Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown:

And finally, at Number 1: My Name is Kim Sam Soon

Synopsis 

Kim Sam Soon is a 29 year old, fat, pastry chef, who has just lost her job and her boyfriend on Christmas Eve.

She has all the insecurities of a woman grazing 30. With yet another failed relationship, Sam Soon scrambles desperately to rebuild her career and her love life.

Sam Soon manages to find a job at “Bon Appetit” restaurant when she gets acquainted with the owner of the restaurant, Hyun Jin Heon. 

Jin Heon is young, handsome but aloof and cold.

Jin Heon is the only son of a hotel chain owner.

Although born with a silver spoon, fate had dealt Jin Heon with a hard hand.

Three years ago, a fatal car accident, where Jin Heon was the driver, resulted in the death of his elder brother and sister-in-law; and at the very same time his girlfriend of 5 years left him for her studies in the US. Jin Heon had to endure both physical and mental pain to overcome his problems and rebuild his life. The death defying experience left Jin Heon scarred as he stops believing in love and happiness.

Due to a moment of convenience, both Sam Soon and Jin Heon ended up signing a dating contract, where Sam Soon will receive KRW 50 million, which she needed to redeem her family house, and in turn she will pretend to be Jin Heon’s girlfriend to fend off his mother’s endless efforts to get him match made and married.

When Jin Heon’s ex-girlfriend returns to seek reconciliation; Sam Soon realizes that she has fallen for Jin Heon, and their contractual relationship gets complicated.

Why I love it:

I am not exaggerating when i say that i’ve seen this series a hundred times.

No joke. I’ve seen it a hundred times.

And i still have not gotten tired of it.

It still makes me laugh hilariously at the same places, cry at the same scenes and spazz over the same schtick that Jin Heon pulls over Sam Soon.

In fact, just saying this shows title or hearing it is enough to bring a smile to my face.

And why not? When there’s so much to love about this series?

I truly bow down to the genius of the writer who wrote My name is Kim Sam soon.

 The similes that she has done throughout the show which might pass somebody’s non-observant eye is sheer poetry to me.

The witty dialogues worthy of a page in any quotable quotes page, the brilliance of the acting of Kim Sun Ah and the dashing good looks of Hyun Bin, this series made me fall in love with it and with the idea of love over and over again.

The reason i think why Sam Soon was a hit was because of how realistically it was written.

It does not wax of happily ever after or of ideals but rather of working hard to make a relationship work.

It opened my eyes to the reality that what one might  necessarily think of as love once upon a time might not be really love after all and that somewhere out there, someone who’s really meant for you is still waiting and when you find her?

Everything else will pale in comparison.

What cemented it as one of my favorites:

It was the freshness at that time of the whole concept of this story.

Of a heroine that doesn’t back down and is no wilting flower, of a drama that just has normal people and no obsessive, psycho villains but most of all it is the insaneeee chemistry that Kim Sun Ah and Hyun Bin had that up to now, i’m still praying that one of these days, i can still get to see them act again in a drama opposite each other. 

Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown:

At Number 2 : In Time With You   

Synopsis 

Cheng You Qing (Ariel Lin) is the manager of a department store shoe department.

On her 30th birthday, Cheng You Qing receives an email on “the symptoms of premature aging” from Li Da Ren (Bolin Chen), her best friend whom she has known since high school.

Unable to accept that he is like a bottle of fine wine that will get better with age and she is like a grape that will dry into a raisin as years go by, she makes a bet with Da Ren to see who will get married first before they turned 35.

However, You Qing often says that the girl Da Ren finds always does not match  him and at the same time, Da Ren is also not satisfied with the man You Qing wants to marry.

After Da Ren’s relationship with his colleague Maggie ended, he admits to Maggie that he has been in love with You Qing all this time.

Why I love it:

I have said everything that needs to be said about this drama.

I have sang it high praises, put it in a pedestal, remembered each and every single scene and line of it that made me laugh and made me cry.

However, for the sake of reference should you be needing your next drama fix sometime soon, i am republishing the open letter that i made to this show when it ended and perhaps that would convince you if not my words why i think this draam is one of the best dramas ever.

Dear Show…

To describe you as one of a kind and epic is an understatement.

You have truly proven that T-dramas can also be world class if only the people involved in it would only give much thought to how a series is acted, directed and written.

Saying that you have wowed me and blew my socks off is only the tip of the iceberg.

I was literally awed, inspired (and sometimes annoyed too) all throughout the 13 episodes that i spent watching your greatness.

You have brought me to some highest highs and lowest lows.

You made me reminisce of a time in my life when i was in the shoes of Da Ren as i love someone quietly (and painfully) in my own way from afar and you have also made me recall the times when i was channelling You Qing.

Of a period in my life when i was blinded by pride and selfishness and rendered helpless by fear that i deliberately turned a blind eye to the love that i deserve which is just right in front of me.

You have shown how unrequited love can be painful but how it can also be fulfilling.

You have shown that sometimes it is not the journey that counts on how two people find each other but just the fact that you’re there for each other TAKING EVERY STEP OF THAT JOURNEY together.

It might have took some time and you may have deprived us somewhat of OTP time but what a beautiful way to show us also that True Love waits and that everything has a right timing to fall in its proper time and place.

You’ve shown us that best friends really do make the perfect lovers and that even if bad boys are more attractive it is always the good boys who finishes till the end.

Thank you for giving us an OTP that is so different in so many ways but is sooo perfect together in almost everything.

I never had any doubts that they are meant for each other.

Thank you for the quotable quotes that are so stark and simple in its plainness and yet it hits me in a place in my heart where i can truly relate and smile in the memory of a time when i also wished i could have said the same.

I wish you could have gone on forever but sadly, all good things has to come to an end.

You truly deserve the earth shattering ratings that you got on your finale.

Job well done.

Now my only problem is, how will i live the rest of my week without you?

You’ve spoilt me so much i don’t think i can watch another shallow, silly, stupid Tdrama which is the norm, ever again.

Well, till here although i know it’s not goodbye since i’m sure my Laptop will see your episodes again.

(and again, and again and again).

You’d be missed.

With Love from your ardent fan,
ME 

What cemented it as one of my favorites:  

Maggie Hsu is a genius of a scriptwriter who elevated this drama to perfection because of how she told this story in a way that’s relatable and stark in its realism.

The lines sometimes just render me breathless and it pierces my soul because it was not lyrical nor poetic but just plain words that were weaved together to create the greatest impact and bring forth the strongest of emotions when it was delivered.

The symbolisms that Winnie, the director has infused in the series were also non-verbal representations of how close You Qing and Da Ren really are to each other that made the story more magical and emotional.

On the actors front, I could confidently say that this is Ariel’s best work to date.

And Bolin?

Oh, Bolin was divine.

Seriously, i’ve harbored secret thoughts of marrying him after watching him here.

I would never ever get tired of saying how great this series is.

I guess because if ever i would be a writer i could imagine my work to be something similar to this.

What’s amazing about ITWY is that it does not have a very deep central driving conflict but still, it was able to capture the viewers hearts and feelings by making them sympathize with the characters and by telling a familiar, poignant story.
 

Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown:

At Number 3 tied with Prosecutor Princess: City Hall  

Synopsis 

City Hall is a drama that deals with politics in a romantic comedy genre.It’s about the happenings between a young woman mayor and an elite bureaucrat. 

Jo Gook is an exceedingly smart government official. He passed the Higher Civil Service quickly, and basically is the perfect guy.

But being a deputy mayor is not enough for him. He lives with the dream of becoming South Korea’s President. He should have easily gone straight to the top, but due to an unexpected incident, he gets dispatched as a deputy mayor for a provincial small town, Inju City, where Shin Mi Rae was working.

Shin Mi Rae is a low-ranking secretary in Inju, but she works her way up in becoming the youngest City Mayor.

As their paths met, they have to deal with each other’s personal and social differences. But despite their constant bickerings, would they end up in each other’s arms?

Why I love it:

One of the best scripts that i’ve ever seen in a drama and one of the best if not the best love stories ever told, City Hall is like your first sip of beer. 

At the beginning, you find the taste a little weird or funny but the more you drink it, the more accustomed you grow of it and then that’s the only time that you can truly appreciate its flavor and you begin to understand why others can not live without it.

Major thanks to my friends in a local forum for introducing me to this drama.

I have always been a big Kim Sun Ah fan but somehow the prospect of a drama set in politics even if it stars one of my most favorite K-actresses does not seem to have that much of a pull or come on for me.

Thank God they have discussed this series extensively on our forum thread that I was curious enough to try it for myself otherwise, I might be missing half of my drama watching life (and I really mean that!)

I would not lie. I struggled through the first few episodes of this drama when they were setting up the plot and the characters of the series.

But as Cha Seung Won and Kim Sun Ah’s chemistry slowly began to unfold with each episode, I was mesmerized .

Before I knew it, I was waiting for the upcoming episodes of this series with breathless anticipation.

Every barbed remark and witty retort that Cha Seung Won and Kim Sun Ah exchange becomes the most genius piece of line that I’ve ever heard.

Every comedic and dramatic scene that they act on becomes a masterpiece and even if they are just standing so close together, their chemistry was so palpable that there are times I expected my laptop to just combust and burst into flames.

Cha Seung Won and Kim Sun Ah are truly actors and actresses in the truest sense of the word. They only have to stare at each other and I get butterflies in my stomach. They only have to make a face and I am doubled over in laughter.

I have never cried as much watching any other series (except perhaps 14 sai no haha) but I cried not for the drama that the story is all about but rather because of the purity, depth and extent of love that Shin Mi Rae and the Deputy Mayor had for each other and the sacrifices they had to make along the way to fight for that love.

City Hall is a LOVE STORY in the purest sense. It does not try to be cutesy, but rather you get the kind of love that one can only dream to have in an entire lifetime.

It is the kind of drama that delivers scenes which would get you crying because of how much love is conveyed between the two protagonists and while you’re pulling out tissues to wipe your tears away, you are also giggling like a schoolgirl because you just can’t help but marvel at how they can still love each other despite the hurt and the pain.

The most satisfying ending, the BEST OST that adds and does not detract from the story, the best balance of comedy and drama, the best chemistry ever in its lead actors, The hottest kissing scenes, If only for that, City Hall deserves to be in the top 3 of my favorite dramas of all time.

However, you know what the funny part is? Remember how I said I’m not all about politics? This drama proved me wrong.

The more I watch the series, the more I appreciated it for it’s entirety rather than just the lovestory. It stirred patriotic emotions in me that I never thought even existed.  I felt sad at the state of the city that Shin Mi Rae was living in and I applaud her courage and bravery for being gutsy enough to bring change to an otherwise rotten political landscape despite the sacrifices that she has to make.

Somehow, I remembered my country and I couldn’t help but wish that some day we’d get our own Shin Mi Rae whose intentions would truly be for country and not purely for selfish reasons or the betterment of ones self.

What cemented it as one of my favorites:  

The love story.

Pure and simple.

This drama has scenes and dialogues that are so beautifully acted and written that i can almost feel the pain and the love that the protagonists have for each other despite the fact that they sometimes hurt each other.

To me, Secret Garden might have been good but Kim Eun Sook simply outdid herself with the way she’s written City Hall.

This drama is not just good or memorable or spazzworthy, to me, it was more than that.

IT WAS EPIC.
 

Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown:

At Number 3 tied with City Hall: Prosecutor Princess

Synopsis 

Ma Hye Ri is a woman with an excellent memory and ability to focus, which allowed her to pass the bar exam with ease.

Despite her talents, she is more interested in being fashionable and dislikes hard work so she is far from being an ideal prosecutor and has doubts about her suitability for her job.

Through her conflicts with senior colleagues and struggles with difficult cases; however, Hye Ri gradually matures into a brilliant prosecutor with a sense of duty and justice.

Why I love it:

First of all, i love the contrast in Hye Ri’s character. She’s smart and intelligent but she’s also fashion forward and flighty.

Though i started this drama thinking it was nothing but a Korean rip off of Legally Blonde, it was a pleasant surprise that i welcomed to see that it was more than that.

However, the thing that made this drama a solid recommendation in my book is how high the stakes are in terms of the storys conflict.

It is sound and logical and reasonable enough that you would have no trouble believing or understanding why Hye Ri and Lawyer Seo’s love could never be as they get caught in between the tangled mess that was left behind by both their fathers history.

A modern day Romeo and Juliet story, i really am in awe of how the writer of this series was able to weave together the backstory of revenge, love for family and love for a lover that made it into a literal bawlfest when the big secret was revealed.

In the end, i guess it’s the heartwarming plot of this series that really got to me.

That and the twists and turns that the writer always throw at its audiences unexpectedly.

Every episode seem to end in a cliffhanger that just make you long to watch more.

This drama has it all and in a perfect blend might i say that would have you laughing one minute, curious the next and crying your eyes out in between.

I have never seen another heroine who had grown through such character development the way that Hye Ri did.

From being a spoilt, pampered princess, she finally learned to be responsible, to take control of her actions and to care for what’s right not because it’s her job to do so but because it’s what she wants to do.

At the end of the drama, it was like watching a childhood friend grow up right before my very eyes and i really honestly felt so proud of her that if she were real i would have probably called her up to say “Congratulations, Ma Hyeri, You’ve truly come a long way.” 

What cemented it as one of my favorites:  

The emotions that this drama inspired in me was epic.

I was literally crying nonstop from episode 11 onwards not because the show is full of angst but because of how beautifully poignant the scenes are.

Every piece of prop ever used in this series really served an overall hidden purpose that would surprise the viewers.

The clock, the coupons, the muffins, the house, the buckets, AHHHH, i really bow down really to the storyteller that the writer of this series is.

Though 49 Days exploded in terms of popularity, i’d still say that it doesn’t even come as close to how she’s written Prosecutor Princess.

With this series, she was able to give a satisfying ending and make the impossible possible because despite the fact that you would somehow think that there’s no chance in hell that the OTP can still get together after all that they’ve gone through, she was able to tie everything up in a neat little package that truly warms the viewers hearts.

Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown:

At Number 4: It Started With A Kiss 

Synopsis

After an earthquake destroyed Xiang Qin’s house, she and her father moved in with the family of her father’s college buddy, Uncle Ah Li.

To her surprise, the kind and amicable aunt and uncle are the parents of her cold and distant schoolmate Jiang Zhi Shu, a genius with an IQ of 200 whom not too long ago rejected her endless crush on him.

Will the close proximity give her a second chance to win Zhi Shu’s heart?

Or, will her love for him end under his cold words? What happens when there is competition for his heart?

Why I love it: 

Aside from the fact that i love the series because it gave me the OTP that is otherwise known as ArJoe, i love ISWAK mainly because of the reason that it shows how love is a give and take relationship.

It perfectly depicted how one’s shortcoming could be filled by the strength of the other and that though a one sided love is the most painful kind of love there is when it pays off it’s also the most rewarding.

Though Jiang Zhi Shu might be the kind of man that any girl would love to hate, at the end of the day and after watching him for hours, one can only conclude that the results would lean more towards Love than hate. 

For every 10 things he does wrong to Xiang Qin, he always does that one thing that makes the other mean things he did to her seemingly insignificant. 

He may be an ass most of the time but i can understand how Xiang Qin is so head over heels for him because he also has that knack of making me fall in love with him in the span of one second also in a majorly BIG way.

Watching him interact with Xiang Qin, i can’t help but giggle how despite she is so far from the type that one would deem suitable for him, he is obviously so besotted for her that she’s got him wrapped around her little finger.

He may have the rolling eyeballs and the smirk down pat but at the end of the day, he still does for her what she wants him to do in the first place.

I guess it’s that charm that really made me fall in love with this drama.

Of how a supremely intelligent man is so dumb when it comes to his emotions and feelings and how a seemingly dumb girl has a heart that is as vast as the ocean.

Xiang Qin has proven that if faith can move mountains, determination also can.

Little by little she inched her way closer and closer to Zhi Shu’s heart and though she got hurt a couple of times in the process, i love how Zhi Shu in his own robotic way was also always there to catch her and soften her fall.

What cemented it as one of my favorites: 

There were lots of hilarious and spazzworthy scenes in this drama but what really touched my heart the most was the part when Xiang Qin gifted Zhi Shu with the book about Hippocrates.

That in the midst of Zhi Shu’s confusion where people were telling him to be someone that he was not, it was seemingly unobservant and lost Xiang Qin who seem to really know and understand what’s really in his heart. 

Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown:

At Number 5: What’s Up Fox?/Foxy Lady  

Synopsis

Single 33 year-old Go Byeong Hee works as a reporter for a sex magazine. She wants more romance and a more respectable life but isn’t sure how to get it.

24-year-old Park Chul Su, mechanic and world traveler, is the younger brother of Byeong Hee’s best friend. He’s a free spirit and not concerned with what the world thinks.

One night the two old family friends get drunk and wake up in bed together. Go Byeong Hee wants to forget it ever happened, especially since a good marriage prospect has just made an appearance.

Unfortunately for her, Chul Su has other ideas.

Why I love it:

I’m such a sucker for noona-dongseng romances and What’s Up Fox is my peg of how it should be done.

I love the intricacies and complications that are presented alongside Chul Soo and Byung Hee’s blossoming love because it’s believable and not just typically makjang where the family is against them being together because he’s younger and she’s older.

It’s the whole family dynamics of how she almost raised him and how her family treats him as if they are also their son.

It’s that complication of her being at that time in her life when she is ready to settle down while he is still at a loss as to what he would do with his life.

It is the perfect depiction of how sometimes in life, Love is really just not enough.

That there are times when other important things should be considered such as family background, compatibility and of things just being in the proper place at the proper time.

It’s that journey of discovery that true love waits and if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.

What cemented it as one of my favorites: 

Chun Jung Myung is such a dreamboat in this series.

His dedication to his Byung Hee and his persistence in showing her how much he loves her until he was able to wear her down was epic.

That scene at the Junkyard where they shared a kiss is seared into my memory up to this very moment.

It was a culmination of their repressed feelings for each other, the crossing over between what is right and what their hearts wanted and the realization that no matter how much they try to deny it, their love for each other is bigger than what should be or shouldn’t be and it was just all about how they feel for each other..

Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown:

At Number 6: Attic Cat 

Synopsis

Jung Eun is an old friend of Hye Ryun who was Kyung Min’s long time crush.

Since Kyung Min, a law student, is really desperate to have Hye Ryun’s attention, he decided to take it upon himself to help her poor friend, Jung Eun.

This is the beginning of an extremely volatile friendship that somehow ended with Kyung Min and Jung Eun living together under one roof, to be more specific, living on top of the roof of an old building.

This romantic setting provides the backdrop of this unlikely love story.

Kyung Min’s bratty ways clashes with Jung Eun’s simple living. He is shown as always taking advantage of Jung Eun’s kindness and good nature but against his will Kyung Min starts to fall in love with Jung Eun just when the appearance of her knight in shining armor suddenly appears in the person of Dong Joon.

Why I love it:

Attic Cat made it to my list not primarily because of its story but rather because of the feelings it elicited in me and the emotions it gave me while i was watching the drama.

This drama is chockful of your typical kdrama romcom where two people enter a contract and are forced to live together because of certain circumstances.

It might have been all been there, done that in terms of the kdrama stories that have been told even before Attic Cat aired but somehow, the more i watch this series and the more that the leads try to deny their feelings for each other, the more excited i get over the thought of them finally getting together.

Attic Cat is one of my favorites because i can never forget how it made me spazz to high heavens and how it made me feel giddy to kingdom come that i felt exactly how i felt when i was in high school and in the throes of my first crush.

Sure, Kyung Min might be an obnoxious bastard at times and there are times that i wanted to wring Jung Eun’s neck for forgiving him time and time again, but the moment that Kim Rae Won starts playing the cute card, like Jung Eun, my forgiveness is his and it was as if it was not just moments ago when i thought he was such an absolute prick. 

Attic Cat is the perfect drama to watch while on vacation.

Easy, breezy and so undoubtedly romantic that it will leave a smile on your face and butterflies in your stomach the moment that you finish watching it. 

What cemented it as one of my favorites: 

There’s just something so satisfying about seeing the male lead stew and burn in the pits of jealousy after he has dismissed and ignored the female lead like she was a piece of disposable rag and this drama has plenty of that.

Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown

At Number 7: Alone in Love



Synopsis 

Eun-Ho (Son Ye Jin) and Dong-Jin (Gam Wu-seong) meet one day at the bookstore where he works and they are immediately drawn to each other. They fall in love after subsequent meetings, and are eventually married.

Two years later they are divorced. Dong-Jin still works at the bookstore, while Eun-Ho works at a fitness club. The pair continue to meet and figure in each other’s lives. The narrative is punctuated by either character’s internal monologue on their past, their current relationship, and how things are to move on. As complications, new love interests have entered their lives: Mi-Yeon (Oh Yoon-Ah) and Hyeon-Joong (Lee Jin-Wook). Even so, a year and a half after their divorce, the two still meet in their favorite bakery for breakfasts, quarrel over trivial things like a married couple, and eat dinner on their wedding anniversary with a free meal coupon provided by the hotel where they got married.

All of this makes them wonder whether these lingering feelings are love, although both are too afraid to start over, and even more afraid to end the relationship completely. With neither brave enough to confront each other about the misunderstanding on the day Eun-ho had a stillborn baby, they are unable to move on.

Why I love it:

What made Alone in love a cut above the rest for me is how it tackled the pain and the heartbreak that is normally associated with a break up rather than focusing on just the obstacles and saccharine sweetness of falling in love.

I love the mundaneness of how this story was told.

There were no hysterics, no over the top dramatic scenes but despite that, the scenes cut deep and the words mirror questions or sentences that once upon a time we might have thought of or uttered in our lives while we are in a relationship.

Alone in Love is all about second chances.

It’s about that elusive opportunity to redeem ones self from the mistakes that one might have probably made in the past and it’s about the lessons that you’ve learned from those mistakes which you’d look back on and try to never make again in order to be able to start over again and to make your relationship deeper and stronger.

What cemented it as one of my favorites:

If there’s one scene that would remain in my memory with this drama, it is this scene where Eun Ho visits the old house that she shared in the past with Dong Jin and the monologue she made which made me cry buckets.

I love how it perfectly reflected that sometimes when we are in the moment, we treat an occurence in our life as something that’s just trivial, everyday and routinary but it is only when we look back on it that we are reminded that it is more than that because it will remain embedded forever in our mind as a cherished memory.

Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown:

At Number 8: Zettai Kareshi/Absolute Boyfriend 

Synopsis 

Robot maker, Kronos Heaven, finally develops “Night Tenjo”, the perfect male humanoid programmed to be devoted and completely loyal to his lover.

The company chooses temp worker Izawa Riko to take part in a 5-day free trial. At first, Riko only sees Night as a household appliance. But when she finds out how deep Night’s devotion to herself is, Riko finds herself falling in love with him. Joining the love triangle is Asamoto Soshi, a distinguished young executive at her company who has feelings for her.

Why I love it:

I have never seen a love as unconditionally told as it was in Absolute Boyfriend. 

Tenjo might have been a robot but the heart he grew was so big that he was even more human than some humans.

He had made me laugh, spazz, cry and believe that somewhere out there, there is a man who still exists who would love you to the best of his abilities that it’s enough to make you reach across that great divide between what’s impossible and what is normal.

The dedication that he showed to Riko was absolute and infinite.

The kind that reaches to the very core and that warms your heart that i just sometimes find myself tearing up at some scenes in the drama even if it was not even meant to be sad. 

I was so taken with this series that i was depressed for days after its ending.

Perhaps that’s how much Tenjo has made his love for Riko felt.

So much that it’s enough to make one feel the loss of not having him but still smiling at the memory of how once upon a time he was able to love someone so much that he was able to give her the confidence that she’s been missing to believe in herrself and to follow her heart so that she can reach her dreams. 

What cemented it as one of my favorites:

The moment that Hayami Mokomichi jumped out of that box i was a goner.

He was hilariously funny and his chemistry with Aibu Saki was absolutely amazing.

However, the moment that he started turning human and feeling the pain and joy that comes with falling in love?

My affection for him and this drama grew tenfold that even till now just watching that MV i posted above is enough to make me teary eyed and feeling somewhat sentimental.

Donnapie’s Favorite Asian Drama Countdown

At Number 9: Spring Waltz

 

Synopsis 

Will the tragedy of spring be repeated years later?

To escape debt, Lee Su Ho’s father escaped to a remote island where his friend has a young daughter Eun Young, who is the same age as Su Ho. After being abandoned by his father, Su Ho sought to leave, but his mind changed after being touched by Eun Young’s pure heart. A series of unfortunate events ensue, and Su Ho disappears, while Eun Young is sick in the hospital.

Years later, while traveling in Austria, Eun Young meets the talented pianist Jae Ha, a man with a cold exterior with a few words, who bores a resemblance to Su Ho. As their love start to develop, the truth unfold.

Can their love endure the harsh spring tragedy many years ago?

Why I love it:

Spring Waltz is a feast for the senses. 

It’s cinematography is breathtaking, the OST melodious and soothing but most of all it hits you right in the heart and the gut with the intensity of emotions that are displayed by the characters all throughout the series.

I am normally not a big fan of childhood to adulthood dramas. The season series more so. But there was just something about this drama that hit me from the get go.

It is not so tragic as it’s predecessors that even though it may be painful to watch at times because of the overwhelming sadness, there’s still always that sense of hope that you get at the end of it that somehow, some day, everything will fall into it’s rightful place and that everything will be alright for Eun Young and Jae Ha.

After all, there’s no better way to describe this story of fate than how Eun Young said it at the beginning of the drama:

If you truly love someone, if you genuinely miss him, someday you can meet and love him again.

Just like you playing a hide and seek during your childhood days, no matter how deeply he hides himself from the world and disappears from your sight, he who hides is still somewhere out there.

Always waiting for you, the tagger.

Regardless of how often you fail to catch him or if you miss each other’s ways, at the end of the day, your most earnest desires and prayers shall lead you to him, for you to meet and to love once again. 

And this, my friends, Spring Waltz was very successful in telling us that it’s really possible to do so.

What cemented it as one of my favorites:

There are makjang elements sorrounding this story such as the hidden childhood secrets but the way that it was told and that it unfolded perked my curiosity instead of making my eyes roll in disbelief as is the norm for dramas of this genre.

Also, Daniel Henney’s role in this series will forever live in infamy in my memory as one of the most deserving second male leads who should have also gotten the girl but didn’t.