Asian Addicts Anonymous

Asian dramas/movies have a little something for every one come Valentine’s Day. So here are a few picks depending on what kind of mood you are in.

High School / “Pure” Love

1. Hana Yori Dango – nothing like going through the angst of high school with four attractive men! Makino has the gentle, taciturn Rui who will always be by her side and her true love Tsukasa who may have started out like a jerk, but was really innocent and rather sweet deep down
2. Hana Kimi – either the Japanese or Taiwanese (though the Taiwanese takes place during college) we have some gender bending, forbidden love and a cute love story that develops between roommates
3. Otomen – just because we have our girly boy who does his best to act like a man and a cute girl who is actually tougher than she seems. This complete opposite couple have my vote
4. Cat Street – we have a great story of four friends overcoming their obstacles and a first love for a reclusive girl who finally gets back out into the real world (but if you ask me, the manga was actually better plot wise – they should never have combined two very different roles into one)
5. It Started With A Kiss – despite it’s overall ridiculous goofiness and over-the-top acting, it does have a nice love story at the core about two opposites who come together despite their differences (though it takes the lead guy a while to get there – sheesh) and in that vain we also have kdrama Playful Kiss which is based on the manga Itzura na Kiss

Sad Love

Sad love? Those painful, melodramatic loves that are hard on the couple (and on the viewer)

1. Autumn Tale – two people raised as siblings, torn apart by fate, brought back together to struggle with their true feelings only to have things end due to illness
2. Glass Slippers – with all that the main couple has to go through to be together, couldn’t they have been allowed happiness?
3. Love at the Aegean Sea – a love triangle between two good-looking men (I used to think that Alec Su and Peter Ho were the same person:P) and a fiery young woman. Ah, a very sad story at the end…
4. Summer’s Desire – who loves who? Xiao Mo goes back and forth between two men in her life, but who is the one and will they all make it out of this tangled relationship in one piece (it does have a happy end, but a lot of unhappiness to get there)
5. Shinobi – despite lack of plot, we do have the typical Romeo & Juliet romance which we know always end unhappily

Strong Women In Love

For those who want to see a woman who doesn’t have to depend on a guy at all times, but still has some romance.

1. Stars Falling From the Sky – Pal Kang refused to be a helpless Cinderella and got back on her feet with a little help from others, but mainly through her own bullheaded stubbornness and will to make it on her own, only then does she allow herself to be together with the wealthy lawyer
2. I Am Legend – even though our female lead is helped out by a really great guy, she pretty much overcomes her weaknesses and stands on her own two feet to get her life back on track (you know she loves the leading male even though it never actually plays out)
3. Shining Inheritance – in spite all of the help our leading lady received for various sources, she stood strong and did her best to depend on herself. She turned down a chance at a cushy job and a great inheritance to pursue her dream and ends up landing/reforming the rich, spoilt bad boy (too bad the other guy)
4. Cinderella’s Sister – despite the fact that Eun Jo is weak deep down, she could make it through on her own with little or no support. After all the crap she and her family goes through, she does finally get to be together with her first love. Got to love how the girl rides off to rescue the male in this drama

Opposites Attract

Really the title says it all. These couples are about as different as you can get.

1. Boys Over Flowers – Geum Jan Di and Goo Joon Pyo cannot be more different nor more perfect for each other
2. How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor – one tomboy who is kind, silly, and slow at understanding situations manages to net a shy, reclusive, cold businessman
3. Secret Garden – a poor, tough stunt woman and a rich, phobic male fall in love, throw in body switching and all hell breaks loose and makes for a funny story
4. Playful Kiss/It Started With a Kiss/Itzura na Kiss – the perfect, smart, good-looking boy and the not-so-smart, plain (though not really the case in the Korean & Taiwanese version) girl
5. You’re Beautiful – arrogant, OCD lead singer of an idol group falls for the clutzy, former nun posing as a boy
6. ToGetHer – superficial, outgoing former superstar and a reclusive, socially awkward otaku

Older Woman – Younger Man

People just dig the “nuna” romances, don’t they?

1. Oh! My Lady – a divorcee with a daughter and a superficial superstar with a daughter of his own – with her help he matures and becomes a good man and father
2. Snow White – a tomboy, older woman takes up baking, becomes more feminine and falls for her best friend/first love’s little brother
3. Suppli – an older woman who is successful in her career begins mentoring the clumsy office boy and sparks fly
4. Kimi wa Petto – an uptight, career-driven woman and a mystery young man who becomes her “pet” – definitely not a conventional love
5. Dal Ja’s Spring – a 30-year-old woman hires a younger man to be her boyfriend after she’s rejected and their “fake” love turns real

Love & Vengeance

This could be said it is “sad” love, too, but at the same time, it’s really revenge-driven plots with romance being added in. Some…have happy endings…but not all.

1. Bad Guy – a sad love, tragic love and love mixed with revenge. Our leading man uses his leading lady to strike at the family who destroyed his life when he was a child
2. Queen of the Game – a man begins pursuing the daughter of the man who destroyed his family resulting in his father’s suicide and his mother’s drunkeness
3. Flames of Desire – one young woman pursues the wealthy heir of a family in order to get revenge on the mother who abandoned her
4. Personal Preference – even though it was doomed to failure and not a very serious revenge effort, Kae In and Jin Ho’s relationship and love is strengthened during his training Kae In to get revenge on Chang Ryul
5. Pink Lipstick – hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Cheated on by her husband and best friend, the leading lady divorces and remarries a wealthy businessman to take revenge on the people who hurt her

Love Unrealized

These people are definitely meant to be together…too bad that never actually happens in the drama.

1. Liar Game – everyone knows there is affection and chemistry between the two leads, but it never comes to fruition
2. Trick – our money-hungry magician and sissy professor never actually come to admit their real feelings despite several seasons and movies
3. I Am Legend – even though our leading lady and the male lead dance around each other for the whole series, she never actually commits to a relationship with him even though he has hinted that he likes her as more than a friend
4. Vampire Host – Rion never actually manages to hook up with our eternal #2 vampire
5. Lunch no Joou – sure, we have a nice family that was built throughout the show, but our leading lady never decides on just who her leading male will be (I was all for her ending up with the 3rd brother)

“Forbidden” Love

Mainly due to family circumstances or misconceived sexuality

1. Hana Kimi -nothing like two guys liking another guy (who just so happens to be a female masquerading as a male)
2. Sungkyunkwan Scandal – again, two guys liking another guy (who is a girl in disguise) not to mention unequal social classes
3. You’re Beautiful – three band members all fall for the 4th (who is a girl posing as a boy) not to mention or leading man’s mother destroyed our leading lady’s family, get over that one
4. Painter of the Wind – we have a teacher falling for his student (a girl posing as a male) and we also have a woman falling for another woman (again a female posing as a male)
5. The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince – the leading man is horrified to realize he has fallen in love with another man (again a girl posing as a guy) and not to mention his family does not support the relationship when the girl’s true identity is revealed

Contract Love turned Real

Again, title says it all. These dramas follow a contractual romance that buds into the real thing.

1. Full House – the classic kdrama where a superstar enters into a contractual marriage after he is rejected by his first love
2. My Name is Kim Sam Soon – posing as a fake boyfriend and girlfriend, our main couple really do fall in love
3. Smiling Pasta – forced to pretend to be engaged, our couple fall in love and go through hardship after hardship until they can really confess their true feelings
4. Love Contract – in order to help their overbearing female friend find love, the enlist an overbearing male in a love contract and their relationship goes from enemies to friendship to true love
5. Dal Ja’s Spring – a contract for Dal Ja to save face after being rejected turns to true love

Nice Guys Finish Last

A lot of leading ladies inevitably go for the “bad” boys leaving the perfect guy second male lead heartbroken.

1. Shining Inheritance – despite everything Jun Soo does, it is our bad boy Hwan that gets the girl
2. Why Why Love – the nice (albeit colder) male loses out to the younger, badder male
3. Hana Yori Dango/Boys Before Flowers/Meteor Garden – let’s face it, the leading male is a complete narcissistic jerk (who is a softie at heart, but still) and our second leading male (who started out cold) is the perfect guy who wasted his chance in winning the girl
4. Taste Sweet Love – the “perfect” best friend loses out to his bad ass little brother when he realizes his feelings too late
5. Invincible Lee Pyung Kang – Pyung Kang doesn’t chose the princely Edward who’s been secretly crushing on her for a long time, but the spoiled bad boy of On Dal