy because this was over three years since the last drama of this series came out. There are a lot of new casts members but I am not mad because the plot was decent and suspenseful. The drama is a lot more modern and the quality of the video is a lot nicer too. The humor of this drama was still good and the acting was decent. Overall, I was pretty happy with this new drama. I think as the drama progressed, I grew to love it because I got to understand this new world and its people more. I love King. Her romance was very realistic and innocent. I think this drama actually portrayed the bonds of the classmates better than KO ONE. KO ONE was so focused on the three leads that the supporting characters rarely made any impact and their story was rushed. This drama actually shows the classmates' love for each other, especially towards the end of the drama.

Let's Watch the Meteor Shower


Year: 2009, 2010
Season: 2
Episodes: 36, 36
Synopsis:
This is the Mainland Chinese unofficial adaption of Hana Yori Dango or Boys Over Flowers. Chu Yu Xun (Zheng Shuang) is a smart girl born to a modest family. Due to her good grades, she is accepted into Aliston University, one of the most prestigious business colleges in the nation. Her goal is to excel in school and to graduate with honors so she can improve her family's financial condition with her degree. However, things do not go as planned. She becomes enemies with the H4, four of the richest, most handsome troublemakers in the school. The H4 consists of Murong Yun Hai (Zhang Han), Shangguan Rui Qian (Zhu Zi Xiao), Ye Shuo (Wei Chen), and Duanmu Lei (Yu Hao Ming). They try to expel Yu Xun but Yun Hai starts to fall for her. Yu Xun, on the other hand, fancies the warm and kind Duanmu. Their differences in social status also prove to be a barrier for them.

Though the production team claims that this drama is not a remake of Hana Yori Dango, we all know their basic plots are the same. This is one of my favorite versions because of the chemistry of the leads. At first, Zheng Shuang's acting was pretty bad. It was awkward and pretty exaggerated. This goes for many of the other actors in this drama. However, slowly as the drama went on, it improved so I am content. Zhang Han is the real reason why I love this drama so much. This is one of his first large productions, so as a rookie actor, he was amazing. He portrayed Yun Hai so well. His arrogant, bright, cute, puppy-like, romantic personality really shines in this drama. TMI but Yun Hai is my ideal type. I think I have rewatched this drama t least 4 or 5 times now. I don't really like the second season that much and you do not need to watch the second season because the ending on season 1 is an actual ending, unlike some dramas that butcher the ending just so they can have a second season.

Reply 1994


Year: 2013
Episodes: 21
Synopsis:
In 1994, seven university students from different provinces in South Korea live in a boarding house in Seoul run by a lovely couple from Masan. They bond as all of them except one are from small provinces and are mocked for being county bumpkins. They try to assimilate into the large city life as they explore dating, pop culture, and technology.

I have rewatched this drama around 3 times now. My favorite dramas from the series are 1994 and 1988. The reason why I rewatched this one the most is the humor. This drama is hilarious due to its hilarious sound effects (the goat sound effect), unique characters, and the culture difference. I loved the characters in this drama more than the other dramas in the series. The romance is very on point and very realistic. The family and friendship aspect is one of my favorite things about this drama, though I do think 1988 did a better job. The pop culture references are witty and nostalgic. The writers and directors and actors are seriously some of the best in the industry. This series is a jewel in the sea of Korean dramas.