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• Title (English): Pride
• Genre: Sports, Human drama
• Episodes: 11
• Viewership ratings: 25.1
• Broadcast network: Fuji TV
• Broadcast period: 2004-Jan-12 to 2004-Mar-22
• Theme song: I Was Born To Love You by Queen

Pride is one of the most perfect and seamlessly written dramas I’ve ever seen. It’s about a lot of things – people and their relationships and how they work and what drives them, and hockey and friendship and loyalty and “pride” – but above and beyond all that – it’s a story about two people. Halu(Kimura Takuya), a smart-mouthed, offbeat, bad-boy hockey captain with a playboy past and a set of issues an inch deep, and Aki(Takeuchi Yuko), an old-fashioned, spunky “good girl” committed to her long-distance boyfriend whom she hasn’t heard from in two years. Highlighted by exquisite acting and a fiery OTP chemistry that can shift from nuanced and low-key to heartbreakingly intense in the space of a second, it’s just a brilliant love story and a really really good story, so real sometimes that it hurts. It’s never over the top but can pack a powerful emotional punch in a single scene or moment, and the writing is impeccable, as is the production and directing(Queen’s “I Was Born to Love You” is a wacky but inspired choice as the theme song, and the opening credits are so pretty). If I were to describe it, I would say that it’s a cross between Mars and Tatta Hitotsu no Koi(the former for content and the latter for its very straightforward plot/story arc).

Download with English subs from Silent Regrets.com

Download some songs from the soundtrack at the Asian Drama OSTs page

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Post imported from an older blog.

• Title (romaji): Proposal Daisakusen
• Tagline: Operation Love
• Genre: Romance

• Episodes: 11
• Viewership ratings: 17.3 (Kanto), 17.2 (Kansai)
• Broadcast period: 2007-Apr-16 to 2007-Jun-25
• Air time: Monday 21:00
• Theme song: Ashita Hareru Kana by Kuwata Keisuke

C&I rating: 4/5

One-line review: A sometimes slow but mostly deeply compelling and well-written drama, with quite possibly the BEST final episode(the special) of any drama I’ve ever seen.

Synopsis:

Iwase Ken and Yoshida Rei have been friends since elementary school. On the day of Rei’s wedding to another man, Ken watches her, coming to the full realization for the first time that he’s in love with her and always has been, and that he was simply too stubborn to admit it. Fortunately for him, a fairy who lives in the church has been observing him, and decides to give him one last chance(or two) at a happy ending. He sends Ken back in time, giving him the chance to remake the past so that he can chance the present.

Review: Proposal Daisakusen is that rare story of childhood sweethearts-turning-into-grown-up lovers done right. Most stories such as this have a couple falling in love as children and then being split up or separated by fate and losing track of each other until they magically meet again later, at which point they either don’t immediately recognize each other or other obstacles arise(usually both). The most difficult part of this plot – the aspect which almost all films that I’ve seen with this theme have screwed up on – is showing the two falling in love all over again as adults. The entire weight of the romance tends to rest on their childhood feelings for each other, usually shown mostly in flashbacks, and quite simply that’s not going to cut it. For one thing because we rarely experience their childhood with them – it’s shown almost invariably as a first meeting followed by a few pretty images of them together and then a flash forward to the present, so we as the audience never really empathize with it or are convinced by it. Proposal Daisakusen, thankfully, doesn’t follow this theme at all – Ken and Rei remain solid and close(in proximity at least) friends their until lives, and know each other as well as two people in that position could be expected to know each other(by which I mean they have as many misunderstandings and fumblings as any couple fighting toward love would have) so their feelings for each other are both convincing and constantly before our eyes. Ken doesn’t need to love some childhood memory of a girl because he loves the girl standing right before him.

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Synopsis: Han Min-Gook(Lee Sung Jae), a multi-billionaire, and Lee Ae-Ri(Han Eun Jung), a famous actress, have just attained a headline-making divorce. Now, Ae-Ri wants to sue her ex-husband for billions of dollars in alimony. Enter Woo Yi-Kyung(Lee Soo Kyung of Soulmate), a rookie lawyer who has just started her own practice, having switched to law and passed the bar after having been abandoned six years before by her lawyer boyfriend when he leaves for the U.S. As one of Ae-Ri’s closest friends in the past, when Yi-Kyung hears of the divorce she expects Ae-Ri to call her. Instead, Ae-Ri demands the best lawyer in the business from a major legal company to help her win her suit against her husband, and the company rushes Byun Hyuk, a rising star specializing in divorce cases, back from New York – Byun Hyuk who is none other than Yi-Kyung’s ex-boyfriend. Billionaire Min-Gook, meanwhile, not about to let his ex-wife have it all her way, hatches a plot to hire his wife’s best friend to be his lawyer, and turns up one morning on Yi-Kyung’s doorstep, demanding that she represent him. Soon, the ex-husband-and-wife and ex-lovers find themselves on opposing sides in the country’s most famous court case.

Review:If all dramas were like Lawyers of Korea, I would spend my lifetime staring at a computer screen with a silly smile on my face. It took me a little while to fall completely for it – 2 episodes, but when I did, I fell fast and hard, with a crash that could be heard for a hundred miles. It’s the small moments, the exquisitely-handled romantic scenes that pepper almost every episode, that lift this drama above average, but it’s not just that; Lawyers showcases one of the most stellar writing jobs I’ve ever seen, with each scene, particularly in the latter half of the drama, unfolding with such perfection and character-and-OTP consistency, that it left me in awe, and a plot that, while refreshingly non-angsty, managed to constantly surprise me. There are a beautifully few number of tears and over-the-top twists in Lawyers, but that doesn’t mean the characters and their lives aren’t compelling – on the contrary, the fact that it was all about character development kept me riveted through 16 episodes. Lee Soo Kyung, best known for her performance in experimental drama Soulmate, is spot on as quirky, feisty lawyer Woo, and Lee Sung Jae, who is a popular film star, gives a powerhouse performance as offbeat, neurotic millionaire Min-Gook. Fast, witty dialogue, understated (for a Korean drama) romance, and funny, pitch-perfect writing made this an absolute delight from beginning to end.

To watch : If you live in the US, watch online in high quality on Dramafever, otherwise download the RAWS(videos) here and subs here

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Kdramas:
9 End 2 Outs-4/5

Boys Before Flowers-3/5

Goong-4/5

Fireworks/Exhibition of Fireworks-3.5/5

Full House-4.5/5

Last Scandal-3.5/5

Lawyers of the Great Republic Korea-4/5

My Girl-4.5/5

Partner-4/5

Robbers-3/5

Shining Inheritance-4.5/5

Snow White-3/5

Soulmate-4.5/5

Thank You-5/5

The First Shop of Coffee Prince-5/5

Who Are You?-4.5/5

You’re Beautiful-3.8/5

Reviewed:

The World That They Live In

Jdramas:

1 Litre of Tears -5/5

Hana Yori Dango 1 – 5/5

Hana Yori Dango 2 -4.5/5

Hanazakari no Kimi Tachi e -4/5

Love Shuffle-5/5

Nodame Cantabile-2.8/5

Pride-4.9/5

Proposal Daisakusen-4/5

Tatta Hitotsu no Koi-4.5/5

Twdramas

Corner with Love-4/5

Devil Beside You-4.5/5

Hana Kimi-3.5/5

Love Storm-2.5/5

Mars -5/5

Meteor Garden -4.9/5

My Lucky Star -4/5

Romantic Princess -3/5

Silence-4/5

Smiling Pasta -4/5

Sweet Relationship-3/5

ToGetHer-4/5

Wish to See You Again-4/5

Why Why Love-4/5

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