Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #356
Anne: Trying a different color... I watched a bit more this week. I'm dreading Monday because it's jury duty time. I haven't gotten a notice for at least 10 years, and within 3 months of changing the address on my driver's license, I get selected! On the upside... I can spend a LOT of time watching shows as I wait in the jury pool room. (On a side note... I'm really liking this color.)
Trotwood: I never get picked!! There was a point where I was hoping to be picked and be sequestered because I was so tired of regular work and I wanted an excuse not to have to respond to anyone, but alas I never get picked.
(Updated on Monday night) I think everyone feels that until you actually go through one of these... I'm so glad I have unlimited data because the Voir Dire always drags on that feels like a very long and unproductive meeting. I actually never have actually been "picked" as a juror, just for jury duty into the general pool. As soon as I saw that there were 3 lawyers and 1 intern for the State...I went...oh no.... This is the SECOND time I've sat in a Voir Dire for a murder trial, but skated by both times. (I would have to work at NIGHT if I had to sit on a jury for two weeks!). BTW...I've found out that apparently Texas decided to put their own spin on the pronunciation for Voir Dire (stressed the "r" and made the "i" a long i). When did THIS happen!? If you are going to borrow from French pronounced it FRENCH!!
This is my last official RAWR posting, so I'm feeling a little sad, but I may pop up here every once in awhile for a series review of a show I think people should watch. Thanks so much, everyone, for putting up with my often quirky drama choices.
Please drop by as often as possible. I definitely do not watch the breath of shows you do or even the number. I start a lot and I also get sidetracked a lot and then I do a LOT of "catch up". I will keep the page up and running so we can all have a place for our discussions.
"Interesting, but I'm never going to watch"
This is another show that seems to be right up my alley, and it has Yang Yang and Dilireba. But there is no way I'm going to get caught up when a show drops 6 episodes with subs at once even while I'm on vacation! I'm glad for people who have been waiting though. My twitter feed is abuzz with excitement. Tell us all about it You are my Glory fans!
Another show started that is getting a lot of buzz on my twitter feed is Broker with Victoria Song and Leo Luo. I'm going to be honest, I probably wouldn't watch this even if I have the time because even though I like the science backdrop, as an academic the idea of stealing research or having your research stolen makes me kind of freak out the way other people are freaked out by zombies!
One of my all time favorites was something that popped up on Netflix around the same time that my husband was obsessed with Ice Fantasy. Bromance doesn't have the most unique premise, but the reason why her parents decided to raise her as a boy was a bit unique and very very Taiwanese. Not to mention the ML is the leader of the mob trying to leave that lawless world behind. Another Taiwanese drama trope. 
But what really made it was Megan Lai. She might not "look" all that masculine but she did a passable job at the attitude (sometimes...). When he first kissed her, I literally went..."Wait a second! He still think she's a guy!" I was squealing, thinking that Taiwanese dramas have become so much more liberal in my adult life. Well...until near the end when we realize that he knew she was a girl before that first kiss. And it had one of the hottest endings of any drama hands down. Regardless, this show made me LOVE Megan Lai, which led me to hunt down her other romantic dramas. But her pairing with Baron Chen still remains one of my favorite.
I love this show, too. It is one of the few times I actually shipped a couple in real life as well. I almost never do that but this show made me want to see this chemistry continue. I liked how they were really loyal brothers first and that she could kick ass like nobody's business.
Personal PotUp Favorites:
Since this is my last post as the leader of this page, I'm going to indulge myself and pick two things and both were things I brought to the page. The first are the recaps for BG: Shinpen Keigonin. It was the first Japanese drama recapped for the blog. I had a great time doing it, and Kakashi even helped me and Panda by initially doing gifs, but then she got sucked into the story and started commenting as well. A well-placed debatable female character will do that for you. The other happened later that year, and I wrote it by Kakashi's request, the series review of Love By Chance. Kakashi asked me to write it because she was seeing so much chatter on twitter about it. I believe it the first time the BL drama genre had main space on the blog. It's not a good show, but the phenom was interesting.
KOREA
The Devil Judge
I'm still a week behind because there is no way I can marathon episodes of this show. I'm too tense. I feel as though Ga-On is some innocent babe in the woods that is just caught up in this battle of revenge between Yo Han and Sun Ah. And if you thought that maybe she wasn't as bad as he is, well now that we see not only that she's basically keeping the chairman a prisoner but we've also seen her deranged history with Yo Han, I think she's the scariest person in this show, and that's saying a lot.
Witch's Diner
I'm glad I actually started this show late so I could watch several episodes. The first episode didn't make me like anyone enough to want to come back a week later (it's a once a week show), but I was curious enough (lazy enough?) to click the next episode, planning to skim through to see how it developed, and by the time I was finished, I wanted to see more. I'm a little disappointed Gil Yong's wish was so traditional male lead rather than wishing for happiness for his dad, but he's such a cinnamon role that now I'm wondering if he's going to be sacrificed for the growth of the female lead.
Kingdom: Ashin of the North
I like revenge tales, so someone recommended this to me even though I haven't seen any of the rest of the Kingdom franchise. Billed as a sidestory (but seems like an origin story) of the way the zombies come to be. Kim Shi Ah plays the young Ashin and Jun Ji Hyun plays Ashin as an adult. They are both excellent. I think the later had maybe three lines in the entire show, but yet she still completely controls the screen. Every player in this world seems to be more horrible than the next, but don't worry, they all get punished. Also, there are plenty of twists here as well up until the end. Quality show all around. (I'm so excited...have it marked for the weekend because I'm not allowed to watch it alone.)
CHINA/TAIWAN
Be Together
I know I said this last week, but Xiao Lei's brother has to go, but I lost much of my sympathy for her when she was so gullible to Xia Yan's ex-boyfriend's self-pity. She still can't see him for what he really is, and for some reason she believes him more than she believes her friend. I knew the rift was going to come, but I didn't think it would come this soon. Hopefully, it will give her enough time to think that he's really serious about her only to realize that she is just part of his revenge for him believing that Xia Yan spent all their time together making him feel like less of a man. He doesn't love her. He just wants her back because she was the most decent thing about his past life. Thank goodness we have more great support scenes with the main couple. We all know that his ex is coming back and will want him back, too. These people who think they deserve to have people waiting around for them even though they left them first. Ugh!
Unforgettable Love
I just enjoy this show. Is it the best show out there? No. It's full of all sorts of tropes, but it embraces them. And let's not forget the really really really cute kid. (He is VERY cute. For the show, my childish brain needs to know who's the mom first before I can start. Kind of like I need to know if the main leads will die in the end of not. The kid is actually the ML's nephew. They were all in the accident, but his brother and sister-in-law died.) We post about him on twitter all the time. Someone I follow on twitter even said she stopped her husband to make him watch the kid, and he commented on how cute he is. Really, he is that adorable. We all know that Dr. Qin is the "girl" from the past, but unfortunately it looks like Qiao Yan's aunt is going to find out first. Those brakes on the car during the accident were clearly tampered with, but why is the aunt so afraid of Qiao Yan finding that "girl"? She can't know anything about what really happened. I'm also enjoying how clear our ML is with the dreaded, spoiled I deserve you because our marriage would make us both more powerful 2nd FL. He's so done with her.
And because is sooo cute, another pic of Xiao Bao: 
Be Loved in the House: I Do
I don't think I even remembered what happened in this episode? Did anything happen? While Yu Zhen and Shei Lei didn't have any conversations or even on screen interactions worth mentioning, Shei Lei did have a good conversation with his rival. They basically laid everything on the table, and what resulted was Yu Zhen getting a very unwelcomed sight of his ex getting a little too chummy with his new interest. This better push for some sort of resolution.
Shei Lei is concerned that he's fallen for someone who hasn't gotten over his previous attachment. It would be easy if he could hate the other guy, but at the bar, he realizes that he can't. The other guy is clearly playing this up, but I find this strategy fascinating because I have always wondered why people don't use it more often in dramas. He's basically figured out that Shei Lei is the the selfless type, so he's showing him what a good guy he is by paying him way more attention that Yu Zhen ever appeared to do, using him as a confidant to proclaim his guilt for leaving, and basically getting Shei Lei to route for him. It's just a bonus that Yu Zhen will get jealous. I'm pretty sure, he's just assuming that Shei Lei will back off and with no other options and even Shei Lei's support, Yu Zhen will be back in his arms. It's like a Machiavellian love power play. (Oh wow... I don't think I ever thought about this being a MOVE... hmm... but yes, now that I look back...it could be a "strategy"... although in my naïve little head, I just thought these two were drowning in misery together. I could be wrong, but Zi Tong does not strike me as the type who would just be friends with a rival. He sees the budding relationship between SL and YZ)
Falling into Your Smile
I did start this a bit late. I watched five minutes when it first came out but didn't continue because I'm just not that big of a fan of E-sports. And I got sidetracked by my reality TV shows (Detective Academy, Great Escape, The Irresistible, etc). But this week, I hit the play button again...and 5 hours later, I was truly sucked into to this story. There is 31 episodes total, and I'm only on 14, so I still have a ways to go. So far, I like what I'm watching. The FL Tong Yao (played by Cheng Xiao) is a little spunky character that is a joy to watch. Xu Kai's character is the standard snobbish stone faced ML that we've all seen more than once, but the writers (I really want to hug) gave him a very sarcastic mouth. I love their bickering conversations.
The synopsis on Viki is mostly correct. I don't know why they say that the FL is the one with the sweet tooth. The ML has the same issue, and he's apparently not allowed to have sweets. The second CP is also pretty cute, as Ai Jia always refers to his off/on girlfriend as wifey. The show makes a point to illustrate the toxic environment of online fans, and how vicious people can be to people they really do not know. It also deals with success and failure and how to move forward when you meet someone who is better than you are in your own field. I can understand now whey the show has pretty good ratings. And for those who couldn't care less about the struggle of E-sports players, at least it has a decent plot line with interesting dialogue and fairly strong female characters.
And Xu Kai is always a plus... (I mean I'm still watching Ancient Poetry if that's any indication).
JAPAN
Kazoku Boshu Shimasu
Kakashi, are you still watching?
I forgot about it :((((((((
Chef wa Meitantei/ Chef is a Detective
We have our "mystery of the week" again, but I feel that episode 4's "mysteries" (for there is ore than one) is more integrated into developing our main characters. We have a discussion about transgender and inclusion and also what makes a good boss, but all of this really was a background about our chef, and how he shows his pride as a chef or really being human in general. I wonder if we will find out more about his disappearing father or if the rival chef will make an appearance.
Ichikei no Karasu/Ichikei's Crow
I know that last week, I was wondering if I was going to remain interested in this show, which had seemed to fall into a light, even amusing pattern, but didn't seem to be doing anything new. Well the next case does switch things up literally with our heroine getting chosen to take the lead in a youth case after getting a bad reputation for being a conveyor belt judge. Even her sister shows up worried about her. Nothing is simple about it with corporate greed and lies and bribery coming from a promise between three orphaned teens. This time it wasn't Ichikei's fans who were in tears but me.
Given
Now the other band mates know why Ritsuka wants Mafuyu to be in the band; he's overwhelmed by this voice. But Mafuyu has a secret from his past that he seems to be hung up on and hesitates. I'm interested to see how the show addresses all of this in the few episodes it has. I'm still not convinced by this casting, especially Mafuyu because his voice isn't that good, and it's supposed to be striking. It's part of the point. I'll watch another episode before deciding if I just want to rewatch the anime.
A Man Who Defies the World of BL
This has turned out to be one of the most hilarious BL short dramas I've ever seen! It starts out with Atsuhiro Inukai, who realizes that he's surrounded by hot guys who always seem to fall in love with each other. He concludes that he is in the BL world, and he must do ALL to protect his virginity! And he's not particularly worried, as he and his entire family are MOB. UNTIL his younger brother tells him that his best friend just confessed. Shortly after, he realizes that one of the most commonly used trope is a hot guy falling in love with a very common boy. He now realizes that he has to form a battle plan because he will NOT be made to fall in love with a guy. After opening on this explanation... I was treated an opening song sung by a "boy band" that look like this!
The song is very catchy! Everyone should watch this dance video even if you don't watch the show.
And how will our hero plan to avoid the traps of BL dramas, by researching (reading BL of course!). First, avoid all "bad boys" because if you get into a fight with them, he will fall in love with you. Second, the person who is the target is always described as slim hipped, overly thin and beautiful. And when his younger brother tells him that he's TOO thin...he goes into panic mode, he needs to be EXRA careful. There are so many tropes packed into just 2 episodes (4 total according to Viki), you will not be bored. This was a delightful find!!!
I agree. I wrote about this show here when it first came out, and it's laugh out loud funny. It's funny even if you don't know the tropes and funnier when you do. (I am late! I really have short term and long term memory lost. I will never be able to match your drama watching speed.)
THAILAND
The Best Story (series review)
I'm going to say something controversial here. I know there are a LOT of DewWar shippers out there from En of Love, and I'm sure this is the reason they were cast again together in this three-episode gem--to whet people's appetites for the En of Love sequel. But this show made me sad not just because the ending isn't happy but because I think War is such a better actor than Dew that I hate that he's sort of stuck with him for now. Frankly, he acted circles around everyone else in this drama, so I hope he gets some other roles that will show his range. The friends in this show do make up for the horrible friends in Nitiman, but the one girl in it is just horrible. I'd love a sequel of when they all meet after college, but I'm sure that won't happen.
