My Magic Carpet Story

What was the magic carpet that introduced me to the whole new world of Asian drama?

I was introduced to Korean dramas in the April of 2013.  I’d seen The Empress and Unni-Maknae plus two other close friends talking about them on their blogs and they had also mentioned them in emails sometimes.

At the time I was beta reading one of The Empress’s novels and during our email chatting, I asked her what some of her favorite music was.  She sent me a couple videos of Korean musical singer Park Eun Tae.  I watched them, liked them and, capitulating to my insatiable curiosity, asked her for recommendations on Korean dramas; saying: "If I do wind up watching and liking kdramas, can I blame you and (another friend) for getting me addicted?"

She replied: "One of the best is Gaksital.  It’s an incredible story of one person’s journey from villain to hero and of another’s fall."  Incidentally, this is still the best one line description of Gaksital that I have ever heard and I've quoted it multiple times.

I clicked on the clip she sent, a scene where the heroine is about to undergo torture and the two leads, both of whom are in love with her, are helpless to stop it.  The combination of anger, grief, frustration, love and helplessness on their faces (especially the hero's) and in their body language caught my attention immediately, as well as the actual action in the scene.  Characters are very important to me and those two had my attention from 10 seconds into the clip.  I emailed her back: "That first clip of Gaksital ripped me open!  Such amazing and powerful emotion in those characters' faces!"

I spent that Saturday watching Gaksital (also known as Bridal Mask) clips on YouTube and then started the first episode.  Ironically, though I adore the drama and rate it one of my top five favorites, it took me a long time to finish it, because I kept taking breaks from it for one reason or another.  Eventually, I did finish it and consider it one of the best stories I've ever seen or read.  A whole new world had opened for me and there was no going back.

City Hunter was my second kdrama.  The Empress had included a trailer for it when she sent me the Gaksital clip and I watched the trailer several times that first weekend.  I watched City Hunter during one of my breaks from Gaksital (and also used the drama to interest my Mom in kdramas).  It swiftly became one of my favorites and at several points throughout the drama I sent Empress and Unni Maknae emails full of rambling about how well it was written, how gripping the storyline was and how much the drama was taking over my life.  When I finished it one night around midnight, I could not to go to bed without sending The Empress and Unni Maknae an emotionally charged email full of "Wow, that drama was one of the BEST stories I've ever seen, read or heard and I can't remember the last time a story gutted me like this."

Over the last two-and-a-half years, I’ve seen several dramas from South Korea, Japan and China; am currently in the middle of watching nine different dramas (yes, at the same time- it's complicated) and have watched trailers and clips for many more.  My ‘to watch‘ list is ten miles long.  I can remember and rattle off the names of Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese actors more quickly than many western actors and one of my favorite things to do is pick out all of the background actors I recognize from other dramas.

I don’t really have a preferred style of drama, other than ‘epic’.  I watch a wide variety of genres, but anything with complicated, well-written plots, layered characters, great fight scenes and plenty of suspense is almost always a favorite.  It's even better if the drama has gorgeous costumes/fashion.

My top five favorite kdramas are: Liar Game, Gaksital/Bridal Mask, City Hunter, Healer and The Three Musketeers.  I eagerly anticipate introducing them to you, and many other dramas as well, with my partners-in-crime.

How it all got started...for the Unni Maknae

Unni–Maknae
Strange name you may say.
Unni means big sister and Maknae means baby. Which, I manage to be both in this group. I am the oldest, however by far I am the youngest and the least experienced in the K-Drama world so thus my name.

The words Korean Drama. I’d heard them various places from various bloggers but I never paid much heed, I’d watched a few foreign films but none of them ever struck me as something I wanted to pick up on a regular basis.

One day I received an email from The Empress of Random, raving on and on about this Korean drama City Hunter, and how it was fabulous and wonderful and I must watch it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Empress of Random is one of the few peoples opinions I do trust completely when she gives me a recommendation, however, something that lasted nearly 20 hours didn’t really spark my interest, so the poor Empress pleaded and pleaded in vain. Sending me all kinds of cool clips that I watched with mild interest, not really wanting to jump on board this new fad ship that seemed to be sailing around.

The fad did not end with the last episode of City Hunter, it went on to more and more dramas, until I started to worry, that I had lost my friend to this queer dark beast called, Korean dramas.

Then fate struck. She sent me a bunch of clips from dramas she hoped to watch.
In there, there was this one clip, of a girl, telling a man if it would take the pain away in his heart, to slay her, that she forgave him. Her words and attitude struck me, and I fell instantly in love with the drama and a burning desire to WATCH THE PRINCESS' MAN!

I fell in love.

Sageuks are my favorite style of drama and thank goodness they color coded everyone’s dress ,because at the beginning I was like oh…red dude, blue dude, green dude...I couldn’t for the life of me catch onto their names at first, and it didn’t help that I bounced back and forth between a few drama places and Romanization isn’t always consistent.

The Princess Man prompted me on to go immediately and watch City Hunter , which I did but after all of the emotions from those dramas…I felt I needed something lighter, and I stumbled upon my fall back drama style, my go to fluffy, happy, obsession drama.  A girl dressed as a boy who gets stuck in an nearly all boy situation and all of the problems that ensue.

Welcome to the blog! I hope you find and fall in love with your own Korean dramas and enjoy the journey.

Drama On!
Unni

It all began in

April, 2012. I was sick. Or sick of studying. Certainly quite sick of American television. {And movies, for that matter.} A blogger I followed had mentioned Korean dramas several times, and then another blogger, whose cinematic opinion I trusted {though she had previously posted some art of a Korean Drama she was watching, to which I thought, that's the girliest-looking guy I've ever seen. what does she find interesting about that?} had just written up a massive "Guide to Awesomeness" - ie her favorite Korean and Japanese tv shows. On a total whim, I followed the link to the most interesting looking show {something called City Hunter}, and started watching it. 

To my everlasting surprise, by the end of the first episode I was hooked. 

Several episodes in, I was falling in love with it like I'd never fallen in love with any TV show or movie, ever. Yes, the outfits were a little much. {That's got to be a girl's shirt. And no...yes, he is wearing pink pants. WHY?} Yes, the crying of all the men involved weirded me out. {Wait. He's bawling like a little girl. Guys do that on TV? and it's not a joke?} Yes, the juxtaposition of tragi-comedy was jarring to me. {People are dying; children are being kidnapped and emotionally abused and gah this hurts but bad guys are scared of a snake and I'm completely cracking up and WHAT is going on?}

But before I knew it, I was emailing Unni-Maknae at 2am, a crazy fangirling email that was so full of flailing it scared her. To pull the few semi-complete sentences out of the email...

I am in love with Lee Yun Seong. 

Flat out epic awesomeness.

He is amazing. And completely heartbreaking.

I find the melodramatic heart-wrenching torture of Asian drama completely addicting.

Yes, I am completely obsessed. The fact that I can't just sit down and watch the entire thing at once is pure torture. 

The next day I was emailing her because I'd finished it and I wanted her to watch it. 

I then spent the rest of the month emailing her videos of Lee Min Ho singing. Lee Min Ho in Toyota ads. Lee Min Ho in Boys over Flowers. 

Because despite the thought coming to me that I was glad I'd gotten through City Hunter before studying for finals started...only the next week found me beginning - and finishing -Boys over Flowers. I then ignorantly - horrors - ran into a Lee Min Ho drama I didn't like, and so instead followed Kim Hyun Joong from Boys Over Flowers to Playful Kiss. {Which, by the way, was the drama whose weirdness I'd previously wondered at. Despite his hair cut, he actually wasn't girly at all.}

Basically, I was not just hooked on City Hunter, or on a particular actor. I was hooked on Korean dramas. That was the start, and it never stopped. Though I have consciously taken breaks from drama-watching (before certain exams...the first month of graduate school...the 40 days leading up to my board exam...etc), it has become a part of my life that I really don't see changing any time soon. In the past 3 years I've watched 48 dramas, and seen over 1100 episodes total, when counting dramas I did not or have not yet completed. 

What in the world was it about Korean dramas that sucked me in like this? That is what this blog is about, and if you don't already know about Korean dramas, you are in for a treat.