Haist! I am a Korean dramas and movies addict. Well, who's not anyway? Unlike the TV drama in the Philippines, Korean drama has an interesting plot and fast paced story. They also have great soundtrack that will moved you. What I like most is there is no profanity, severe violence and open-mouth kissing. They are kid-friendly! For the past years, I have watched (read English subtitles) many Korean dramas from start to finish.
Here are some of my favorites and recommended much watch drama (in no particular order).
1. Stairway to Heaven
Jung-suh and Song-joo grew up together. They were always there for each
other. Tragedy begins when Song Joo begins his studies overseas without
Jung-suh. Jung-suh’s father remarries Tae Mira. Mira takes in her two
children from a previous marriage, Tae-hwa and Yuri. Yuri is envious of
the life that Jung-suh leads and is determined to take everything away
from her, including Song-joo. Tae-hwa begins to develop feelings for his
stepsister, however Jung-suh still loves Song-joo. Five years later,
tragedy occurs when Jung-suh gets into a car accident causing her to
lose her memory. Together with Tae-hwa, they start anew. Song-joo is led
to believe that she is dead. However, when they meet again one day, he
is determined to remind her of the love they had for one another. When
fate finally seemed to be on their side, Jung-suh is diagnosed with eye
cancer.
2. Love Story in Harvard
Love Story in Harvard portrays the dream and love pursued by foreign
students studying in Harvard. It demonstrates bright, hard-working, and
romantic characters and storylines.
A young love story set at the famed Ivy League school in the United
States. Kim Hyun Woo (Kim Rae Won), a 1st year law student at Harvard
Law, enters into a rivalry with classmate Hong Jung Min (Lee Jung Jin)
for the affections of beautiful medical student Lee Soo In (Kim Tae
Hee). The two men are both from prestigious families, while Soo In is
from a poor family. Can the trio resolve their romantic differences and
chase their dreams at the same time?
3. Lovers in Paris
Tae Young lives in Paris and is working on a screenplay. She meets Gi
Ju while working at a friend’s stall and Soo Hyuk, when her bicycle
breaks down. Soo Hyuk and Tae young become friends. Gi Ju asks her to
act as his fiance for work reasons. Things go badly and everyone returns
to Korea.
Back in Korea Tae Young, Gi Ju and Soo Hyuk begin to develop
friendships with Tae Young and end up feeling more feelings towards her
than they initially thought. However, Gi Ju is Soo Hyuk’s uncle and they
had grown up like best friends since they were only about 7 years
apart. Their feelings towards her slowly begin to be revealed causing
heartache for all the people around them.
4. Nine-Tailed Fox
Shi Yeon is a Nine-Tailed Fox living undercover in the human world. By
day, Shi Yeon is an employee at a natural history museum. By night,
she’s a top-ranking woman warrior in the Nine-Tailed Fox clan, charged
with preserving the delicate balance between man and fox. But her world
is sent spinning when an atrocious serial murder – where the victims
have had their internal organs gouged out – is uncovered. Detective Min
Woo believes the murders may relate to the organ trafficking trade, and
goes undercover in a seedy organ smuggling ring. But Min Woo’s cover is
blown, and it’s only through the intervention Nine-Tailed Fox warrior Mu
Young and Shi Yeon that he’s able to survive! But he’s seen their true
identities as Nine-Tailed Foxes…can he be allowed to live?
5. My Girl
When Gong Chan (Lee Dong Wook) meets the lively and beautiful Yoo Rin
(Lee Da Hae), he finds out that she has connections to his missing
cousin, whom his grandfather has been searching for. He asks Yoo Rin to
lie about being his long missing cousin until he can find his real
cousin. She says yes, but soon their feelings for each other get in the
way of their plans. Gong Chan’s friend, Jung Woo (Lee Joon Ki) falls for
Yoo Rin while Gong Chan’s ex-girlfriend, Seo Hyun (Park Si Yeon), a pro
tennis player, tries to win him back. Will the two ever tell each other
how they feel? Will Gong Chan ever find his real cousin?
6. Only You
Eun Jae (Han Chae Young) was a stubborn and head-strong girl who had a
passion for cooking. She did not have any interest in going to college
and with the help of her hig school friend, Jung Hyun Sung (Lee Chun
Hee)ran away to Italy to enroll in a cooking school. Jung Hyun Sung who
loved her dearly went along with her.
Han Yi-Joon (Jo Hyun Jae) came from a wealthy family. He travelled to
Italy looking for his mother and there he ran into Eun Jae, who had
also been seeking the same person to learn the secrets to making great
pasta. She comforted Yi-Joon, who was distraught over his mother’s
remarrying, and they ended up making love. Yi Joon left Eun Jae the next
morning over some misunderstanding. Eun Jae became pregnant and had no
choice but to give up her dream and to return to Korea.
7. Goong (Princess Hours)
Goong is a story about young love in face of tradition, politics, and
intrigue. In the imaginary world, modern-day Korea is a constitutional
monarchy and the Royal Family lives in a grand Palace, the Goong. Story
opens with the sudden death of the reigning the King. Faced with the
decreasing popularity among the public for the Royalty, a grand wedding
for the Crown Prince, Lee Shin, is decided to be the best publicity move
to improve the image of the Royalty and at the same time prepare Shin
for immediate succession. The intended bride? The headstrong, awkward,
and sweet spirited Shin Chae Kyung that just happens to go to the same
exclusive art school. Chae Kyung was betrothed to become the next Crown
Princess by her grandfather and Shin’s grandfather.
After 14 years of living in England with his mom, Lee Yul appears all
of a sudden. He is Shin’s cousin as well as the former Crown Prince.
Everything seemed to be going normally until Chae Kyung’s optimistic
spirit wins the heart of internally lonely, Yul. As the Crown Prince
Shin and simple-minded Chae Kyung’s relationship appear to developing
deeper feelings, a series of scandals are exposed to the public right
after the pair were officially announced married. Will love prevail all
in a world of political pressures and martial hardships? Or will being
in the spotlight of the public be too much for the young newlyweds to
endure?
8. One Mom and Three Dads
Song Na Young and her husband, Jung Sung Min, desperately want a child
but her husband is unable to get her pregnant. Her husband’s friends
decide to help them. But Na Young suddenly loses her husband in an
accident and she gives birth to her daughter but does not know which of
her husband’s friends fathered her child. The father of Na Young’s child
can either be Han Soo Hyun, Choi Kwang Hee, or Hwang Kyung Tae.
9. Boys Over Flowers
Jan Di is an average girl whose family owns a dry cleaning store located
near the luxurious and well known Shin Hwa College. Jan Di meets the
four richest and most spoiled boys known as the F4. After saving a boy
from jumping off the roof of Shinhwa High School, she is admitted into
the school on a swimming scholarship. Jan Di tries to avoid
confrontation with the F4 at all cost because she knows what happens to
those that stand against them. However, when Jan Di’s friend, Oh Min Ji,
accidentally gets ice cream on the leader of the F4′s shoes, she’s
forced to declare war on the leader of the F4, Goo Joon Pyo.
10. Baker King, Kim Tak Goo
Kim Tak Goo is the eldest son of Goo In Jong, the president of Samhwa
Enterprise, a legend in the baking industry. Although he is an extremely
talented baker and seemed destined to succeed his father as president,
Goo In Jong’s family plotted to rob him of his inheritance because he
was born to In Jong’s mistress. Tak Goo’s determination to become number
one in the baking industry drives him to rebuild his career from
scratch despite the many trials he faces.
11. 49 Days
Shin Ji Hyun was enjoying absolute bliss as she was about to marry her
fiancé, Kang Min Ho, but her perfect life is shattered when she gets
into a car accident that leaves her in a coma. She is given a second
chance at life by a reaper, but it comes with a condition: she has to
find three people outside of her family who would cry genuine tears for
her. In order to do this, she borrows the body of Yi Kyung, a part-time
employee at a convenience store for 49 days.
12. My Princess
An ordinary college student, Lee Seol, finds out she’s a princess. The
grandson of Daehan Group, Park Hae Young, is put in charge of educating
Seol on proper etiquette. However, Hae Young is put in a precarious
situation when he finds himself drawn to Seol, the girl who will take
away his inheritance if the monarchy is restored.
13. Innocent Man
The drama is a melodrama which depicts the story of a man called Kang Ma Roo (
Song Joong Ki) who has been hurt by a woman he loves called Han Jae Hee (
Park Si Yeon)
and how he continues his own life by using several women. He sacrificed
his well being for his girlfriend only to be dumped by her for another
man. Then, he sets off to take revenge on her with the help of his best
friend. He approaches Seo Eun Gi (
Moon Chae Won), the daughter of the chaebol group executive in order to execute his revenge.
14. Missing You
This drama is a melodrama that will portray a story of a teenage
couple who fall in love and get painfully separated, and then meet again
as adults by playing game of love hide and seek.
Han Jung Woo (
Park Yoochun) has been a homicide detective for 2 years and he is looking for his childhood love. Lee So Yeon (
Yoon Eun Hye) is a fashion designer and often dream of Han Jung Woo searching for her…
Meanwhile, Kang Hyung Joon (
Yoo Seung Ho)
is a cold-hearted, charismatic fund manager, who tries to take revenge
on Han Jung Woo because of the troubled relationship within their
family.
15. Love Rain
“Love Rain” depicts a 1970′s pure love and a love from the present
day at the same time. It shows how the offsprings of a previous
ill-fated couple, who met in the 1970s, managed to meet and fall in
love.
Seo In Ha (
Jang Geun Suk) and Kim Yoon Hee (
Yoona),
a art student and a shy beauty, met and fell in love with each other
during college in the 1970s but unfortunately their love was fated to
never be.
Now in the present 21st century, Seo In Ha’s son, Seo Joon (
Jang Geun Suk) (a liberal photographer) meets and falls in with Kim Yoon Hee’s daughter, Kim Ha Na (
Yoona), a cheerful and energetic girl who’s personality is different from her mother’s.
Will their love for each other keep them together or will they have to face the same fate as their parents?
16. Pretty Man
Dokgo Ma Te (
Jang Geun Suk)
is an ambitious man and wants to make a lot money using his beautiful
appearance. He sets out to date ten of the most successful women in
Korea. A strange woman then appears in front of Dokgo Ma Te. Her name is
Kim Bo Tong (
IU), an ordinary girl come from poor background who’s been in love with him for ten years. Can she make Dokgo Ma Te love her?
17. Secret
Everyone has their own secrets. Secrets can help people succeed and
even fall in love; but secrets can also destroy people. Secrets can
sometimes make us happy, worried, or even blind us to reality. This
drama is about secrets. It is an exploration into the trials and
tribulations of people who live with secrets. These secrets drive the
four characters desire to find love and exact revenge.
This melodrama is about a “fatal romance” between a man who loses his
girlfriend in an accident, and falls in love with the woman responsible
for her death.
Jo Min Hyuk (
Ji Sung)
was born into a wealthy family. He has everything including good looks,
intelligence, but he doesn’t have kindness. He loses his girlfriend in a
hit-and-run accident.
Kang Yoo Jung (
Hwang Jung Eum) goes to prison, because of the hit-and-run accident that killed Min Hyuk’s girlfriend. Her boyfriend, Ahn Do Hoon (
Bae Soo Bin)
is the one that actually committed the hit-and-run accident, but Yoo
Jung took the blame. She is then betrayed by her boyfriend.
Meanwhile, Shin Se Yeon (
Lee Da Hee)
is the one with an unrequited love. She’s described as “thirsty for
love,” and she’ll be a character in pain because she can’t have the one
person she wants.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Binibining Wanderlust
