187. My Girl 마이 걸 (2005) Korean

Lee Dong Wook, Lee Da Hae, Lee Joon Ki, Park Si Yeon

Drama Rating: 5/10 Neck Score: A-

I started this because I have a goal to watch all the Hong Sister's dramas eventually, but also because I needed more fluffy, trope romcoms in my life. You know the kind with forced living situations and ridiculous relationship deals, etc. I've been watching too many melodramas of late. Well, for the first half this really fit the bill, besides being highly laughable while looking at the early 2000s clothing styles and bad hair. I thought Lee Da Hee was Song Hye Kyo from Full House at first because their character styles are literally the same.  Awful.  The curly pigtails and mismatched quirky homespun look.  Shudder.  I'm glad she stopped the pigtails.  They turned a normally sexy woman into a nauseating aegyo fest.  I seriously thought Joon Ki was a girl at one point when I wasn't paying attention closely, because his hair was so bad. Ugh, the mullets. Yuck. That put a minus on the general A score of their necks.  It was fun at first, but super draggy to get to the main point, with them actually falling in love and wanting to get together, and then after they finally did (it took like 12 episodes) they were immediately ripped apart and the rest of the show became a mopey, draggy, mess of boring and overly dramatic. I was so bored trying to finish it.  And the 2nd leads hung on for way too long.  No, stop making my Joon Ki pathetic!  I only want happy Joon Ki and no drunk sad Joon Ki!  Boo.  I do have to say that minus the awful hair Lee Don Wook looks better in this one... tan and not overly pasty like recent dramas he's been in.  Why is he so white these days?  Well, it was fun in spots, but this drama was definitely meh at best.

88. Devil Beside You 惡魔在身邊 (2005) Taiwanese

Mike He, Rainie Yang, Kingone Wang

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A

Another as addictive as crack type deal.  Seriously badly made (but this is 2005) but still so watchable.  Maybe it's because Mike He is super hot and has super sexy hair.  It's based off of a manga, and it the silliest plot ever.  The manga is originally in high school, but to make it less sketchy they put it in college, but you'll still think they are all in high school they way they all act.  She accidentally gives her confession note to the wrong boy, not the captain of the basketball team but to the resident bad boy.  He then uses it to make her his slave/errand girl, but it's clear that this is because he likes her.  Then they find out that they are soon to be step-siblings as their parents are about to get married.  This becomes a big problem when she starts liking him, but doesn't seem to deter him from pursuing her.  The show is badly made, but not badly acted really (well at least the main two actors, can't say the same for basketball captain dude).  It gets way silly, but the chemistry of the main two is no joke and "Make-out Mike" can really kiss.  Seriously, that dude's hair is too sexy in this show.  Makes his neck look soooo goooooood.  They made it seriously in the manga style in how it was done, from the acting styles to the hair, to the special effects.  Maybe that makes it seem cheesier, but the rest is so badly made that it might make it worse when it's just a style choice.  Anyways, it was one of those things where we were like "why do we like this show so much?"  But we had to keep watching.

65. My Lovely Kim Sam Soon 내 이름은 김삼순 (2005) Korean

Kin Sun Ah, Hyun Bin, Jung Ryu Won, Daniel Henney

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: B+

Hyun Bin's almost mullet ruined that lovely neck (grouchy face).  This is also one of those ones I put off because of pressure to watch it.  Because of that I probably didn't appreciate some things because they were not novelties or new to me, because I had already watched about 64 dramas already.  This is a classic, groundbreaking drama, that changed the industry for the better, but I might tend to forget that somewhat, however, I still loved it.  I also probably appreciated somethings more because I understood more, so it's a toss up which is better.  But Hyun Bin's hair is silly.  It's 2005, when bad hair was a thing.  Anyways, Sam Soon is a pudgy regular girl who is also an amazing baker.  Hyun Bin owns a restaurant and hires her.  He also had a girlfriend who dumped him but comes back, with her hot American friend Daniel Henney.  Wow that man is attractive... and really bad at Korean.  That's ok, we'll just look at him and deal with his English.  Also marble mouth Hyun Bin is just as bad at English as Daniel Henney is at Korean, so that's funny.  Anyways, this show is hilarious.  I love the running joke of her trying to change her name and him hiring people to rip up the form so she can't.  It's so good.  Loved this show, so appreciate it lots when you watch it, because it's awesome.  Also forgive the hair because it's old.  That was a thing then.

46. Delightful Girl, Choon Hyang 쾌걸 춘향 (2005) Korean

Han Chae Young, Jae Hee, Uhm Tae Woong, Park Shi Eun

Drama Rating: 6/10     Neck Score: B+

This was the Hong Sister's first drama, and it is funny, but also super dramatic.  It's an adaptation of a folk tale about a chaste girl who stays true to her husband, even when she was forced to marry him and they didn't know they loved each other.  That's all well and good, but some of the Joseon crap that the other dude pulls just doesn't work in modern times and it makes Uhm Tae Woong's character look cray cray.  I still don't like Uhm Tae Woong because I haven't watched another drama with him in it that made me like him yet.  Also it has these little Joseon sketches at the end that are supposed to be funny, but they are mostly just weird.  Other than that, I liked it.  It's about a Seoul kid (Jae Hee) who moves to this tiny town and meets the cool girl of the town, Choon Hyang (Han Chae Young) and they instantly butt heads, but as they are becoming friends they accidentally end up sleeping in the same bed (but not together) and since it's a small town they are forced to get married so they can save face and complete school.  But the problem is the boy is crushing on his noona (who is dating the Park Shi Hoo cameo- bonus!) and then Ahjussi (Uhm Tae Woong) pops up and starts crushing on Choon Hyang.  Ew, he's way old and she's in high school still.  More negative points.  So they get married and live together, more as siblings, and then once her thing gets taken away (and Park Shi Hoo dumps her) noona pops back wanting her boy toy.  So there is a lot of plotting how to rip this married couple apart.  The best parts come when they finally start realizing they like each other and get jealous.  Also when time passes and he grows up to be a prosecutor and suddenly gets super super hot.  Whew!  So I liked it, but some parts are kinda hooky...

17. Hana Yori Dango 花より男子 (2005) Japanese

Inoue Mao, Matsumoto Jun, Oguri Shun, Matsuda Shota , Abe Tsuyoshi

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A

The Japanese version of Boys Over Flowers, but actually based on the Taiwanese version and the manga.  So much better than the Korean version, but that isn't saying too much.  I just think that it shows the right flavor a bit more.  Also, it might help that I only watched the first season that didn't get to the amnesia part, which is the worst plot device ever.  However, I hear that it is handled closer to the manga which makes more sense then what was randomly thrown into the Korean BOF version.  Also, no offense to the Korean F4 who are super super hot, but when you have Matsumoto Jun and Matsuda Shota to compete with... well... they're just hotter.  Especially MatsudaShota, although he has really bad hair in Hana Yori Dango if I remember correctly... at least he does in the movie sequel of it... yes, I watched that too.