Five Missions (Taiwanese Drama, New)

At the ripe age of 28, our heroine seemingly has nothing much to show for her life other than nabbing herself a handsome and successful writer for a boyfriend. However, as of late, even our heroine’s romantic life is on the rocks. Intrigued when she picks up a bottle with a message in it from the sea, our heroine decides to do the five missions outlined in the message.

For those of you who likes long time best friend= Mr. Right, then this one could be a good fit. Our hero is the ever faithful best friend to our heroine through thick and thin. I am assuming the five missions will not only teach our heroine to discover who she really is but will also help her to ditch the judgmental boyfriend, survive the seemingly perfect heartthrob and eventually realize who her Mr. Right is.

First episode looked decent and more importantly, I liked the chemistry between our two leads.

The King of Blaze (Chinese Drama, New)

Bolin Chen plays the god of fire who ends up in historical China to find a way to save his planet and his friends (other gods as well). Exploring the foreign land he finds himself in as he searches for a way home, our hero is stunned when he meets our heroine who looks exactly like the god of wind- his true love. As our hero unwittingly finds himself in one trouble after another, his old enemy also shows up on Earth and he must find a way to save his beloved home while protecting the woman he loves.

I have only seen Bolin Chen in modern shows so it was quite shocking and refreshing to see him in a historical drama. I was afraid at first that Bolin Chen couldn’t pull off his role since we are all so used to seeing him in modern dramas but I am glad to report that I think he transitioned quite successfully. The story kinda has a Thor vibe…which is not a bad thing in my book so I am planning on keep an eye on this one.
Sky Castle (Korean Drama, New)

Until the last five minutes of the first episode, Sky Castle looked like a total fluff about rich parents who have nothing better to do than make their children’s college entrance the SOLE purpose of their life.  I had pretty much made up my mind to skip over this one until the show abruptly took a sudden turn and I was intrigued enough to watch the second episode as well. With the fluff set up out of the way, I am glad to report that the second episode was a whole lot better.

Judging by the story set up, I don’t foresee any romance pairing in this one but I think it will be fine without it as it will ask some thought-provoking questions about what it means to be a good parent and what success really is.
A Pledge to God (Korean Drama, New)

Betrayed by her husband while she was pregnant, our heroine resolutely leaves after swearing that she will never allow her husband to see her son. Six years later, both now re-married, our heroine meets her ex again when she finds out the tragic news that her son has leukemia. Devastated that neither she nor her ex is a match as a bone marrow donor for their son, the two people who thought they would live as strangers for the rest of their lives face a daunting decision as the doctor informs them that their best chance of saving their son is to have another child together.

Dang, did a bunch of writers sat around a room and played a game of  “the worst case scenario”?
Clean With Passion For Now (Korean Drama, New)

This one tells the unlikely romance between our germaphobic hero and our hygiene challenged heroine. The story set up of Clean With Passion For Now use quite a bit of stereotype such as a rich and successful hero vs our plucky heroine who struggles to make ends meet. However, I did like the fact that instead of your usual haughty and cold hero, our hero in this one is actually fairly warm…he just won’t stand too close to you.

The first episode looked fairly promising especially for those who are in the mood for something light and fun.
Priest (Korean Drama, New)

OCN has been on a horror kick lately… As a passionate surgeon who devotes her life to saving lives, our heroine believes in the power of modern medicine and in a world where everything can be explained with reason…that is until evil spirits begin to take over her patients and the hospital staff. Her whole world swirling by all these seemingly impossible events, our heroine has no choice but to team up with our two male leads: A young Catholic priest with his own traumatic past and his mentor.

This one uses the hospital quite often as the setting so expect LOTS of blood and gore on top of the horror. Not exactly the brave sort, I went into this one thinking I will just check the first episode out but I got sucked in enough that I ended up watching the second episode as well.
He Hymn of Death (Korean Drama, New)

A remake of the 1991 film Death Song, He Hymn of Death tells the tragic love story between our hero, a genius playwright (played by Lee Jong Suk) and our heroine, who was Korea’s first professional soprano. This one is a drama special so it is only six episodes long.

Episode one was quite good but since this is based on real people whose lives ended with “tragic” in the description, I am avoiding this one. (We find out within the first two minutes of the show what will be our two leads’ end so no harboring false hope there.)
Encounter (Korean Drama, New)

Song Hye Kyo plays a woman who has lived her whole life according to what is expected of her…even to the extent of marrying a man of her father’s choosing in order to help his political career. Now a successful hotel CEO after getting divorced, our heroine has a dreamy and surreal encounter with our hero (Park Bo Gum, Love in the Moonlight) during a business trip. Knowing how opposite their lives are to each other’s, neither of our leads expects their paths to cross again…but of course, the drama gods have other ideas.

The story itself sounds pretty predictable but since the whole vacation “encounter” wrapped up in the first episode, I am intrigued how the rest of the show will go now that our leads are back to real life. Plus, who cares about predictable when the cast is this lovely?
Southern Beach Love Story (Japanese Drama, New)

Harboring a secret crush on her childhood friend, our 17 year old heroine is a normal teenage girl dreaming of a bright future…that is until she meets her 30 year old self from the future who promptly informs her that she is destined to become a 30 year old old virgin watching her crush marrying another woman if she doesn’t do something drastic now.

This one is a bit more complex than “How to change the past so you can get your crush back” sort of story since I am not actually certain that the childhood friend is the hero. Halfway through the first episode, the show introduces another man into our heroine’s life-a transferred student who convinces our naive heroine to be his girlfriend so she can make the childhood friend jealous. There are hints that the transferred student might have something to do with the future as well so the plot thickens.

I am mildly intrigued by the show so I will probably check back on this one in a few weeks.
Endo Kenichi to Kudo Kankuro no Benkyo sa sete itadakimasu (Japanese Drama, New)

This one has a hilarious premise! The story surrounds a drama set where a production crew and actors are trying to meet a deadline. However, because certain actors keep “running off”, the crew has no choice but to grab various actors to fill the vacant spots as they reshoot different scenes.

Shun Oguri was the special guest for the first episode (a play on Silence of the Lamb) and boy, I was laughing pretty hard at his performance. I don’t really see this one as a drama per se, it comes off almost more like a variety show but who cares when it is this funny.

 

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