First Impressions – Too Many Dramas, Too Little Time

Wow, I feel like there’s been an onslaught of dramas lately that have attacked me from across the continent of Asia. As such, I couldn’t simply decide which I was just merely going to glance at verses fully invest it and thus, I dabbled a bit and had a little taste. If you’re wondering what my criteria for a first impression is then know that it is typically if I have watched less than six episodes of a series with more than twenty episodes and less than three of a series that has less than twenty episodes. Let’s dig in, shall we?

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Extra-Ordinary You

Thoughts: I am shocked by the fact that I am genuinely intrigued. I vaguely remember seeing the description of the plot and thought to myself, “oh this sounds kinda interesting” but then I remembered W and had war flashbacks. Nonetheless, I couldn’t resist the urge to check it out and I am not regretting that choice. I like the world so far and even though things are a little bit confusing, I think it will be interesting to see how things unfold. I haven’t read the webtoon so I am in a spoiler free state of mind. I found Dan Oh to be so freaking funny and endearing. Her inner thoughts are the best glimpses into what her true personality is and I can’t get over the snide remarks she makes when she has figured out that her duty is to be the “bridge” between the two leads. I can’t say much about the male lead because we don’t know much about him, but Rowoon is hot soo…. yeah. The comic is also very clearly heavily inspired by manga, Boys Over Flowers and its 93000 live action remakes. Obviously I am going to keep watching this one and I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Recommendation: If you’re into rom-coms, school dramas and light humor. I was told the webtoon is actually not as lighthearted so take that how you want.

Where to watch: Kocowa or Viki Pass Plus

First Impression Score: 8/10 Bubble Teas

Pegasus Market

Moon Suk-Goo works as a manager at Cheonrima Mart, which belongs to the Daema Group. Cheonrima Mart’s future looks bleak as they don’t have many customers and Moon Suk-Goo is frustrated by the store’s situation. One day, Jung Bok-Dong, who was an executive at Cheonrima Group, is demoted to the CEO position at Cheonrima Mart. Manager Moon Suk-Goo begins to have hope that the store will experience a turnaround with the new CEO. In actuality, Jung Bok-Dong wants to destroy Cheonrima Mart to take revenge on the parent company for his demotion. Unexpectedly, Jung Bok-Dong’s actions soon causes the store to attract customers.

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Thoughts: I wasn’t actually interested in watching this but I ended up checking out the first episode because I really like Kim Byung Chul and Jung Hye Sung. I only ended up watching one episode and that took longer than I anticipated to do so. I often find that workplace type dramas are hits or misses with me and this one has fallen into the miss category. This is a drama that you have to be in the mood to watch. As much as it was refreshing to see the ridiculousness, it was also reminding me of a drama that I do not like at all, Revolutionary Love. The plots are in no way similar but it just gave me that feeling. Needless to say I’m not impressed and will skip this one.

Recommendation: If you’re into workplace dramas, over-the-top humor and revenge plots.

Where to watch: kissasian/watchseries

First Impression Score: 5/10 Bubble Teas

The Sand Princess

Kodnipa was an orphan girl who went to the city to pursue her education. There, she “befriended” Jirapat, a wealthy heir. Their friendship was based on a mutual benefit, with Jirapat paying her to do trivial things and Kodnipa accepting the money she needed by acting as his servant. Things got complicated when Jirapat impregnated a girl who Kodnipa knew and abandoned the baby in Kodnipa’s house. Since Jirapat could not officially proclaim his child as his own due to his circumstances, he offered Kodnipa two million baht, a condo and monthly “wages” in exchange for Kodnipa’s help in raising the baby as her own. Otherwise, he would send the child to an orphanage. Kodnipa reluctantly accepted as she was against sending the child to the orphanage. Growing up, she started to love Mochi, Jirapat’s baby, like her own. However, her fate was later entangled with Kirakorn, Jirapat’s older brother, resulting in a complicated relationship with the two.

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Thoughts: I was feeling a vibe after Boy For Rent and wanted to watch more Thai dramas and bruh there are so many out there that I wasn’t sure what to click on. The poster for this one looked interesting cause it reminded me of a typical kdrama. Thus, I decided to give this a try. Boy, was a 1000% percent right! This is as kdrama as a plot could get. Poor girl, rich boy…LOVE TRIANGLE WITH THE BROTHERS TOO?? Hahaha. The progression of the story was so dumb and I constantly yelled at my laptop. So yeah it was kinda stupid but I’m still watching nonetheless. I know I will probably end up absolutely loathing it by the end but it is what it is.

Recommendation: If you’re into rom-coms and clichéd stories that are as predictable as they can get and don’t mind average looking men.

Where to watch: kissasian/watchseries

First Impression Score: 6.5/10 Bubble Teas

Bai Mai Tee Pild Plew

Nira is like a young leaf, which is always there beside the flowers but will never be one of them. Her name, Nira, derives from Niranam which means the anonymous one. The story of a boy who is a little girl at heart, he is shattered from not being accepted by anyone but his mother who wholeheartedly loves him. His father is not a very good man, as he loathes him and mistreats his mother. Nira wants his father to be like his uncle-in-law Chatchavee, the only one aside from his mother who is a warm man and cares for him and understands him. Until the forbidden love occurs, Chatchavee happens to notice and cannot answer back this aberrant love, he denies Nira. Nira, deeply crushed and traumatised by this rejection, decides with his mother’s support to do something that changes the rest of his life. He undergoes a sex reassignment surgery which completely transforms him into a gorgeous woman. Unfortunately, her mother dies during the operation. Devastated, she runs away from the hospital. The one who finds her and helps her is doctor Benjang, who takes her home. She starts living as his sister.

One day, Nira coincidentally meets Chatchavee. Due to her beauty, he starts to fall for her and also Nira’s father. None of them recognise her. The tragedy love begins to be more and more complicated when Nira’s aunt, who always looks down on Nira’s love and is envious of her, discovers the truth and tries to hinder Nira in every way. How will this story end?

mydramalist

Thoughts: So…Y’all.. Thailand is dark as fuck. Like listen, the plot had me like wtf? Yes, you absolutely read the description correctly. Why did I decide to watch this? Well the first time a mutual on twitter mentioned it, I was like “oh hell no!” Fast forward a few weeks later and I started watching episode one cause curiosity got the best of me, I also noticed that the girl from Sand Princess was the lead and Push is so hot so I caved. I can’t explain what it is guys, but I legitimately wanted to keep watching. I NEED to know how this shit ends and what the fuck goes on here. The acting is over the top dramatic and the storyline is fucking creepy and very uncomfortable but I can’t stop watching yall.

Recommendation: If you’re into revenge plots, incest and not easily offended by very strong and graphic scenes.

Where to watch: justanothermuse.com

First Impression Score: 7.5/10 Bubble Teas

My Mowgli Boy

A romance begins between Mo Ge Li boy from the jungle and his muse when she accidentally introduces him to civilization.

Mo Ge Li is a boy from the jungle who was raised by the forest caretaker, Grandpa Lin. Mo Ge Li played with jungle creatures growing up until one day, an independent, career woman mistakenly takes him to the city. Ling Xi wanted to return him back to the forest right away but she couldn’t help but allow him to stay for work reasons. Living under one roof, Mo Ge Li and Ling Xi start to develop a unique relationship. He learns the ways of the world with Ling Xi’s help and acts as a bridge bringing her and the people around him closer to nature.

mydramalist

Thoughts: So I have a confession to make, I don’t like Yang Zi. I keep trying though! I try a lot to enjoy her stuff but I just can never click with her. It’s why Ashes of Love was such a struggle and Go Go Squid was my personal hell. In this drama I didn’t immediately hate her character so that was a bonus and I saw the potential for growth as well. Ray Ma did well enough as the jungle boy. The story is a modern day Tarzan which we’ve seen many times before. Unfortunately, there is just one thing that these two lack together—Chemistry. It’s dry ladies and gentlemen. So dry. As dry as some of these idols hair extensions. What has me interested in continuing this one (albeit at a very slow pace) is Zheng Li and his relationship with the secretary. I can and probably will end up skipping through this entire series just for their scenes because that is where my interest lies.

Recommendation: If you’re into bestiality, acknowledge you’ll probably be more into the side character’s development than the leads and like Yang Zi.

Where to watch: Viki

First Impression Score: 7/10 Bubble Teas

See You Again

An accident causes the 31-year-old Shi Jian to fall into a coma. In her dream, she returns to her university days, thus starting another story of meeting her future husband Ye Jia Cheng.

Shi Jian encounters Yi Pei, the owner of a trading business, on the way to visit her husband Ye Jia Cheng. The plane encounters heavy turbulence and causes Shi Jian to lose consciousness. In her dream, the 31-year-old Shi Jian travels back ten years ago to the time when she was still a university student.

After the initial adjustment, Shi Jian decides to start early treatment for her mother’s illness. She is also determined to move up the timeline for when she is due to meet her future husband Ye Jia Cheng. Shi Jian witnesses Ye Jia Cheng’s life before they met. Yi Pei also falls in love with Shi Jian in this timeline. Although she encounters many trials, Shi Jian finds that happiness is within her grasps after all, yet a tragic accident threatens to tear everything apart.

Can Shi Jian break the confines of time to live happily ever after?

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Thoughts: I have a huge crush on Tang Yan because I’m currently watching Princess Weiyoung (slowly but surely) and she is just so good in it that I really wanted to watch more things and thus ended up with this one. I thought it wouldn’t be unbearable even if I am not particularly fond of time travelesque dramas.. Except this one isn’t actually time travel and is a dream and is as exhausting as it sounds. There wasn’t anything in particular that turned me off but more so it was just the entire vibe of the drama. I do have a bias towards modern cdramas because I don’t believe the ones with simple stories should be more than 25 episodes max because then we have these long stretches of episodes where nothing happens, but anyways that rant is reserved for another time. There are so many other cdramas with similar enough plots that are worthy that are actually keeping me entertained. I always try to think of something that I could latch onto to keep my interest going to watch something but there’s no anchor here. As much as I wanted to witness Tiffany in something else I don’t think I can quite last with this one. Maybe I will pick it back up later but for now it is a no.

Recommendation: If you’re into slow plots, slice-of-life and probably a dumb ass reason for the couples to break up.

Where to watch: Viki

First Impression Score: 5.5/10 Bubble Teas

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