Oh Japan, when will you ever give me back those glorious love dramas which accompanied through my younger days and are forever etched in my heart and mind? When I scroll through what's on air these days, it's 50% mystery dramas based on mystery novels (70% of which seemed to be written by Higashino Keigo. Now, I like reading his novels too but really, this is getting a bit much. I wonder how long it will take before tv stations run out of Higashino novels to adapt.), 30% procedurals, 10% period and the rest comedies. I appreciate how Jdramas deal with a wide range of topics including the less than savoury ones but I want my love dramas back! Perhaps that why I enjoyed 'My 99 Days with a Star' so much despite the thin plot, I just needed a dose of Jdrama style romance. If you have any old school romance Jdrama to recommend, please leave a comment!

Anyhow, I still picked out some recent Jdramas to check out.

- W no Higeki (The Tragedy of W): Rich girl/poor girl who look alike switch identities and changes their destiny.

- Papadol: Nishikido Ryo playing Nishikido Ryo getting hitched to an older divorcee with kids. Ah, the fun that comes with being a Johnny's idol. This should be interesting in light of the whole Jin marriage debacle.

- Legal High: The story sounds so-so and I'm allergic to Aragaki Yui but it has Sakai Masato (!!) playing a sharp-tongue lawyer who has never lost a case. Hmm, this is giving me the Hayami vibes which means I at least need to watch one episode just to watch him speak. XD

- Hanchou 5: Sasaki Kuranosuke might be my top oji-san crush (tied with Nishijima Hidetoshi) but he didn't help me get into the previous Hanchou series. This time though Azumi gets transferred from the precinct to Tokyo and it might be interesting to see him adjust to the new environment. Having Fukushi Seiji on the cast definitely helps too. Yes, I have my standards.

- Suitei Yuuzai (Assumption is Guilty): Heavy duty kinda drama which I'm not inclined to watch but like Legal High, the cast of Nakamura Toru + Kuroki Hitomi is giving me cause for consideration.

ETA:
How did I leave out Kagi no Kakatta Heya (The Locked Room)? I've missed you Toda Erika! Speaking of which, I really need to remember to get started on SPEC which everyone seems to love.

I think I'm up to ep 3-ish of MLP but I'm not too sure as the subber labels the vids by parts instead of episodes. The drama opens with a lol-tastic diamond heist by what must surely be the most inept bunch of robbers I've seen on tv. However, the police managed to outdo them in the incompetence department which allowed our robbers to make a successful getaway. I mean, the news crew was able to get their helicopter onto the building but the police didn’t think of doing that when the robbers were obviously blockaded on the roof? Then our silly robbers who donned masks when they were in the building with the CCTV cut off took off said masks when hijacking the news crew’s heli and in the process got their faces broadcasted on national tv. But wait, apparently no one noticed this helpful fact and the diamond’s owners/police/insurance company are still trying to identify the robbers. *facepalm* The action scenes per se are still acceptable but the tv stations really need to do a better job with the writing.

Anyhow, the 'successful' heist sets the stage for our n'ek to get close to the p'ek in a bid to recover the diamond. Initially it was funny to see Nu Mook ham it up to play the air-headed Barbie and it was quite entertaining to watch Petch give her the poisonous tongue treatment while we know that Mook doesn’t give a rat’s ass about it but we have been going around in circles for a while now, I would appreciate it if we get some kind of progress on their relationship as well as the plot. On Krit/Rucha’s side, visually I like seeing Tah and Vicky together but Rucha is so annoying I want to lock her up and keep her away from messing up Krit’s plans. Someone please tell me Rucha gets better later on! [Digressing from the lakorn … Tah: am I alone in finding him hot?? I think he looks really good with Susie too. XD Vicky: Among the recent celebrity weddings, I am most touched by Chai and Vicky’s. They are sooo adorable and sweet together. Vicky will take care of Chai]

Other special mentions ... I’m oddly tickled by Jenjob's scenes with Petch since I already know where his true, er herm, interest lies. Oh boy Petch, you have no idea. It was also nice to see the ladies have real fights and it's not over a man!

Verdict on MLP so far: neither the plot nor the not-yet-budding romance engages me much but it’s generally entertaining enough to keep me watching.
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I swore not to touch CLAMP’s stuff ever again after they trolled me with xxxHolic: Rou but ... but ... I just found out Legal Drug resumed serialisation under the new title of Drug & Drop and I hesitated for about 2 seconds before googling for scanlations. I shall now spend my weekend re-reading LD (which was last released 9 years ago!! A strong heart and LOTS of patience are prerequisites for CLAMP readers) and catching up on D&D. Apparently Watanuki makes a cameo in D&D. I’m usually happy to see cross-overs but now I just want to kick Watanuki in the face.

I’m back from my hols with more RKTF updates! Haa, I don’t particularly care for this lakorn after reading the detailed storyline but why oh why does it have such a powerful cast that I can’t help but keep track of its progress? The identity of the fourth n’ek has finally been revealed after much suspense to be Marie Boenner. Marie who you ask? Eh, I have no idea either. She’s a newbie with only 2 lakorns on her resume – neither of which I’ve seen so I can’t judge her acting – still, I’m really surprise Noi picked her considering the status/star power/talent of the rest of the cast. I presume the 4th n’ek will be getting the man so Marie better step it up or she’ll be picked apart by the fans of the others.

When news of this lakorn first broke, I secretly hoped for Ann to be the 4th n’ek but now that I know the story is meh, I think Ann is better off keeping her schedule free for another lakorn with Ken where she’s the only lady for him. Heeh.

I do love Cherry and don’t even mind Chompoo but my bias is still Ploy so have photo of Ken and Ploy’s wedding! Though it was eventually foiled by Ken’s mom I think ...



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RKTF is pretty much off my anticipated lakorn list but a couple others still remain.
- Rang Ngao: Is it a tradition to remake popular lakorns every 10 year cycle? Cos Ken T and Ann's first collaboration 10 years ago is getting an update with Janie and newbie actor Ken Phupoom. Which reminds me I need to go catch up on the original which I dropped halfway.

- Qi Pao: Based off a novel from the same series as Roy Mai, Ann reunites with Mart for a love story also involving textiles and ghost(s). I didn't enjoy Roy Mai's story much and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will be good 'cos it's Ann!

PS. Is anyone watching Dok Soke (Pong/Charebella)? Is it any good? Long suffering n'ek, hot (much) older p'ek, catty secondary females, oh the cliches but it's my kinda thing!

Phew, the past week has been a whirlwind of activity. Work got even busier, got incapacitated by stomach flu for a couple of day, Laruku's concert and of course all the last minute crazy packing and planning.

Now it's hours to go before my flight and I'm finally set and ready, twiddling my thumbs and trying to think if I left out anything important. It will be drama-less 2 weeks for me but I will return to 'Khun Seuk'!


I shall sign off with a BTS of Qi Pao. Ah, Ann is always so effortlessly classy.

'Wut' Asadawut Lerngsoontorn as Dennis / 'Benz' Punyaporn Pongpipat as Deun

Not a nice shot of the couple but there aren't many to be found since they are not the main OTP. I have only watched/tried watching 3 Ch7 lakorns so far so I'm not familiar with their artistes except for those who always make it to the entertainment pages. Apparently Wut used to be Ch7's leading man? Hmm, can anyone recommend a good lakorn by Wut? But then again, there might not be subs available for the older ones. D:
( couple more caps )

Spoilery rant ahead. Read it to save yourself the trouble of actually watching the show.

Bah, to think I was banking on PS to help turn my opinion of Ch7 around. It started off well enough and I was glad that this lakorn did not focus solely on romance and introduced some variety with a mixture of supernatural, mystery and humour but it all fell apart in the second half with the horrendous writing and the poor production/editing sure did not help matters. The lakorn is based on a novel and since I don't read Thai, I'm not sure how much of the drama's plot should be blamed on the novelist or the scriptwriter.

First, poor resolution to the mysteries. The Ketsarina line was dragged on for soooo long, with Sak then Oi getting haunted endlessly, they getting freaked out endlessly, the witch doctor always failing to get rid of Ketsarina and it goes on and on and on. I thought Ketsarina wanted to approach Tae to tell him who killed her so they can be arrested and she can move on after justice is served. But because she has a green light perpetually shining on her face to make her look scary, Tae never sticks around long enough to hear her out. Later, when people at the farm finally figured to just freaking ask Ketsarina already what she wants, it somehow turned into Tae and co. having to find out by their own efforts who the real culprit is. Even after going in circles forever and Oi is finally found to be involved as well, the lakorn never properly explained what went on between Sak/Oi/Ket/Tot. Ket and Tot were a couple, Oi bullied Ket because she wanted to get Tot then somehow in between Ket breaks up with Tot and got together with Sak though she doesn't love Sak? Then Oi instigated Sak to beat Ket to death? WTH. And whose body was that that Oi led Tot to dig up? Ket said it wasn't hers but nothing ever came out of it.
( I really have lots to complain about )

Dropped:
Rak Ok Arkad [ep watched 2/total ep 14][lakorn]: This sounds like a reverse 'Poo Yai Lee Gab Nang Mah' which I enjoyed tremendously and I wanted to like this for Cherry but the laughs were too slapstick and Om’s acting too stiff for me to carry on.

Forensic Heroes III [6/30][HK drama]: This one went for the CSI route but didn’t match up and it didn’t pull me in on the character front either so bye bye it was. Random observation: Age is really catching up with Maggie Cheung Ho-yee!

Too Late to Say I Love You [15/36][Cdrama]: Wallace Chung as Murong Feng charmed my socks in this one and I also loved the strong-willed heroine Jing Wan but after skimming through the novel on which the drama is based on, I couldn't bear to watch the betrayal that I knew Jing Wan was going to suffer later. I did catch the last two episodes and the drama version white-washed Murong Feng to give him and Jing Wan a happy ending when in the novel, Murong Feng engineered an accident to kill Jing Wan's husband and daughter and to revenge him, Jing Wan carried her dead daughter to Murong Feng and lied that she was his biological daughter, then proceeded to kill herself with the gun that Murong Feng gave her years ago. How fun. I might finish this one day when I’m in the mood for angst.
( Read more )

The couple I'm more interested in watching is not the 2 main ones but Dennis and Deun! Dennis isn't winning any upstanding citizen awards and he is far from a good husband/man but I'm hoping he can work things out with Deun because they still love each other, just that both (esp Dennis) are going about their marriage the wrong way. I shouldn't be rooting for Dennis right? He's a nasty drug lord, he keeps a mistress and still expects his wife to wait on him happily yet my heart softens whenever he reminds Jenjira that Deun is his wife and she (Jen) shouldn't get any funny ideas, or when he smiles when looking/thinking of Deun.

They remind me of the OTP of Fei Wo Si Cun's (author of Sealed with a Kiss and Too Late to Say I Love You) novel 'If I Didn't Meet You This Second'. The OTP loved each other but because of their character, they made a lot of wrong assumptions about each other and with lack of communication, the misunderstandings snowballed till tragedy happened. She thinks he is tired of her, he thinks she doesn't love him any more ... hmmm, sounds like Dennis and Deun.

As for the lakorn overall, the pacing and Tle's acting could use some improvement but for now the mystery is doing well to keep me watching. That and Gun. Haa. Frankly I don't get Paul's deal with Sri in the lakorn but heck, Gun is so hot I don't mind any scenes with him. The show needs to work harder on getting me to like the main OTPs because ep6 already and I still much rather watch Tae and Sri quibble!

Wow, didn’t realise I haven’t watched a lakorn for almost half a year. Well, I’m finally back with Pang Sanaeha. I don’t know much about the story but the feedback online seems positive and it also stars Gun Kantathaworn, my evil-and-hot vampire from Rak Mai Mee Wan Tai so I decided to give it a shot. The first half of the first episode was a bit blah for me but after Tae (Tle) finally accepts that the pretty ghost following him isn’t going anywhere and decides to help her, the plot starts moving forward. I’m two episodes in and so far it’s been a good mix of humour, mystery and horror (ghost count: 3).

I believe the green-face ghost is Ketsarina and signs point to her having been murdered by Sak and Oi but I’m still trying to figure everything else out. Siangwann’s real identity is the obvious mystery but I’m more intrigued by Paul/Petch’s side of the story. Why the name change? Why is he working for a drug lord (though I must say the black suits required of a drug lord’s henchman makes Gun look oh so delicious)? What is his relationship with Deun? Initially I thought they were siblings and he was working for Dennis for his sister’s sake but from the way they addressed each other, it doesn’t look like the case. They don’t act like lovers either so what’s their deal? Something happened to both of them in Pak Chong and how does that something tie in to everything else? Ah, so many questions and I’m looking forward to unveiling them one by one. Just hope the answer will be a satisfactory one!

Despite the number of ghosts running around, the horror quotient isn’t high but I have a very low tolerance of such stuff so it’s been enough to creep me out. I watched ep2 at night when I was home alone and the scene where Sak struggled with his bicycle in the rain only to realise Ketsarina was sitting behind really made my skin crawl. Fortunately, there aren’t many such genuinely scary (to me) moments and the ghost scenes are usually more funny than scary like when Ketsarina came asking for Tae’s help and he muttered that he wasn’t the ghost whisperer. OTP wise, there hasn’t been much development so far so not feeling much for either pair and I’m actually enjoying the interaction between Tae and Sri more. This show is off to a good start and hopefully this will be the first Ch7 lakorn that I enjoy!

For readers of this blog who know Thai, I gather from the subs that Siangwaan uses 'sab' in place of 'roo' (to know) and if I didn't misunderstand, is 'sab' a dialect or a less commonly used word? This is the first time I've come across it.
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Lakorn news: Kudalakorn has translated a detailed synopsis of Ruk Khun Tao Fah and my anticipation of this lakorn has just dropped by 100 points. It’s just ... not my kinda thing. Even with the power cast, I doubt I’ll be sitting through this one.