Asian TV series

After all this talk about books and what not, it’s time to introduce you guys to my obsession with Asian TV shows.

Yes…. I was one of the many many fans that spent her teenage years binge watching Anime,  going crazy about Drama shows and listening to some very weird bands and music.

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The first Asian anime that I devoted my life to was, of course, Pokémon. I was obsessed with all the various kinds of Pokémon. I think I still have a stack of Pokémon cards sitting on the attic of my parental home.
The obsession became even worse after my brother decided to spend his days battling other Pokémon card collectors and getting too good at beating them. His whole room was a mini Pokémon museum, complete with posters, battle mats, stacks upon stacks of Pokémon cards and several Pokéballs with small sized Pokémon figurines.
My life was a mess…

I never learned how to be a ‘normal’ fan, as you can see :p

I still remember my favorite Pokémons, which were Ninetails, Eevee (especially the evolution of Flareon), Pikachu, Charmander and Mew. I thought they were so pretty and cute. I even managed to collect all their cards.

Whoop whoop 😀

After being swallowed up by that fandom for a while, a friend of mine introduced me to the world of manga-based Anime that wasn’t an endless repeat of catching Pokémon, training them and getting to the top of some championship or quest. Instead of having my life focused on Pokémon, I changed course and fell in love with Bleach.

You’ve probably heard of the Anime; Bleach. If not, WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE? WATCH THAT PIECE OF EPICNESS !!

Bleach is an anime series that has over 500 episodes of 20 minutes each. Basically, the story is about Ichigo who lives in a small town with his father and two younger sisters.
His whole life, Ichigo has been blessed/cursed with the ability to see those beyond the veil but the problem is, he isn’t very good at sorting out the good from the bad spirits. That inability caused him his mother.
So when a dark spirit (Hollow) is out to kill Ichigo, he meets Rukia, a death God from Soul Society who’s charged with the protection of those with higher spirit energies, like Ichigo. In order to save him, Rukia has to drain her energy and, therefore, becomes bound to earth until she recovers while Ichigo, abilities unlocked, becomes the next Death God who has to protect the town from being swayed by the darkness.

And that’s not all. There’s so much more to the story but I can’t tell that yet because of major spoilers. I can, however, tell you how epic it is. It’s incredible!!!! Also, it’s diverse and rich of Japanese theories about the afterlife. And to top that off, there’s some badass sword fighting coming from both girls and boys so yeah…. sign me up for that!

*has watched the series three times already*

After becoming a crazy fan, it got even worse when the first official movie came out. It had all the characters I loved, the storyline was killer and I was head over heels in love with Senna, the female lead.

There’s a huge green beam below the clip but, nonetheless, it’s worth watching it if you want to see what the movie is about. It’s truly beautiful. The movie has a great story, with incredibly rounded characters and amazing artwork.

I fell in love with Senna, the female lead, right off the bat and she’s been a true inspiration for me ever since. I even based a character on her, in my own book.

Oh Senna…

I’m getting off track here……

Let’s get back to my world of Asian Tv shows that have ruined my life.

After going to a new school and meeting new people, I came across a girl who happened to have a similar obsession to mine, but instead of watching lots and lots of anime, she spent her days watching Japanse drama series -which are the equalevant of miniseries in the UK/USA- with real life people instead of cartonized characters.

And thus I plunged into the world of Jdrama, TWdrama and Kdrama with all things that come with it such as Kpop, Jpop and overrunning Ebay in order to buy all the dvd’s, cd’s and merchandise that I wanted for a reasonable price.

I spent most of my high-school days watching drama series in my room. I think I’ve watched like… 50 different shows or something. Maybe more.
To give you an idea about what I used to watch, here’s my top 5 Drama series:

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1. You’re Beautiful (Mi Nam Shi Neyo)

You’re Beautiful is a series that I still watch many many times. It has 16 episodes of 50 minutes each. It tells the story of Go Mi Nam and Go Mi Nyu who are twins and, although born one girl and one boy, they look uncanny alike each other.
Go Mi Nam decides to make use of this advantage when he has to get some plastic surgery done on his face and has to leave for America just when he’s about to sign an important contract with a music producer’s company.
So he sends Go Mi Nyu instead, but when Go Mi Nam is forced to stay in America, his sister has to keep pretending she’s her brother to keep his contract standing. And it works…. until the leader of the band she’s joined finds her out and threatens to cut her off.

THIS DRAMA SERIES IS SO CUTE AND CHEESY AND SO DARN INTENSE THAT I’M STILL SHAKING WHENEVER I WATCH IT…

Oh… and it’s got Jang Geun Seok, who was the love of my life during that time *teehee*

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2. The Princess’ Man

This drama I am crazy about, because it contains sooooo much of Korea’s cultural history. I was wowed and mind blown during each episode by the view, the setting and the clothes.

The series tells the story of Ser-Yong who is the oldest daughter of the King’s only brother. In her innocence, she believes her father is everything a man should be but when she finds out he’s conspiring against the king she has to make some really hard choices. Her struggle becomes even worse when the man she loves becomes the focus point of her father’s cunning plans.

This drama is full of mystery, tension and romance. It’s a great way to learn about Korea, especially the Joseon period in which Kings and Queens still ruled the land, and the natural order between people was so visible through hair, dress and even shoes.

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3. Hana Yori Dango

Hana Yori Dango was the first drama series that took over my life in a way that wasn’t yet familiar to me. I lived and breathed this series, and I ended up rewatching it a dozen times. It also launched me into another fandom, namely Arashi the boy band *whoops*

HYD is a drama series about Makino Tsukishi who is the only poor students at a top notch college. Instead of living off her parents’ money, Makino has to work for everything. Even her tuition fees.
In this particular college there are four boys who write and make the law. Whatever they say has to rule, so when thet decide it’s time to chase someone away, the student body unites behind them and doesn’t rest until that particular students has been chased off the school grounds.
When it happens to Makino her friend, she chooses to stand up for her which can only result into her being bullied but then things start to shift. Instead of hating Makino, the leader of the group begins to show signs of loving her.

I love this series with a passion ❤

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4. Hanazakari no Kimitachi E

This series was the first I ever watched.
I gotta say, you either love it or you hate it because it has a very different sense of humor. Humor, which you’ll have to like in order to like the series.

I thought it was pretty darn funny and rolled through the episodes fairly quickly (I believe it was two days before I finished it).
HNKE is about Mizuki who goes to Japan (from America) to attend an all-boys school because her favorite sportsman is attending that school. Ever since her was injured, the sportsman has refused to do another high-jump even though he could easily break all the records.
To change his mind, Mizuki is hell bend on attending the same school and dress up like a boy while she’s very much a girl.

Like I said, this series is very humurous and that’s pretty much the focus point throughout the episodes. It does have a more serious note to it as well but otherwise it’s filled to the brink with Japanese humor.

Which I love >.<

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5. Hong Gil Dong

Hong Gil Dong is another Korean historic drama that is also a retelling of the famous tale of Robin Hood. Hong Gil Dong is the bastard son of the minister of war. Being a bastard makes him a slave in his own father’s home so, when Gil Dong has the chance, he runs away to find himself a master in order to become stronger. All he wants to do is become the son his father always wanted but instead of having his dreams come true, his father keeps rejecting him.
When Gil Dong is weary of trying to be a son to someone, he plans to move to China but his journey there is cut off by a strange girl he practically runs over.
The two becomes friends and are about to become even more before Gil Dong has to give his life in order to save dozens of innocent people from the mad king.

While being cloaked by his fake death, Gil Dong can rebel against the king and find another suitor more fit to the throne. But, in his absense a life has been destroyed. Yi Nok, still in love with Gil Dong, searches the earth for a trace of him.

This drama series literally destroyed me. I was so ill from feels that I felt nauseous for a whole week xD

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And with that we come to the end of my top 5.

Have you ever heard of Asian drama series? If you have, have you watched any? Which ones?
If not, are you planning to now?

Let me know in the comments 🙂

With love,
Leanne