Drama Review: My Love from Another Star (2013)
Grade: BCategorySupernatural romantic comedyWhat it’s aboutChun Song Yi seems to have everything: In spite of her reputation as an airhead, she’s a top actress. She’s got an angelic best friend, a...
View ArticleChanging times
Answer Me 1997: Hey, look! it’s the good old days.As of this month, I’ve been watching Korean drama for three years. I was among the first wave of Americans that Netflix streaming exposed to kdrama,...
View ArticleNavel gazing and sweeping generalizations: Watching drama as an American
Heirs: No hot guy has ever gazed adoringly at me from a convenience store’s eat-in counter, because here convenience stores don’t have eat-in counters. (That’s why, right?) Someone I follow on Tumblr...
View ArticleWhat, no post?
For the first time in two and a half years, I wasn’t able to wrap up a post for this week. (Drat you, real life!) Outside Seoul will be back with a new post next Tuesday.
View ArticleMy favorite OTP moments: a brief catalog
There are lots of things I love about Asian dramas. Key among them is a willingness to tell stories about love. The American television I grew up with doesn’t really do this—instead, it’s full of...
View ArticleLazy: An autobiography by me
Motivation has been even harder than usual for me to come by lately. So instead of an actual Tuesday post, I give you a short review of Witch’s Romance (below), and a new blog thingy (“Favorite Posts,”...
View ArticleDrama Review: Witch’s Romance (2014)
Grade: B-CategoryWorkplace noona romanceWhat it’s aboutYears after being left at the alter by her globe-trotting photographer boyfriend, Ji Yeon is a hard-charging career woman and dedicated...
View ArticleOpening numbers
My Lovely Sam Soon was the first Kdrama I ever watched, back before Korean dramas were easily accessible on legal streaming sites. Thanks to a borrowed set of DVDs, a friend and I were able to marathon...
View ArticleMy two favorite things: books and dramas
Books and reading don’t come up all that often in Western entertainment. I did some Googling on this topic, and even listing ten on-screen readers required one website to go all the way back to the...
View ArticleThings I wish existed: Fangirl tours
Have you always wanted to visit Korea? To order an overpriced Americano at Coffee Prince, troll for handsome chaebol sons in Cheongdamdong, or pretend to be a cross-dressing Joseon scholar on the...
View ArticleDrama Review: Secret Love Affair (2014)
Grade: A++CategoryRomantic melodramaWhat it’s aboutOn the surface, Oh Hye Won is an elegant professional who works at a ritzy arts organization, living a life filled with luxuries that anyone would...
View ArticleGoodbye, my Love
Do you think they were trying to tell us something with this shot? Like maybe the ending?For the past two months, I’ve lived in the world of Secret Love Affair. Now that I’m reawakening to real life, I...
View ArticleDrama Review: Return of Iljimae (2009)
Grade: B+CategoryAction/adventure fusion sageuk What it’s aboutThe epic (but occasionally tongue-in-cheek) journey a hero and his desperate efforts to protect Korea and her people.What it’s not...
View ArticleDrama Review: Majo no Jouken (1999)
Grade: A-CategoryJapanese melodramaWhat it’s aboutAt twenty-six, Hirose Michi’s life seems perfect. She teaches high school math and has responsibility for her own homeroom class, and her longtime...
View ArticleWhat Now?
Will Secret Love Affair’s finale live up to Tokyo Tower’s fantastic Parisian hug?When this post goes live, I will be watching the final episode of Secret Love Affair. (Yes, I’m so obsessed that I’m...
View ArticleSecret Love Affair: Winding to a close
“All good things must come to an end” is one of the cruelest—and most accurate—expressions in the English language.Unfortunately, it definitely applies to Secret Love Affair. The ending is creeping...
View ArticleSubstantial: Subbers on Secret Love Affair and the craft of subbing
Subtitles are the key that allows international viewers entry into the world of Korean drama.I didn’t fully understand this until my first rewatch of Coffee Prince. Before that, I blindly followed...
View ArticleHouse of horrors, Kdrama style
“What do you mean, Yoon Si Yoon is going to cut off all his hair and disappear from public view for two years?”If I had a dollar for every time someone called me “Debbie Downer” or a variant thereof, I...
View ArticleDrama Review: Miss Korea (2013)
Grade: B+CategoryLight melodramaWhat it’s aboutJi Young was always the prettiest girl around, but it turns out that adult life doesn’t live up to her high school expectations: She’s single and lives at...
View ArticleHeroine addict
Sometimes I think 90 percent of Korean dramas are about the same girl. (See above.)You know her: always hardworking and self-sacrificing, wide-eyed and innocent. Sure, the details are different. She...
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