“You can like a lot of people but you can love only one” - A Hi My Sweetheart Review

Originalname:	海派甜心 | Hai Pai Tian Xin
Also known as:	Shanghai Sweetheart, Shanghai School Sweetheart, Shanghai Honey
Release Date:	1. November 2009 - 31. January 2010
Director:	Lin Helong
Writer:	Yang Bifeng, Jiang Hua, Chen Hongjie, Luo Xini
Cast:	Show Lo, Rainie Yang, Lee Wei, Maggie Wu, Fang Fang, Xiang Yu Jie

Plot

Xue Hai is the only son of a rich family in Taiwan. He was raised very secure by his older sisters (his parents passed away). When he turned 20 he wants to go to college away from his family.

He has his difficulties to fit in because he never attended an open school and to hide his identity he signed in as Lin Da Lang. He gets the target of bulling for Chen Bao Zhu (wow, a girl is a delinquent?). But he wants to be friends with her because he finds out that she is from Taiwan too and also likes Pink Panther.

So Da Lang tries to become friends with her but he gets soon to know why everyone on campus thinks she is a bad person. Bao Zhu should be a thief and an evil heartbreaker but Da Lang thinks this is a misunderstanding and tries against his classmates’ warning to be friends with her.

When they have to handle the paper out which they’ve been working on, Bao Zhu gets blamed for copying the work of another group. Da Lang is the only one who believes that Bao Zhu is innocent and finds out that his roommates steal his work and gave it to the other group. (giant puppy beats them up ö,ö ) Da Lang could manage that the other group say the truth and the teacher apologizes to Bao Zhu. But she is still mad at Da Lang and he tells her that he still cares about her and what he likes about her. She is touched and kisses him. Finally he feels the fireworks, the electro shock. (I guess they are now together?)

Bao Zhu competes in a sweetheart contest where she has to be gentle, sweet and show dance skills. Da Lang, who should play the piano for Mo Li’s dance and incredibly failed, was very surprised and thinks she did it for him because he wished she would be more gentle. She wins the competition and He Yan Feng (the second love interest – ladies and gentleman) sees that Bao Zhu is happy with Da Lang and goes back to Taiwan.

After two years relationship Da Lang gives his Pink Panther as gift to Bao Zhu.

But it comes out that Bao Zhu’s mother wants her daughter to marry a rich boy so she should break up with Da Lang. Da Lang decides to reveal his true identity and to propose to her but when they should meet Bao Zhu gets involved into a car accident and so her mother tells Da Lang that she left the country to marry somebody. Da Lang swears never to fall in love again.

After three years Bao Zhu becomes a radio DJ and searches for Da Lang in the hope he listens her radio show. And what happened to Da Lang? He became as Xue Hai (Remember? That’s his real name) a multi millionaire and a jerk.

What to do to get the girl you want? Let’s buy her work place and be the new boss. That’s what does Xue Hai. He buys the radio station and becomes the new boss of Bao Zhu. When they first meet she thinks it’s Da Lang but he doesn’t want her to know that yet because he wants revenge (yeah... of course... and elephants can fly). He wants to win her heart as Xue Hai and then dump her. So, he tries to seduce her but everything he tries as a rich Casanova fails. She gets even more annoyed and slowly she is turning to Yan Feng who always supported her.

But because she gets again involved in a car accident he recognizes that he still loves her. But if he wants to get her, she has to forget Da Lang. So he appears again as Da Lang, tells her how hurt he was then and that he is now married. Bao Zhu tries to forget Da Lang. But because Mo Li comes to Taiwan and Yan Feng finds out who he really is, everything comes out.

Bao Zhu is really angry and quits. She wants to leave the country but the night before her departure the radio station is set on fire in which she recorded some shows for future. Xue Hai saves her but he gets knocked out. After he wakes up from his unconsciousness he doesn’t remember at all.

Bao Zhu tries everything so that he remembers but he doesn’t want to. After he got kidnapped with Bao Zhu, he gets his memories back (he gets hit with a stone on his head... you know, for kids!)

He gets knocked out again, was brought to the hospital and everything seems fine... Everything? No, he still “doesn’t remember” Bao Zhu. Of course he does. He lies (again) that she can be happy with Ponytail (Yan Feng). But Xe Hai gets drunk, writes a mail to Bao Zhu, wakes in the morning up, sneeks in into her house, deletes the mail and pretends nothing happened. The thing is... she already read the mail and so after spending the whole day together she tells him that she knows he hasn’t forgotten her and she proposes. So they end up together.

Conclusion

This.... was.... long... I finally did it! I finished “Hi My Sweetheart”. Don’t understand me wrong. The drama wasn’t that bad. It was just way too long.

So, I’ll start with what I liked. The story was nice. It shows how two totally different persons come together. They don’t like each other at the beginning, but somehow they end up together. It shows the good times and the hardships they have to handle. Okay, Fortuna was really mean to this both. Maybe one of them messed it really up in his other life. I mean she gets involved in a car accident, not once but twice (!!!); he loses his memory and they nearly died in a burning house. I don’t want to talk about the stone... But you know... For kids! Destiny is really a b**** sometimes.

But here is the problem. Did all this really have to happen? Ok, the first accident was important. Otherwise the following wouldn’t make sense. But the kidnapping and losing memory? Or the stalker? It looks like the writers throw everything that could happen in one’s life time (or twenty lifetimes)... For me it wasn’t necessary.

The main cast was really good. I loved Show Lo who played Da Lang and Xue Hai. Da Lang was just dorky but adorable. He was really cute. And Xue Hai? I think he would fit well into the F4 ;)
Funny thing was, you could really see how Show Lo switched between the rolls. When he played Da Lang he ran dorky (you know, the legs spread wide) and he sometimes looked really funny because he made a underbite. And as Xua Hai he could walk normal, was self confident and he hasn’t  got an underbite.

Rainie Yang played Bao Zhu and I liked her work too. She was cool when she played the mean and misunderstood Bao Zhu at school and then afterwards the sweet, matured Sweetheart.

Then there were Lee Wei who played Yan Feng and Maggie Wu who played Mo Li. Well, they had actually the same character. They were incredibly nice and supporting... As time goes by it gets annoying. But well, a drama needs a second love interest and here we got two of them.

And there were of course annoying characters. For me the most annoying characters were the three from the ice cream parlour, especially the girl... Always: Yan Feng here, Yan Feng there... Yeah, we got it. You love Yan Feng... And I have to say, the acting of the three wasn’t that really good, too.

And now let’s talk about the music. I loved the Pink Panther Theme. It reminded me of my childhood. And the idea about Pink Panther could be the connection between them, I liked it.
They had also a few good songs which matched with the scenes but the Drama overused it. Sometimes you really wished they would play a total new song.

Yeah, like a said, it wasn’t bad. Show Lo and Rainie Yang did a really good job. It’s worth watching it because of them. But the story was just too long.

"Bingo" - A Bridal Mask Review PART 1

[This plot will be devided into 4 parts. The reason is, this drama has 28 episodes and we are afraid it will be to long (even longer than Heartstrings) The Conclusion will be found at part 4.]

Originalname:	각시탈 | Gaksital
Also known as:	-
Release Date:	30. May - 6. September 2012
Director:	Yun Seong Sik
Writer:	Huh Young Man (comic), Yoo Hyun Mi
Cast:	Joo Won, Jin Se Yeon, Park Gi-Woong, Shin Hyun-Joon

Plot

This drama play during the period of Japanese occupancy in South Korea; A young but ambitioned detective, Kang To, swore himself to catch a revolutionary called “Bridal Mask” because of the mask he’s wearing.

For that he needs Mok Dan, circus artist and the daughter of another revolutionary, whom Bridal Mask has already saved two times before.

He finds out where she lives at the moment (Thank you, traitor!) and beats the shit out of her in the Japanese police department’s torture chamber. Afterwards he drags her down a public street and even wanting to shoot her. (Why am I describing this plot point? Don’t worry, you’ll know  soon enough...)

But our snow white Zorro saves the day as he rides on his horse to the rescue of the damsel in distress and drops her off in the woods still bleeding (Our hero everybody!)

But that’s okay since he rides to a tree to reveal that he’s... Kang To’s mentally disabled brother, Kang Sang?! (th- that is the BEST. SUPERHERO. DISGUISE. EVERRRR!!!!!!! Ha! Take that, Batman, Superman!)

Because Kang To gets rescued one time by the Bridal Mask (there is this one “colleague” which wants Kang To dead and spins an intrigue), he gets accused for working with the Bridal Mask together. To show his loyalty towards the emperor and Japan he has to catch Bridal Mask and Mok Dan’s father.

Anyway. He gets in pressure because he lost his bait and arrests all the man from his village (except his brother) and Bridal Mask takes hostages. He would let them free if Kang To lets the arrested free. In the chase Bridal Mask saves Kang To again from an assassin’s attack. But before he can find out who Bridal Mask is he gets knocked out. (But for a short time he believes Bridal Mask is his brother because the only one who loves him and would protect him would be his brother)

When he finds out that Mok Dan is the girl who he loved as a little boy he goes to his best friend Shuiji at the club and asks him what he should do. Kang To doesn’t know his best friend is in love with Esther/ Mok Dan (seriously this girl has more names as my pet cat at the time I was an Otaku). When Kang To talks about killing Mok Dan anyway Shuiji hits him and tells him he should go home. At home he lays next to his brother, who pretends he is sleeping, and tells him what happened. He cries and says that he would like to become like his mother wants him to be. (Seems like the lost son found his way home...)

Meanwhile the circus discuss how they can kill Kang To. So, the other day they try to kill him and accidently he shoots Mok Dan down. (Mmmm whatcha say, Mmm that you only meant well? Well of course you did...)

But Kang To saves her and keeps her captive in the hospital. While we have some love triangle scenes in the hospital with Shunji, Mok Dan and Kang To, Shunji’s brother has enlightenment. He goes to Kang To’s house and tells Kang Sang that he should quit the games. He ends up accidently shooting the mother and Kang Sang wants REVENGE. So he dresses up as Bridal Mask and follows Shunji’s brother. But Kang To is there to save the day and shoots Bridal Mask. Kang Sang reveals himself to his brother and dies. Kang To finds his mother dead and, well, we all knew what comes here, the typical scream of our main character is deeply hurt. It is meant to give the viewer at least a shiver... here...it kind of backfired. Really, I laughed my ass off. I mean... that face! *Bwahahahaha*

Awesome, right? xD

Well, of course, after everything was explained to him by Alfred (Not his Name...but let’s be honest, that’s what character he is playing...) he wants REVENGE...wait, when did this become Batman?

He dresses up like Bridal Mask and kills Shunji’s brother. Shunji sees this and swears REVENGE on Bridal Mask and manages to toss him off a cliff.

So, everybody thinks that Bridal mask is dead, but Kang To is safe and sound in a hospital bed.

He decides to become Bridal Mask and wants to gain the Police Offices trust to have it easier, so he changes his name into Sato Hiroshi.

Shunji on the other hand, to follow his fathers will and becomes a superintendent after Mok Dan dumped him (You know, from an elementary school teacher to a superintendent!)

So the new chess peaces are set for round two...

„You’re cute! – No, you are!“ A Princess Princess D Review

Originalname:	プリンセス・プリンセスD | Purinsesu purinsesu D
Also known as:	-
Release Date:	28. June – 13. September 2006
Director:
Writer:	Mikiyo Tsuda (Manga)
Cast:	Kenta Kamakari, Rei Fujita, Takeru Sato, Osamu Adachi, Takumi Saito, Yuichi Nakamura

Plot

In an all boys school the three boys Yutaka Mikoto, Shihoudani Yuujirou and Kouno Tooru are chosen to be princesses. They have to dress like girls and cheer on the clubs.

But one day the new student Hanazono Otoya arrives and he wants to ruin this tradition. He wants to destroy the princess system and he wants to be the new schools president.

First, he forms a new princess group called the “Dark Princesses” with the help of Minamoto Kurou and Mori Ranta. Slowly they push the Princesses away and overtake the students.

Then he builds a new students council. The present student’s president Arisada Shuuya accepts this declaration of war but anything he tries it gets worse.

One night, Mikoto gets locked up in the basement with Otoya and they start to talk. At the end Mikoto thinks that he isn’t a bad guy. Afterwards rumours come out that Mikoto dropped to be a princess and after his friends wanted to know if it’s true (he said it’s not but he didn’t want take place against Otoya again) he gets thrown out. Now Mikoto, who always hated to be a princess, is free. But he can’t enjoy his freedom. He misses his friends.

So, the election days come with every day nearer and for the help to win Arisada flies a spy in this school to find a weakness of the “Dark Princesses”. Kujouin Haruka makes his researches and helps Arisada but when it comes to the election day he is on the same side as Otoya.

When Arisada was moving out of his council room Otoya comes in and asks him how he feels and if he can understand him now. (TWIST ALARM!!) It comes out they are siblings. (WHAT?!) When Otoya was nine Arisada left him in the wilderness and since then Otoya wanted to take revenge.

So, Otoya is now president and there are new rules: No princesses and no former school council – traitors will be punished. Yuujirou, Tooru and Sakamoto (class’ head and good friend of them) are hiding in the school’s basement (another room I think). Once Yuujirou and Tooru sneek out and on the roof they hear that Mikoto refuses to be on Otoya’s side. He understood what it means to be a princess and finally he can put his man’s pride aside and embraces his role as a princess. They rescue him and after apologizing they make out a plan how they take the school over again.

The next day the “Dark Princesses” make a live stage and then Yuujirou, Tooru and Mikoto will attack. Don’t panic, they just sing. The “Dark Princesses” want to save the situation but the lost Arisada and his team are back and Otoya has to admit his defeat.

At the end we find out that this was Haruka’s plan from the beginning. It’s a happy end after all. The school is back to the normal system and the siblings, yeah, I think they can talk to each other again in a normal way.

Conclusion

Yeah... the drama was really fun to watch. But if I’m honest it’s not really good. The characters are lame. They aren’t well –thought-out. It’s like they writers picked those characters from the beginning of the Manga story (yeah, it was a Manga story) and didn’t develop them. The actors tried their best to give the characters a little spirit but it doesn’t help.

Another thing that bothers me was the fact that the princesses weren’t the main character if you look closely. I mean the whole war was between Arisada and Otaya. Okay, you can say the princesses were like the soldiers or something like that. But they didn’t really do something. They looked only cute in their dresses and they argued with each other.  But at the end they become more important.

And there is also a point that caught my eye. What was the budget of this thing? Only in the last episode, there were a lot of students. During the drama we only see three regular students. Not more. And sometimes the lighting was just weird. To be honest it looks like someone did this movie in his first year of film school.

The only good thing in this drama were the jokes and the running gags which personified the character like Mikoto is running away or Yuujiro wrestles with Mikoto and wins (the “Give up?- No! [a little bit later] Rooope!!” –scene).

So, if you want to see guys dressed in Lolita-clothes, that’s the right thing for you. But don’t go in with any expectations.

"I am their homeroom teacher" - A Gokusen I Review

Originalname:	ごくせん　（第１期） | Gokusen
Also known as:	-
Release Date:	2. April - 3. July 2002
Director:	Toya Sato, Taro Otani
Writer:	Michiru Egashira, Rie Yokota, Kozueko Morimoto (manga)
Cast:	Yukie Nakama, Yuma Ishigaki, Jun Matsumoto, Hiroki Narimiya, Shun Oguri, Tomohiro Waki

Plot

Kumiko Yamaguchi is the grand- daughter of the Oedo Clan’s boss, a yakuza family. She becomes the new homeroom teacher (get used to this expression, you hear it a lot during this drama) of the class 3-D, also known as the delinquent class in which Sawada the leader is.

After an incident in which the school money disappears, the school head teacher accuses Kumai, one out of her class, that he stole the money. She believes him, when he says he didn’t do it and to prove his innocence she searches for the money. Kumai who feels guilty conscience tells her the truth. The head teacher dropped the money and he took it, but it got taken away from him.

She beats the criminals up and gives back the money. The head teacher apologizes to Kumai and Kumiko makes the promise that everybody of her class will graduate.

Minami starts dating a girl who is already dating someone else and gets beaten up for it. Sawada recognizes the girl and wants Minami to stop dating her but Minami hits Sawada which causes Sawada t have to write an apology letter otherwise he’ll be expelled. The girl breaks up with Minami and that leads to Minami getting called out by her boyfriend. When his classmates said that they didn’t want to help him Kumiko gets really disappointed and decides to take things in her own hands. Arriving at the battle field she sees that only Sawada appeared to help his friend. She finally steps in and saves her students. When the fight is over Kumai, Uchiyama and Noda arrive fully armored. Sawada has written his apology letter and won’t get expelled.

A thief scares the neighbourhood and everyone believes it’s Uchiyama. Kumiko, Sawada and the others want to prove Uchiyama’s innocence so they set a trap for the thief. The trap doesn’t work (mainly because Kumiko looks like a prostitute) but they catch the thief anyway. The students get rewarded from the police and everything seems fine. But Uchiyama beats a guy up (the pride of the school). So he’ll be expelled and searches for a job. Kumiko and the others find out that he hit him because he hit the puppy (awww, how cute, a puppy) and she tries to convince him to apologize. So he does. Anyway, Uchiyama doesn’t get expelled because Kumiko threatened that guy with prison because apparently you get one year when you hit a puppy.

One of the teachers, Miss Fujiyama, has started a part-time job as a hostess to earn more money. However, when she throws Noda’s gift in the garbage he sends a picture of her working as a hostess to the head teacher and Miss Fujiyama gets suspended. But she can return if all of the 3-D score above 30 points which after a lot of tutoring everyone manages. (Yeah, well, at first it seems as if Kumai didn’t get the 30 points but that’s a mistake...).

Kumiko manages to lose her mobile and Sawada finds it and brings it back to her house. So he discovers that she is in fact the granddaughter of a yakuza family. Her grandfather asks him to keep quiet about this.

Kumai gets to fall in love but she already has a boyfriend. In the mean time there is a gang of high school students terrorising the neighbourhood. When the boyfriend gets beaten up Kumai tries to protect the girl and get hit badly. But gladly Kumiko steps in and has a word with them. So they get to know the difference between fighting and violence. And Sawada tells Kumiko that he’s totally into her... I mean that he knows she’s the yakuza familys granddaughter, but he might as well could have!!

Sawadas sister comes to his school because she wanted to talk with him and we find out that he lives alone because he has problems with his parents.

His sister can’t take the pressure of her father any longer and decides to go to a gambling club, of which Sawada rescues her from and gets caught in the process.

The head teacher expels him but the police already know he’s innocent. But since he’s a minor a parent has to go and get him. So Kumiko and the whole class beg Sawadas father and he does go and get him. And Sawada even cries a little (Holy sh--, the robot cries!!)

Shirokin’s volley team gets into the nationals. But an expelled student wants so sabotage it. It’s Kurosaki, an old friend of Sawada and Uchiyama. Their worried and ask Kumiko for help which she does. She tells the PE teacher he should apologize to Kurosaki since he didn’t even try to keep him in. So he does, but gets beaten up for it. Sawada and Uchiyama try to stop him but don’t succeed. Kumiko arrives, kicks ass and lectures him and he tells Sawada that if he’d had Kumiko as a teacher he probably wouldn’t have had to quit.

The next day Kumai bumps into a shop lifter but the shoplifter accuses the gang because the game which was stolen was in Uchiyama’s hands. She believes when they say they didn’t do anything. Thanks to Shinohara (the police man she has a secret crush on) the real criminal comes out. It was a student from a rich high school.

Meanwhile Tetsu tries to convince Kumiko to be the Oeda Clan’s head in 4^th generation. But she refuses. After a talk with Kumiko’s grandfather about god-given jobs he realizes that the teacher job is the god-given job for Kumiko is.

But soon Kumiko gets stalked by a reporter. The boys ran into a criminal and handed him over to the police. He was a searched murderer. The boys get honoured and they should speak on a press conference with Kumiko. Because of that Kumiko gets interesting for the press and one reporter wants to make a 24h close up.

Anyway, In the meantime, Kumai’s father dies and Kumai falls in depression. He runs away. Kumiko suddenly finds him while he was beaten up and rescues him. She brings him back.

The reporter publishes the story - a story about a violent yakuza teacher who beats her students. Kumiko is forced to resign and for the sake of her students she does. When Sawada and the others find out what she did they decide to resign as well. But Kumiko comes, kicks ass and saves the day... sorry she just asks the teacher to take good care of the students.

After the touching speech the head teacher decides that they need Kumiko in this school and rips it apart. That means Kumiko can stay at this school and they all celebrate with the can kicking game, where we learn that Sawada has three other love rivals.

Conclusion

I love the nostalgia! But seriously I couldn’t remember most of it. I don’t know why I just couldn’t. I’m almost certain that I did see it. But when I watched the first season I always thought “What? Did this really happen? Did I really see this a few years ago?” Sometimes I just couldn’t remember. If I honest, the whole drama I nearly forgot. So I forgot that Eiichi Wentz appears in the drama. You know, the American guy. Especially him you shouldn’t forget because he looks non-japanese. But yeah... I forgot him... I’m really asking myself if I watched the drama then. But this has also its good side. I mean so I could dive into it again and so I could cry like a waterfall at the end.

So, what else can I say? I like the drama. It’s about friendship, school and learning something for life. It has a lot of charm and a lot of funny scenes (especially this one where Uchi, Kuma and Noda run fully armoured towards Sawada and Minami). But it has also cute scenes like the episode with Yuta, the little boy of the nurse (all he wanted was to see his mommy *sob sob sob*).

The actors were okay but Jun Matsumoto was a little stiff as Sawada. But it was his third drama and it’s Jun Matsumoto for god’s sake!

Shun Oguri was good at least what we saw of him, he wasn’t in the drama too much. That’s a pity. But Jun makes up for it ;)

Yukie Nakama is great as Kumiko Yamaguchi. You just love to see her in that role.

The only thing I can complain about is the song. It gets so annoying and it never leaves your head. (“I saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay,feeeeeeeeeeeeel your breeeeeeeeeeeeze. Anytime, anywhere, in your heaaaaaart!” You know what I mean?)

All in all it's a must see drama if you are a fan of Asian Drama or MatsuJun or Shun Oguri or of course Yukie Nakama. It's like I said: It's fun, it's crazy. You'll enjoy it.

“You’ve fallen for me” – A Heartstrings Review

Originalname:	넌 내게 반했어 | Neon Naege Banhaesseo
Also known as:	You've Fallen for Me
Release Date:	29. June - 18. August 2011
Director:	Pyo Min-Soo
Writer:	Lee Myung-Sook
Cast:	Park Shin Hye, Jung Yong Hwa, Song Chang Ui, So E-Hyun, Woo Ri, Kang Min Hyuk

Plot

At the beginning we get to know our main characters Kyu Won and Lee Shin. Kyu Won is a bright girl and a highly skilled gayageum player. She lives with her grandfather and studies in the traditional music department. Lee Shin is the vocalist of the popular campus band “The Stupid”. He is a cold and refined young man, while being a highly skilled guitarist. He studies at the same university as Kyu Won but in the applied music department. The two haven’t much in common but because the teacher of the traditional music department lies sick in the hospital, Kyu Won decides to collect money for the hospital fee. To earn more money, she asks “The Stupid” if they could perform at this event. They agreed, but because of a family incident Lee Shin didn’t appear and Kyu Won had to sing instead of him. Of course the audience was disappointed because the handsome vocalist didn’t perform but it wasn’t all too bad. The event was a great success and Kyu Won caught the attention of a musical director who also majored at this university and was called back to plan something for the 100^th anniversary of the university. At the same evening Kyu Won wanted to bring the money to the sick professor but the professor already passed away. The next day, Lee Shin wants to apologize and to give back the money which she paid him to go on stage but she refuses and says that she isn’t that disappointed because she knew he would act that way and that he shouldn’t think too much of himself because he can’t catch her heart with his lyrics although he looks great. Of course he couldn’t leave it like that and so they bet: who can reach the audience’s heart can order the loser around for one month.

The big day has arrived. “The Stupid” performs without singing (this was a task) and then “Windflowers” where Kyu Won is the leader. For a moment it looks like she could win but a string of her gayageum breaks. So she loses.
So for thenext time, she will be his slave. One day Lee Shin calls her and orders her to attend a class for him because he’s busy. He goes to his father (who he never met) and takes guitar lessons. So, Kyu Won has to write an excuse for this class although she didn’t take it. After Lee Shin returns, he gives a “concert” and debuts his new song, which attaches Kyu Won in a way. After the performance Kyu Won tells Lee Shin about the homework, but the next day the professor isn’t satisfied and so they have to clean up the drama club’s dressing room. Of course Lee Shin teases her but suddenly the light goes off and when the light turns on again their faces are very close. To avoid to talk with her about this, he orders her again. Afterwards, when she wants to return the keys to Lee Shin, she meets the director and he tells her about an audition. (You remember? The university will celebrate soon its 100^th anniversary) So she decides to participate with her band there. At the end the “Windflowers” achieves to be in the performance group of the festival (but Kyu Won has to be an actress and not an musician) so are “The Stupid”, Hee Joo (she’s the chairman’s daughter and the love interest of “The Stupid”’s drummer; she achieved it only with their help) and Ki Young (a new guy who was brought by the director with an enormous voice). Lee Shin wants to decline to be part of the festival but when the professor o the dance department steps in, he stays. Kyu Won recognises this tension and concluded that he must be in love with her.

So the training begins and it doesn’t start well for Kyu Won because everyone believes Kyu Won got that place because she has a relationship with the director. After she got involved in a girl fight she considers resigning because she thinks she causes the troubles. The director doesn’t want her to leave so he tells Lee Shin (he found out that Kyu Won is Lee Shin’s slave) to bring her back. So Kyu Won (did she silently fell in love?) comes back but she lacks one trainings lesson so she gets again bullied. The director has enough. He shows the troublemaker what can happen in the showbiz although you have talent and that gives the girls to think about how they behaved and about their thoughts. Kyu Won decides to work harder and not to cause any problems. She gets also support from the dance professor and in the next lesson she could catch up. After training Kyu Won was about to go home but she is picked up by the director who saw her how pitiful she walked because of the aches. On the way home they see Lee Shin how he puts a necklace around the dance professor’s neck and kisses her. Kyu Won feels something that she never felt before and it hurts. (Oh, I don’t know… hmmm… MAYBE YOUR HEART, IDIOT!!)

The next day, Kyu Won wants to talk with Lee Shin about his feelings towards the professor, but he was already rejected so he becomes mad and fires her as a slave. But then, he recognizes that he somehow misses her and buys her coffee (she had always to buy him coffee and at the beginning she wrote notes like “with a lot of spit”) with a similar note and leaves it there where she has always to deliver to. So she thanks him and he orders her to clean up the messy band room and she gladly do it.

The next day Kyu Won sees how Lee Shin gets again rejected by the professor (he sees how the professor embraces the director) and she feels sorry for him. So she tries him to cheer him up but he doesn’t want to listen to her. Lee Shin is very heartbroken now. He decides he will no more like somebody and tells this also Kyu Won.

Days passes again (in the meantime, Kyu Won got almost kicked out of the performance) the last day of her slavery arrives and her last task is to find the necklace Lee Shin threw away to forget the professor. Kyu Won finds the lost necklace and wants to give it Lee Shin. She finds out that his father passed away and she can imagine how sad he is at the moment. She looks for him and when she finally finds him he is in the arms of the professor who found him a little bit before. In this moment, Kyu Won realizes that she has feelings for him and is really hurt, that he lies in the professor’s arms and not in her’s.

The next day, she doesn’t go to school, saying she is sick. She makes up her mind and decides to give up on Lee Shin. This she says the next day too Lee Shin when she gives him the necklace back. But unfortunately for Kyu Won she has to work with Lee Shin again because for the finale of festival Lee Shin should arrange a song modern and traditional music mixed.

At the same time Kyu Won is also practising for an audition for the lead female role of the musical. Anyway, one evening after practising with “The Stupid”, she goes out with them and her friends and comes home late (she ate, drunk, sang karaoke and puked) and her grandfather finds out about the audition. He locks her up in her room so that she can’t participate on this audition, but Lee Shin (with the help of his little sister) helps her to break out and she participates on the audition. Sadly, the role goes to Hee Joo, the daughter of the chairman. But the next day the journals were all covered up with Kyu Won’s performance. Hee Joo’s mother gets a little bit worried about her daughter’s role and wants that Kyu Won disappears.

Because Lee Shin has to learn a lot about traditional music he has to follow Kyu Won to a performance in an elderly house. After the performance Kyu Won gets drunk and on the way home she confesses that she still likes him and it isn’t easy for her to be around him.

The next day is Kyu Won’s birthday and “Windflowers” and “The Stupid” celebrate it after the practise. Lee Shin feels a little bit sorry because during the day he teased her about she got drunk and the work he gave her to do. When he wishes her “Happy Birthday” she trips, falls down the stairs and has to go to the hospital. Lee Shin goes visit her often. Suddenly her friends sneak her out and let some fireworks explode.  But a deputy appears and they have to run away. Lee Shin takes Kyu Won who sits in wheel chair and they lose the others. After a while Lee Shin orders her to not give up liking him. She asks him what this means. He didn’t know the answer and she leaves upset.

The director is planning a MT und luckily Kyu Won gets out of hospital in time so she can go with. In the bus Lee Shin sits next to Kyu Won. At the market (because both are very stubborn) they get separated. When he realises that she isn’t behind him, he starts to worry and is looking for her. He finds her then, buying a watermelon. When they come back, the evening program starts. When it’s about “Windflowers” to start, Lee Shin holds Kyu Won back because he doesn’t want that her injury gets worse. After the evening program Kyu Won should bring the watermelon and Lee Shin follows her. She tramps and hurts her ankle. Lee Shin helps her. In the night both can’t sleep. Lee Shin finds her in the stage room and they’re talking about wishing on shooting stars. He asks about her wish but Kyu Won won’t tell. But Lee Shin tells his wish: He hopes that Kyu Won can someday like him again.

Back home they’re giving it a try. At first secretly but they were seen by the three biggest gossip spreaders. So they decide to go official. Of course every woman is against. The three gossip spreaders start an action. Lee Shin firstly didn’t want to do against it but when Kyu Won goes away upset he tells them to stop it. Later he calls her to the club where he performs and sings her a song and afterwards he kisses her in front of his audience.

One day the musical crew has to perform suddenly  but the director couldn’t find Hee Joo. So Kyu Won has to step in because she is her understudy. The sponsors get really excited and Hee Joo’s mother gets more worried. With the help of Tae Joon (what’s his job anyway? Is he the vice president? Or only a president of a department? Who is this guy?) she spreads a rumour. Then they even manipulated both that they meet in a hotel where they get caught on picture. It looks like they have an affair.  The director sees it immediately through when she appears in the hotel and brings her back. Lee Shin sees the two and first he gets it wrong.

The next day when the pictures were spread out Lee Shin drags Kyu Won out for her sake. In the meantime the director tries to set things right. When even the chairman is against her, the director quits. The whole day Kyu Won couldn’t look on her phone but when Lee Shin has to go to toilet she calls her best friend and gets to know about the director’s quitting. She wants to go back and save the director but Lee Shin begs her not to go (he even threats her he would break up with her – WHAT?) She stays.

The next morning its official that the director resigned and Kyu Won realises that it is because of her. Also when she and Lee Shin are on the way to practise Tae Joon tells her that she won’t be an understudy anymore and kicks her out. She gets really sad and wants to be alone. Lee Shin who went at first to practise but then it was cancelled because Tae Joon changed and messed up the piece, sings a song for Kyu Won through the boxes to cheer her up.

Suddenly the sponsors want to withdraw and so the chairman wants the director back. The director comes only under conditions back – Kyu Won is understudy again. So the cast starts practising again.

But on the practise weekend the festival gets cancelled because Hee Joo won’t be able to sing because of an injury in her throat and her mother wants for god’s sake that her daughter is on stage and not Kyu Won. So the crew decides (after trying to convince the chairman again) to perform this show anyway. The performance day arrives and when the lead actress should come out everybody is surprised. Not Kyu Won is on the stage, Hee Joo is. Kyu Won called her before the performance to come over. Hee Joo is acting and dancing and when it comes to the singing part Kyu Won dubs her. (Did I mentioned that it’s finally out that Hee Joo has an injury in her throat and the director knows about it?)

After the performance “The Stupid” and “Windflowers” get the chance to make a studio album with Kyu Won singing. But her grandfather gets to know this and forbids her. She has to concentrate on gayageum playing. On the same day when she can make the album she has a competition. At first she decides to participate on the competition but Lee Shin appears before her performance and asks her again what she wants. Kyu Won then decides to make the album. At the studio Kyu Won sings pretty well but Lee Shin has problems with his wrist because Kyu Won tripped over her skirt and when Lee Shin tried do catch her, he fell on the ground. So the studio decides to not make the album but take Kyu Won under a contract. Lee Shin hides his injury but through his part time job he couldn’t hold his guitar because of the pain and Kyu Won suddenly realizes that this injury is more serious then Lee Shin told her. She wants to cancel her trip to UK. When Lee Shin gets to know about it he breaks up with her so she can go to UK to a musical school, but he says to her that he doesn’t want to wait for her.

A year passes, Lee Shin had his wrist surgery and can play guitar again; Kyu Won came back from UK and is a famous musical star; the director and the professor got married and are back from USA. For a new project the director wants to work again with Kyu Won and Lee Shin but Lee Shin doesn’t want. When Kyu Won asks him if it’s because of her, he denied and orders her not to call him anymore. She got drunk and her best friend calls Lee Shin to pick her up but he calls instead her father (nice try Eun Bo, best friend of Kyu Won).

Through the director Kyu Won gets to know that he had a surgery but didn’t want her to know. Upset she goes to Lee Shin and tells him that he is really a jerk and that she really tried to hate him the past year and now she can say that she hates him. He is really hurt. Both then go for a walk at the places they were together before and they are looking back. Suddenly they meet each other. Lee Shin goes towards her, embraces her; he says that he missed her and that he loves her and finally the kiss (of course Kyu Won responded with “Me too”).

Conclusion

 I have to say, I started to watch this drama half a year ago. After five episodes I stopped because it was really boring. I mean you know the story about the girl is at first the slave of the boy and suddenly the boy falls in love with the girl and so on and so on. But because I’m bored, I decided to watch it till the end and I was surprised. The story became more interesting. I mean all the intrigues at the school caused by Tae Joon and Hee Joo’s mother. It was really good. I liked it. And the story how they come together was also very good. Really cute. They’re sitting in the darkness and talking about shooting stars.

You may imagine why I started watching this drama. I looked for another drama with Jung Yonghwa and when I saw Park Shinhye was also starring, I thought: “Yay, finally a happy ending for Shinwoo and Go Minyeo!” In “You’re beautiful” I was cheering for this two.

For the rest of the cast I can say they did a good job. Especially I liked Minhyuk who played the drummer. He was really funny and cute. Who I didn’t like was Lee Shin’s little sister. She was just annoying.

The music was also really good. I liked it that they mixed traditional music with modern music. So I get to know a little bit of the Korean culture. And I have to say I liked it.

What I also didn’t like was the length of the drama. I don’t know why, but for this story 15 episodes are too long. I think 10 episodes would have been enough. There are a lot of side stories which were really short and didn’t help the main story at all like the story about Lee Shin’s mother and her relationships. I think it wasn’t necessary. Or the last thing with the wrist. This wasn’t necessary, too. Or the movement of Lee Shin’s family in Kyu Won’s neighbourhood, too.

But all in all I like this drama. I can recommend it. But at the beginning you have to fight it through, afterwards it will go easier.

I’m so sorry. I know the review is too long. I couldn’t shorten it anymore >.<