#This is what happens when I watch too much Kdrama that involves grim reapers

[kawaiikichi]

Were We? (Saiou Week Day 7)

@saiouweek

Surprise, surprise, I actually managed to write something for Saiou Week! I feel like it could also fall under the prompt “Past Life” for Day 2 but because the past life in this references to them during the killing game and their present life is something completely different, I decided to just post it under free day.

I hope you all like it! :D

Title: Were We?

Prompt: Shuichi’s Birthday or Free Day

Summary: Shuichi has spent over three hundred years as a Grim Reaper, roaming the streets of Tokyo and leading deceased souls to the afterlife. One day, he runs into a purple-haired male whom he has seen in his dreams and it makes him feel emotions he hasn’t felt in god knows how long.

One-Shot Notes: Inspired by the Kdrama Goblin with Shuichi as the Grim Reaper and Kokichi as Sunny; their past life is them in the killing game while their present life is with Shuichi as the grim reaper and Kokichi as a human

Warnings: A sprinkling of angst, NDRV3 spoilers; read at your own risk!

Read on under the cut!

Shuichi walked along the sidewalk, the crisp autumn breeze ruffling his black hair and making his long, black trench coat flutter with each step he took. He stuffed his leather glove-clad hands into his pockets, hoping to warm them as he walked to his destination.

He had no souls to collect and take back to his tea shop until the afternoon, so he decided to take a walk and get himself some coffee before heading to the first accident that was supposed to take place. He also wanted to get away from Rantaro, the immortal goblin that he’s been rooming with as of late. His singing was obnoxious, anyway.

Upon arriving at the coffee shop he frequented, he was met with the warm and comforting smell of baked sweets and freshly brewed coffee. The barista at the counter greeted him, a wide smile on his face. Shuichi greeted him in response as he grabbed for an empty medium-sized cup.

“Americano with no sugar and no cream, correct?” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s correct. You know me well, Naegi-kun.” Shuichi told him.

“Well, you come here so often that I know your order by now!” Makoto slid a small plate with a cream cheese danish on it across the counter. “Here’s your danish as well, Saihara-kun.” he said.

“Thank you.” Shuichi replied.

After paying, he went to sit at the window bar. He nibbled on his danish as he watched passerbys walk the streets. He let his mind wander, and just like it usually did, it went to a male whose face he was unable to see.

Recently, Shuichi has been having dreams involving him. They always took place in what the grim reaper assumed to be a school, but it gave off prison vibes and it rubbed Shuichi the wrong way. But what happened between him and the male in that prison-esque school building could only be summarized as eventful and fun.

The male seemed to be a pain in the ass at times, lying all the time and pulling pranks on other people that were at the school, but the times they spent together were nice. They played games in the dining hall, hid away together in the casino, and read books in the basement library until they fell asleep on each other, blankets wrapped around each other with the male’s head on his shoulder and his head resting against the male’s.

These dreams were filled with happiness and love confessions whispered against each other’s lips as they pressed against each on the couch in the AV room, the film they were watching long forgotten. The Shuichi in those dreams was overjoyed and he looked at the male in his arms with love, which confused the grim reaper when he woke up from that particular dream.

Never in his three hundred years of life had he felt such an emotion so raw and passionate.

Fueled by his curiosity, he looked forward to these dreams. He wondered about how the Shuichi in his dreams interacted with this male he was dating and if these two were able to get out of the school that held them captive and away from the black and white robotic bear that played them like a fiddle in this killing game they were thrown into, living happily ever after.

But what the grim reaper dreamed of last night was anything but nice. In fact, it resembled a nightmare. Everything was smeared in darkness and steeped in the pungent, coppery scent of blood. There was mourning over the execution of a guy named Gonta, whose heart was made of gold and who wouldn’t dare hurt a fly (literally). There was screaming, shouting, tears, and words that pierced through the heart like sharpened blades and spilled blood everywhere without mercy, the dream eventually ending with images of a bloodied hydraulic press.

The way the dream ended last night unsettled Shuichi. Those images were still fresh in his mind as he took a sip from his Americano. Bitterness coated his taste buds, but it wasn’t the pleasant kind that he was accustomed to. Instead, it made his nose crinkle and his body tense from the intensity of it.

He didn’t bother finishing this coffee this time and wolfed down his danish before heading out, hoping that the subtle sweetness would overpower the bitterness that lingered in his mouth.

He eventually found himself strolling along a bridge, which seemed unusually quiet for a Monday morning. Well, save for a nearby jewelry booth that he spotted out of the corner. His eyebrow twitched.

Is that even allowed? he asked himself.

He shook his head, clicking his teeth before sighing.

“Whatever. It doesn’t concern me.” he said.

He started to walk past the booth when the owner of the booth called out to him.

“Hey, Mister Handsome in Black!” a chirpy voice called out.

Shuichi came to a stop, wanting nothing more than to tap on his watch and disappear from her sight.

Can’t anybody let me be in peace today? he wondered to himself.

He shot a glance at the owner, who turned out to be a girl in her twenties with wavy black hair and sparkling amber eyes. Her red lips pulled upward into a smile.

“Are you in need of some new accessories?” she asked.

Shuichi turned his body more, lowering his gaze to the sparkling jewelry and then up to the girl, who continued to beam at him.

“These kinds of accessories aren’t my style.” he told her.

Besides, you can tell at first glance that they’re cheap ripoffs of the real thing, his mind supplied for him.

This only made her giggle.

“Oh, no worries! Then, you could get one for your girlfriend. I’m sure it’ll please her very much.” she said.

“I don’t swing that way.” Shuichi told her.

She blinked her eyes, shooting him a dumbfounded look as he continued.

“I have a preference for guys, so buying something for a so-called girlfriend would be pointless.” he told her.

“I see...well, maybe your boyfriend would like something from here!” she said.

Shuichi got ready to tell her that he didn’t have a boyfriend, but she was already reaching for a purple rope bracelet with a simple puzzle piece charm on it.

“Here, you could buy this. It’s simple, but quite cute.” she told him.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.” he said.

She puffed her cheeks out.

“Come on! It doesn’t even cost that much. I’m sure you could give me a couple yen.” she said, growing more persistent with each word she spoke.

“Really, I’m fine! I don’t want to buy anything—“ he stopped, gold eyes landing on a checkered scarf.

It was just a simple checkered scarf and yet, Shuichi felt a tug in his heart. It was like the scarf was calling his name, begging for him to pick it up and buy it.

His hand started moving on its own before he could stop it. It inches further and further towards the checkered fabric, the tug at his heart growing stronger. His finger brushed along it as another hand appeared in his vision, snatching the scarf up and abruptly snapping him out of whatever trance he had fallen under.

“Oooh, this looks cute! This is totally my style. How much is it?”

Shuichi blinked, looking to his right and locking on a male wispy purple hair that stuck out in all directions. He was shorter than him, making him about five foot one, if he had to guess. The male wore a black and white sawtooth pattern coat with dark denim skinny jeans and black ankle boots.

Almost as if the male knew he was being watched, he turned away from the girl running the booth and locked eyes with Shuichi. The grim reaper felt the wind being knocked out of him the minute it happened. The male’s eyes were a deep shade of purple that sparkled like precious gems in the morning light.

Then, it happened.

Snippets from the dreams he’d been having came slamming into him like a truck, accompanied by a chirpy voice.

“Saihara-chan, let’s play a game!”

“Nishishi! It was just a lie. Or was I lying about that being a lie? The world may never know!”

“I...like you too, Saihara-chan.”

“Ew, I don’t think I can understand why you like black coffee so much.”

“Come oooooooon, Saihara-chan! You promised we’d go swimming!”

“Saihara-chan!”

“Saihara-chan!”

“Saihara-chan...I’m sorry.”

“...I’ll always love you, Saihara-chan.”

Before Shuichi could process what was happening, a single tear trailed down his cheek. He could only stare at the male with a dumbfounded look on his face.

The male peered at Shuichi curiously, brows furrowed and lips pursed.

“Why are you watching me like that? I saw this first.” he waved the scarf around. “You hear me? I saw it first. First!” he shouted.

However, Shuichi didn’t respond. The male arched a brow as he continued to look Shuichi up and down.

“Wait a minute...are you crying?” he leaned in closer. “Oh shit, you are.” he said.

Minty breath tickled his lips and the minute Shuichi realized how close his face was, he immediately jerked back like he burned himself.

“H-Huh?” he stammered out.

“You were crying just now.” the male pointed out.

“What? I wasn’t—“ Shuichi reached up to touch his cheek and immediately felt the wet tear trail on it.

He dabbed at it in surprise. He couldn’t remember the last time he shed a tear, let alone if he actually did during the amount of time he’s been alive. Just what the heck was going on?

The male continued to eye him.

“Do you want it? The scarf, that is. I wanted to buy it because it looked neat, but if you want it…” he murmured.

“Uh...I…” Shuichi trailed off.

“Hm? Are you speechless? Is it because I’m so drop dead gorgeous that you can’t say anything?” the male teased.

“Wha…?!” Shuichi gawked at him in shock, cheeks flushing red.

“Nishishi! Aw, you’re adorable when you’re flustered! It makes me want to kiss you.” the male said.

The blush on Shuichi’s cheeks deepened, which only made him giggle more.

“But seriously, do you want it? Because if you do, I’m not gonna give it to you for free.” the male held his hand out to him. “Give me your number.” he said.

“My...number?” Shuichi questioned.

“Yeah? I’m going to need to contact you in regards to this scarf, you know.”

“I don’t have one.”

The male blinked twice.

“Wait. You’re telling me you don’t have a phone?” he asked.

“I don’t have one.” Shuichi replied.

“Why not?”

“I don’t need one, that’s why.”

“How could you not need one? We live in the twenty-first century! Of course you need a cell phone!”

“I just don’t see why I need to have one.”

“Because…!” the male heaved a deep sigh. “Okay, I can’t be doing this right now. I guess that means this scarf will be mine.” he said.

He moved to tie the scarf around his neck, but Shuichi spoke, effectively stopping him.

“W-Wait! Set the scarf down. Write your number down and place it there with the scarf. I’ll call you.” he proposed.

“Weeeeeeell…” he proceeded to twirl some hair around his finger. “We should at least exchange names if that’s how you wanna do it.” he said.

“Okay...well, my name’s Saihara. Saihara Shuichi.” Shuichi told him.

“Saihara-chan? I’ll make sure to remember that, then. I’m Ouma. Ouma Kokichi.” Kokichi introduced.

He reached his hand out for Shuichi to shake. The grim reaper could only stare down at the hand quizzically before redirecting his gaze to Kokichi’s. The purple-haired male watched him expectantly, waiting for Shuichi to shake it.

“If you don’t want to shake it, then that’s fine.” Kokichi turned back to the booth owner. “You said it was thirteen hundred yen, right? I’ll take it.” he said.

He began to fish through his pocket, mumbling to himself about where he put his wallet. Shuichi sighed, reaching into his trench coat and pulling out his wallet. Flipping it open, he pulled out a few bills and handed it to the booth owner.

“Here, I’ll pay for it.” he said.

Kokichi gaped at him in surprise.

“Wait! Saihara-chan, I can pay for it—“

“I already gave her the money. Just let it be.”

The purple-haired male pouted as the girl giggled.

“Aw, how sweet! By the way…” she leaned in closer to Shuichi, which startled him a little. “This scarf costs way more than thirteen hundred yen. The cost for it is...quite hefty, if I do say so myself.” she whispered lowly.

“How much does it cost, then?” Shuichi asked.

“Hm...maybe someone’s memories?” she hummed out in response.

Shuichi eyed her warily, but she only smiled at him brightly as she accepted the money from him. He sighed, withdrawing from her as Kokichi spoke.

“Well, since you bought it, I guess I should let you have it for now.” he handed the scarf to Shuichi along with a slip of paper. “And here’s my number.” he said.

Shuichi took the scarf and paper from Kokichi, examining them. As he did, Kokichi continued to eye him. Upon feeling the set of eyes on him, he glanced back at Kokichi.

“Yes?” he said.

“You know...the more I look at you, the more I feel like I’ve seen you before.” Kokichi commented.

Shuichi’s eyes widened in surprise as Kokichi leaned in towards him, purple eyes scanning him.

“I wonder...were we lovers in a past life or something?” he mused aloud.

“Were we...what?” he questioned, wondering if he heard him correctly.

“Lovers. Maybe we were lovers in a past life.”

“Were we?”

Kokichi shrugged.

“The world may never know.” the sound of a phone ringing reached their ears. “Ah, that’s mine. I’m going to need to go now.” Kokichi said.

He pulled away from Shuichi and began to walk past him.

“I’ll be waiting for your call, my beloved Saihara-chan!” he called out over his shoulder.

“My beloved…?!” Shuichi squeaked as he turned, watching Kokichi wave his hand as he headed down the steps and disappeared from his sight.

Shuichi sighed deeply.

“That was...interesting.” he murmured.

He looked down at the scarf, running a thumb along the fabric before focusing on the piece of paper that had Kokichi’s number on it along with his name and a quick doodle of himself. As he continued to stare at the two items, Kokichi’s question rang in his mind.

“I wonder...were we lovers in a past life or something?”

The bits and pieces from his dreams resurfaced as he thought back on them. This time, the mystery male had wispy purple hair, purple eyes, and a mischievous smile. He gripped the scarf tighter.

He couldn’t help but wonder if these dreams he was having were merely dreams or if they were something. Maybe they were pieces of his memory from his past life that he was told that he shouldn’t remember at all costs.

But if it were indeed those memories that stayed buried within him, locked in Pandora’s box...then Kokichi might be onto something.

[depressedyeehaw]

KDRAMA REC

these are dramas I’ve watched. favorites in no particular order (except Goblin, it’s my favorite.) I tried not to put too much into the details because I didn’t want to spoil anything but yeah. I’ve seen quite a few now so why not.

* Goblin (Guardian: the Lonely and Great God)

buckle up because you’ve got a tired goblin, a socially inept grim reaper, and ghost seeing high schoolers that become housemates and your best friends.

if you’re not new to the Kdrama world then you’ve definitely heard or seen this drama and how fucking great it is. whether it’s the stellar cast or the beautiful soundtrack, it didn’t get its reputation for nothing.

it’s got romance, bromance, lots of humor, past and present collisions, the ability to make you depressed, and Gong Yoo.

Hush - Linde Lindh (the OTS is so beautiful)

what more could you want?

* Healer

do you like spy or spy-esque genres? Ji Chang Wook? a dash of betrayal? then I’ve got the drama for you!

an errand boy for hire gets put in a sticky situation that involves a girl that he just can’t seem to shake, their past, and some politics that really put his identity in jeopardy.

it’s a lot of storylines that really tie together well in the end.

when you hold me tight - Yael Meyer

bad boy is actually soft and soft girl don’t take shit.

* The Legend of the Blue Sea

another fantasy that includes the past and present, but with MERMAIDS.

a mermaid who’s just trying to get this boy, but can’t exactly function well in society since she was in the ocean her whole life.

and a con artist who just can’t seem let her go.

the secondary cast are great and I love them.

this drama is hilarious, like first episode you’re gonna laugh within the first 10 min. it’s probably my second favorite.

it’s got TWO umbrella scenes AND a claw machine.

crying may happen so bring a plastic bag.

* Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

another favorite.

your main girl is a weightlifting, independent woman who don’t need no man but boy does she like him.

and your main guy is a swimmer with PTSD and he’s such a sweet BOI

the trio is so funny I wanted to die.

sets high standards for your boyfriend so watch out.

sheds light on mental health and eating disorders.

no bad blood really, just really wholesome x1.

* Fight My Way

four friends just trying to follow their dreams even tho they’re tight on money.

leading lady is so fed up, just wants to be an announcer.

leading boy is not far behind her, lowkey misses being a fighter.

my favorite drama with Park Seo Joon.

the aeygo is strong with this one.

really wholesome x2, you’ll love it.

don’t punch with your thumb tucked under your fingers, you’ll break it

* What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?

she just wants to live her own life, that’s what.

she’s been his secretary for like 9 years and just wants to be done with it.

the whole brooding, egotistical boss thing kinda turned me off but you gotta give it a chance.

lowkey twisted.

another Park Seo Joon (I watched this before watching Fight My Way and lemme tell you, the whiplash was real)

same actress from Healer, she’s so G O O D

the side romances are great

* She Was Pretty

last one with Park Seo Joon I swear

it was pretty decent, also the first drama I ever watched (thank you YouTube algorithm)

instead of egotistical boss, you get a prick instead (I’m still salty about it okay)

they were friends, lost touch. and now they’re back together but get this, she ain’t who he thinks she is.

and he’s her boss on top of that.

main lead is so pretty (she IS pretty) she’s just so optimistic and empathetic.

second lead syndrome so tread carefully.

ending is cute, I’ll give it that.

* Touch Your Heart

if you liked the two Goblin characters (not the main two, I wish) then you’ll want to watch this after Goblin.

literally so fucking cute.

I’m not kidding, I got cavities from this shit.

had to pause multiple times because of how cringely cute it was.

she’s just an actress trying to method act for her lawyer role.

and he’s the lawyer who’s just so done but then he’s not!

* Because This Is My First Life

one needs money and one needs a room.

THERES A CAT

honestly such a wholesome x3 drama that makes you think.

is marriage all that??

Marriage - MoonMoon (it is all that)

really shows how sexism affects women in the workplace

kinda slow burn

* Cheese in the Trap

Kim Go Eun is a delight, I love her.

based off a popular WEBTOON by the same name.

apparently controversial because of that.

also SLS so be careful.

college is hard and not just because of classes.

basically college girl has a bad past experience with popular guy but suddenly he’s asking her to eat with him and it’s confusing her.

and then he’s not also what he seems.

wish it had more about the main guy because he was just so interesting (read the webtoon cause it’s actually really good)

also has a movie with some of the same cast (I watched it right after finishing the drama and it’s not as in depth obviously but the ending is better)

* The K2

action packed

the soundtrack is lit

Ji Chang Wook could kick my ass and I’d thank him.

boy gets caught in some high stakes politics and ends up as a bodyguard.

very political and it was hard for me to follow at times.

I’d die for Anna.

who do you trust? Idfk

the guy is literally so fed up 90% of the drama

iconic umbrella scene.

* Hotel Del Luna

when I die, you’ll find me at Hotel Del Luna: the hotel for the dead.

okay the main guy looks like he’s thirty but he’s actually 22 in this wtf that’s younger than me. I feel WRONGED.

you’ll love the entire hotel crew.

owner: she’s a problematic fav

the new manager: he’s just trying his best

OST is a bop.

lotta past and present overlapping in this and it’s great

* Oh My Venus

this one was cute but also problematic to me

pretty girl in high school became a chubby lawyer.

lotta relationship drama and cringe.

and the entire drama is about her losing weight and falling for stoic but actual soft boy “coachenim”.

ending could have been so much better oh my G O D.

probably my least favorite but I didn’t genuinely enjoy most of it.

* Suspicious Partner

lawyers, prosecutors, and murders OH MY!

you got an angry boi and a hot mess of a girl

hot mess gets herself in a bigger mess and becomes a murder suspect.

angry boi gets more angry

I have never yelled at a drama more than this one, jesus it was a ride.

the romance is there but in small doses.

forty 30 min episodes (20 hours)

hey look, Ji Chang Wook is in this one too.

* Descendants of the Sun

a soldier and doctor hit it off but then their moral views conflict with their romantic interest.

they go separate ways but then PLOT TWIST

surprise, doc. I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me.

the bromance is real in this one too.

Touch Your Heart recreated the iconic helicopter scene p e r f e c t l y

will add more as I continue to watch.

[tortoisesshells]

insomnia is terrible. here’s thoughts on my recent kdrama binge, under the cut:

Signal (2016): It’s been over a month and I can confidently say I hated the last ~45minutes because they feel like the narrative equivalent of a long loading screen for a program you didn’t mean to boot up in the first place - it’s not the worst ending for a show I’ve ever seen (see Black, down below), but it did both feel like a cop-out and ... hmm. like my faith in the characters was seriously misplaced. Which is a shame! Cop-show/copaganda aside, both the overarching plot (the disappearance of Detective Lee Jae Han fifteen years ago)/plot preoccupations (political corruption, socio-economic stratification and the complicity of the police in reinforcing class barriers/defending the wealthy and powerful at the cost of the poor and powerless) and the individual mysteries that the characters past and present struggle to resolve were interesting and satisfactorily dealt with; the magic plot device of a radio that allowed Lieutenant Park Hae Young in 2015 to communicate with Lee Jae Han in the past (1989-2000) was ultimately far more compelling than it had any right to be. It feels like a long meditation on grief, at times, and how grief both rots and compels. I ugly cried so hard into my cat she sought revenge by dropping a spider in my bed, and I’m still not sure if that’s a recommendation. 

Crash Landing on You (2020): as unlikely and ideologically irresponsible (South Korean heiress accidentally ends up in a North Korean village via paragliding accident, winds up in the middle of convoluted political plots as often as she does small-town hijinx, in no small part because she totally isn’t in love with the emotionally-shut-down-but-kind-Army-Captain; alas, those troubles (but! some of her new friends, too!) follow her when she returns to South Korea and her awful family) as it was ultimately charming. This was billed to me as “a fun romantic comedy” to take my mind off the mindfuck of Signal’s ending, which might have been a mislabeling, considering politics, that the main relationship hinges in small part on the male lead inadvertently preventing the female lead from killing herself seven years before the narrative picks up, and there was no way, short of reunification of North and South, that things would end totally happily for the characters. Serotonin is stored in the abundant found family/true companions scenes, but we can’t have nice things for long. Watch with tissues.

Kingdom (2019-): I spent a significant chunk of this dry-heaving, or biting my nails, or hiding under my quilt. Quality zombie drama that also made me cry my own tears, tightly written, but I’m too squeamish and too worn out by 2020 to enjoy this fully.

Mystic Pop Up Bar (2020): sometimes, a family is a bad-tempered 500 year-old cursed pop-up bar owner, her pun- and grandpa-sweater-loving manager with a long and mysterious supernatural past, their turbo-empath busboy who can’t touch normal people without them spilling their deepest secrets, and the single braincell they have to share between them as they struggle to solve ordinary human’s grudges to satisfy the terms of the curse on the owner. For all that the action is pretty light-hearted, the characters’ backstories are weighted down with trauma, abandonment, betrayal and suicide; the grudges of the episode also deal with heavy stuff (workplace sexual harassment, infertility, the cycle of poverty, to name a few). But this is also a show where there’s a field-day in the afterlife for the dead to compete at ridiculous tasks to win the privilege of appearing to their descendants with the winning lottery numbers, the gods accidentally text the wrong numbers, Steve Jobs apparently digitalized reincarnation records, and threatening deities with baseball bats sometimes works wonders (and if that doesn’t work, annoying the shit out of them might do the trick). It doesn’t explain itself and, frankly, I don’t give a damn. Absurd and absurdly charming. I watched it and then immediately forced my sister to watch it again with me; I have a gallery of out-of-context screenshots of this show that watered my crops, cleared up my acne, and killed my enemies.

Black (2017): Honestly, when I figure out what the fuck just happened in the ending, I’ll let you know. I wanted this show to be better than it was, because the premise hit a lot of my buttons, and I wanted to be swept up in a story about life and death (and whatever comes next), and whether being human is in the ability to laugh or enjoy food or make irrational mistakes, or whether it’s in the bigger things: the wanting to be better and the ability to be so much worse, and what the opposite of human is? A woman with the ability to see the shadow of death on those about to die gets swept up in a sprawling web of corruption and abuse when she encounters a childhood friend by accident in a fast-food restaurant, only to see him killed him a hostage situation a day later. He gets better, thanks to possession by a Grim Reaper with his own agenda, but the Reaper’s involvement (and struggles to act human) reveals hitherto buried secrets in the woman’s past. It’s ... grim. Really grim. The web of mysteries is pretty tightly woven, and the show uses unreliable narrators for everything the trope is worth, but the characters and most of their relationships ultimately feel like they fall short of their potential to me, in a way it’s hard for me to articulate? Generally, the female characters felt underwritten and under-utilized; there’s a posthumous trans woman character who’s especially not handled well (better than some, but still felt transphobic to this cis observer). Honestly can’t recommend, unless you, too, can’t resist narratives about grim-reaper-archetypes, or you enjoy being infuriated by nonsense endings. OST’s pretty great, though.

Currently watching Mr. Sunshine (2018) with friends. pray 4 me.

[eleventoeternity]

Gong Yoo silent fan here K-drama in times of ECQ part 2

The first time I watched Gong Yoo (GY) was in Coffee Prince when it was shown here in the Philippines in 2008. It was a typical love story but not quite. Typical because it was a love story between a boss and an employee and the struggles in a regular relationship. Not quite ordinary because the girl Yoon Eun-hye needed to pretend he was a guy in the coffee shop that GY owned and because of this, it softly touches on how society looks at gender issues particularly on relationships.

Generally, it was a good K-drama but not enough for me to be curious about the actors.  I have watched other Rom Com K-drama series and back then, I find them pretty much the same because before most of the K-drama series shown here were about love and relationship.  

Fast forward to these ECQ days that we all need to stay at home and do something in order to not go crazy. So I went back to watching K-drama series, old and new ones and like the rest of his fans worldwide I was smitten by GY!

A back story: A K-drama that I watched when I was still single which really led me to joining the official fans club here in the Philippines was Princess Hours also starring Yoon Eun-hye and Ju Ji-hoon.  How far did I go?  I went to the heights of finding the official fans of JJH here. I went out to meet them in Makati one Saturday afternoon and I felt some kinda weirdness. It was totally different when you just meet them in the chat group. We met at coffee shop and I was able to see the admins of the chat group.  I already forgot their names (actually I forgot my pen name in that chat group as well). They told stories about JJH, about going to Korea just to take a glimpse of the agency of JJH and taking a shot if in case he would be there so that they could meet him.  I remember we wrote letters to him and compiled it to a book and sent that to Korea to his agency.

I realized how it were to be a fan and not just a fan, a fan of an actor abroad! Hahaha I wondered if he ever did get or read our letters. It was too much! I said to myself I think I can’t bear to be a fan.

And now that we are in the mature years (I think =p) I am back in that couch in love with that man who played Goblin lol. But I said and realized that I am on a different level of maturity because unlike before, I just left the infatuation feeling to those who could and would. I was so curious to see how was GY’s acting, how he has evolved from that jerk boss turned sweet boyfriend in Coffee Prince to that dashing immortal Goblin who sought for that life to end and needed his bride to accomplish that.   I would say it was a thousand fold improvements. The emotional scenes would really move you. I specially loved the scenes with GY and Yoo In Na who played as his sister as well as the scenes involving Grim Reaper played by Lee Dong Wok when he is meeting the souls in a room filled with tea cups. I wonder if in real life there is such a creature like the Grim Reaper who would be there when you die and meet you at the tea room. And of course who will not rave about the scenes between GY and Kim Go-eun. My favorite scene of them was the first time they met while they were walking. Actually they did not even meet; they just passed by each other. You know how in K-dramas that they do that slow-motion effect plus the musical scoring. I just loved the simple serendipity effect. Another favorite is when KGE passed away and was in the tea room (another tea room scene).

GY and KGE will make you laugh, cry well not at the same time but really in a fascinating way. It was a love story untold before so I am just purely amazed.

After watching Goblin, I became so curious of GY’s other Kdramas series. So I researched and found Big which he starred with Lee Min-jung.  Hmmm it is in between Coffee Prince and Goblin so I would say out of 10 I would give it a 6.  The story is about a girl with a dream of becoming a teacher and a boy from the US who transferred to Korea when his mother passed away. The boy and the girl (LMJ) met at the school where LMJ works. The boy met an accident with a man (GY), coincidentally was LMJ’s boyfriend. Their souls interchanged so when the man (GY) woke up, it was the boy’s soul inside him. Before the accident, they were having problems actually they were supposed to meet when the accident happened. I guess the problem I had here was that the ending was complicated. The sequence was not clear that in the end the boy’s soul would remain in GY’s body.  

After watching his Kdrama series, I feel that GY is stereo-typed in these roles the boyfriend, the good looking boyfriend who would love you forever and ever. I sometimes think that I guess it is what the market is looking for, stories that would make your heart flutter and I was thinking if GY would accept other roles which is not stereo-typed, I guess he would not be as popular as he is now.  I hope to see him portray a different but still cool role in K-drama series. I heard there are talks that GY will be joining a new series which will start shooting this August and it is a sci-fi story so this is something to watch out, I think that wish of mine was easily granted lol.

Acting-wise, I believe that GY has improved a lot. To be fair, the stories also differ as the love stories are also matched with action, comedy and important scenes which totally builds up the uniqueness of each story.  Not to forget the co-actors who are equally great and in parallel with GY. Oh well I think I will stop here as I have not yet written about GY’s movies which is on a totally different level.

To all the GY fans here, hello! I hope you are all safe and healthy nowadays and that life keeps you busy. Let us enjoy this simple life while we can and the best that we can.  Thank you to this annoyingly handsome guy who keeps us smiling. See you around!

As of today, I am trying to watch One Fine Day which was aired in 2006. I would really love to see all GY’s K-drama series  but some of them are hard to find already so I will leave it at that for now. 

[recurring-polynya]

Goblin Recap Time!!!

We watched episode 2 of Goblin this weekend and it was great, but then I got really busy, and haven’t got around to talking about it, so let’s do this. Hopefully, I can still remember most of what happened. This show is A LOT!

What happened this time:

First and foremost, remember last time, when I predicted that the Kim Shin - Wang Yeo roomies sitch was gonna be off the chain? I am pleased to report that it was, in fact, way, way off the chain. But I am ahead of myself.

So, Eun-Tak and Kim Shin had a nice time in Canada. We learned some things: - Kim Shin has spent a lot of time in Canada and has a whole bunch of dead servants whose graves he likes to visit. Also he has a fake grave for himself. - Because Being Immortal + Real Estate Speculation = $$$, Kim Shin is loaded. - Ghosts are scarier when they speak to you in English.

Also, Eun-Tak brought home a tourism brochure and a maple leaf, these might be somewhat important later?

Eun-Tak finally got a part time job! She finds this chicken restaurant run by a beautiful, extremely bored woman named Sunny. The restaurant has no customers, for no explicable reason. My husband and I are both obsessed with Sunny. She seems like the sort of person who would normally have just huge dick energy, but she’s sort of down on her luck right now. She eats a lot of snacks. At some point, she goes to a fortune teller, who tells her, “Beware of a man in a black hat,” and Sunny replies something along the lines of “Is he hot?” and Wang Yeo is in so, so much trouble.

At some point, Wang Yeo finds Eun-Tak again, and since he has his paperwork in order now, tries to drag her off to be dead again. Kim Shin rolls in and there’s this really cute part where Eun-Tak tries to protect him from Wang Yeo, and he’s like “relax, I know this jerk.” He tells Wang Yeo that he can’t take Eun-Tak because she’s the Goblin Bride, and if she dies, Wang Yeo will lose his chance to take Kim Shin himself. Wang Yeo (apparently) buys this, and bounces. Eun-Tak then yells at Kim Shin for lying to her about him being a Goblin and her being the Goblin Bride and he replies that she’s not the Goblin Bride, he just lied to protect her. It’s sort of been built up that he really believes she’s not because she can’t see his sword (which sticks out of him, but the show thankfully doesn’t show it most of the time). Unsurprisingly, Eun-Tak is really upset about this.

Later on, at home, Wang Yeo and Kim Shin talk it over at home, and Wang Yeo’s like, “maybe she just can’t see the sword yet”, like, good question, dude. How does anyone involved know how this works? Kim Shin didn’t exactly get a copy of The Handbook for the Recently Deceased when he croaked.

After this, Eun-Tak runs away from home so that Wang Yeo can’t find her (he hates it when people move), which causes her aunt to panic. Apparently, the aunt owes some mob-type guys some money, and she’s trying to scam Eun-Tak out of her insurance money, but she can’t find Eun-Tak’s bank book. Eun-Tak has said repeatedly that she doesn’t have it, and it’s slightly ambiguous as to if she does, but it’s implied that Goddess of Children/Old Grocery Lady (who is now young and hot) is involved. Speaking of her, she gave Eun-Tak some Cursed Spinach this episode. Just keeping her hand in, I guess.

Eun-Tak is actually sleeping at the chicken restaurant. Auntie shows up to try and find her, and Sunny destroys her with word play and trickery. Unfortunately, she just sends the mob guys after Eun-Tak directly. They basically kidnap her, and they’re driving around when all the street lights start going out and OH SHIT Kim Shin and Wang Yeo have TEAMED UP to come save her, I AM LOSING IT, I love it when rivals (are they rivals? I can’t even) team up. Anyway, the episode ends here.

Thoughts:

Last time, I was a bit ‘meh’ on Kim Shin. He was too cool and kind of a dick. Well, I am pleased to report that the man has revealed himself to be an absolute disaster and I now ::heart:: him. There is this extended scene of him trying to decide what to wear and what object to pose with the next time Eun-Tak summons him, and he keeps trying to get Wang Yeo’s opinion while Wang Yeo is trying to sleep, and it’s stupendous. For half the episode, he’s wearing a knee-length cardigan over a turtleneck jumpsuit. Oh, and when he’s sad, it starts raining, and Deok Hwa had all these dehumidifiers set up around him. But the ultimate Kim-Shin-Is-A-Disaster-Moment is this: Deok Hwa reveals that he’s known that Kim Shin is a Goblin since he was a kid. “How did you know?” Kim Shin asks. “You used to get drunk and offer me gold,” Deok Hwa explains, and then there’s a flashback of drunk Kim Shin offering Young Deok Hwa some gold bars and my soul left my body.

Wang Yeo is so perfect. He has incredible FML energy, as he hangs around the house, drinking his juice, putting up with Kim Shin’s bullshit, defending the honor of his hat. He meets up with a co-worker at some point and they complain about paperwork. We also find out that Grim Reapers get paid by the money people leave on altars, which is apparently, not a whole lot in terms of maintaining a modern lifestyle. I love this. I love all of this. I love him. Wang Yeo and Kim Shin keep getting in fights where they magically throw stuff at each other while they’re trying to eat. Kim Shin keeps putting a frilly nightcap on Wang Yeo. Wang Yeo sings a song about Kim Shin’s underwear.

Oh, I almost forgot! There’s a part where Wang Yeo takes a husband and wife who have died in a car wreck, and it turns out the husband is the guy who hit-and-runned Eun-Tak’s mom. Wang Yeo gives the wife the forgetfulness tea, but denies it to the husband, saying his hell is that he’s cursed to wander the earth, remembering what he has done. YOU ARE METAL AS HELL, WANG YEO.

At some point, Eun-Tak decides to ask a ghost why all the ghosts think she’s the Goblin Bride. Apparently, another ghost witnessed Kim Shin saving her mom and is huge gossip. So there are all these ghosts gathered around, telling Eun-Tak this story, and in the middle, one of the ghosts starts trying to drag Eun-Tak to her death, Ringu -style, and the other ghosts are holding her back, like, “Oh God, why are you always like this?” and it was perfect.

How are there zero Goblin x Bleach crossover fics on Ao3? Is it so much to ask for one little fic of Eun-Tak and Ichigo eating ice cream and complaining about how terrible ghosts and other supernatural beings are?

This show is real good.

Remember when I said that I was worried my husband wasn’t gonna be into this? At some point, he turns to me and says, “so, I was reading this post on /r/kdrama, and...” I am done worrying.

[petrichorblue94]

K-dramas I’ve watched this autumn (list to be updated)

Strong Woman Bong Soon - this is literally the best feel-good feminist empowerment show I’ve watched and the only fiction that can compare is Wonder Woman. It was funny, the leads were great, the story - more than entertaining,  I did’t have a secondary lead syndrome (which basically happens only when Gong Myung is involved, damn boy, why don’t you for once sign up a contract where you play the male lead??? The happy loner was such a wonderful mini-drama) 

Girl’s Generation 1979 - I like it. I’ve only watched the first 4 episodes and will catch up on it these days, because I know it ends today. It’s a bit melancholic because it reminds me of my own unrequited love in high school but there’s something about it that makes me wanna finish it. I have to confess that I was mislead by an article that the main leads would be Jonghyun and Bona and I shipped them before I saw that this was a misunderstanding and to this day I can’t help but feel that their dynamic would’ve been better.

Splash Splash Love - I got to know about it because I really liked the actor who plays the male lead in the Let’s Eat series and I expected it to be a full drama, but was surprised when it was only a mini-drama as well. I loved the whole story and Yoon Doo-joon was just as handsome and charismatic as I remembered him from my favorite foodie series. Anyway, I knew I’d love it ever since I saw it was a time travel girl falls into the past and falls in love trope and I’m a real sucker for it.

Twenty- I loved this movie, it was so fresh and funny! 

109 stranger things - the whole web series was pretty meh but it was alright I guess. 

Avengers Social Club - WOW, this is strong stuff. I kindda shipped the youngest avenger with the adopted son, but it’d have been too weird if they actually happened. They did give off some pretty weirdly romantic vibes, but it happens without actual romance involved, I suppose. I really liked the abused mum and the daughter storyline, I squealed with joy when she slapped the shit out of her husband and then destroyed him.

While you were sleeping- What’s up with October kdrama? Everything’s good. This was so romantic and thrilling, I hadn’t felt this inside a storyline since Goblin. It did give off some Goblin vibes and I really shipped the main leads, didn’t have a Secondary Lead Syndrome, but I’d have wanted that police officer turned lawyer for myself, haha

Go Back Couple- the most realistic but super interesting drama I've watched in my life. Great stuff. I actually didn’t want the leads to get back together because their relationship seemed so worn off and toxic but by magic, the last three episodes converted me. I’m still not sure if they’d function healthily in the future, but I really hope so.

Black - I really liked the guy that was the grim reaper before the grim reaper actually took his body. He became too much of an asshole after that, and I’m not entirely sure -by ep 5 - that he isn’t an anti-hero or something, because I sure as heck am not rooting for him to let all these people die just to protect the laws of nature. And the actor that plays the actual 444 is really not my type, so everytime I see the lead I just think about how he really looks and am like, um, no thanks. 

The plot itself is super exiting though.

UPDATE: Ok, so Black actually turned out to become my favorite TV show. EvER.

Wednesday 3:30 PM: This was a very cute small drama and for some reason it was the only thing I could tolerate while watching Black, simply because it’s so unassuming and cute. 

I tried out big names like “Because this is My First Life” (gave up on it on the 2nd ep), “My Wife’s Having an Affair this week” (gave up on it on the first five minutes), Mad Dog (same), Bravo My Life (same), Witch’s Court (gave up on it after the first ep), Circle (same), Revolutionary Love (same, I just can’t bear watch my soulmate Gong Myung cry and get emotionally stabbed time after time), Oh The Mysterious, Meloholic, Saimdang and Dramaworld (ugh). Gave up on all of them after first five minutes. Only two I’ve watched for more than two episodes - Witch’s Mirror, which I gave up on after understanding it had an angsty tragic ending (I’d have given up on Reunited Worlds if I had spoilers too). The second one is Queen of Mystery and that I think I’d continue after Black ends.

I also tried watching Obsessed for Song Seung Heon and his sex scenes but the movie itself was so boring I just skipped to them and was left unimpressed. Oh, I skipped through the first part of the Magician, after which I gave up.