To be reviewed...

So my friend suggested two dramas for me to watch after I finished City Hunter,so I'll  be focusing on Heartstrings (korean drama) and Ouran High School Host Club (japanese drama) for the time being if there's enough episodes to watch.

To do list (will be updated):

Warrior Baek Dong Soo (Korean)
Bull Doctor (Japanese) [in process]
Iryu Sousa (Japanese) [in process]

Iris (Korean)
Youkai Ningen Bem (Japanese) [in process]
DOCTORS Saikyou no Meii (Japanese)
Kaseifu no Mita (Japanese)
Playful Kiss (Korean)
Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo [live action film 2010] (Japanese)
Strawberry Night (Japanese)
Lucky Seven (Japanese)
Seinaru Kaibutsutachi (Japanese)
Shirato Osamu no Jikenbo (Japanese)
Skip Beat (Taiwanese)

Remote (Japanese)

If anyone has a drama they liked to suggest, by all means please do since I'm always looking for more dramas to watch.

City Hunter (Part 2)

~ I realized that I had a lot more to write on the drama and decided to split it into two parts so it wouldn't get excessively long~

Aside from the themes, I thought the feel of City Hunter played out well, the last two episodes hit me hard, but not as much as I expected. The main actors and actress(es) were chosen well.
-Kim Sang Joong -->  I really loved Kim Sang Joong's portrayal of Lee Jin Pyo who I hated in the beginning, but in the end I felt sad for. You really feel his anger and hatred, but also the love he has for son as well as his sorrow. He's an excellent actor so there's a good possibility I'll be looking into other dramas he's been in. 
-Lee Min Ho --> I originally saw him in Personal Taste (no I haven't watched Boys Before Flowers) and was blown away by his kissing skills more than his acting. He's definitely good looking, but he proved he has acting skills in this drama and damn good ones. I can't even try to begin just how well he portrayed Lee Yoon Sung. From the cool exterior of professor, to the "City Hunter", and to the son of Lee Jin Pyo, I was amazed. All I saw was of Min Ho was his character, where nothing seemed out of place. I'm convinced he nailed exactly how Yoon Sung was supposed to be like. His expressions definitely captured the time and feeling of whatever scene was occurring, especially his eyes. It's honestly hard to put into words, but overall he just proved he was an excellent actor.
-Park Min Young --> I tend to be prejudice against actresses for some reason. (Maybe I'm just harder on my own gender) However I give her credit. She did well portraying Kim Na Na, the love interest of Yoon Sung. Her character carries the pain and agony of her parents car accident, her duty towards her work, and her feelings toward Yoon Sung. Definitely not your weak, defenseless, idiotic sort of girl. She did get on my nerve a little, but not as much as I was expecting. Min Young held her own in this drama fairly well.
-Lee Joon Hyuk --> Another good looking guy, but he definitely held his own in this drama too. His character, Kim Young Joo, also carries some sort of burden which weighs heavy on his heart. Despite that burden, Young Joo, is a prosecutor, who has the strongest sense of duty and justice in his department (or so that's implied). I don't have a lot to say except I was lost for words when I realized what was going to happen to his character and actually despaired when my predictions came true. 


DISLIKES/COMPLAINTS
I was disappointed by the growth of the other characters in the drama or rather how the producer decided to cut the side stories short and leave you questioning. Yes, the main characters were given enough screen time and development, but I really didn't like how shallow some of the other characters seemed. Screen time, character development...I've seen better for the side characters and wish the producers and director did focus on them a little more than they did. The five politicians certainly got enough screen time to make you really hate them. I have some issues with the very last episode though considering it felt really rushed to me. Perhaps I was just used to how much time they gave in planning and plotting against the first four antagonists, but it really left a few important relationships unanswered and overall the ending was just sloppy. Not what I expected from this drama at all. 

City Hunter

I'm pretty sure this Korean drama has gotten a lot of reviews, but I already made a resolve to write one once I finished this drama, so I'll do it. I know I'm a little behind, but I was waiting for all the episodes to actually come out for this drama because there was just way too much suspense! I hate suspense, I hate how it drives me insane that I can't focus on anything.

The story takes place in Seoul, 2011. Lee Yoon Sung is a talented MIT-graduate who works on the international communications team in the Blue House. He plans revenge on five politicians who caused his father's death with his surrogate father Lee Jin Pyo and eventually becomes a "City Hunter." - DramaWiki
(AsianMediaWiki has a longer summary if anyone wants to know more. Beware though...it's really lengthy. But it actually explains the plot!!)


- This is my first time watching a action/suspense/romance Korean drama and I have to say I loved it. The Korean dramas that I've watched so far are usually romance and humor so this is a totally different genre. I forgot why I ended up deciding to watch it, though I think it had something to do with the plot and the main actor (Lee Min Ho). With most Korean dramas, it usually takes a few episodes before the plot actually starts moving and so it drags on. City Hunter's plot (I admit) was confusing the first half of the first episode, it took me a while to realize that it was foreshadow. That was what I liked about it though. Rather than doing flashbacks throughout the series and piecing the reasoning together little by little, they had another story line set up for it. Though I guess it was sort of necessary; the first episode  became the foundation for the entire drama. 
Like I mentioned earlier, this is a action/suspense/romance drama. There's a bit of humor however, as to lighten the atmosphere of the scene when called for. But overall it's the action and suspense which really grabs your attention. The romance was an obvious factor right from the start, but I started to loose sight of  its place in the drama near the end. And rather than romance, love played a more important role. The love residing in family bonds is probably one of the main themes of this drama. Most movies and dramas usually don't emphasize on such extremes, but I really liked how City Hunter chose to focus on those themes.  (Though it was pretty melodramatic.) This drama also really focused on "the ends justifying the means". It really focuses on the way politics work and how it never is black and white. Even those who seem  "pure" and good have gotten their hands dirty in order to reach their cause. It reminded me of a line from the movie, Dark Knight. "You die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."  To every child, their parents are like their heroes and it's hard for us to come to terms when we realize our parents aren't perfect. We want to save them or lift them up to the stature we originally came up with because admittedly...who wants to acknowledge that their parent is no hero, but a villain?

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

If it weren't for my aunt and uncle, I would've never read this book or even known about it. Out of the set of four they gave me for my birthday when I was a kid, this book was my favorite. It still remains quite a unique story in it's own right.

"It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, decides to drive through it in his toy car. The tollbooth transports him to a land called the Kingdom of Wisdom. There he acquires two faithful companions, has many adventures, and goes on a quest to rescue the princesses of the kingdom, Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason. The text is full of puns, and many events, such as Milo's jump to the Island of Conclusions, exemplify literal meanings of English language idioms." - Wikipedia  


- When I said this book was unique, I literally meant it. Recently I read it as part of my reading goal for the summer. I forgot just how odd this book was. The language is actually quite complex for a child's book and most likely meant for more advanced readers. Being a bookworm as a kid, it wasn't complex, but I'm sure it was difficult considering a few words and descriptions threw me off when I read it recently.
I loved how this book makes you think, not about the plot, but how you could view the world. It's similar to Alice in Wonderland, twisting the way you perceive the world and allowing for alternate perspectives to be suggested. However it does lead away from part of the plot. I ended up forgetting why Milo was travelling and only remembered when it was mentioned throughout the story. Overall I enjoyed this book as it reminded me of my childhood and the sort of wild imagination I had as a kid. The world is full of wonders, yet we tend to forget that as we grow older. We all need a little push to remember how intriguing the world is.