Ninja’s Drama Roundup #68

Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol (Korean Drama, Netflix)

Growing up with a doting father who raised her like a princess, our heroine’s fairytale-like life comes to a screeching halt when her father unexpectedly passes away on her wedding day. Her family bankrupted and abandoned by her fiancé, our heroine, who has never experienced any hardship in life is left completely on her own. Fortunately for our heroine, our hero, a stranger with a mysterious background and a cold demeanor somehow finds himself unable to push our heroine away like he does everyone else. 

I usually dislike super naive and bumbling heroines so I went into this one thinking I wouldn’t like it at all. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when I actually ended up liking this one quite a bit. The heroine IS naive and bumbling but instead of finding her annoying I found her character hilarious and amusing. The two leads also have great chemistry together which is another big plus.   

Perfect and Casual (Chinese Drama, Youtube)

This one has a pretty stereotypical set up of where our bumbling heroine ends up entering into a contract marriage with our perfect hero whose grandfather’s dying wish is to see him married. After checking out the first two episodes, I was pretty ready to write this one off since not only was the storyline predictable but my biggest issue with it was that our heroine, who is supposed to be a college graduate looks AND acts more like a clueless high school student. Yet much to my surprise, I found myself watching the third episode…then the next, and strangely, the heroine slowly grew on me. 

I am still not ready to put this one on my watch list just yet but I am also not quite ready to write it off so I guess I will be watching the 5th episode… 

Tale of the Nine-Tailed (Korean Drama, Viki)

Lee Dong Wook’s new drama where he is playing a Nine-Tailed fox who was once a mountain God but lost his status after he fell in love with a human girl and sacrificed everything to send her back into reincarnation. Our heroine is a tv producer whose program focuses on supernatural existences. 

This one has a very similar vibe to Goblin but is different enough that I am not constantly comparing the two. The story and the acting all look very solid but funny enough, the thing that has been impressing me thus far is actually the fighting sequences. Lee Dong Wook is on the thin side here but that sure doesn’t stop him from looking great in the fighting scenes!   

Miss Gu Who is Silent (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub) 

It’s been eight years since our heroine’s brother killed himself after his friends falsely accused him to be a killer. Devising an elaborate plan, our heroine puts on multiple disguises in order to seek revenge for her brother. Our hero is an ex-cop whose last case was none other than the brother’s case and his sister also happen to be on our heroine’s revenge list. 

This one is only twenty episodes long and boy, the suspense makes you watch one episode after another. I was also pleasantly surprised by the amount of romance in this one since criminal suspense dramas are usually pretty skimpy or nonexistent when it comes to the romance department. Oh, by the way, perhaps to make up for the liberal romance part, the logic part is sometimes on the slim side (ie. such as the heroine seems only a bit dazed after being hit head-on by a car). Still, I enjoyed the suspense (the ending was especially a brain burner) and the romance was super cute!

Sweet First Love (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

Losing memory of her past after witnessing her parents’ tragic passing in a car accident at a tender young age, our heroine was taken in by her parents’ friends and grows up with their son. Thinking of our hero merely as an annoying younger brother who is perfect in everything while she is the poster child of an ordinary nobody, our heroine is busy having her first crushes while being completely clueless of our hero’s feelings for her. 

Hmm…not really feeling this one. The two leads’ acting wasn’t bad but it is always awkward when the secondary characters are more eye-catching than the leads. 

General’s Lady (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

As her father’s least favored daughter, our heroine ends up becoming the sacrificial bride to be married off to the famous “the Devil General” who apparently has already gone through three wives. At first assuming his new wife must be either a spy for the enemy army OR for the emperor, our hero slowly comes to realize his rather unconventional little wife is nothing like what he thought. 

This one is pretty fun and light. I wouldn’t call it addicting by any means but after four episodes, I am finding this one to be an enjoyable and easy watch.   

The Journey Across the Night (Chinese Drama, Youtube Eng Sub)

Showing up in his new college in Hong Kong as a graduate student of psychiatry, our handsome and smart hero seems to have a bright future ahead of him…at least on the surface. With a family history of schizophrenia that happened to both his mother and brother when they turned 24, our hero knows his time is quickly running out as he too will be 24 in six months’ time. As if things are not difficult enough for our hero, the poor guy is tricked by our heroine into renting an apartment that is supposedly haunted. 

I had assumed the story would revolve around our hero’s impending deadline of turning 24 but surprisingly, the story was more about the people (and their strange circumstances and mental issues) that our hero will come across. The story is set in Hong Kong so it was a lot of fun to see the cultural differences between mainland China and Hong Kong featured in the show. Mainland China’s general environment is one that leans towards atheists so things get interesting when you contrast that with the culture of Hong Kong that has plenty of supernatural beliefs in its folklore.

Lost Romance (Taiwanese Drama, Viki, Finished)

I just finished this one over the weekend and am happy to report that it was a very satisfying ending to a solid T-romance. If you haven’t checked this one out yet then I do have to warn you that the first couple of episodes might feel a bit disjointed and on the slow side but this is one of those rare T/C dramas where the story actually picks up instead of getting draggy the further it gets.

No one does fan service scenes like T-drama so Lost Romance was no exception especially since Marcus Chang is SO perfect for his role as real-life embodiment of every girl’s romance novel fantasy.

All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com