Happy New Year 2023

Wait what?? It’s 2023!!! Time flew so fast I still can’t believe it’s another year.

To me, 2022 had some standouts but also had a lot of disappointments. I completed 41 dramas, 21 movies, and 6 variety shows.

Below are my top 10 shows based on my ratings:
Rated 9:
1. Love Between Fairy and Devil – my overall favorite, the rest are in no order
2. Reborn Rich
3. Our Blues
4. My Liberation Notes
5. Twenty Five, Twenty One
6. May It Please The Court
7. Through The Darkness
8. You Are My Glory – this is a 2021 Cdrama but I just had to put this in my list

Rated 8.75
9. From Now On, Showtime
10. Narco-Saints

Judging from my top 10 list, the dramas are melodrama or action/thriller and mostly made me cry a lot of good tears. I realized that my taste has been changing over the past few years, though I still go for feel good romcom once in a while.

I don’t always watch CDramas but my watchlist has been growing every year and I’m starting to have my list of fave Chinese actors and actresses to watch! Yang Yang, Dylan Wang, Xu Kai, Dilraba, etc.

I also found new actors and actresses I want to watch out for like Kwon Yuri, Son Sukku, Nam Joo Hyuk, as well as old favorites that have come back to drama land like Jung Il Woo, Ha Jung Woo, Jung Ryu Won, Kim Nam Gil.

There were dramas that I had high expectations but didn’t live up to the hype like Cheer Up, Love Is For Suckers, and those I didn’t bother to watch anymore because of low reviews like Kill Heel, Thirty Nine, Forecasting Love and Weather. There were also dramas that I didn’t expect to love like From Now On Showtime and Yonder. And highly rated dramas I ran out of time and will watch next year like Little Women, Under the Queen’s Umbrella.

I was able to watch 2 Jdramas this year, Fishbowl Wives and First Love: Hatsukoi, which are more Netflix-style rather than the usualy Jdrama style. I look forward to more Jdramas on Netflix to add to my ever complicated and growing list of drama watch list.

Winter dramas are starting and they look promising!!
Ongoing or started last week of Dec – Alchemy of Souls Part 2, Trolley, Big Bet S1, The Glory, Interest of Love, Red Balloon, Work Later, Drink Now S2, The Island, Unchained Love (CDrama)

Starts in Jan 2023 – Can We Be Strangers, Brain Cooperation, Agency, Crash Course in Romance, Payback

Hopefully 2023 will be better, less trying hard to create complicated story, and more simple but solid storytelling and acting.

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Quick update

Hello! I know I haven’t been updating my blog. It’s not because I haven’t been watching KDramas. Actually, it IS because I’m watching too many dramas that I haven’t completed any of them!

I’m currently watching:
Cheer Up (now in ep 8)
Love Is for Suckers (up to ep 8)
Alchemy of Souls (now in ep 7)
May It Please the Court (now in ep 8)

I’ve also been catching up on my usual variety shows:
My Ugly Duckling
Hangout with Yoo
Sixth Sense (now in ep 14 – final)
Watched Running Man to watch Manny Pacquiao episode
Watched Knowing Brothers to watch Manny Pacquiao episode
Watched All the Butlers 2 episodes with Lee Jung Jae and Jung Woo Sung
Watched The Manager 2 episodes with Daniel Henney

Whew! In the meantime you can check out my drama updates on my twitter account @kdramadreaming

Will definitely complete all the dramas in November!

2022 is for New Beginnings

And just like that, 2020 is gone, my 32 day vacation leaves are complete and it’s 2022 and back to work.

There are so many things I’m looking forward to for this new year. I moved to a new job (starting tomorrow). I’m excited to meet new people, work on a new industry and take on a much bigger role that I used to have. Exciting and scary, but I’m ready for the challenge!

Taking on a new role also means I finally have more time for myself. No more work til the wee hours in the morning (yehey!) which means, more time to watch (double yehey!). There are so many dramas I’m looking forward to watch next year — mostly drama comebacks of my fave stars — So Ji Sub (OMG!!!), Jang Hyuk (in another historical drama), Kim Nam Gil (yes, he will have 2 dramas), Lee Jong Suk (about time!), Lee Joon Gi (another revenge drama but I’ll take it), Ha Jung Woo (eek!!! he’s back with Hwang Jung Min) and Jo In Sung (with bestie Cha Tae Hyun and Han Hyo Joo).

I still want to watch more Chinese and Japanese dramas — there are so many I don’t know where to squeeze them in but I will find the time.

Lastly, I wish the pandemic will be over by mid- or end-2022 because I miss travelling to Korea, watching Kpop concerts and Kdrama stars fan meeting. Until then, please everyone, stay healthy and strong, and keep on Kdrama dreaming! 🙂

The Raincoat Killer (2021)

Profile:
Documentary: The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea
Country: South Korea
Episodes: 3
Aired: Oct 22, 2021
Aired On: Friday
Original Network: Netflix
Duration: 50 min.

Review:
Very chilling documentary about the first serial killer in South Korea. I heard this inspired several Kdrama and movies like Taxi Driver and The Chaser.

He doesn’t wear a raincoat when he kills his victims, he uses a sledgehammer to hit his victims’ head, chops the bodies into 16-18 pieces, and buries them in a bamboo grove behind a temple. He was convicted for 21 murders. Horrifying.

This 3 episode show are narrated by the different retired police chief, detectives, profiler, and CSI during the between 2003-2004. They talked about how the first murders started, how they tried to look for evidences, linked the different cases and finding the evidences. They also talked about what went wrong, what they could have done better, and how it changed their whole system. What was missing I think was a little background on the killer and why he was killing people. But maybe he was too delusional and they couldn’t get anything.

Watch this if you like true crime and if you’re curious about Korean history.