J-drama Review : Ikemen Desu Ne

A couple of months ago I posted an entry about how Japan was doing a remake of the K-drama “You’re Beautiful”, but I didn’t get around to watching it until a few days ago. Since I had some free time, I figured I’d make a review as well. I’ve got to warn you though, I was a HUGE fan of the Korean version, so if you’re not up to seeing comparisons between the two, then you might want to stop reading now.

Being a fan of You’re Beautiful, I was a bit hesitant to watch the show at first because I was worried it will only disappoint me. After all, it’s not the first time it happened.  But I decided that the best thing to do was just to watch the show with an open mind and try not to compare it to the original too much.

Quick summary:

The story begins when a top idol group, A.N.Jell, decided that it needed another vocalist and chose Sakuraba Mio. Unfortunately, right before his debut, Mio got in a fight which resulted to a broken nose. In order to keep to schedule, the band’s manager decided to get Mio’s twin sister, Miko, to take his place for three months while he heals. She is told that she must live with the other 3 band members to establish a strong bond between the group, and that her true identity must be kept secret at all times.

General thoughts:

I loved how this version managed to stay true to the original while incorporating its own flavor into it.  I’ve been reading some reviews on Dramacrazy and some people thought that the producers shouldn’t have followed the original version too closely and changed it up a bit more, but what’s the point of doing a remake if you’re going to change all the details right?  If they wanted something original then they should have just gone with a completely different concept.

Anyway, the main plot remained the same (of course, it is a remake after all) which impressed me because they had to condense 16 episodes of YAB into 11.  The show changed the way certain events happened in the story, but everything still played out nicely. I was fairly impressed by how they did it actually. For example, in episode 2, the show combined three important events into one huge one – Ren’s allergy attack at the restaurant, followed by the hunt for the missing ring in the pond, followed by the fan’s acceptance of Mio after she “rescued” Ren from almost drowning.

I also thought it was great the way they incorporated certain small details of the original version into this new one. The clothes that A.N.Jell wore in this version were something that could easily have been from the original. They’re not the exact same ones of course, but they could be from the same collection. Even Miko’s nun uniform and the pig rabbit plushie was the same. And I absolutely loved that they kept some of the original sound track as well. I really didn’t expect it at all. When A.N.Jell started singing “Promise” (in Japanese of course) in the first episode, I just got chills and made me want to keep watching the show to see what other songs they kept.

Mio with her pig rabbit

You’re Beautiful : Japanese version

It was announced earlier this week that a Japanese remake of the K-drama “You’re Beautiful” will be released this July 2011.  JE fangirls have been going wild with the news that the three ANJell members will be played by their beloved Johnny boys.  Tamamori Yuta will be playing Hwang Tae Kyung, Fujigaya Taisuke will play Kang Shin Woo and Yaotome Hikaru will take Jeremy’s role (I’m not sure what their Japanese names will be though).  The lead female role will be played by Takimoto Miori.

I’m pretty excited about the remake, but it’s making me a bit nervous as well.  This whole thing seems too familiar.  I remember how excited I was last year about the news that a Korean version of ISWAK was being made and that Kim Hyun Joong would take the male lead.  I waited for the show for months, but I just ended up being disappointed because the remake wasn’t as good as the Taiwanese version (in my opinion at least).  It was too bad because I really wanted it like it since I’m a big KHJ fangirl.  Anyway, “You’re Beautiful” is another one of my all-time favorite dramas, so I’m worried that the I wouldn’t enjoy the Japanese remake as much as I did the original.  But I sincerely hope that my predictions will be wrong and that the show will be a success, especially since I want the JE boys to do well.

There have been rumors that cameo offers have been made to the original Korean cast.  I really hope that they’re true 🙂

Source:

http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/05/takimoto-miori-and-johnnys-idols-to-star-in-japanese-remake-of-youre-beautiful/

Park Shin Hye and Jung Yonghwa – together again!

They’re baaaaack~  I can’t wait!  “You’re Beautiful” was one of my favorite K-dramas  –  I loved the story, the characters and the whole A.N.Jell idea.   I know that it was just a made-up band for the show, but I truly wished that they were real because I loved them so much.  You can imagine my excitement when I heard that two A.N.Jell members will be acting together again in an upcoming drama.

Jung Yonghwa and Park Shin Hye will be reunited and given a second chance at love in a new drama titled “You’ve Fallen For Me”.  (I’m not sure if that will be the final title, they’ve changed it a few times already.)    Many fans are happy that Yonghwa has gotten his first lead role.  I hope he’ll do well.  I loved him as Kang Shin Woo, and I became a bigger fan after seeing him appear in We Got Married and Running Man (as a guest).

“You’ve Fallen For me” is supposed to be a love story between two music students.  Jung Yonghwa will be playing Lee Shin – a band vocalist with a cold demeanor, and Park Shin Hye will take the role of Lee Kyu Won – a cheerful student studying traditional Korean music.  The two supposedly get into some kind of argument at first, causing them to strongly dislike each other, but they eventually end up falling in love.   Pretty common plot if you ask me, but hopefully the producers will add some new things to make it interesting.

I really hope this drama will be good and will meet the fans’ expectations.  I’ll definitely be watching out for it.  The pilot episode will air sometime around the end of June.

Week 25/52 : I can haz pig rabbit?

(Last week’s self portrait)

Remember this?

I finally got my own pig rabbit plushie last Sunday at the Toycon 2010 🙂  Hooray!  It’s a bit expensive for a plushie, so my boyfriend paid for half.  Thanks baby ❤

I can haz piggy rabbit? (My ToyCon haul)

Ever since I saw Hwang Tae Kyung make a pig rabbit for Go Mi Nam in the K-drama “You’re Beautiful” I’ve been looking for ways on how to get one for myself.

Go Mi Nam with her pig rabbit

I found some being sold at Yesasia.com, but they cost $50 (~PHP2320) each plus shipping – I wasn’t willing to spend that much on a plushie.  I tried looking for local sellers and found one on Multiply that was selling it for PHP1800 (shipping not included).  It was about PHP500 cheaper, but still too expensive for me.

Anyway, Toycon 2010 was today (blog entry to follow), and of course Ezra and I had to check out the JE booth.  I was browsing through the magazines they had on sale when Ezra pointed out the pig rabbit plushie they had on display.  The guy at the booth told me it costs PHP1700.  I wished it was cheaper but at least there was no shipping fee.  The guy told me that they still had 5 pieces left, so I said I would think about it and come back if I decide to buy it.

By that evening, I had already made up my mind not to buy the pig rabbit, until saw a girl carrying one as she walked around the mall.  Ckloy must have seen the way I looked at the plushie, so he offered to pay for half of it!  Yaaaaaay~

When we went back to the booth, we saw that there were only two pieces left, and that they lowered the price to PHP1650 because it was the last day of the convention and it was getting late.  Lucky~

Thanks for my pig rabbit Ckloy! Mwaaaaaah~

Lovely Day (Park Shin Hye) : You’re Beautiful OST – piano cover

I’ve already mentioned in my previous entries how much I love the entire “You’re Beautiful” soundtrack, but “Lovely Day” is definitely one of my favorites. I don’t know why, I just feel happy whenever I listen to it 🙂  Maybe it’s the bouncy melody, or Park Shin Hye’s adorable voice, or the fact that it reminds me of so many sweet scenes from the series.

I actually have two videos of me playing this song.  The one above is the first one I recorded, but I forgot that my camera was set to low so the video quality turned out terrible. I decided to post it anyway since the audio is pretty decent. So instead of seeing my hands you guys get to stare at the A.N.Jell members XD

Although I played it a bit fast, I like this version better since I made more mistakes on the other video.

If (for some reason) you guys want to watch the version where you can see my hands, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9kc1sI24I

Sheets available here: Lovely Day Sheets

Here are some pictures of the A.N.Jell members for you to look at while you listen to the song XD

Cute Jeremy and Tae Kyung

Awwww~

One of my favorite scenes in the series 😀  Look at Shin Woo’s face! LOL

Jeremy and Shin Woo

Tae Kyung and Mi Nam – so cute!

A.N.Jell doing weird things

I suddenly want to watch the entire series again~

Unleashing my inner fangirl : Jang Geun Suk on YouEasy magazine cover

In my previous entry I mentioned that Ezra and I found a magazine in China which featured Jang Geun Suk.  We were so thrilled that I’m actually making a separate blog entry about it.  If you can’t stand how immature and shallow I’m being, then go read something else XD

The magazine costs only 7.50 yuan (about P50) so it’s really cheap!  The last time my dad was in Japan, we asked him to buy us magazines with JE boys on the cover and they cost about 10 times more than that.  (My dad went around Tokyo carrying a piece of paper which had Yamapi’s name on it – in Kanji of course – asking every magazine stand he saw if they had a one with him in it XD)

We saw the names of a few other Asian idols we were familiar with on the cover, which made us even happier.

FT Island and C.N.Blue – Jeremy and Shin Woo’s bands (from “You’re Beautiful”)

Yamapi!  (We’ve memorized how to write his last name in Kanji since it’s so simple, hahaha XD  I still don’t know how to write his first name though)

Ezra and I carried the magazine with us all day as we explored the city since we bought it at this stand near our hotel.  We were so excited to head back to our hotel that night to finally look at through it.  I took a few snapshots of the pages, which I’ll share with you guys:

K-drama Review : You’re Beautiful

I’ve mentioned this show a couple of times here on my blog already, but I haven’t really had the chance to write about how much I’m obsessed with it.

(I’ll try to avoid posting spoilers in the first part of my review, but you’ll find a lot towards the end.)

“You’re Beautiful” is a fairly new Korean drama which ended late 2009.  My sister has been bugging me to watch it ever since it ended but I haven’t had the time until recently.  She warned me that I should only start when I have about 16 hours to spare (the show has 16 episodes), because she knows I’ll definitely be hooked, and she was right!  Seriously, if you’re going to watch this, be prepared to stay up all night because you won’t be able to stop.

MY QUICK SUMMARY (no spoilers):

The show is about a nun in training who is forced to take the place of her twin brother, Go Mi Nam, while he undergoes corrective surgery.  Her brother has recently been accepted into Korea’s top band called A.N.Jell.  She must keep her identity a secret while living in a dorm with 3 other band members, all of them guys.

MY THOUGHTS

One of the best Asian series I’ve seen in a long time.  Although gender benders are quite common in Asian dramas and mangas (Hana Kimi, Coffee Prince, etc), I still love them since they always guarantee lots of comedic scenes.

The story was very well written and the I love how it was directed.  I can tell that a lot of effort was made in the production of this drama.  The actors did a great job in portraying their characters.

THE CAST

A.N.JELL members:

Jang Geun Suk as Hwang Tae Kyung

Park Shin Hye as Go Mi Nam (Male)/Go Mi Nyu (Female)

Lee Hong Ki as Jeremy/Kang On Yu

Jung Yong Hwa as Kang Shin Woo

Extended Cast

UEE as Yoo He Yi

Bae Geu Rin as Sa Yu Ri (Fan club president)

Kim In Kwon as Ma Hoon Yi (Mi Nam’s manager)

Choi Ran as Choi Mi Ja (Mi Nam & Mi Nyu’s aunt)

Kim Sung Ryung as Mo Hwa Ran

Jung Chan as President Ahn

Choi Soo Eun as Wang Kko Di (Coordinator Wang)

This show had me cracking up so much.  There were moments when I had to literally pause it because I was laughing too much and I couldn’t read the subtitles properly.  Of course, there were a couple of sad and touching scenes as well.

There are a lot of love triangles in this drama so I expected it to get messy.  I’m not really a fan of multiple love triangles because they usually give me headaches, I tend to get confused about who loves who.  But “You’re Beautiful” was just so well-written that I just kept on wanting more.

One thing I’ve got to tell is you is how much I loved the soundtrack.  I have the entire album on repeat right now.  I even downloaded some sheets online and have started learning a few songs on the piano. (You can see me play “Without Words” on the piano here.)

Soundtrack:

Still / As Ever – Lee Hong Ki

Descend from the Sky – Miss $ ft. Oh Won Bin

Without Words – 9th STREET

Lovely Day – Park Shin Hye

Promise – Lee Hong Ki ft. Jung Hwa Young

My Heart’s Calling – Kim Dong Wook

Without Words – Park Shin Hye

Still / As Ever – A.N.JELL

Promise – A.N.JELL

Without Words (Piano ver.) – Various Artists

Still / As Ever (Bossa ver.) – Various Artists

Song for a Fool – Park Sang Woo

What Should I Do – Park Da Ye

Good Bye – Jang Geun Suk

I would give this series full marks, 5/5 stars.  Yes, I love it that much.  It’s been over a year since I’ve been this hooked on a show (the last was the Taiwanese drama “It Started With A Kiss”).  I love everything about this drama: the cast, the plot, the twists, the soundtrack … everything!  I highly suggest that you go and watch it!

(There’ll be a couple spoilers and pictures in these next parts, so if you plan on watching the show, it might be best if you stop reading now.)

One reason why I love “You’re Beautiful” so much is because of the A.N.Jell members.  They’re all really talented actors and singers.  I think that having them actually sing the band’s songs was a huge plus.  It made the show a thousand times more believable.

Jang Geun Suk as Hwang Tae Kyung was perfect.  I don’t think any other actor could have played this role as well as he did.  I loved his facial expressions and the special way he says “Go Mi Nam”.  He reminded me a bit of Tamaki Hiroshi when he played Chiaki in the Japanese series “Nodame Cantabile” (another fave of mine).  Another thing they have in common is that deep and beautiful voice that I can just listen to all day.  I wasn’t really a fan of his guyliner in the show, but I guess they did that to make him look a bit older since he’s supposed to be the leader of the band.

Park Shin Hye played Go Min Nam extremely well, I loved her from the start.  She’s just so cute and bubbly.  Her innocence and her scared expressions won me over.  She’s adorably stupid, you can’t help but love her.

I was thrilled to see Jeremy being played by Lee Hong Ki, the lead vocalist of the Korean band FT Island.  He’s more of a singer than an actor but I still think he did an amazing job in this series.  He reminded me a lot of Ikuta Toma playing Nakatsu in the Japanese version of “Hana Kimi”.  He was the one I was most attracted to in the first few episodes.  I only wish they didn’t give him that horrible hairstyle towards towards the end of the series, I mean what’s with those blunt bangs??  But overall I still think he’s great.  (I’m slowly becoming an FT Island fan because I keep searching for videos of Lee Hong Ki on youtube XD)

The last A.N.Jell member, Kang Shin Woo, was played by Jung Yong Hwa.  According to online polls, Shin Woo is the most popular A.N.Jell member, probably because he’s the kindest and sweetest among them (and he’s extremely good looking too XD).  He’s the most mature out of the members, and probably the smartest among them.  His one-sided love for Go Mi Nam made a lot of fans cry because it was just so pure.  His character reminds me a lot of Hua Ze Lei in the Taiwanese series “Meteor Garden”.

I really wish A.N.Jell was a real band, I’d definitely support them.  I’ve seen some videos on youtube where they actually perform together on stage to promote the show.  I’m hoping they’ll form a temporary group in the future just to please the fans (just like the Taiwanese F4), haha.

There are many scenes in this drama that stuck with me after I watched it. These are just some of them:

-The phone call between Tae Kyung and Mi Nam after she was hit on the head by a trophy and had to pretend that she was in the hospital.

-Tae Kyung’s expression while he watched Mi Nam and Coordinator Noona on the webcam

-When Tae Kyung’s phone accidentally fell on top of a parked truck and he made Go Mi Nam get it.  I loved the part when the truck started backing up and Tae Kyung was just standing there concerned about his cellphone.

-The scene when Mi Nam destroyed Tae Kyung’s room

-When Tae Kyung and Mi Nam gets lost after leaving the restaurant because of Tae Kyung’s allergy

-When Mi Nam had to choose a member to share a room with (adorable puppy eyes!)

-Manager Ma’s imaginary bed scenes!!  I loved it even more after seeing the director’s cut on youtube.

-The scenes where Tae Kyung torments Yoo He Yi (throwing away her shoes, sending her dad a message that she was pregnant, LOL)

Week 15/52: DweJi ToKki (Pig Rabbit)

Still hooked on the K-drama “You’re Beautiful”

I want a pig rabbit!!!

SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!

“Pig-rabbit” is what Hwang Tae Kyung calls Go Mi Nam.  He even made a pig rabbit plushie for her at one point in the series.  Super cute!

Week 14/52: Without words

I thought I already posted this here, I must have forgotten about it~  This was my self portrait last week.

Recently I’ve been addicted this Korean series called “You’re Beautiful” (review and summary of that to follow).    The show focuses on a girl who must pretend to be her brother and become part of a (boy) band called A.N.Jell (pronounced “angel”).

I wish A.N.Jell was a real band, I just love them, they’re all really talented 🙂  I made an angel-themed SP to celebrate my love for the band (and the series).

The title came from a song in the soundtrack of the show.  It’s the same song I played on the piano in my previous post (which you can see here)

Here are the members of A.N.Jell.  Can you identify who the girl is?