Hana Yori Dango Review

Drama: Hana Yori Dango
Alternate Titles: 花より男子/Boys Before Flowers/Boys Over Flowers
Genre: Romance
Language: Japanese
Number of Episodes: 9
Film Date: October 2005
Favorite Episode: 9
My Rating: 5/5


Main Cast: Inoue Mao as Makino Tsukushi
Matsumoto Jun as Domyouji Tsukasa
Oguri Shun as Hanazawa Rui
Matsuda Shota as Nishikado Soujiroh
Abe Tsuyoshi as Mimasaka Akira




Introduction/Description of Main Characters:
Makino Tsukushi - An ordinary girl from a middle-class family, Makino is enrolled in the most exclusive school in all of Japan: the much admired and envied Eitoku High School. However, Makino is not in the least enamoured of her wealthy classmates and their diamond watches. Instead, she dislikes the ostentatious show of extravagance around her, and longs for the day when she will be able to leave the school. In the meantime, she vows to keep her head down and avoid attracting attention, especially by the infamous F4. Unfortunately, that vow doesn't last long when her friend accidentally bumps into Domyouji Tsukasa with her lunch tray. Makino automatically stands up for her friend, and as a result, is bullied by F4 and the whole school. Strangely, Domyouji Tsukasa ends up falling for Makino.
Domyouji Tsukasa - The violent leader and heir of the Domyouji World Finance Group, he has never liked any girl until he meets Makino, a different girl from all the other ones and the only one he has "approved" of. He tries to buy Makino but realizes that the one thing he can't buy is her.
Hanazawa Rui - The most quiet and thoughtful of the group, Hanazawa Rui loves reading books. Everytime Makino is bullied, he rescues her, making Makino fall in love with him, but in reality, he's in love with Shizuka, his childhood friend and now famous model.
Nishikado Soujiroh - Player (aka ladykiller), Soujiroh is also the heir of a tea ceremony school. Later on in the drama, Makino's friend Yuki starts to like Soujiroh.
Mimasaka Akira - A madam killer who is notorious for his affairs with older married women, Akira has ties to the underground. He and Soujiroh are famous for their many affairs.


My Favorite Songs: Hana Yori Dango Opening Theme Song


Synopsis: Makino Tsukushi is the only poor student at Eitoku Gakuen, the school of the ridiculously rich and privileged that is ruled by F4 (or Flower 4), a group of four boys who come from extremely powerful families: Domyouji Tsukasa, the leader and heir of the Domyouji World Finance Group; Hanazawa Rui, the introverted son of a large company; Nishikado Sojiroh, a player who is the heir of a tea ceremony school, and Mimasaka Akira, a madam killer with ties to the underground. If a student gets on the F4’s bad side, he/she gets a red notice and is bullied and driven out of school. Makino hopes to pass her days quietly without drawing any attention to herself. But one day, she stands up to Domyouji in defense of her friend. The next day, Makino gets the dreaded red notice. Even though she is harassed, Makino decides to keep going to school because she is a “tough weed”. She declares war right back on F4. Her resolve gets the attention of her crush Hanazawa Rui and oddly enough, rouses romantic feelings in her worst enemy, Domyouji Tsukasa.



Review: This is a Japanese version of Meteor Garden (Taiwanese) that was made a couple years after the release of Meteor Garden. I found Hana Yori Dango more interesting than Meteor Garden because it was so much shorter but the episodes were the same length as those in Meteor Garden. The characters of F4 were also portrayed as more scarier in Hana Yori Dango whereas in Meteor Garden they didn't really seem as frightening. So mainly, for me, I thought that all the characters in Hana Yori Dango were portrayed more as how they were supposed to be. This drama was also very straight-forward and went towards the main points unlike Meteor Garden, which had many different side conflicts in it.

~Source for character descriptions and synopsis: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Hana_Yori_Dango, www.mysoju.com/hana-yori-dango, http://www.spcnet.tv/Japanese-TV-Series/Hana-Yori-Dango-review-r1224.html

Goong (princess hours) review

Drama: Goong
Alternate Titles: 궁 (宮)/Palace / Princess Hours / Imperial Household
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Language: Korean
Number of Episodes: 24
Film Date: January, 2006
Favorite Episodes: 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 23
My Rating: 4.5/5

Main Cast: Yoon Eun Hye as Shin Chae-Kyung
Joo Ji Hoon as Lee Shin
Kim Jeong Hoon as Lee Yul
Song Ji Hyo as Min Hyo-Rin




Introduction/Description of Main Characters:
Chae Kyung: A high school student studying fashion design in one of Korea's top high schools. Her wants in life are simple, having fun with her friends, eating tok-poki, a new MP3 player and everything else that teenagers her age are interested in. But one thing sets her life apart from the rest though. Her schoolmate is non other than the Crown Prince to the present day Korean Monarchy, and because of a promise between the Crown Prince's grandfather and hers, she marries into the royal family and becomes the Crown Princess.
Lee Shin: The Crown Prince of Korea, he is to become King in the future. His dad is in bad health, so he is expected to marry just in case his father dies. Shin proposes to his girlfriend of 2 years Hyorin, but she kindly rejects him because she wants to focus on becoming a famous ballerina. As a result, he must marry Chae Kyung. At first he sees her as a clumsy clown, but later starts to fall in love with her.
Lee Yul:The original Crown Prince, his mom and him were kicked out when his father died. They lived in England for 14 years, but upon hearing that the king is in bad health, they return to Korea with the motive to return the place of Crown Prince to Yul. Shortly after meeting Chae Kyung, he starts to fall in love with her personality, and harbours envious feelings to Shin as he feels that Shin doesn't deserve her. He is also aware of the fact that if his own father had not passed away, HE would have been Chae Kyung's husband. It is because of this that he assists his mother in the attempts to bring Shin down and reinstate himself as the future King of Korea.
Hyo-Rin:A dedicated ballerina aimed at reaching her goal to be a world-wide famous ballerina, it is because of this that she rejects Shin's proposal to her, although they've been secretly going out for 2 years. But shortly after her rejection and Shin's marriage to Chae Kyung, Hyorin become jealous and starts to fall for Shin again, trying to win him over. Hyorin meets Yul's mom and when Yul's mom finds out that Hyorin is in love with Shin, she uses Hyorin to make Shin get dethroned from the title of Crown Prince.


My Favorite Songs: Perhaps Love, Stay (You and I are fools), Parrot


Synopsis: Goong is a story about love in face of tradition, politics, and intrigue. In the imaginary world, modern-day Korea is a constitutional monarchy and the royal family lives in the grand palace, the Goong. The story opens up with the sudden death of the reigning king. Faced with the decreasing popularity among the public for the Royalty, a grand wedding for the Crown Prince, Lee Shin, is decided to be the best publicity move to improve the image of the Royalty and at the same time prepare Lee Shin for immediate succession. The intended bride? The headstrong, awkward, and sweet spirited Shin Chae-Kyung that just happens to the same exclusive art school. Chae-Kyung was betrothed to become the next crown princess by her grandfather and Shin’s grandfather. Now another twist is added to this drama. After 14 years of living in England with his mom, Lee Yul appears all of a sudden. He is Shin’s cousin as well as the former Crown Prince. Everything seems to be going normally until Chae-Kyung’s optimistic spirit wins the heart of the internally lonely Yul. As the Crown Prince Shin and simple-minded Chae-Kyung’s relationship appears to be developing deeper feelings, a series of scandals are exposed to the public right after the pair was officially announced married. Will love prevail in a world of political pressures and martial hardships? Or will being in the spotlight of the public be too much for the newlyweds to endure?



Review: I highly anticipated this drama because I recieved so many recommendations to watch it from friends and family. In the first episode, I was automatically addicted by the characters of Chae-gyung and Shin portrayed through Yoon Eun Hye and Joo Ji Hoon. Someone watching this drama for the first time might have the impression that this is one of those old fashioned dramas, but in fact, it's a very modern one - even the setting is in the year 2006! Although this drama started out funny and quite hooking, it became a little boring and sometimes I think the writers added some parts that weren't at all necessary. For example, the first half of the whole drama wasn't that interesting to me and it just seemed like they were trying to find something to do to fill up all that space. Fortunately, starting at episode 12, I finally saw the relationship between Chae-gyung and Shin growing and becoming deeper, and that's when this drama finally got me interested. All the episodes following episode 12 were very good and the cute moments that I had anticipated finally came! (If you see my favorite episodes above, then watch those episodes and you'll see all the cute scenes I was talking about!) I especially LOVED episode 16 and episode 23. :) Those were very good. This drama had good morals and values in it, like family, comparing Chae-gyung's poor yet warm family to Shin's rich yet cold family. It also tackled difficult situations in life like revenge and loneliness. Although this drama started out dull, the end result was very much worth it! And that's the reason why I gave it the rating it deserved. If you like those especially cute dramas despite the number of dull parts in it, then I recommend this one! This is one of my FAVORITE dramas. :D So it's worth watching. AND, even after it was long done, I was still really sad because it was over. :( Like, I don't want the to make a sequel because it's probably going to be horrible, but I wish the drama didn't end. Haha but I think I'm over it now. Normally it just takes me one day to get over a normal drama. But this one doesn't seem normal...because it took me like ONE WEEK. And that's longer than one day....so yeahh. Watch it! I liked it, I bet you would too!

~Source for character descriptions and synopsis: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Goong, http://www.spcnet.tv/Korean-Dramas/Princess-Hours-Goong-review-r1307.html

Meteor Garden Review

Drama: Meteor Garden
Alternate Titles: 流星花園 / Liu Xing Hua Yuan
Genre: Drama
Language: Taiwanese
Number of Episodes: 27
Film Date: April 2001
My Favorite Episode: 14
My Rating: 4/5


Main Cast: Barbie Xu as Shan Cai
Jerry Yan as Dao Ming Si
Vic Zhou as Hua Ze Lei
Ken Chu as Xi Men
Vanness Wu as Mei Zuo

Introduction/Description of Main Characters:
Shan Cai - An ordinary girl with a strong and kind personality, she has no siblings but two parents who are always longing to see their daughter marry a rich man. She has a few best friends, Qing He, Xiao You and Li Zhen. She is also Dao Ming Si's love interest.
Dao Ming Si - The obnoxious leader of F4, he thinks that money can buy anything until he meets Shan Cai and realizes that he cannot 'buy' Shan Cai. He used to have a fiery temper and almost killed someone in the past. However, Shan Cai is the only one who can make him control his temper.

Hua Ze Lei - The quiet one in F4, he is the kindest one out of the four and is a very good friend. His first love interest is Jing but they had no good ending. In the middle of the series, he falls for Shan Cai but remains a good friend because he knows that Dao Ming Si really loves Shan Cai.

Xi Men - The womanizer of the four. He has a new girlfriend every single week. However, when a courageous Xiao You confesses her love for him, he sort of changes for a while. But at the end, he is still the 'womanizer'.

Mei Zuo - The joker of the four, he's similar to Xi Men except that there's no female character for him. He is also a very loyal friend.

My Favorite Songs: Qing Fei Di Yi, Ne Yao Di Ai


Synopsis: Shan Cai, a lower middle class citizen, is attending Ying De University, the private school made exclusively for rich students. Besides being looked down upon by rich classmates, she has angered the leader of F4, Dao Ming Si. F4 comprises of Dao Ming Si, Hua Ze Lei, Xi Men, and Mei Zuo, who are the heirs of the four richest families who also donated a lot of money to the school, so nobody dares to challenge them. This poor girl dared to attack Dao Ming Si, which nobody has done before, making Dao Ming Si sprout an interest towards her. However, his constant torture of her has made her hate him, but has also made her fall in love with Hua Ze Lei, who helped her during Dao Ming Si’s torturing. Can Dao Ming Si get her love through his cold and cruel exterior? Will their love last when everyone is trying to break them up? What happens when his fiancée comes and his mother has used all the worst ways to keep her from him?



Review: In my opinion, Meteor Garden was very good. Although it's a very old drama, it's one of the first Taiwanese dramas EVER that started the new line of even more Taiwanese dramas! The beginning was interesting, and the drama flowed nicely from conflict to conflict, since there were many small conflicts in addition to a larger conflict, which is ultimately the relationship between Dao Ming Si and Shan Cai. This drama did not get a 5/5 from me though, because I found that F4 weren't as scary as they were supposed to be. They were supposed to be frightening, but in the beginning, they didn't even do much harm to anyone, yet the whole school fears them. The reason I liked this drama is because it was so interesting and kept me watching it. Unlike some other dramas, this one didn't have any boring parts; it was all well planned and kept me watching it. I especially know that this was a good drama because at the end, I was very sad. When you're sad after watching a drama, then you know it's a good one. And if the beginning of the drama hooks you, then that's even more proof that it's a good drama to watch! Meteor Garden, although old, was very good and acceptable. The plot is unlike one that I've ever seen before where the man can't be with the woman because of their different financial status's. This review isn't as long as some of my previous ones because there isn't much to say on how good it is or how bad it is. Like Full House, this isn't one of my favorite dramas, but one to consider if you want a longer drama with many small conflicts and problems in between.

~Source for character descriptions and synopsis: www.mysoju.com/meteor-garden, http://www.spcnet.tv/Taiwanese-TV-Series/Meteor-Garden-review-r1530.html

Full House Review

Drama: Full House
Alternate Titles: 풀하우스 / Pool Ha-woo-seu
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Language: Korean
Number of Episodes: 16
Film Date: July 2004
Favorite Episode: none in particular
My Rating: 3/5

Main Cast: Bi (Rain) as Lee Young Jae
Song Hye Gyo as Han Ji Eun

Kim Sung Soo as Yoo Min Hyuk
Han Eun Jung as Kang Hye Won

Introduction/Description of Main Characters:
Lee Young Jae - A popular rising actor in Korea, Young Jae marries Ji Eun because of rumors of his sexuality. Although Young Jae appears to be rough and is mean to Ji Eun, he actually does care about her. He has always liked his childhood friend Hye Won, but he seems to be quite possessive about Ji Eun sometimes.
Han Ji Eun - She appears to be weak, but she won't let herself get picked on. Even though she fights with Young Jae all the time, she can't help but be touched by his obscure kindness. However, she knows that he loves Hae Won and finds it harder and harder to live as his wife under such circumstances.
Yoo Min Hyuk - Young Jae and Hye Won's childhood friend. He is rich and successful, which means that he has many girls after him. But he finds none of them attractive until he meets Han Ji Eun. He always takes care of Ji Eun and helps her. He doesn't want her to be hurt by Young Jae.
Kang Hye Won - Young Jae's childhood friend, who was pursuing Min Hyuk at the beginning of the series. However, she finds herself jealous when Young Jae marries Ji Eun. Min Hyuk points out that she only wants him, but doesn't like him, and she realizes she does not want Young Jae, who has always been by her side, to be taken away from her.


My Favorite Songs: Oon Myung
I think I
Geu Deh Ji Geum


Synopsis: A story about love and heartbreak, sadness and self-preservation.
Han Ji Eun is a naïve writer who got swindled out of everything she owned. Not by strangers, but by her best friends! Stranded in China, she managed to borrow money from an actor, Lee Young Jae, to return to Korea after coming up with a clever lie. Once she lands in Korea, she finds out that all which is precious to her has been sold to Lee Young Jae. In an attempt to get her possessions back, she entered in a contract marriage with Young Jae for six months. It is quite simple, until strong feelings start to develop. Everyone around them tests the “love” Young Jae and Ji Eun have for one another. In spite of losing it all, Ji Eun manages to be cheerful and take things on strike as the business relationship between the two become personal while they start to rely and care for each other.



Review: Full House did not fulfill my expectations. I heard from many other reviews that it was a good and cute drama, but when I saw it, it appeared rather boring and dragging. Although it was just 16 episodes, I felt that the plot wasn’t really going anywhere. Yes, Full House started out very attractive, but it became a bit repetitive after a few episodes. Han Ji Eun would continually pack and leave the house to escape to her friends’ place, and Lee Young Jae would continually fight with her throughout the whole drama. Whenever Young Jae was telling Ji Eun his true feelings, he’d immediately become defensive and start yelling again, telling her to clean the place. Whenever Ji Eun wanted to go out with Yoo Min Hyuk, Young Jae would give her a task to do because he wanted her to stay with him. The plot was just confusing. I liked this drama a little though, because it was nice seeing Ji Eun help Young Jae’s relationship with his family. The best part of the drama was when Ji Eun sang the 3 bears song in front of Young Jae’s grandmother! Another bad thing about this drama was that when Young Jae finally proposes to Ji Eun, they start arguing shortly after that, and Ji Eun doesn’t take it seriously. She rejects Young Jae the next day even though it’s clear that from the middle of the drama she fell in love with Young Jae. It was also weird how she went out with Min Hyuk even though she had no feelings for him, and she was supposed to be married. Near the end, the kiss was sweet when Young Jae and Ji Eun finally realize that they love each other, but it seemed a bit rushed. It didn’t have a smooth transition or progression like Smiling Pasta. Even though Smiling Pasta was based off of Full House, I enjoyed Smiling Pasta so much more. But Full House is still by all means a good drama. :D It’s just that some factors in it annoyed me and after reading so many good reviews about Full House, it definitely did NOT meet my expectations (like I mentioned at the beginning of this review). But if you like such plots, you should still see it, because it wasn’t a horrible drama, I just would not count it as one of my favorites. To say this in simpler words, it's good, but not great. Like all other dramas, it had a sweet ending. :) No surprise there. :D

~Source for character descriptions and synopsis: http://www.spcnet.tv/Korean-Dramas/Full-House-review-r647.html, http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Full_House

It Started With a Kiss Review

Drama: It Started With a Kiss
Alternate Titles: 惡作劇之吻 / 恶作剧之吻 / E Zuo Ju Zhi Wen
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Language: Taiwanese
Number of Episodes: 20 or 30 (depends on version)
Film Date: September 2005
My Favorite Episode: 29

My Rating: 4.5/5

Main Cast: Joe Cheng as Jiang Zhi Shu
Ariel Lin as Yuan Xiang Qin
Jiro Wang as Jin Yuan Feng/Ah Jin
Tiffany Xu as Pei Zi Yu

Introduction/Description of Main Characters:
Jiang Zhi Shu - Intelligent, athletic, good looking - everything a girl looks for in the perfect boy. He can even cook well! His life is perfect until he meets Xiang Qin. She moves into his house after her house collapses because her father is good friends with Zhi Shu's father. Through the occurance of Xiang Qin, Zhi Shu learns about what it means to have a goal, to be happy after getting something small accomplished. And as the drama progresses, you start to see Zhi Shu's attitude towards Xiang Qin soften.

Yuan Xiang Qin - At school she's in the lowest class - class F. But ever since the orientation of school, she's had her eyes set on the perfect Jiang Zhi Shu, who is in class A. One day she gets the courage to give him a love letter, but Zhi Shu just walks past him. Heartbroken, Xiang Qin cries and thinks that life is never going to get better...until her house collapses and she moves into Zhi Shu's house! She keeps perservering and loving Zhi Shu even though she knows he can't stand her and he despises her. But her work pays off as Zhi Shu starts to like Xiang Qin.

Ah Jin - Ever since the first day of school he's had a crush on Xiang Qin. He is always following her and keeping her company. Even though Ah Jin knows that Xiang Qin doesn't like him at all, he still waits for her. He even learns how to be a cook at her dad's restaurant, patiently waiting for the day when Xiang Qin will come to him instead of Zhi Shu.

Pei Zi Yu - She occurs later in the drama when Xiang Qin, Ah Jin, and Zhi Shu graduate from high school. A very smart, athletic, and beautiful girl, she's everything a guy would wish for. But once she sees Zhi Shu, she has her eyes set on him. They're also in the same class and major as well as in the tennis team so it's easy for them to meet. She becomes another problem for Xiang Qin as she tries to win Zhi Shu's heart.

My Favorite Songs: Come a Little Closer, Meet, Hear, Joke, Can or Can't, The Whole World Knows

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?

Review: It Started With a Kiss was a good drama. Not as good and addicting as Smiling Pasta, but it was quite original and unique in its own way. I enjoyed how this plot was not like one I have seen before. It is a very sweet drama. Although Zhi Shu is smart, athletic, and very good looking, he doesn’t really have anything that he wants or yearns for in life. Zhi Shu has never experienced the feeling of happiness or jealousy. Unlike him, Xiang Qin has gone through all these feelings and she’s not afraid to hide her true self. Thus, in the beginning, Jiang Zhi Shu hates and despises the annoying Yuan Xiang Qin because of her talkative and dumb behavior, but as the drama progresses, you notice that he slowly changes his feelings towards her. This is a very cute romantic drama if you like watching these. If you like the dramas that aren’t overly dramatic and are more realistic too, watch this drama! There were many parts that I found funny and made me laugh. Some scenes where Xiang Qin daydreamed were very hilarious. The ending of the drama was especially hilarious! But a bad thing about this drama was that there were 20 or 30 episodes (depends on which version), so sometimes it was boring, and many different events just randomly happened throughout the passing of time. Another bad thing about this drama was that Xiang Qin was a bit too naïve and dumb, so it was irritating. One last thing that got on your nerves was the fact that everywhere Zhi Shu went, the girls would be interested in him and try to win him over. But overall, I enjoyed this drama thoroughly and the characters were very cute! The acting of Joe Cheng and Ariel Lin was also very funny! So, if you’re the type that likes those dramas that aren’t too fast and dramatic, and those that make you laugh, choose It Started With a Kiss! And if you like those dramas with a few cute moments, this is the right one to choose. This was certainly one of my favorite dramas! (There is also currently a sequel to It Started With a Kiss called "They Kiss Again". I heard that begins during Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin's honeymoon, and later on back at school where Zhi Shu studies to be a doctor and Xiang Qin studies to be a nurse. But I haven't seen it yet.)

~Source for character descriptions and synopsis: www.mysoju.com/it-started-with-a-kiss, http://wiki.d-addicts.com/It_Started_With_A_Kiss

Smiling Pasta Review

Drama: Smiling Pasta
Alternate Titles: 微笑 Pasta / Wei Xiao Pasta
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Language: Taiwanese
Number of Episodes: 17
Film Date: July 2006
My Favorite Episode: 10
My Rating: 5/5

Main Cast: Nicholas Teo as He Qun
Cyndi Wang as Cheng Xiao Shi
Gino as He Rui Zhe/Ah Zhe
Zhao Hong Qiao as Rita

Character Introductions and Descriptions:

He Qun - An idol singer, very popular, but will always remain protective and caring for his friends and family. In the beginning, he is rejected by his childhood friend Rita, who is taken away by his brother Ah Zhe one day during his concert. He Qun also has a bad relationship with his family, as they broke apart when Ah Zhe's girlfriend drowned due to He Qun's carelessness.

Cheng Xiao Shi - An optimistic girl with a heart of gold. Although she has already had 17 boyfriends who each dumped her after 3 months, her family is very supportive of her, always telling her to find a better man and encouraging her all the time. After being dumped by her 17th boyfriend, He Qun accidentally bumps into her on the streets and they kiss. Reporters get pictures of this, and as a result, Cheng Xiao Shi's life is changed forever.

Ah Zhe - He Qun's younger brother who never forgave him after his girlfriend's death. He has moved and lived apart from the family ever since. He also saved Cheng Xiao Shi once at school, so now she always makes him lunch to eat. Sadly, he dumps the pasta away every day and doesn't even glance at it. He takes Rita away from He Qun at the concert just to make He Qun mad as well.

Rita - The childhood friend of He Qun and Ah Zhe, she has seen everything they went through, including the death of Ah Zhe's old girlfriend and the separation of the brothers. She has always liked Ah Zhe, but because he liked another girl, she went to He Qun. But later in the drama, she starts to like He Qun again.

My Favorite Songs: Tears from Polaris, Little Turtle

Synopsis: Xiao Shi is a girl who has gone through many short relationships, 17 to be exact, not one lasting more than 3 months hence, she was cursed with a three-month curse. After being dumped by her 17th boyfriend, the world looks grimmer than ever. At that time, a famous idol, He Qun runs past, bumps into Xiao Shi, and they end up "kissing" on the street. Paparazzi swarmed by and to avoid a bad reputation, He Qun’s manager declared Xiao Shi as He Qun’s girlfriend of one year and fiancée. Thus, a love contract was made. This story is about how the couple learns to like each other after having disagreements in the beginning, as well as fighting the injustices the media throw at them. Will Xiao Shi finally break her 3 month curse?

My Review: Obviously by looking at my rating of this drama, you can tell that it was a great drama that I thoroughly enjoyed from episode one. It hooked me and the plot was very interesting. This drama is a Taiwanese version of "Full House", a Korean drama, but I found Smiling Pasta much more addicting. The characters of He Qun and Cheng Xiao Shi were also very well portrayed through Nicholas Teo and Cyndi Wang. Their chemistry is unbelievable. When I first started watching Smiling Pasta, I found that I couldn’t stop. Therefore, that day I saw 5 episodes in a row. This drama was so enthralling that I just kept wanting to watch more of it to see what would happen next. After I discovered such a drama as Smiling Pasta, it became my favorite thing to do every day. It was something that I’d look forward to after a harsh day of school. It took all my pressure and stress away and I’d be able to relax. Or perhaps, if I was mad, I would instantly become happy. Smiling Pasta had such a joyous mood and the songs were very upbeat, giving the audience a bubbly and lively feeling inside. It brought me to such a world I wish existed. Not only that, but it had very important themes and motifs that one can apply to their daily lives, and it opened up a world of Asian dramas to me. Because of Smiling Pasta, I discovered so many more dramas that I never knew existed and as a result, I am now able to experience more delight and pleasure through those dramas. One thing that I especially enjoyed a lot in Smiling Pasta was the relationship Cheng Xiao Shi had with her family, and how they were always supporting her no matter what. This is what a real family is like. Even though they were embarrassing and did many weird things, they gave her so much love and hope. Therefore, I rated this drama 5/5. This drama was literally PERFECT. There was nothing wrong with it. Well, there was tiny thing. I found it a little annoying how Cheng Xiao Shi really wanted He Qun to confess to her when she already knew that he liked her. I didn’t like how she kept pressuring him to do so, and how it seemed to be a big deal near the end of the drama. But other than that, it was PERFECT. The ending was very satisfying too. If they make a second one, I’d definitely watch it! Another good thing about Smiling Pasta – it’s only 17 episodes long! Unlike other dramas, Smiling Pasta doesn’t drag on and on for 30 episodes. It’s very straightforward and keeps you interested! So if you haven’t seen Smiling Pasta yet, you’d better start watching it! You won’t regret it. Trust me, I never have even up to this day. :)