Top 5: Historical Dramas Korean Version

With the recent start of Moonlight Drawn by Clouds and Moon Lovers, I decided to bring to you my Top 5 Historical Dramas Korean Version! Why? Because when you come to appreciate this theme is almost impossible to not get addicted! When I first came to k-dramaland I  avoided Sageuk dramas really hard (and I'm a fan of occidental series based on historical events, like Vikings that is my favorite series right now), but I felt like the outfits were really weird, the hair were kinda ugly and there wasn't anything attracting me on those dramas.. But one day I came across Iljimae and changed my mind!

5. Iljimae (2008)

My first and one of favorites sageuk drama ever: you have romance, action, suspense, drama, Lee Joon Ki and Han Hyo Joo all mixed together. I'm a huge fan of Han Hyo Joo and she's since the beginning one of my favorites korean actress. I first watched her in a movie called Always and started to look everywere for another of her works, and then discovered this drama were we had her paired with Lee Joon Ki, so I thought that was the time to give historical dramas a try and I loved it!

Synopses: Set during the Joseon Dynasty, Yong acted as a hooligan in the marketplace by day but at night he was a thief who robbed corrupted government officials to give to the poor. After each robbery he left behind a painting depicting a plum-tree branch to make his mark and was thus named Iljimae. His main purpose was not so much to rob but to search for the owner of a specially designed sword which he saw as a child was used to kill his father, a loyal subject of the emperor. Eun Chae is a government official's daughter who despite her upbringing has a lot of empathy towards the poor. She met Iljimae by chance and couldn't help admiring him for what he stood for even though she had never seen his face. (font: mydramalist.)

Why you must watch it: This drama has an amazing cast (besides LJG and HHJ) and the story is really well developted. It's the korean version of Robin Hood and it's full of romance, intrigues, secret identities and a really beautiful landscape. Definitively a korean classic!

4. Arang and the Magistrate (2012)

I really can't say how many times I've watched this drama, I guess I can say that this drama is one of my favorites drama and I can't get tired of it. I placed it at 4 here because although it's placed in a historical time, this is not the main reason why I really love it.

Shin Min Ah plays the role of Arang, a virgin ghost that lost her memory and don't know who she was when alive, she's a really funny and outgoing characterwho fights really hard to find the truth about herself (Every time she was beside Bang Wool, it reminded me of that scene from the movie Ghost.. where he keeps singing to get the attention of Whoopi Goldberg HAHAHA). Lee Joon Gi (yeah, he again!) plays the role of Kim Eun Oh, a nobleman illegitimate son who always suffered from that and who can see/speak with ghosts. BANG, the perfect couple! Seriously they've an amazing chemistry and I really love how at the beginning they bicker a lot! Besides that you have Yoon Seung Ho playing the Great Jade Emperor, his role is so amazing and the scenes that he shares with Park Jun Hyu (the King of Hell) are really beautiful and funny too!

Synopses: Arang and the Magistrate tells the story of a cynical and not so friendly government official named Eun Oh who wanders the whole nation to look for his mother who disappeared because of his mistake. Eun Oh has the ability of seeing ghosts, so he's used to be bothered by many kind of ghosts. As a result he isn’t afraid of ghosts anymore. Then Eun On meets a virgin ghost named Arang. Before she became a ghost, Arang was a beautiful girl who was murdered. Arang asks Eun Oh to seek vengeance for her death and Eun Oh tries to appease her request. (font: mydramalist.)

Why you must watch it:  This drama has one of the most beautiful love story that I've ever watched, ant the most important thing is that it's full of comedy, loyalty and sincerity. This drama is one of the kind: you really can watch it many times and not get tired of it, all the characters have a good development and interesting side stories, it's a light and a cute drama really well wrote and it's a really great choice to marathon during the weekend.

3. Dong Yi (2010)

Okay, okay, I guess you guys will say: Han Hyo Joo again?!? What can I do as she is amazing when picking a new drama? Dong Yi was my first long historical drama, it has 60 episodes, but I could finish it really fast since I love stories with strong female leads and this one is full of them. If you're into k-dramas you must had heard once about the story of Queen In Heon and Jang Ok Jung, a part of Korea history, about how women were important to move and change the power during the Joseon period. Dong Yi has all of it with a beautiful love story.

Synopses: "Dong Yi" is a historical drama based on the life of Dong-yi later known as Suk-bin Choi. She worked in the royal palace as a lowly water maid. King Sok-jong then selected Choi as his concubine. Choi would then give birth to Yeong-jo, the second son of King Sok-jong and the future king of Joseon. After the birth of Yeong-jo, Dong-yi would become Suk-bin. (font: mydramalist.)

Why you must watch it: I personally love fairy tales theme dramas, and I love them more when the female lead is a strong one. Although it has 60 episodes, don't let it scare you, it's not too slow-paced and it's really beautiful to watch. I personally loved the chemistry between Dong Yi and the King (Han Hyo Joo and Ji Jin Hee), and the actors have an age gap of 16 years old!

2. Six Flying Dragons (2015)

This drama was a huge blow at my mind.. When it started to air I saw/read everywhere how good this was, but although it had Yoo Ah In (just to hear his name my heart starts to beat fast) I was scared to begin it and get disappointed as before SFD my last 50 more episodes drama was Rascal Sons (a waste of time for me). Well, I picked up to watch it on the beginning of my summer vacations and I must say that I regret not picking it up before: this drama is so fucking amazing and YAI has been proving why he's the new sageuk drama king! This drama has an amazing plot: all the six dragons come from different background, but at the same time they all share the same dream of transforming the corrupted kingdom into a kingdom for the people. It's not a drama that focus on romance (although it has a lot of it), it's a drama that focus on ideals and how much will you do/sacrifice to do what you think it's right.

Synopses: A fiction historical drama about the ambitions and success of six characters based around Lee Bang Won. Lee Bang Won was the third king of the Joseon Dynasty in Korea and the father of King Sejong the Great. He helped his father King Taejo establish the Joseon Dynasty.

Why you must watch it: In spite of the plot not being all truth, this one is the most interesting drama about Korean story that I've ever watched. When comes to dramas, sometimes, the characters are too good or too evil to be real; this one have really human characters, with ambitions (good and bad ones) and feelings. Yoo Ah In delivers to us Lee Bang Won, a nobleman that since kid always believed that the world can be a better place and fought really hard for it (he does a lot of crazy things for what he believes); be prepared to cry a lot with his disappointments and with what he conquers too.  If you like great character development, an amazing scenery, real/sweet romance, beautiful friendships and a lot of bromance, political issues and beautiful, really beautiful ideals this drama is definitively for you. I can't talk about SFD without mentioning the most cute character that I've ever met in k-dramaland: Mu Hyul (watch it and you'll know what I mean!!).

1.A Tree With Deep Roots (2011)

Why you must watch it: BANG! Finally number 1! A Tree With Deep Roots is a drama that is really hard to describe without spoiling it ><, so I decided to skip the introductions here.. Why this is my number one drama when it cames to historical dramas? Of all the dramas that I watched till now, this one is the most well written above all.. BUT, ATTENTION PLEASE: THIS DRAMA IS NOT FOR EVERYONE! Among all the dramas that I brought to you guys here this one is the more tear jerking, heart racing and mind-blowing one... If you're into light dramas, this is not for you (I really mean it)! We got introduced to three brilliant characters here: King Se Jong, Kang Chae Yoon and So Yi; and how they work together, with a lot going on, to conquer something amazing. I must say that So Yi is my favorite character from Shin Se Kyung and that Jang Hyuk proved once more why I consider him one of the most talented actors of his generation on this drama, but if I could give an award for interpretation here it would go to Han Seok Kyu the king. Every time he was on screen he moved me a lot and made me rethink about a lot of things that were going on my life. This drama is definitively for you if your mindset is prepared to deal with a lot of things and if you like dramas that are not ordinary.

Synopses: Early in his reign, King Se Jong accidentally causes the death of his in-laws and their slaves in an attempt to save them from his brutal father, King Tae Jong. Two young slaves, Ddol Bok and his friend Dam, survive but neither knows the other has. Ddol Bok blames the king and vows to kill him to avenge the deaths of everyone he loved. He spends several years becoming a great warrior. Dam, who has a photographic memory, becomes a court lady called So Yi, but she feels so guilty about her role in the other slaves' deaths that she is mute.
Ddol Bok returns to the palace under the name of Kang Chae Yoon in order to kill the king. However, he becomes embroiled in the mystery surrounding the deaths of several Hall of Worthies scholars. The deaths were caused by a secret society called "Hidden Root," which was created long ago by followers of Jeong Do Jeon, with the goal of giving more power to ministers and less to the king. King Tae Jong killed Jeong Do Jeon and all of his family except his nephew, Jeong Gi Joon, who is now the leader of Hidden Root and lives in disguise not far from King Se Jong. (font: mydramalist.)

PS: For Song Joong Ki fans, we get to see him here as the young version of King Se Jong.

Special mention: The Moon That Embraces The Sun

I'm really into sageuk dramas, so it was really hard for me to do this list as I had to leave some of my favorites dramas out of it. But this one is really worth mentioning here: The Moon that Embraces the Sun is kind of a classic, it gives the feeling of a classic. A love story with magic, secrets, struggles and the beautiful interpretation of Kim Soo Hyun and the experienced interpretation of Ha Ga In. A must watch romance.

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Thank you chingus for reading 'till here! So what are your expectations for the newest historical korean dramas? Kissus!

Resenha: Too late to say I love you

Lai Bu Ji Shuo Wo Ai Ni, também conhecido como Too late to say I love you, é uma novela chinesa transimitida pelo canal HBTV em 2010 no período de 30 de Agosto até 10 de Setembro.

Sinopse: Baseada no romance original de Fei Wo Si Cun. Yin Jing Wan,  a jovem filha de comerciantes ricos, acaba salvando em uma viagem de trem um homem que esta sendo perseguido por soldados durante a guerra civil. Quando ela retorna a sua casa ela logo fica noiva com o seu melhor amigo de infância, porém ele é preso em Chengzhou por contrabandear armas e drogas ocidentais ilegalmente. Jing Wan então decide ir para Chengzhou resgatar seu noivo, mas o que ela não esperava era que esta viagem iria mudar a sua vida para sempre. (Fonte: mydramalist)

Esse drama começa muito bem, logo somos apresentados a nossa heroina: uma mulher muito forte e confiante chamada Jing Wan. Apesar de ter nascido e crescido em uma época onde as mulheres eram criadas somente para casar e construir família, ela é muito independente e luta muito para alcançar seus objetivos

Para salvar seu noivo e amigo de infância ela parte para a cidade de Chengzhou, em plena guerra civil, a procura de uma maneira de liberta-lo da prisão. Nessa cidade nova ela usa das conexões de sua família e consegue se aproximar do homem que deve a ela a sua vida. O que ela não esperava é que esse homem fosse Murong Feng Pei Lin, o novo comandante, e que ele estava usando o noivo dela para capturar os assassinos de seu pai.

Murong Feng é o típico homem militar dessa época, nascido e criando em uma família de militares ele nunca conheceu outra vida além dessa. Ele é meticuloso, calculista e as vezes cruel, mas ao mesmo tempo ele é justo, afetivo, generoso e quer usar do seu poder para construir um país mais justo e sem guerras. Uma das suas melhores amigas é Cheng Jin Zhi: uma mulher muito capaz, uma ótima estrategista e uma boa soldado; ela é loucamente apaixonada por ele (quando digo louca, digo louca mesmo) e acredita fielmente que nesta vida somente ela é mulher suficiente para ele. O braço direito de Murong Feng se chama Shen Jia Ping e durante todo o tempo ele se prova leal e quão bom amigo e companheiro ele é para o seu "Fourth Master", quase todo o tempo ao lado dele buscando e fazendo o que ele acha melhor (Acho justo mencionar esse personagem aqui, pois ele é um otimo personagem e muito importante durante toda a história).

Também somos apresentados para a irmã mais velha de Murong Feng: Murong San Xiao Jie (Xiao Jie é a maneira que ele chama sua irmã mais velha, pesquisei porém não achei o verdadeiro nome do personagem ><), ela é uma mulher da alta sociedade e é ela quem faz companhia para Jing Wan enquanto ela se hospeda em Chengzhou. Nós assistimos o quato Jing Wan tenta salvar seu noivo Jian Zhang, que virou responsável pela sua família após a morte de seus pais e que quase esta levando os negócios da mesma a falência, o que o fez achar como solução os negócios ilegais.

Depois de um tempo conhecemos o irmão de Jin Zhi e também melhor amigo de Murong Feng: Cheng Yan Zhi. Apesar de ter nascido em uma família de militares com um pai general, ele decide virar médico e trabalhar para os necessitados. Ele é um dos melhores personagens da história, um dos meus favoritos, e um amigo incrível.

Minha avaliação

• Narrativa: 9/10

Eu gostei muito dessa novela. Como uma mulher é bem difícil de assistir qualquer coisa onde a personagem principal sofre com um amor abusivo, mas essa apesar de se passar em uma época bem difícil para as mulheres possui personagens femininos muito fortes e determinadas. A primeira vez que eu li algo sobre esse drama fiquei bem confusa sobre assistir ele ou não, pois li que ele possuía cenas muito fortes.. Mas como eu assisto um monte de lakorns (onde o abuso feminino é praticamente considerado "nomal"), eu particularmente não achei esse drama tão pesado assim. Realmente achei que algumas atitudes tomadas por Murong Feng eram egoístas e abusivas, mas levando em consideração a época e como os homens dela são descritos não achei ele realmente um homem mal. Senti que ele tentava amar Jing Wan da maneira egoísta dele muitas vezes não levando em consideração o que ela sentia, porém no final ele entende que o amor não pode ser egoísta dessa maneira. Esse drama consegue demostrar todos os tipos loucos de amor, amizade, lealdade e como orgulho e egoísmo são capazes de destruir vidas e até o mundo. Tem algumas partes da estória que realmente são demais surreais e as vezes até fica entediante, mas no geral a narrativa é muito boa e com certeza merece um 9.

• Atuação/Elenco: 8/10

Como quase todo drama chinês que já assisti, eu tive problemas sérios com a atuação de alguns artistas, mas é preciso enaltecer a ótima química entre os atores principais. Wallace Chung se tornou um dos meus atores chineses favoritos depois desse trabalho, pois eu tenho um grande problema quando encontro atores com olhares marcantes e apesar de por alguns momentos a atuação dele ser um pouco estranha, ele retratou quase que perfeitamente Murong Feng (no meu ver de uma maneira bem sexy). Eu consegui sentir todos os sentimentos que ele quis transmitir e durante quase todo o tempo eu desejei ser Jing Wan (hahahahaha), especialmente quando ele beijava ela (OMFG! Ele parece ter um beijo M-A-R-A-V-I-L-H-O-S-O! Parece que ele vai engolir ela e é muito, muito sexy!). As cenas entre eles são cheias de momentos fofos e muitos, MUITOS beijos! Li Xiao Ran também fez um trabalho incrível ao dar vida a Jing Wan, o meu único problema foi quando ela precisava parecer forte/séria e não conseguia.. Parecia bem forçado e nada natural, mas no geral a atuação dela foi boa. Na minha opinião é bem difícil encontrar boas atrizes chinesas, parece sempre faltar algo na atuação delas, mas Li Xiao Ran foi a escolha perfeita para esse personagem.. Ela e Wallace tem uma química incrível!! A única escolha duvidável para essa trama foi Qi Fang como Cheng Jin Zhi, eu realmente não gostei de praticamente nenhuma cena dela, achei ela sem graça e com uma atuação lamentável  e o maior problema é essa peruca que ela usa no começo da novela WTF! Tirando isso o resto do elenco foi bem escolhido e todos conseguiram fazer o que se propuzeram.

• Música: 6/10

Essa novela não teve nenhuma música em particular que realmente se tornou memorável, mas as músicas são até bem agradáveis. A que mais gostei foi a música de abertura da novela:  opening song.

• Assistir novamente: 7/10

• Geral: 8.5/10

Esse drama definitivamente se tornou um dos meus favoritos entre nos chineses. A razão disso é que eu adoro narrativas onde os personagens são bem realistas, humanos. Eles lidaram com orgulho, sonhos e desejos de uma maneira bem real; durante quase todo o tempo eles colocaram os seus objetivos a frente dos outros (o que é bem humano) e as vezes pagaram pelas escolhas erradas de uma maneira bem dolorosa. É verdade que em alguns momentos a estória fica bem surreal, mas isso é um drama né?! Eu gostei muito de como a história de amor se desenvolve e de como é possível enxergar a mudança comportamental e amadurecimento dos personagens durante toda a trama. Essa novela é uma ótima escolha e merece sim ser assistida, principalmente se você gosta de personagens fortes e de temas como militarismo/guerra civil! Depois desse drama, definitivamente, eu vou procurar outros trabalhos com Wallace Chung. Me apaixonei perdidamente pelos olhos e pelo jeito dele de atuar *___*. Se for optar por assistir esse drama (vale muito a pena!), esteja preparada para chorar muito e para se viciar; pois a história flui tão bem que fica quase impossível perceber que os episódios estão passando.

[caption id="attachment_181" align="aligncenter" width="467"] Ele fica muito sexy nesse uniforme![/caption]

Queridos amigos, muito obrigada por ter lido até aqui! Eu decidi criar esse blog para dividir sentimentos e informações com outras pessoas.. Eu assisto novelas asiáticas a mais ou menos 4 anos, e agora decidi usar desse espaço para compartilhar o que eu conheço com a esperança de que meus pensamentos e opiniões possam servir de ajuda para vocês e também possa trazer mais fãs e atenção para o mundo mágico das novelas asiáticas. Essa é a minha primeira resenha em português (sério u.u), já que como sou usuária (quase uma droga, *___*) e frequentadora do MDL estou acostumada a escrever somente em inglês (e meu inglês é bem mediano), porém espero poder ta trazendo algo novo pra vocês aqui. Aceito críticas e recomendações e espero poder fazer novas amizades. Mais uma vez muito obrigada e seja bem vindo!

Links úteis: MDL profile; Facebook (pode add se quiser.)

Review: Too late to say I love you

Lai Bu Ji Shuo Wo Ai Ni, also known as Too late to say I love you, is a chinese drama broadcasted by HBTV one 2010 from August 30th to September 10th.

Synopses: From original novel by Fei Wo Si Cun. Yin Jingwan, a young woman from a wealthy merchant family, saved a young man on a train who was escaping from a rivaling warlord manhun. When she returned home, her parents betrothed her to a childhood friend, but her fiancée was put into prison in Chengzhou for smuggling firearms and illegal western drugs. Jingwan decided to go to Chengzhou to rescue her fiancee. But she did not know, this trip would completely change her life. (font: mydramalist)

This drama starts really nice, since we are introduced to a very strong-willed female lead called Jing Wan. Despite being born in a time where women were raised just to be married of and construct a family, she's very independent and fights really hard to achieve what she wants.

In order to save her fiancé and childhood friend, in the middle of a civil war, she left her family and city and cross the country trying to find a way to get him out of prison. In this new city she uses her connections and get close to the man who owned his life to her. What she didn't know was the he was Murong Feng Pei Lin the new commander and that he was using her fiancé in order to capture his father killers.

Murong Feng is a typical militar man from this era, born and raised in a militar family he never knew other life besides that. He's meticulous, calculating and kind of cruel, but a the same time he's righteous, caring, kind and want to use his power to create a more fair country without wars. One of his best friends is Cheng Jin Zhi: raised together and it's really obvious that she's in love with him (in a very possessive way), as she thinks that no woman can understand him like her; besides this craziness she's a very capable woman, a great strategist and a great soldier . His right hand man is called Shen Jia Ping and all the time he shows how loyal and how a good friend he is to Murong Feng, always trying to do what he thinks is the best for his Fourth Master (I found that it was worthing mention his name here, since he's a very great character and crucial at this drama).

We're introduced to Murong Feng older sister Murong San Xiao Jie, (I really dunno her name, since in the drama she's always mentioned as Third Sister ><) who is a noble lady from this age and is the one who makes company to Jing Wan during her stay at Chengzhou. We watch how Jing Wan tries really hard to save Jian Zhang, her fiancé, who after the death of his parents became the lead of his family and now is struggling with their business and almost going bankrupt wich lead him to do illegal business.

After sometime we get to know Cheng Yan Zhi, brother of Jin Zhi and also the best friend of Murong Feng. Despite being born in a militar family with a general father, he decided to become a doctor and to work for the more needed. He has an amazing character and is an amazing friend, one of my favorites character of this drama.

Rating

• Story: 9/10

I really liked this drama. As a woman is always really hard to watch dramas where the female lead has to deal with an abusive love, but this one has very strong female characters and for the time of the set up of the story is very hard to find dramas like that. When I came across this drama at MDL I was really confused if I would've started or not, as I read that this drama had a very possessive love and strong scenes.. Since I watch a lot of lakorns (where this kind of behavior is really common) I didn't find this one really out of planet, I do find Murong Feng selfish and hard to understand sometimes; but if you understand the time that the drama recite and how were man at that age I don't feel like he's really a bad guy for Jing Wan. I felt like he tried to lover her in his own way through the whole drama, just learning that love can't be so selfish at the end but he learnt in such a beautiful way (I always think that if you do things wrong and unknowingly or knowingly hurt anybody, and after that do anything to fix yours wrongdoing it's a beautiful way to grow into a better person.. After all we're all humans and we're born to learn from life). This drama brings to us all kinds of love, friendship. loyalty and how pride and selfishness can change a world. There are some parts of the story that are really overboard and sometimes gets a little boring, but overall the plot is really good so it deserves a 9.

• Acting/Cast: 8/10

Like almost all chinese dramas I have a hard problem with the acting of some actors, but I must say that the chemistry between the leads at this drama is amazing! Wallace Chung became one of my favorite chinese actors after this drama, I have a huge problem when I came across with actors who have beautiful eyes language and although sometimes his acting is a bit weird he nailed Murong Feng in a very handsome way. He could transpose all of the character feelings and almost all the time I wished I was Jing Wan, specially when he was kissing her (OMFG, he's an amazing kisser! It felt like he was devouring her, such a passionate and hot kisses). Li Xiao Ran also did an amazing job as Jing Wan, my only problem was when she needed to look strong and firm since she looked kind weird, but almost all the time she transposed really well the feelings. For me it's really hard to find good chinese actress, they always look weird for me but for this character they made a good choice.. I'll repeat again: what an amazing chemistry and we have a lot of hot kisses! My huge problem with the cast of this drama was Qi Fang as Cheng Jin Zhi, I didn't like any scenes with her.. her acting skills are really bad in my opinion and her wig at the beginning of the drama make it a lot of worse. All the rest of the supporting cast did a great job and did their role well.

• Music: 6/10

This drama didn't had any memorable song for me, the music in the drama is really good but not too much into my liking ><. The one that I did liked was the opening song.

• Rewatch Value: 7/10

 

• Overall: 8.5/10

This drama became definitively one of my favorites chinese one. The reason is that I found all of characters here so real, so human. They deal with their pride, dreams and desires in a very realistic way; almost all the time putting themselves before the other (wich is very human) and they pay the price of their choices. I know that sometimes this drama can be very unrealistic, but wich drama isn't? I found the love story very beautiful and I really liked the way the characters progressed. It's a drama that is very worth to watch if you like historical dramas with strong leads and militar/civil war theme. After this drama I'll try to find another ones with Wallace Chung, cause I fell in love with him here. Be prepared to cry a lot and be addicted! You will not want to get up of front of the TV, since this drama flows really well that you didn't even see the episodes going by.!

[caption id="attachment_181" align="aligncenter" width="467"] Find him very sexy with this uniform![/caption]

Dear Chingus, if you read till the end thanks very much! I decided to create this blog to share a lot of feelings and information to you guys.. I'm watching asian dramas for four years now and decided to share what I know and I watched with you, hoping that my thoughts can be of any help and that can bring another fans to this magical world. I'm sorry if I have a poor english, I'll try my best to work on making it better. This is my first review here, if you have critics please share with me! I'll try to bring another ones in portuguese too, for my brazilian chingus! Thanks for reading and please comment!