I remembered the time I was around 18-19 years old and I got into the Chinovela craze. I started watching Meteor Garden without expecting myself to get sucked into it. At first, I thought Meteor Garden was a Japanese TV series and I thought the F4 were Japanese the first time I heard of them. Then it happened that I simply got hooked with Meteor Garden as my first Taiwanese TV series. I didn't care too much about Hana Yori Dango starring Mao Inoue because Barbie Xu-Wang made the best Makino Tsukushi but I absolutely disliked the Korean version of Hana Yori Dango. Then there was the Korean craze which I had pre-conceived biases and I could talk about it.
The first one that got me into K-Drama was Autumn in My Heart. Oh, I can't forget the really bad crush I had on Song Hye Kyo and how I cried a river of tears (exaggeration) in her dying scene. I just saw the Tagalog dub back then and due to my academic requirements I had to ask my elders what happened next. I couldn't forget how I had a crush on the leading lady where it really crushed my heart to watch that dying scene. I had to keep in mind it was just a freaking show and she's a girl I'll never have. But still, I can't deny how I felt like if it's Korean then expect a sad ending. Maybe I was just overly emotional. That felt stupid considering that I watch Tokusatsu and some of them have bittersweet endings.... so what made Hye Kyo's death scene any sadder?!
Then of course, there was Full House which I found silly and seldom irritating. I seldom called it as a live version of Beauty and the Beast because Rain and Hye Kyo look very odd together! It's not just Hye Kyo is that hot but also she's pretty short and Rain's a tall person. It just didn't make sense to sell the house to a famous actor without legal processes. Worse, the Beauty is forced to marry the Beast in a contractual and loveless marriage. I don't think I could survive the conditions set with their contractual marriage of not trying to have physical intimacy with such a hot lady. "The master is not as bad as he seems." actually gets to the theme of this show because both the Beauty and the Beast manage to gain real feelings for each other. It feels stupid that the Beast forces the Beauty to marry him to spite some unrequited love while someone is interested with the Beauty when her marriage with the Beast seems to fall apart.
For Korean culture, I always felt like it didn't match up to me as much as Japanese or Taiwanese culture yet I'm also using Korean products and I prefer Korean cuisine over Japanese or Taiwanese cuisine. While Korean dramas can be a good U-turn from Tokusatsu but I don't think it's really a replacement. Instead, it's an add on to stuff I could like. Also, I still feel it at more than one level that while I'm not really a fan of Korean shows but there's a few cases that I end up actually enjoying the show. It's happens when there's an an interesting story or I'm just bored with both Taiwanese and Japanese entertainment (though the chances of it happening is very slim) or my shallowest reason is because there's a really pretty lady involved in the story (which is like a rare diamond).
As of late, there's some Korean series that either make me just watch it for the pretty leading lady or there's an interesting plot going on.
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