Author Archives: kfangurl

About kfangurl

Proud to be a k-fangirl since 2007. Main diet of kdramas with movies and kpop on the side.

Flash Review: Let’s Eat Something, Anna [Web Drama]

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Are you on the market for something quick, light and cotton-candy fluffy on your drama plate? Coz I ended up liking this little web drama, at just five quick 12-15 minute episodes, quite a bit more than I’d expected to, and think that it’s worth a look – with the right lens adjustments, of course.

To be honest, I almost decided against checking out this one because of its pretty average ratings on MyDramaList, but decided to take a look anyway, on the off-chance that I’d buck the trend and perhaps like it more than other viewers seemed to – and whaddya know, I do like it more than everyone else! 😂

..And I’m hoping that perhaps you might, too. 😉

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Announcement: Dr. Romantic Group Watch! [plus bonus Money Flower Group Watch!]

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First of all, my sincere apologies to any of you who might have been saving your votes for the final day of voting; the poll closed earlier than I intended (at the beginning of 23 February, rather than at the end of 23 February), oops! 🤭 This is my first time using this poll plug-in, so I didn’t realize that that’s how the settings work. When I realized my mistake and tried to extend the poll, I found that I couldn’t. My bad, guys. I promise it won’t happen again! 😅

Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll; Dr. Romantic came out on top, with 136 votes, woot! In second place, While You Were Sleeping came in with 126 votes.

At the same time, while all the voting was going on, my fangirl heart was seriously swayed by all the effusive love for Jang Hyuk that was being poured out on the final Chuno Open Thread – and I couldn’t help but want to rewatch Money Flower, even though it was clearly not going to win the poll.

So.. we will be having not one, but TWO group watches on the site! Surprise..? 😉

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Announcement: Change to Patreon payment settings

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First of all, thank you so much to every one of you who has been supporting me and this blog via Paypal and Patreon, it really helps me out. I am deeply grateful that you enjoy my work enough, and believe in me enough, to support the blog financially. I feel the love, truly. ❤️

For those of you who might not know this, the pandemic has put my work on hold indefinitely, and I’m now blogging full time and trying to make this into a viable income source, if possible. Ad revenue works out to be not very much, so your support via Paypal and Patreon plays a huge part in helping to keep this blog going.

This is my 9th month now, on Patreon, and today I realized that I needed to make a key change to my Patreon settings, which is why I’m writing this post, so that I can tell you about it.

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Review: Lie After Lie

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

A makjang-laced story that leans rather old-school in its storytelling sensibility and melodramatic flair, Lie After Lie works out to be a pretty good time.

When Show is at its best, it’s cracky and delicious, and I felt like I could slurp up all that heightened dramatic tension with a spoon. This is just the kind of underdog story to get my blood pumping, and I was very quickly sucked into rooting for our protagonist Eun Soo. When Show isn’t at its best, however, there are logic lapses, weak plot progression and a resulting loss in dramatic tension. Boo. I was sad when Show wasn’t great, because when it was good, it was really quite excellent.

Show is admittedly stronger in its first three-quarters and weaker in its final stretch, but overall, I’d still call this a solid watch.

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Review: The Uncanny Counter

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THE SHORT VERDICT:

Gritty, bloody and full of action like many an OCN drama, yet character-driven and full of heart, like you might expect from jTBC, with a fantasy bent like you might expect of tvN, The Uncanny Counter is the superhero-flavored, heartfelt, X-Men-esque demon-hunting story that I didn’t know I needed in my life.

For the most part, Show does a great job of meshing all these different personality traits into an organic whole – except for a late-stage change in writers, which admittedly causes a bit of a wobble, but which Show does recover well from.

Our cast does an all-around great job of bringing this story to life, while making their characters and their relationships pop, and Show works out to be highly engaging, and sometimes, even rather cracky. Definitely recommend.

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Group Watch: Poll!

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Thanks everyone, for your many suggestions, thoughts and contributions on the Group Watch brainstorm! 🤩

Lots of worthy titles were floated, and as promised, I sifted through all of them, and shortlisted the most popular titles for this poll.

Thanks, too, for your consideration, in worrying that the show picked might not tickle my fancy. I’m happy to say that this shortlist is made up of shows that I have watched and loved, as well as shows that I’m duly curious to check out. What this means is that whichever drama we end up watching, I do plan to provide episode notes for it. Woot! 🤗

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Open Thread: Chuno Episodes 23 & 24 [Final]

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Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! Can you believe we’re at the end of this epic journey?!? My goodness, what a journey it has been! Thank you so much for being here, you guys. You have all contributed so much, to making this a delightfully rich and expanded experience for everyone. ❤️

Before we begin, just a few administrative details:

1. If you’d like, you can find my review of Chuno here, which I wrote in 2013, after my second watch.

2. The poll for our next Group Watch is here; please do head on over to cast your vote!

Without further ado, here are my reactions to this pair of episodes; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️

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Dropped: Lovestruck In The City

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I think it’s time to admit that this show just isn’t working for me, you guys.

To be clear, I don’t hate it. There are definitely some things that brightened up my watch, and like I said in my 2020 Year In Review, there’s quite a bit of potential in this show, to examine why people might behave a certain way, with its mockumentary approach giving its characters regular airtime to talk about events that happened in the past, and reflect on them.

It’s just.. Show’s not floating my boat the way I want it to. But y’know, just because this show didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you?
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Flash Review: Shanai Marriage Honey [Japan]

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I might be at risk of giving the impression that I have A Serious Thing for contract marriage J-dramas here, what with my deep affection for 2016’s We Married As A Job, and general fondness for 2020’s Marry Me!, but when I heard about this short little J-drama and what it was about, I couldn’t resist checking it out.

I.. do have a soft spot for the contract marriage trope, can’t lie. But I rationalize that the premises for the contract marriages in all 3 shows are different and distinct from one another, and therefore I’m not essentially watching the same show done 3 different ways. 😅

At just seven 25-minute episodes, Show is easy and low-risk, and perfect for squeezing into little pockets of time – or marathoning in one sitting, if you prefer.

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Group Watch: What shall we watch next?

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Our Chuno group watch is almost over – gosh, time flies, doesn’t it?!? – and it’s been SO much fun doing this community watch! 🤩

We’ve had a smattering of comments around, (a) feeling sorry that we’re almost at the end of our group watch, &/or (b) what dramas we might want want to try next.

Which is why I thought I’d make this post, so that we can brainstorm together on what we might want to watch next! 😃

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