Check-in: End of Week Four!

[tokeruyouna]

Hi everyone! There are two and a half weeks left in the challenge. Do you have a plan for reaching your goal? I have been enjoying dramas as usual, but the best part of this challenge for me has been discussing drama things with all of you! Feel free to share your experiences with this challenge, thoughts on dramas, or any other ramblings here

Comments

[lastingdreams8]

Oh wow, it's that time already! I'm on the 16th episode of You From Another Star, and if my calculations are correct, that should be done right around the time this challenge ends!
I finished Prime Minister and I (17 episodes), so that technically finished up my goal of 3 dramas, but the one that I finished before that was a mini-drama, so I don't really count that

[tokeruyouna]

I love random clips like that at the end of dramas. I really wish there were more dramas that did them.

How can you simultaneously watch both?! I can't pay attention to just a drama alone let alone a drama plus something else.

[lastingdreams8]

haha, I can only do that with some dramas, like if I understand the dialogue that's going on or if it's legal jargon (or whatever) that I don't really care for going on, I can switch back to the tv xD

[phrenk]

Thanks for doing this post! It's hard in the middle stretches when comments dwindle. ♥

I have finished nine dramas, and my goal is ten, so I am coasting along. I have been loving watching dramas constantly. Dramas make me really happy. <3<3<3

Character-wise, I adored Eun-bi from Flower Boy Ramen Shop, and Shi-kyung from The King 2 Hearts, and, hmmm, lots of others, let me see~ Hye-sung from I Hear Your Voice, Bo-na/Chan-young from Heirs, the fabulous mother complicated friendship duo from Heirs, nearly everyone from Freeter has my entire heart, fjdlkfljksa.

I don't have actual tv, so I haven't been watching the Olympics, but I've been pining some for figure skating. I am also ready for baseball season to start, harrumph.

Gosh, drama wants! I have so many!!! Since I just finished rewatching it, I think the thing I most want (without hope) right now is a season two for Freeter. ♥

[tokeruyouna]

Sure!

I have been loving watching dramas constantly.
So have you been watching dramas more than usual during this challenge? Have you had to stop doing other things/change your schedule to do so?

[phrenk]

Yep, I've been watching way more drama episodes than usual! I've been watching with more focus (pausing less, finishing more quickly), first of all, and having one (or two, or three) open all the time so whichever mood strikes, I go for it. I usually watch a lot of US tv, too, and I've cut that out completely for the past four weeks. I still watch Arashi shows, but other than that it's dramas all the time. ♥

[tokeruyouna]

Why do you usually pause so much? I almost never pause at all. . . .

[topazera]

Sorry for the commenting delay, folderdropping, I miss you~~~ <3

2. I was just thinking about that! Well, right now I am concentrating on I Hear You Voice and watching two episodes every day, when I finish that I figure I will go back to You Who Came from the Stars and see what happens with finishing that in time. :) My Rich Man Poor Woman rewatch is no problem and then it's just what episodes of other jdramas I fit in.

3. I was kind of wondering if anyone has seen Cheongdamdong Alice? I was quite into that when it was airing but the petered off and stopped at episode 11. I've been wondering whether to pick that up again or not and would like to hear if people found the ending generally satisfying or not. (Without specific spoilers. <3)

4. Hee, not really but I was reminded again that I am bad at watching multiple shows at once. I get really into one drama and the rest fall by the wayside for a while.

5. Val first mentioned it to me but I agree that Jang Hye Sung from I Hear Your Voice is such a classic kdrama heroine. I love

[tokeruyouna]

That is part of the reason why I usually only ever start one show at a time. (The other part is that I can't keep track of multiple ones at once.)

In general I dislike the idea of sequels, but I don't usually like SPs or movies. Usually they are so different in tone and style from the drama (and with movies usually a lower quality too) that it gets irritating, and they also tend to either be mostly a bunch of flashbacks from the drama OR a story that is really detached from the original one of the drama. In fact, my general policy now is to not watch SPs or movies.

if a jdrama has a vague ending, as they do
Did you mean to imply that you find that Jdramas often have vague endings? If so, do you have examples of Jdramas you think have vague endings and of the kinds of endings that you would consider vague or not vague? I don't usually think Jdrama endings are vague (although there are exceptions I'm sure), so I am curious about what other people consider vague.

[lastingdreams8]

I have seen Cheongdamdong Alice, and it was good for a little bit, but then I couldn't figure out Se Kyung's motivations (I think her character changed suddenly?), so I didn't enjoy it as much. And probably because she kept digging herself into a hole? lol probably around the time at which you stopped ^^;; I would finish it just to see how it ended, and I think I was decently satisfied, but not happy about the drama overall lol.

[quaggy_mire]

Sorry for not checking in sooner. As of Tuesday night I was laid low with the flu. Today is the first day I've felt even the slightest bit back to normal. :-P I haven't been able to do anything productive, but I have been able to catch up on my drama. I've watched more episodes since Wednesday than I have since the drama challenge begins! :-P Still have a long way to go before the last episode and least I'm much closer than I thought I'd ever be last week. Too bad I had to be sick for it to happen

[tokeruyouna]

I'm glad you're starting to feel a little better at least. :)

Personally I am totally fine with fast-forwarding scenes that I absolutely can't watch and aren't important for the drama anyway. This is usually limited to medical/torture types of scenes where once I know that A is having surgery or B is being tortured, seeing the actual content of the scene will make me sick and won't further enhance my understanding of the drama. If those scenes are still too much or if they are sprung on me so quickly that I can't skip them without being traumatized, I drop the drama. On the other hand I don't skip any other type of scene where I just find it irritating or whatever. If it is irritating enough that I want to skip it, I drop the drama. Obviously whether you skip, drop, or keep watching normally is up do you, but I doubt that guy will grow on you.

[quaggy_mire]

You make me feel better. Normally, I don't have a problem fast forwarding through certain scenes, but it felt a little wrong to do so when I was watching as part of a drama challenge. Like I hadn't really watched the whole episode or something. :-)

[tokeruyouna]

Oh I don' t think anyone here has a problem with that. This is about drama fun and not a competition, and it's not like you're skipping entire episodes just to say you met your goal either.

[tokeruyouna]

This week I finished Kare and started Eyes of Dawn, another bad drama for DFC since it is pretty long. At least most of the episodes are a little shorter than usual.

2. I don't have a plan since I don't have a goal.

4. Not that I can think of.

5. My favorite character is Kawashima Shougo in Urero Mikansei Shoujo. I like Gekidan Hitori both as an actor and as a comedian, and this role brings in elements of both. The character is funny and has some of the best and funniest scenes in this series.

6. No, I haven't been watching them.

7. I wish the Korean remake of Koibito yo, Yeoniniyeo (Oh Lovers on dramawiki), was subbed in English or that I could at least find the Japanese subs somewhere. I found a Chinese subbed version and have actually almost started watching that one despite the fact that I understand neither Chinese nor Korean. I also wish there would be more Kdrama remakes of Nozawa Hisashi dramas because 1) we won't get anymore Jdramas since he is dead and 2) I think his dramas are really suited to the style of

[lastingdreams8]

I also wish there would be more Kdrama remakes of Nozawa Hisashi dramas because 1) we won't get anymore Jdramas since he is dead...
Oooh, that's a neat way to keep his work going!

[tokeruyouna]

ROLF I don't know why but that comment made me crack up. Actually there was a Jdrama a few years ago based on one of his original concepts, so I guess it might be possible that a Jdrama could be based on one of his books in the future, but in general the themes of his stories are not really the things you see in Jdramas nowadays.