Kdrama

My AI Art Inspired By Sexy Asian Anime Men and Kpop/Jpop Stars

I mentioned in some of my other posts that I began using Photoleap, an AI text to image generator that allows anyone to be an artist and create fantastic unique one of a kind images. I love Photoleap the most so far out of all of the AI programs I have tried. Although I’m still on the waiting list for Dall-e-2.

In case you missed it, you can see some of my other AI art, mostly created with Dreamstudio.

Pikachu Eating Pancakes

Sailormoon X Lisafrank

Sailormoon Runway Fashion

And follow me on Deviantart for more of my AI artwork. read more

My AI Art Inspired By Sexy Asian Anime Men and Kpop/Jpop Stars Read More »

Is There Such A Thing As English Dubbed Korean Dramas KDrama?

The answer is yes. I just watched My Holo Love on Netflix. Hulu also has a lot of subbed and dubbed series that are worth considering. I am in the hospital and stuck with just the smallest iPad so I was checking subtitles to see if I could enlarge them any. That’s when I noticed Audio was listed in about eight different languages. No way I thought to myself as I switched to English audio and turned off the subtitles. It’s not perfect, no but when youre stuck on a small screen its nice. What’s wrong with it? The acting and casting is poor. At least in the one I watched Holo Love. I didn’t like the voice of the main male character in English at all. Not as good as the Korean original actors performances. I also don’t know if it’s been white washed – I didn’t watch the credits – but if so that’s another problem, hiring white actors to perform Asian roles. I dunno if that’s true though but worth pointing out that it’s a possibility. read more

Is There Such A Thing As English Dubbed Korean Dramas KDrama? Read More »

Mulan Doesn’t Deserve All This Hate – A Review Of Disney’s Live Action Mulan From A Fan Of Asian Cinema

Mulan has been under fire from all side. Whether it’s angry members of the LGBT community, or political backlash, it’s fair to say things did not go as Disney may have planned with their latest Live Action Release.

I wanted to watch it myself. I had feared it may get pulled off the site due to political pressure. Can we just leave politics aside and enjoy this for what it is, a work of fiction that may or may not be based on a historical figure. There’s still debate if Mulan was in fact a real person, or just a legend. read more

Mulan Doesn’t Deserve All This Hate – A Review Of Disney’s Live Action Mulan From A Fan Of Asian Cinema Read More »

BTS

What I’m Listening To This Week – Kpop, English Covers, and Other Music

I thought it might be fun to share like a weekly top 10 of songs I’m listening to each week. It can be a new feature on my blog. The music won’t always be new songs, it will be very eclectic.  Here’s what I’m listening to this week. I have been listening to a lot of Kpop, including some awesome amazing English covers from talented amateur youtube performers. Check them out below!

1.) Goblin – OST – Beautiful (Crush)

Ok so Goblin is one of my favorite Kdrama, like in the top 3 for sure. This is the opening song, and there are dozens and dozens of English covers of this song. Someone should make like a US version of this drama, and use one of these covers for the opening song lol. But I know it’d never be as good as the Korean version, but then I could get more of my friends and family to watch this show because it’s so good. Le sigh – lol. I seriously kinda want this song to be like my first dance wedding song. It’s nice and slow, and most of the lyrics until the last verse are appropriate. Even then, the last verse, although it is sad, especially if you’ve ever watched Goblin, even still taking it away completely from the context of Goblin, you could analyze the lyrics to be like either, you need someone when you have a sorrowful day, their love gets you through those days, or well sadly, life is cruel and in the end, you will be parted from those you love, because one of you will pass away first, leaving the other person with only memories, and since it’s the last verse, it could be after a long life together. Thus even though it’s sad, still symbolizes a life full of love and memories together. And the first few verses – depending on whose cover you’re listening to, have lines like “It’s a beautiful life. I’ll be the one to cherish you. Now and forever girl I’ll stand by you.” which definitely could apply to a wedding. And it’s just so beautiful – I tear up every time I hear this song.

So first I want to share with you the original korean version because if it wasn’t for that version we wouldn’t have any of these covers. Here is the original song from the Goblin Kdrama:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0cs6ciCt_k[/embedyt]

Next, I just found this English cover version on youtube when I was searching for the other cover(s) I’d been listening to, and this one has almost 11 million views… His lyrics are different than the covers I’d been listening to this week. He’s very talented. Check it out. This cover is by Daryl Ong. I just subscribed to his Youtube Channel.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUo9WMPmEpE[/embedyt]

And onto the English versions which I’ve been listening to all week. So good.

I started with Eric Nam’s cover here.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx-BBq4LQu0[/embedyt]

Then I discovered this beautiful duet with Eric Nam X Somi which is my favorite cover of this song.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KIyxXrZbdE[/embedyt]

And this very talented young Korean girl. Her English pronunciation is good and her voice is so emotional. Her lyrics are also a little different and I really like it!

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogLCIVGc1eg[/embedyt]

And this version by another Asian girl. Her voice is so pure and strong too. Her lyrics are a little bit different, sadder I think.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpZl2FMqG4g[/embedyt]

2. Goblin OST – Stay With Me

So why not another Goblin song to take the number 2 spot. Again let’s start with the original Korean version. The English covers just can’t compare for me, the original one is so much better. I love the girl’s voice, and the guy’s voice is so deep, and they both have so much emotion and great chemistry singing together. Perfection.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcKR0LPwoYs[/embedyt]

And now some English covers, Because it’s always fun to have a version to sing along with:

This girl has that cutesy high pitch mariah carey thing going on.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDGc7Ch1ICk[/embedyt]

This next cover is by Ysabelle Cuevas – I am a fan of a lot of her Kpop covers, especially some BTS covers which I’m going to be sharing shortly. I think she has such a unique voice. Kinda deep and raspy for a girl. She also sings some parts in Korean. I can’t tell if she is Korean with a hispanic name, or half and half, or hispanic, in which case she’d be singing in 2 non-native languages. My favorite cover by her is The Truth Untold. I have listened to it probably 20 times. lol.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxTVvkgV7LQ[/embedyt]

This version is by Jason Chen. Uhm why is his dog walking on his computer desk? lol. I like this version but it’s only about like 30% English, and the other 70% korean.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUxWN0cDSms[/embedyt]

And this version is so good too, it has a duet and full English rap version too. Also great chemistry and high production values, just like the original! This is probably my favorite of the covers. The lyrics are completely different from any of the other covers. The girl’s voice is so good. She could be a professional singer, seriously.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MU8yN98HWs[/embedyt]

I can’t tell if this is the exact same version as the one above… I think so… It has the rap and the girl’s voice sounds very similar. Which means someone is stealing/plagarizing and since I dunno which one is the real artist’s youtube channel, I’ll just put both of them here and let you decide. This one has many more views and subscribers, so I’m assuming that this is the real version.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLAAYJiGZyI[/embedyt]

And while doing this blog post and seeing what other covers of this song are out there, I found this young man, and it might be my new favorite version of this song (aside from the original of course). Were you as surprised as me when he started singing? I wasn’t expecting such a deep and powerful voice.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9fhiDiIEY[/embedyt]

I don’t know about this next cover. Completely different lyrics. I do like that it’s a duet. And they even tried to recreate the official music video from a visual sense. But I feel like their timing is off or something. Or maybe it just lacks the emotion of some of the others. Something doesn’t “sound” quite as nice in this version. I like the rap parts which very few of the covers have.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaMVDppkzHk[/embedyt]

This girl is not very popular, with only 500 views, but I really like her voice. She claims the song is too high for her, but I think she did a great job.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0UFHPdGVNY[/embedyt]

And another talented young woman also with only 500 views

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTwf4g5zcFU[/embedyt]

And this last one, is not English, but I accidentally stumbled across it. It’s a Tagalong version. She does a great job even though I’ve no clue what the lyrics actually are. She has a beautiful voice.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD9PxhtPQCU[/embedyt]

3. Regular – NCT 127

I discovered this song, and this band, a few weeks ago and can’t stop listening to it. It’s so good! By the way it’s in English so even if you don’t like Kpop, you might like this one!

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj-VU9oK2Yo[/embedyt]

4. We Go Up – NCT 127

This one sadly isn’t in English, but it’s still good. Very catchy. I feel like the chorus parts could be a one direction song LOL. These boys are way cuter than 1D though and they’re more edgey – with lots of rap parts.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV1Es22E0RI[/embedyt]

NCT 127 is just so cute. They seem to have a lot of chemistry and a lot of fun together which makes them fun to watch on or off the stage. Here are some more candid interviews. And most of them speak like PERFECT English, without even an accent. These interviews are in English.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54WNkruOIJY[/embedyt]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6UErI23gY8[/embedyt]

Cute right? lol. For having just found this band, I’m already a big fan. I hope they do more English versions too in the future!

5. Monster – Henry

I also just discovered this guy. This video is a year old now with over 4 million views. It might be one of my favorite Kpop songs ever. It’s so good. I prefer the English version because obviously I can understand the lyrics and sing along. But the Korean one is good too.

It’s very interesting how different the lyrics are. It completely changes the whole meaning of the song. In the English version the character singing is a good person in love with a person who treats him poorly. Lying to him, leaving him, hurting him, not listening to him, etc. In the Korean version, the character singing is trying to apologize to someone he loves (and who has been loyal to him) for having hurt them (maybe physically? that’s the vibe I get, but it could be emotionally too) and begging her to forgive him and take him back. So it’s completely flipped from the English version.

I have no idea which version is the original one. They are both by Henry, and neither of them are covers. If i had to guess though, I’d say the Korean version was probably first. He has a great voice. The first time I discovered this song I think I played it about 6 times in a single day lol.

Here are both versions of the song below. Which one do you prefer? I love both of them so much!

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfeEwt5_jsQ[/embedyt]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ3EVAR5EA4[/embedyt]

6. Play it Cool – Monsta X & Steve Aoki English Version

This song has such a great beat, as to be expected from Steve Aoki. This is the first time I’ve heard of Monsta X, but I love them, they’re all so cute! 🙂 Great dancers and singers too.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7IXKQzmpK4[/embedyt]

7. Waste it On Me – BTS & Steve Aoki

And then since I heard that great Kpop Collab, I had to re-watch Waste it On Me. I remember hearing this song on Sattelite Radio Hits 1 last year, and liking it, but it wasn’t til a few weeks later when I looked up the video that I realized it was BTS and a Kpop song. (kinda one of the sad things that happens to digital radio, you don’t have DJ’s for most of the stations so you don’t hear who the songs are by anymore. – But I also don’t like Talk radio and the commercials and so on, so overall I think Sattelite Radio is amazing. I cancelled my subscription recently which actually is what has led me to exploring more music on my own this week. There are lots of alternatives to get your music, such as spotify, pandora, youtube, amazon music, google music, apple music, the list goes on and on. But I think this was the first ever English Kpop song I’d heard, especially one so popular on American radio stations. The music video is so funny too!

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIv16itYi_0[/embedyt]

8. TXT – Cat and Dog

Ok excuse me while I geek out for just a minute…. I literally just now as I type this… just now… discovered there is an English version of this song… It’s not a cover… it’s the real deal. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am freaking out right now. I can’t handle this cuteness!!!!!!!!! I just discovered the original Korean version a week or two ago… and now THIS!!! They just put the English video up 4 weeks ago and it already has almost 7 million views. I am geeking out soooooooooooooooo much. This should actually be number 1 on my list, because it’s that good. It’s SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :squeals:

Ok though after watching it… I still have no idea what they’re saying like 30% of the time lol. Maybe it’s too fast and their accents are throwing me off a little. Or maybe some parts of it are still in Korean? lol. Maybe it’s just me? My hearing isn’t that good anyways. I still really like it though 🙂 I came on here just to share the Korean version with ya’all, so I was so shocked to see an English version. Even if I can’t understand a third of what they’re saying lol.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvO17uPanBY[/embedyt]

Here’s the original Korean version.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaKrke1EL1A[/embedyt]

9. Eyes, Nose, Lips – Taeyang Originally, and Lydia’s Answer, and some covers.

So this one actually has a REALLY interesting story behind it. Taeyang was dating his manager (I don’t know if Lydia is his manager or if she’s just doing an English cover of the manager’s version of this song… but I digress… for the purpose of this blog post, let’s just say they’re one and the same…) Taeyang then cheated on her with another famous Kpop artist. Taeyang regretted his bad decision and wrote this song to try to apologize for his behaivor and hopefully get back together with his manager. His manager then released a cover of his song, which she changed the lyrics, and posted it to youtube and got more views and more positive feedbacks than Taeyang, basically telling him to screw off. Some comments said things like “When the manager sounds better than her band”. And then the song became very popular because of the sad drama/history behind it and spawned a lot of covers, including an English cover by Eric Nam and this really great Korean duet on some show that must be similar to American Idol, like a Korean version, that has even more views than Lydia’s version. All I can say is, the story is crazy, and the song is good. I love all the versions, but I think Lydia’s is my favorite. Check out all the versions below.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjm920Fyo34[/embedyt]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRs_B_O2ZbU[/embedyt]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5IlECpDJ-g[/embedyt]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxMvQkcdPl8[/embedyt]

10. BTS – Truth Untold ft Steve Aoki

I hinted at this song up above when I shared some of Ysabelle’s covers of Goblin’s OST. So I thought it only appropriate to end with this song. It may be the saddest song of all time. First, the original Korean by BTS.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JVytJm8X2g[/embedyt]

And now Ysabelle’s Cover, it’s so good. I love her lyrics and her voice.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugYWg9d_dTE[/embedyt]

There’s also this cover by Emma Hesters. It has a lot more views, I suspect part of the reason why is because she’s a pretty blonde girl. Although she does have a lovely voice too. I just prefer Ysabelle’s version more, but my grandma likes Emma’s voice better and disagree’s with me which one is better. What do you think?

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ycjuNCiyE[/embedyt]

There’s a lot more covers of this song also on Youtube.

This one by Michigopyon doesn’t have nearly as many views, only 20k, but I think her voice is really soft and sweet.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yABzzTg7Krs[/embedyt]

The lyrics to this one are different. Her voice is deep and unusual too.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Nc0D1gJ2c[/embedyt]

Another one with completely different lyrics. I like when people write their own lyrics instead of just using Ysabelle’s lyrics, although Ysabelle’s is still my favorite. It’s neat to hear other people’s works.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zakP3Wjy1WA[/embedyt]

I really like Joytastic Sarah’s version and her lyrics that she wrote seem to fit the song super well – She has a lovely voice too.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP-LP75p8rw[/embedyt]

This one by a girl group is interesting… I like the lyrics they wrote. I always wondered why Ysabelle’s version changed sandcastle to “mess of thorns” 3 syllables. Sand Castle is also 3 syllables and closer to the original korean version which uses the korean word for Sandcastle. I also also thought (and sing when I sing along) that the line after “Don’t smile at me” should be “Lie to me” instead of light on me – although light on me is the same as the korean version, but Lie to me just sounds better in English – even though its in English in the korean version too. Anyways this is a great cover 🙂 Props to these ladies.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOQIAj3JNP4[/embedyt]

And some more covers:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lAQGxggS-8[/embedyt]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t68_PCzfUPI[/embedyt]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdn42tke_tQ[/embedyt]

Men are even getting in on covering this one –

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7alGNQQJS8[/embedyt]

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hJZQE27DSI[/embedyt]

I did not know the story behind this song. I had never heard of this Italian story. Recently also a map has been discovered, and it was at one time a real city. La Cita De Smeraldo. It may be the true story that led to fairy tales such as Beauty and the Beast. There was a duke who fell in love with a gardener’s daughter, and bore a child out of wedlock. Because he was born out of wedlock, the duke sent the child to a far away place. The child was also rumored t

o be extremely ugly, and wore a mask at all times and locked himself away in his castle. One day a girl breaks into his garden and steals a flower. He is very angry and so he wears a disguise and follows the girl and discovers that she is very poor and stealing flowers to sell in her village in order to survive. He immediately feels bad for the girl, and he again locks himself away in his castle in order to research new flowers that will sell for a higher price that he plans to give to the girl. But the girl never returns to his garden. After some time, the boy returns to the village and discovers that the girl has died. He feels regret for never telling her his true feelings, but because he was ugly, he felt that the girl could not accept him as a man. He returned to his castle where he died alone. A very sad, and apparently true story. read more

What I’m Listening To This Week – Kpop, English Covers, and Other Music Read More »

Alternatives to Dramafever

Where to Watch Kdrama Now That Dramafever.com is Closed

If you’re like me, maybe you were suddenly shocked when you went to watch this week’s episodes of your favorite Kdramas only to be met with the disastrous news that Dramafever is now and forever shut down for good. Dramafever owned the majority of “Exclusive” titles that could only be viewed by having a premium membership on their site.

Furthermore, Dramafever handled their shuttering of their service so poorly it makes my skin crawl. I had 4 episodes left to watch in one such “exclusive” series… But Dramafever.com did not even have the decency to email or alert their PAYING premium subscribers about their plans to end their service. Had they sent out an email a week or even 48 hours in advance, fans would be far less pissed than they are right now. Because that way, we could have at least finished watching whatever show we were in the middle of watching at the time.

To top it off, I have heard rumors on other sites, that Viki tried to purchase the “exclusive” rights from Dramafever for many of their shows before the closing of the site, and they were denied. I have heard other rumors and rumblings that Warner Brothers who purchased Dramafever just one year ago, has plans to bring out their own streaming service similar to netflix or disney, and that is why they do not want to release the rights to their shows, because they will capture some audiences who will pay to join their streaming service just for their kdrama fix. But that is merely a rumor… So in the meantime, what are the fans of Korean Pop Culture left to do? There already exists a number of alternatives to Dramafever, but none were quite as good in my opinion, and with Dramafever having several titles on lockdown, many fans are left feeling upset that they can’t see how their favorite dramas end.

I have compiled a list of places to watch Kdrama, but many do not have the exclusive Dramafever titles. However, there are a few pirate or fansites that have managed to scrape content from Dramafever over the past 9 years, so if your drama wasn’t a currently airing drama, there may be hope for you to find the drama on this list.

For me, I ended up purchasing a DVD on Ebay of the drama I was trying to finish. I liked it enough to own it anyways. I wonder if I will be disappointed in the quality of the translation. I guess we will find out once the DVD arrives in the mail. Earlier, a few weeks ago, I had added this very DVD set to my Amazon wishlist in preparation for the holiday season and people inevitably asking what I’d like for Christmas. At the time – prior to Dramafever closing – the DVD set was 20-30 bucks… However… 3 days after Dramafever shut down… It’s now $74. I found mine on Ebay, for $34 (close to the price Amazon had it for prior to the shutdown) However, it said 10 people were watching the listing and very few in stock. I struck immediately buying it in an instant.

KDrama are already obscure and hard enough to find. There are special sites like PlayAsia, but they are pricey, and older dramas that are out of print are notoriously hard to find. I have heard that the reason they are so expensive is because they are illegal in North Korea, and they think the high price tag will detour people from purchasing them there in that country. But it does make it difficult for fans who legitimately want to purchase and support their favorite series.

Still, your best bet is to buy the DVDs NOW, before prices go up even further – especially if your drama of desire is one that Dramafever had exclusive rights to.

I purchased Goblin on Ebay, and would recommend checking there first since it was much cheaper than Amazon, and both are usually cheaper than PlayAsia.

Speaking of Amazon, they fed most of their “Prime Video” streaming Kdrama through a partnership with Dramafever – I checked there to see if I could watch Goblin since I am a Prime Video customer. It still comes up in the search results, but it says this video is currently unavailable.

If anyone has enough money to pick up the licenses, it’d be Amazon – but will Dramafever let the licenses go? The future is unclear at this time as to what will happen to Dramafever’s exclusive titles.

If you really don’t want to purchase the DVDs, there are still several options for you to watch KDrama, it just may mean that you have to give up the drama you were watching and find something new to watch instead.

Here are several websites and apps, to get your Kdrama fix. As always please practice safe browsing – I cannot vouch if these sites are safe, and many streaming sites are notorious for having malware. I take no responsibility and am not affiliated in any way with any of the following sites. I can vouch that Viki is safe, but I have not yet tried these other sites.

Alternatives to Dramafever:

Be sure to read the whole list – the best ones are not necessarily at the top, as I’ve researched and written this post on the fly.

Viki Rakuten – Viki is a good site with Roku and other popular streaming media player apps available. Or you can watch it right on your computer. It is free with ads, or you can purchase a Viki Pass to gain premium access without ads. They have thousands of Kdrama, but they do not have Dramafever’s exclusive titles. They do have exclusives of their own though (So I have already subscribed to them for that) And after Dramafever’s closing, they were able to arrange a partnership with Kocowa, which gives them rights to many series on popular korean broadcasting networks such as KBS, SBS, and MBC. However, shows like Goblin, are still not available in North America due to Dramafever holding the license.

Asiancrush – Haven’t tried this one yet, I saw they have a Roku Channel, so that’s a plus for me. I had bought a Roku just for Dramafever when they mysteriously cancelled their playstation app earlier this year. My first sign that something was up with Dramafever was when I went to turn on my Roku this week and it said channel no longer available – thinking they had just cancelled their roku app as they had done with their playstation app, I went to their website and was shocked to see they had shut down.

OnDemandKorea – is another “new and noteable” roku app – I have yet to check it out, I’m not even sure if it will have English subtitles, but here’s hoping. You can also watch kdrama on their website.

Netflix has a small but growing collection of Kdramas, and also has exclusives created just for them – I have found most of their kdrama exclusives to be a bit cheesy but that’s just me – you might like em, so check it out, especially if you already have a netflix subscription – As other bloggers have pointed out, Netflix makes you wait until the series has finished airing in Korea, before adding it to their platform for North American viewers. – And in some cases they buy rights to a show and do not release it at all.

Amazon Prime may still have a few kdrama available, but they lost the majority of their catalog when Dramafever closed down this week.

http://gooddrama.net – has a lot of ads, probably malware… But they DO have a lot of the previously “exclusive” Dramafever titles. Use at Own Risk. Also similar sites over the past 2-3 years have been issued cease n desist orders such as dramafire, dramacool, dramanice, etc. So watch it while you can, before it gets taken down too!

http://newasiantv.ch/ – Have not used prior to just clicking around for this blog post – it has been around since 2015. Seems cleaner/less ads than the one above. Still quite a few ads – They do have Goblin among other Dramafever “Exclusives” with English subtitles. The site seems slow, video stutters a bit. Might be worth checking out if you’re wanting to watch a Dramafever Exclusive title. – As mentioned, a lot of these sites are being shut down, so watch while you can!

http://kissasian.sh/ – This site is sister to kissanime – the kiss family of sites are very popular with fans – and also very dangerous – they are often spoofed with different domain names like kissanime.ru (I believe that one is the official real one) vs kissanime.me (a clone site full of malware and viruses) (i believe or I could have it backwards lol). A quick google shows similar case in store for kissasian.sh – I got the url from mydramalist forum, it was kissasian.ch which redirected me to the sh… They do have Dramafever Exclusives like Goblin, but they have tons and tons and tons of popups and popunders and banner ads… Seriously Use At Own Risk

Youtube can be a good source of Kdrama, but they get taken down super quickly! I was issued a cease and desist  even for making a music video using clips of one Kdrama, Angel Eyes. And Youtube isn’t the easiest to search, and quality isn’t the highest. You also run into scams such as click here to watch this video which take you to unsafe malware full sites.

https://www.kocowa.com – This looks like a nice clean site with no ads and no bullshit – They also now have a partnership with Viki as I mentioned at the beginning of the list. They offer networks such as SBS and MBC. They do not have any of the Dramafever exclusives.

Hulu has quite a few Kdrama but they are hiding from you. If you look at Genre, you won’t see Korean right away, however a page DOES in fact exist for it… You can bookmark this page and hope Hulu doesn’t change their page structure lol. https://www.hulu.com/genre/korean-0ad5098f-58aa-41ae-baf3-1292970bf8c8

http://www.dramawall.com/ – has a lot of ads – and their search function absolutely does not work. They may or may not have dramafever exclusives. I type in Goblin into search and it instead lists every show, over 200 results, and Goblin isn’t on the first page – so if I had to guess, I’d guess it does not work and that they do not have dramafever exclusives and therefore would not recommend this one.

https://tubitv.com/category/foreign_favorites/s/korean_drama – looks like a nice clean site but they do not have the Dramafever exclusives either.

https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Goblin.php – Hancinema may have some Kdrama, but as you can see, they do not host their own shows, and their links are still pointing to sites such as Dramafever and others which have long since been shut down.

http://www.koreantvshow.com/ – seems clean but does not have dramafever exclusives.

http://www.dramago.com – Has a lot of ads but does have the Dramafever exclusives. Use at own Risk, also as I’ve mentioned many of these sites are being taken down at a rapid pace, so hurry and watch your show before it’s gone.

https://viewasian.tv/country/korea/ – Has a lot of ads – but appears to have most of the Dramafever Exclusives. I did notice that for Goblin they only list 16 episodes when there are in fact 18 episodes… and it is a series that is 2 years old… so it’s not like they’re waiting on episodes to air… so it may be hit or miss in which dramas you’ll be able to watch there. And I’ll reitterate that these sites that do have the exclusives are being banned and removed quickly, and as more people ask, and more people answer with blog posts like this, these sites will be at greater risk of being discovered and removed.

https://www.viu.com/ read more

Where to Watch Kdrama Now That Dramafever.com is Closed Read More »

Soompi 13th Annual Kdrama and Kpop Awards

Vote for Your Favorite KPOP and KDrama Stars in 13th Annual Soompi Awards

Rakuten Viki Joins Forces with Twitter for the 13th Annual Soompi Awards as Voting Opens

Big Hit Entertainment’s BTS and Globally Acclaimed Series ‘While You Were Sleeping,’ and ‘Goblin’ Lead Nominees from Korean Television and Music

SAN FRANCISCO – January 24, 2018 – Soompi (@Soompi), a division of Rakuten Viki and the leading source for Korean pop culture news and fandom, today announced the nominations for the 13th Annual Soompi Awards, a yearly celebration of the best and brightest television and music that emerged from Korean entertainment this past year. This year’s Awards will also mark the first collaboration with Twitter, which will include both the highly popular #TwitterBestFandom Award and the first-ever Twitter emojis tied to Awards-related hashtags during the voting period from 23 January to 20 February 2018 PST. read more

Vote for Your Favorite KPOP and KDrama Stars in 13th Annual Soompi Awards Read More »

Peach Girl Review, Shoujo Anime, Shoujo Anime Review, Romance Anime, Slice of Life Anime, Retro Anime, Dramatic Anime, Anime Relationships, Anime, Peach Girl, Review, Shoujo, Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy, Drama, Melodrama, Manga, Kdrama

Peach Girl Anime Review

xenokitten's anime, manga, recommendations, lists and more at Anime-Planet

This review was originally published on anime-planet. My username over there is Xenokitten. (You can find me here: http://www.anime-planet.com/users/xenokitten) Why not come say Hi! ? 🙂 Anime-planet.com is an awesome website that provides user generated recommendations and reviews to help you find the next anime you want to watch. For example, if you liked Chobits, you can go to the Chobits page on anime-planet and see other shows you might like, with an explanation of why the series are similar to eachother. It’s really nifty. I use this site all the time. Also you can watch the latest episodes of your favorite or hard to find anime on their site as well. But perhaps the coolest thing about anime-planet is it lets you generate a “Life spent on anime” tracker for forum signatures, or websites, etc. And you can track not only games, but also anime. Here’s my tracker (which happens to be a pic of Momo from Peach Girl):

Anime-Planet.com – anime | manga | watch anime online

And look what we have here, a review for Peach Girl (anime) (There’s also a Taiwanese Live Action series, I couldn’t get into it, despite liking Taiwanese and Korean Drama :*( — They changed too much from the original manga and anime. I dropped the Live Action after episode 2 lol.)

For this review, I’ve changed the scoring system a bit, from my original scores on anime-planet, to make characters and story more “weighted” compared to animation and sound which I feel are less important, especially given my target audience here on Geeky Sweetie. I’ve made story and characters both worth 10 points, and animation and sound both worth 5 points. This more accurately reflects my enjoyment of this series as a whole.

When converted to the scoring system used here on Geeky Sweetie this show receives a rating of 36/40 90% A- “Excellent Anime For Girls”

I wrote this review on April 22, 2015.

This is my favorite anime of all time (and I’ve watched over 220 completed series at time of this review’s writing) The reason why I love this anime so much is due to the character development and progression throughout the series. The characters are so well written and their dynamics are so intriguing. They make you feel very passionately, either strong like, or dislike, for each character.

This show has a lot of mature themes such as suicide, rape, depression, bullying, etc. This really sets it apart from any other shoujo I’ve ever watched. The characters feel more alive and real because of their flaws.

I also love how every single episode ends on a huge cliff-hanger. It keeps you watching more and more. AND it keeps you guessing. It’s not until the VERY final episode when Momo FINALLY decides which of the two men she really loves/wants to be with. Throughout the whole series she is pingponging back and forth between them, and the way in which she decides at the end is so dramatic and heart-racing.

Kyrie is pretty much one of the best anime characters I’ve EVER seen. He loves Momo so much that he sacrifices his OWN feelings (and happiness) to do anything to make her happy. He tries to help her repair her relationship with Touji time and time again, and helps her try to clear her reputation at school.

But Momo is conflicted because Touji was her first love, and they’ve been through so much together.

And meanwhile, Sae is pretty much the “worst” character ever (although that is the intention here), I’ve never felt such feelings of RAGE towards a fictional character before or again in any other anime. She just feels SO REAL. I know so many women, superficial, like this, nice to your face, then backstab you EVERY chance they get.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

I could relate to almost every single character and circumstance in this show! It touches me deeply and the tension/drama and NOT KNOWING who she will pick ultimately, really keeps the show interesting from complete start to end.

It’s a story about young/first love, friendship, and “coming of age”. A story very real and relateable for many women in this world who have experienced love, bullying, pain, hurt, and eventually have grown through all of it, to be incredible strong independent women. I love this story and the characters.

10/10 for story and 10/10 for characters.

Animation is old. I know most people on this site don’t like older series. And I’ll admit the character designs look weird too, 3/5 Animation

Sound, was just alright, both in terms of music and voice acting, nothing too remarkable, 3/5 here.

10/10 overall for having such a dramatic intense and moving story with such a delightful (or hateful) cast of characters.

10/10 story
3/5 animation
3/5 sound
10/10 characters
10/10 overall

When converted to our traditional scoring system on Geeky Sweetie it results in a rating of

36/40 90% A- “Excellent Anime For Girls”

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    Peach Girl Anime Review Read More »

    Kdrama Angel Eyes Music Video Coldplay Sky Full of Stars

    Kdrama Angel Eyes Music Video Coldplay Sky Full of Stars

    I downloaded Adobe Premiere (Free trial) tonight; and after playing around a bit, I was able to make my first ever music video.

    I do not own the rights to anything, other than the editing work within the video.

    Music is copyright Coldplay Sky Full of Stars

    Video footage is from Kdrama Angel Eyes.

    This video may contain Spoilers for those who have not seen the show. I think I used up to episode 8 within the video at some point.

    If you like this video please like, share, comment, or subscribe, and tell me what Kdrama music videos you’d like to see next.

    Sorry for poor quality, had trouble finding raw HD torrents so some of my footage is only 240p. Will do better next time 🙂

    Kdrama Angel Eyes Music Video Coldplay Sky Full of Stars Read More »

    10 Kdrama that will make you cry

    10 Kdrama that will make you cry

    Although the title of this post is “kdrama that will make you cry”, this list actually includes other forms of Asian drama such as films from Japan and Taiwan. All of them are sad and guaranteed to bring on the water works. If you’re in the mood for a good Tearjerker tonight, check out our Top 10 Kdrama that Will Make You Cry.

    10.) Fated to Love You – Taiwanese Version

    This is the original televised version of the series, based on the comic book of the same name. The plot follows closely to the comic, beginning with a case of mistaken identity which finds the two main characters (Chen Xin Yi and Ji Cun Xi) sleeping together resulting in an unplanned pregnancy. The male lead is being pressured by his family to produce an heir for his company, and so the two strike a bargain in which Xin Yi will live there for 9 months (the duration of her pregnancy) and then sign over rights to the child to Cun Xi and leave the picture completely.

    But a lot can happen in 9 months. The two begin to develop feelings for eachother and their unborn baby while living together. The family members on both sides also grow attached to their potential new inlaws. Things however become complicated when Cun Xi’s fiancee, Anna, returns from overseas and discovers the situation.

    Although this is generally a comedy series, there are some tragic things which happen along the way. and even some mundane daily things which struck me enough to move me to tears. Check out the spoilers below for some of the highlights.

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]

    Perhaps the saddest thing, is that late in this series, Xin Yi loses her baby in an accident. It’s made even sadder due to a misunderstanding / lie brought about by Anna. In desperation to win back her love, Anna tells Xin Yi that Cun Xi wants her to have a late term abortion, although he never really wanted this. Distraught by the news, Xin Yi runs out into traffic where she is hit by a car and loses the baby. This event triggers the next series of events and changes everyone’s lives. Xin Yi finds her independence and becomes strong, while Cun Xi, finally realizes he is in love with her and spends the next several years of his life trying to find her again to apologize and beg her to come back to him. Due to the misunderstanding from before, Xin Yi genuinely hates him and it takes a long time before she discovers that this was not what he wanted to happen.

    Although this is the big “sad” event in the series, several other touching and moving things happen such as: The main characters share the same birthday. The girl says that she has never had anyone wish her happy birthday before. When Cun Xi discovers this, he plans a beautiful date for them to celebrate together, however, in the middle of driving to their destination, he receives a phone call from his fiancee, Anna, saying that for one day only she is flying back to spend his birthday with him. He apologizes and leaves Xin Yi in order to go spend time with Anna. Cun Xi leaves her with the chauffeur and an itinerary of their proposed date. Unable to enjoy the date alone, Xin Yi decides to follow Cun Xi and spy on him during his date. When Anna stands him up and doesn’t show up, Xin Yi dresses in costume to present a gift she bought for Cun Xi, signing Anna’s name to make him think that Anna kept her promise and did not forget his birthday. This scene probably made me cry more than any of the others. It was just so touching, and I felt so bad for Xin Yi.

    There’s also another scene in which Xin Yi is living with Cun Xi’s grandmother in the baby’s nursery as her due date draws nearer. Cun Xi is a jerk at this time, and living in an apartment with his fiancee, Anna. He very rarely stops by to see how Xin Yi or the baby or his family are doing. Xin Yi is busy preparing the nursery all alone. Prior to this, the two of them had gone shopping together, and Cun Xi had picked out a rocking horse for the baby. The store clerk offered him the floor model, but Cun Xi said he wanted to build it with his own hands. It is very hard to assemble, and it seems that Cun Xi has forgotten all about this. Xin Yi spends night after night, forgoing sleep trying to put together the rocking horse. She has fallen into depression at the thought of having to leave her baby, and she begins a notebook for the baby, in which she writes to the baby, pretending to be Anna, so that the baby will have a baby book to look back on. She writes very touching things, includes his measurements at his checkups, and writes about his father and also about Anna, but never writes about herself. Finally, exhausted and depressed, she falls asleep on the floor one night in the baby’s room. Cun Xi comes back to the house one night, and sneaks into the nursery. He helps her to put together the rocking horse, and tucks Xin Yi into bed, comforting her, before sneaking back outside, returning to Anna, unnoticed. [/spoiler]

    9. Someone Like You

    This is another Taiwanese drama about a blind man who falls in love with his caretaker who has a striking resemblance to the man’s fiancee who was killed in a car wreck (which also cost the man his eyesight). There’s several different love triangles, and lots of drama. There’s also quite a bit of comedy too.

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]
    The leading female is actually the identical twin of the man’s dead fiancee. They were adopted and seperated at birth by different families and never knew they had a sister. The sister was a doctor and big on organ donation, so when she died, she donated her organs, including her heart to a young girl who becomes a rival and alternate love interest for the main character. The rival has memories of the main male character from having his fiancee’s heart inside of her. When the leading lady learns that her sister’s heart is inside this other girl, she tries to step aside to let her pursue her love with the main character, however, the main character does not have those kinds of feelings for her. They both help the leading lady understand that she is not helping anything by breaking up with the main character. There’s also another love interest for the leading lady, her ex boyfriend, who uses her to further his career, and even goes as far as to have an affair with his boss, which results in her becoming pregnant. Near the end of the series, this young man attempts to murder the main character by cutting the brakes in his car, however, instead it’s the leading lady who drives his car that day. When he finds out the wrong person is in the car, he chases after the vehicle, and ultimately sacrifices his life to save hers. Before he dies, he leaves a recording behind for her, as well as for his boss and unborn child. He said he still loved the leading lady, but that also he felt he had began to fall in love (too late perhaps) with his boss/unborn baby.
    [/spoiler]

    8. Absolute Boyfriend

    This is based on the manga by Yuu Watase (and happens to be my favorite manga of all time). I prefer the Taiwanese version, but the Japanese version is also good. They’re also working on a Korean version now too. The story follows a young female who is very awkward around men and considers herself to not be very popular. She lives next door to a childhood friend who’s always teasing her, but also always helping to take care of her and watch out for her when her parents are away. — The Taiwanese version does a better job depicting this. In the Japanese version, instead of child hood friends, it’s her boss at work. The drama comes in, when the main female mistakeningly orders an adult-sex-toy robot, and that robot becomes self aware, and the two of them fall in love. She must hide his identity as a robot from everyone. And it deals with a lot of ethical issues, such as can a robot ever really replace the need for human companionship? A robot cannot give you kids, or a family. A robot can never grow old with you. A robot who’s sole purpose is only to love you, then serves no other purpose once you die, what becomes of the robot then?

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]
    In every single version of this drama and manga, the robot eventually breaks down beyond repair. In the Japanese version, they bring him back years later (this never happens in the manga), but the girl has already entered a relationship with her boss/coworker, When the robot finds out about their relationship, he takes himself back to the factory and asks to be destroyed because there’s no longer a purpose for him. In the manga, she marries the childhood friend, but the final page of the manga says that she never forgot her first love and has her looking very sadly off into the distance. In the Taiwanese drama, she is going to marry the robot, but she overhears him telling the childhood friend that he only has a few more hours to live. She asks him if he could practice the wedding ceremony with her because she’s nervous (or so she claims). Prior to this, when they were dress shopping, the robot’s systems were failing and he was unable to see her in her wedding dress. Now doing a full dress rehearsal, they’re able to be “married” in their hearts, however, as they’re about to exchange vows, the robot tells her no, that he can’t stay with her or make her happy, and tells her to go to the other man. Near the end, as they’re coming to retrieve the now broken robot, they notice that he has shut himself down with 3 seconds left on his clock, hinting at the fact that maybe he could be repaired, a tear runs down the robots face, and that’s how it ends. Regardless of how it ends, it is very sad in all versions. You get the feeling throughout the entire series that it just can’t have a happy ending, and you begin to feel bad for her childhood friend who even confesses his love to her in the end.
    [/spoiler]

    7. La Dolce Vita

    This is a story about an older married woman with children, who ends up falling in love with a much younger man, and leaving her husband and children to be with him. The young man is also involved in some spoilery stuff below.

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]
    He killed his best friend, and is living in his apartment, and spending and using all of his money, while supposedly helping detectives try to find his “missing” friend — In the end, he realizes he is about to be caught and also consumed with guilt and grief about his crime, he jumps off the roof of his apartment building to his death. Most of the sadness and drama comes from the woman struggling with her love for her children vs her desire for a man who loves her.
    [/spoiler]

    6. Cinderella Man

    This was the first Kdrama I ever seen. It’s basically the prince and the pauper. 2 brothers were separated at birth. One of them searches for his birth mother, he’s also a successful business heir and so he trains his brother (who he meets by chance and does not recognize/realize as his brother.) to be his stand-in with the company so he can spend more time searching for his mother. The other brother grew up in a orphanage and lives a poor/meager, but happy life. There’s romance too, the poor brother meets an aspiring young fashion design student, and falls in love with her. The wealthy brother is very sick. And then spoilers happen.

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]
    The wealthy brother has a rare heart disease, and can’t find a matching blood type donor. I spent 90% of this drama assuming his brother would be a donor and that their lives would be saved. WRONG. Wealthy brother dies. He leaves a note to his brother (who he has finally realized is his twin). The note asks him to please go on living as the wealthy brother, so that his family and his company will not be hurt, and that they must never tell anyone of his death. The poor brother agrees, and in so doing, he gives up his past life, including the love of his life. In the end, the chairwoman (their grandmother) tells the surviving brother that “Don’t you think I wouldn’t recognize my own grandson?” and tells him she knew all along. In the end the lovers are reunited and he uses his new wealth and power to help her break into the fashion industry.
    [/spoiler]

    5. I Hear Your Voice

    This is a supernatural/crime drama. A young boy has the ability to read people’s minds and he teams up with a public defense attorney to help those who are wrongfully accused. The two of them also share a sad past, and blossom a new romance. Their past comes back to haunt them as the main villain who appears time and time and time again. He does very very very horrible things to the young girl and her family. It starts out not very sad but as the villain begins making his moves, and the story builds, it becomes increasingly more dramatic and depressing.

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]
    The accident that killed the boy’s father, and caused the start of his “powers” was caused by this “villain” the villain not wanting any witnesses, after crashing into their car, beats the boy’s father to death with a baseball bat, while the boy watches his father being murdered. The boy must testify in court, but no one believes him, except for the girl, who had witnessed the accident and had a picture on her cellphone. With her picture, they are able to convict the killer. However, he becomes a model prisoner, and gets time off for good behaivor. He makes friends easily everywhere he goes once he is released, including becoming very close to the girl’s mother who has no idea of his past. In the end he abducts and murders the girl’s mother to get revenge on her for putting him into prison, he calls the girl on the phone and makes her listen to her mother being brutally murdered and tortured. He yells at the victim telling her to tell the daughter it was her fault, but instead all she does is repeatedly tell her daughter how much she loves her, and that she must not become angry, and must not hate the man murdering her. In the very end, the man goes after the main character, kidnapping her, and setting a trap to capture the boy, who comes to the girl’s rescue. It does have a happy ending though, and was one of the first Kdrama I ever saw that had a happy ending. In the end, the two lovers are together, and he becomes I think a police officer, while she continues to be a public defense attorney.
    [/spoiler]

    4. Angel Eyes

    A young girl and young boy are both impacted by a tunnel collapse which takes the lives of their parents. One is a firefighter who pulls the young girl out just in time, but dies himself trying to go back to save her mother. The girl is saved, but becomes blind from the injuries. Years pass, and the two meet by chance. The young boy delivers soup that his mother makes, and on his route every night he sees a young woman who he “assumes” is gazing at the stars, reciting names of constellations. She works at a planetarium and he goes there one day on a school field trip. The projector gets stuck during the presentation, but because she’s blind, she can’t see this and continues her speech as if nothing’s wrong. The audience begins laughing/teasing her, and then other boys in his class begin to play pranks on her, realizing she’s blind. The young boy runs up to the stage to save her from falling for their pranks, and then every day he begins visiting her. She turns him away time and time again, but he is very persistent despite her being very rude to him. The two fall in love, a pure young happy love, she meets his family, and his mother becomes like a second mother to her. Then spoilers happen.

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]
    The girl is on a waiting list for a transplant that will allow her to see again. There’s been many false starts before, but now it seems a donor has finally been found. Sadly, that donor, is the boy’s mother who has been murdered. The girl’s father is a doctor, and he covers up who her donor was, knowing that if she knew the truth it would be like her mother dying all over again. The boy is now an orphan and has no choice but to go overseas to live with an aunt, who also promises to help his sister who needs surgery. The boy comes to say goodbye, but the girl is still under anesthesia from the surgery. He leaves a note with his contact details, but the father hides the note. He tries writing to her many times as he grows up, never giving up on her or forgetting about her, but the father also hides those letters as well. The girl thinks he disappeared without ever saying goodbye and becomes resentful of him. The father thinks he had killed the mother, but he actually did not. He thought about it, and did attempt to smother her (because he so badly wanted to find a donor for his daughter and she was very ill and close to death already), but he stopped, and left the room. The person that killed the mother was actually a coworker in the hospital, because her husband was the one driving the car which hit the mother, and she did not want any witnesses. The father however assumes she died after he attempted to smother her, because it was just moments later that the woman snuck in and put drugs in her IV. Consumed with guilt, the girl’s father travels to the states to mentor and take care of the boy, acting like a father to him, he even calls him father – he has NO idea this is his girlfriend’s father – because he’d never met him before! Years pass and the boy becomes a doctor, and the girl has become a very fiesty and strong willed female firefighter. There’s an opening at the hospital, and the boy returns to Korea where the two meet again. Since she was blind, she doesn’t know what he looked like, and a lot of years have passed, so initially the two butt heads and do not get along, however, overtime, they learn the truth, and the girl discovers her father had hid all the letters. Her father is sick too, and has a heart attack, and eventually dies, but not before being able to tell them the truth. Prior to that he adamantly opposes of their relationship, and the young boy (now a man), is afraid to go against his “father”s wishes. In the end, however, the two are able to be together and live happily ever after. There’s just a lot of sad things that happen first.
    [/spoiler]

    3. 90 Days Time to Love

    This series bombed/flopped in it’s homeland of South Korea, but it remains one of my all time favorite Kdramas. It’s about two young children who fall in love, only to later be told by their family that they are actually cousins, and therefore, forbidden from seeing eachother. They are reunited and torn apart again and again throughout their lives, until finally spoilers happen….

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]
    The main male lead is given just 3 months to live with terminal cancer. He has a wife, and a daughter by this point in his life, and a very successful career as a school teacher. By chance, he once again runs into his first love (his cousin). He tells her, he only has 3 months left to live, and says to her, to just stay near him, to watch him, and that would be enough to make him happy. As the story progresses, the main female meets with him, almost daily, they do things like walk through the market, or sit in the park, or drive up to the mountains, etc. Her fiancee (or maybe it was a husband? I can’t remember), worries about her. He struggles desperately with his feelings, becoming at one point, abusive/alcoholic, forcing himself on her, etc. But, quickly, he changes, and becomes a very loveable character. He drives her to and from, because he worries about her being out alone at night, he basically gives her permission to be with the other man, and continues to love her and wait for her. When her cousin does die, he tells the other man to please take care of her, and make her happy, and he tells both of them, that he will be reborn as their son, so they can have a whole life time to love one another, instead of just 90 days. This was one of the saddest scenes, because her fiancee, desperately wanted to have a baby (but she wasn’t ready/maybe because she never got over her feelings for her cousin). Damn, it’s making me tear up just thinking about it. In his final days, he also leaves behind video recordings for his wife and daughter, telling them he did in fact love them, and trying to make amends with them as well.
    [/spoiler]

    2. Autumn in My Heart

    This story is sad on many levels. It’s about two babies who were switched at birth, and later switch back, but they’re already (approximately) 14 at the time and attached to their own families. This is where most of the drama comes in initially in the first half of the series… but it gets much more complex and depressing as it goes on. The main character is in love with her “brother” (not related by blood). He has a fiancee who loves him desperately. It’s complicated again by the appearance of an additional love interest for the leading lady, a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Sometimes with misguided intentions, but always with love and care in his heart for her. The two mothers also struggle with their feelings for both of their “daughters”.

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]
    The couple is separated for years when one of the families moves overseas. They had planned to move in order to prevent the girls from being switched, but events happened too quickly, and because the father had already made plans with his job, they had to move away. The mother became mentally ill from missing her other (non-biological) daughter so badly. She never accepted or embraced or cared for her biological daughter, blaming her often for the separation. The biological daughter is a hard character to like, though at times, I did feel sorry for her, and she eventually near the end does come around. After almost 15 years spent apart, the family returns to Korea, and the two (non-biological) siblings are reunited. There’s a lot of people against the reunion, such as the biological daughter, and the man’s fiancee. And when the parents find out the two of them are in love, the father adamantly opposes of their relationship as well. They run away together for a few weeks, but return to announce their engagement. The man’s fiancee tries to kill herself, and the man feels guilty so he agrees to break things off with his “sister” and stay with the fiancee. The “sister” discovers she has terminal cancer, and tries her best to hide it from her family, friends, and lovers. Meanwhile, her “brother” is planning to return to the united states, to help him forget about the girl and focus on his fiancee. Her illness gets progressively worse, the other man in her life takes care of her, but in the end, seeing her in pain, he goes to tell the brother about everything. Unable to accept reality, the brother literally runs away from the hospital. It’s not until literally their final days, that he comes to be with her. She gets to go home because there’s nothing left that doctors can do. The fiancee gives up on the “brother” and allows them to be together, and in the end, the main character dies on the beach, being carried by her brother. After watching this, I kinda felt like the series recommended above it (90 Days Time to Love) ripped this series off in many ways. This series was from 2000, while 90 Days is from 2006. They have many similarities plot wise, just kinda with the roles reversed, a sick male lead, and a married/engaged female, and only days left to be together.
    [/spoiler]

    1. 10 Promises to My Dog

    Do you know the 10 promises you must make to be a responsible pet owner? The hardest promise of all is number 10. This movie is very sad for any pet lover, and it takes my number 1 spot for saddest Kdrama (it’s actually a Japanese film though). I think I hyperventilated for almost 3 hours after watching this film. In this story, a young girl finds a dog outside one day while she is playing. She asks her parents if she can keep him, but her father hates dogs and adamantly refuses. Shortly after the puppy is discovered, the girl’s mother becomes gravely ill. She passes very quickly, but not before talking to both her husband and daughter about the dog. The mother explains to the very young girl that there are 10 promises that she must make before she can be allowed to keep the dog. Things such as feed him, bathe him, groom him, play with him, love him, but ultimately, someday, when the dog is old, she must promise to be there and help him pass away without fear, sadness, or pain. The mother explains how short a dog’s life is, usually only about 7 years, and that although to the young girl, this may sound like a long time, it will pass very quickly. Unaware of the full responsibility of her promise, the girl agrees, and the movie revolves around her growing up with her friends, father, and her dog. All starts out cute and happy, but all does not remain calm. Several heart-breaking things happen which change relationships within the family, both between humans as well as the animals.

    Such as….

    [spoiler] The girl becomes more involved with boys and dating, and often neglects the dog as a teenager. She sometimes becomes annoyed by or exasperated by the dog because as any pet owner can tell you, dogs take a lot of time and work. She sometimes isn’t allowed to go to parties or overnight trips because she has to go home to care for the dog. This leads her to resent the dog. At another point, the father loses his job and has to move to an apartment without any pets. The girl places the animal in the care of one of her childhood friends, but they call to tell her that he has escaped and the father comes to realize that he can’t abandon the dog either. The father moves back to their family home and says he will look for another job and reassures the girl that they will stay there from now on with the dog, and that the dog is part of their family. The girl grows up and moves away to college. She cannot take the dog obviously, so she puts the dog in the care of her father. Her father never remarried and the house is empty, except for him and the dog. Although the father hated the dog in the beginning, during these years alone together, they become inseparable and the girl visits home less and less, especially after she finds a job working in a zoo and is required to be on call as a vet assistant. Near the end, the father begs the girl to return home, the dog is old and dying, but the girl says she cannot return home because of her work. The father loses his temper and reminds the girl about the promise between her mother, the dog, and herself. The girl decides to return home, where the dog dies in her arms. While the dog is dying, they read a book together, that the mother had made, with illustrations and a description about each promise. And she asks the dog each time, if she kept this promise as they read them together. (In my opinion she did not, and was a pretty shitty, but probably average representation of most dog owners). After the dog passes away, they are putting away the dog’s things, and find he has burried a lot of photographs of the girl and her mother, and tucked back in the very back of his dog house, they find a note that the mother wrote, that she was the one who had gone out and purchased the puppy because she knew she was dying before being admitted to the hospital. The note says that the dog would love her daughter in place of being able to be loved by the mother, and to think of the mother whenever she spent time with the dog. The dog had hid this note, so the family never knew about it until the dog’s passing. [/spoiler]

    I spent several days making this list, and then today it occurred to me I forgot one of my favorite dramas so I have to add it here.

    Honorable Mention:

    Golden Rainbow: This drama is about an ex-convict who adopts 7 orphans, one of which is the biological daughter of his true love, who is presumed to be dead, after being kidnapped as a very small child. This is a very lengthy drama and in the beginning the children are only about 7 years old, in the end they’re in their 30s. It has a LOT of heartbreak. Spoilers happen below.

    [spoiler title=”Click To Show Spoilers”]
    One of their sons die when they sneak into an abandoned warehouse, and the father sets fire to the warehouse in a corrupt scheme. The father realizes he has killed his own child, the youngest, smallest, sweetest, and cutest of the entire house. Another young boy carries the urn, when the family later on is chased out of their home, when their father goes back to prison for taking a job as a smuggler trying to help pay off his love’s debts/save her life. She always uses him and fucks up their life. Anyways, the young boy who had the urn, realizes he left it sitting at the train station, he goes back to get it, and misses the train, getting separated from his family. The main female, is distraught. This child was very sickly and she had been a mother to him, raising him, carrying him on her back, and helping him, even sleeping with him at night, she worries he may not be able to sleep or survive without her. The other children forcefully restrain her from jumping off the train, and this leads to her resenting her older brother, blaming him for separating the family. The older brother wants his sister to go to school, so he gets involved in the same path of crime that his father went down. In the end the older brother turns himself in, realizing he cant continue down that path. There’s another girl who’s father abuses her that the family takes in, she is EXTREMELY fond of the girl’s biological mother (who they STILL don’t know is her real mother), and when the family turns against the mother in court (defending their father), the other girl takes up for the mother. The mother wants the biological one to come live with her, because she feels the connection in her heart, but the girl refuses. Later that same night, the other girl tries to kill herself, and when the mother rushes to see her in the hospital she tells her its because she doesn’t want her, so the mother takes her with her instead, and the girl lives a good/wealthy life. Years later she returns into the picture and is also a love rival for the main lead. Its a very sad drama.
    [/spoiler]

    What do you think of our list of the 10 saddest Kdrama? Have you seen any of the above series? Did they make you cry too? Or maybe you have seen even sadder Kdrama that you think should be on this list. Leave us a comment below!

    10 Kdrama that will make you cry Read More »