Yi San (77 Episodes)

EPISODE 01-77

((summary taken from wikipedia))

이산-정조대왕 (李祘-正祖大王) / Yi San - King Jeong Jo


Yi San dramatizes the life of Korea's King Jeong Jo, the 22nd ruler of the Joeson Dynasty. Jeong Jo is remembered in Korean history for his sympathy with the plight of the common man.

It begins in Jeong Jo's early years, when he befriends two children working in the Palace (Sung Song Yeon and Dae Su). However, due to corruption in the government, the two are expelled from their positions and forced to flee.

Years later, they are finally reunited with Jeong Jo, whose position as Crown Prince is constantly being threatened by palace intrigue. As for his love life: Jeong Jo falls in love with his childhood friend Song Yeon, who is the daughter of a deceased artist, and not of noble birth.

While the show does deviate from the historical record in a number of ways, it's representation of court life during the Joseon Dynasty appears to be based on contemporary sources.

Cast: Lee Seo Jin, Han Ji Min, Park Eun Hye, Lee Jong Soo, Lee Soon Jae, Kyun Mi Ri, Sung Hyun Ah, Kim Yeo Jin, Lee Ip Sae, Ji Sang Ryul
Directed by: Kim Geun-Hong, Lee Byeong-Hoon

Save The Green Planet!

((summary taken from azntv))
지구를지켜라! /Jigureul Jikyeora!


Byung-Gu is an ordinary young man living in Korea. He believes that all of the earth's social ills are the evil doings of aliens who are intent on destroying the world. That's why he knows that unless he can meet the prince from Andromeda before the total lunar eclipse, planet earth will be in grave danger.
In order to meet the prince, he must find an extraterrestrial living on earth.

So Byung-Gu kidnaps the most logical suspect, KANG Man-Shik, the president and CEO of Yoojae Chemical Company. Thus starts the battle between Byung-Gu, who's trying to uncover a secret alien plot to destroy the earth and CEO Kang Man-Shik, who thinks Byung-Gu's nuts and is trying desperately to escape. Will Byung-Gu save the green planet? Or will the aliens or the detectives hot on his trail, triumph first?

This was the directorial debut of Jang Jun-Hwan, who also wrote the film. It was nominated for eight awards and won seven of them (wikipedia).

Cast: Shin Ha-Kyun, Baek Yun-shik, Hwang Jeong-min, Lee Jae-yong
Directed by: Jang Jun-Hwan

Death Bell

((summary taken from azntv))
고死 : 피의 중간고사 / Gosa

A chi-chi private high school, which actively encourages cutthroat competition among the student body by, for instance, publicly displaying their exam score rankings, selects twenty elite members and organizes a boot camp of sorts, to prepare for an international student exchange event.

To their chagrin, the students, including rebellious heroine Ina (the singer Nam Gyu-ri), her timid best buddette Myong-hyo (Son Yeo-eun) and her wannabe-boyfriend Hyun (the sit-com idol Kim Beom), and the teachers, uptight English teacher So-young (Yoon Jeong-hee, TV's Happy Woman) and popular Korean instructor Chang-wook (Lee Beom-soo, City of Violence) find themselves stuck inside the school. Somebody is kidnapping students one by one, in the order of their midterm score ranks, and killing them. The gruesome ways in which they die are broadcast via the school AV system: the only way to prevent the hideous murders is to find correct solutions to the culprit's "exam questions" in time.

Cast: Lee Beom-Su, Yun Jeong-Hee, Nam Gyu-Ri, Kim Beom
Director: Director Chang

Kids

((summary taken from azntv))
KIDS

On the outside, tough scrapyard worker Takeo (Tamaki Hiroshi) seems to have nothing in common with the innocent, almost childlike Asato (Koike Teppei), but both are lonely souls bearing dark pasts. Crossing paths by chance, Takeo, Asato, and shy diner waitress Shiho (Kuriyama Chiaki) strike up an unlikely friendship, making life in their dead-end hometown a bit more bearable. Asato was born with special powers that prove to be both his blessing and his curse: he has the ability to transfer other people's wounds to his own body.

He can't help but try to heal those around him, including Takeo and Shiho, but his powers come at a painful cost. Asato's powers tore apart his family years ago and continue to tear at him in the present. With Asato determined to hurt himself to help others, Takeo may be the only one who can save his friend.

Otsuichi's works are known for their acute depictions of pain and loneliness, and Kids again hits the heart with the story of three friends walking a long and lonely road of suffering and healing.
Cast: Teppei Koike, Hiroshi Tamaki, Yuki Saito, Shigeru Izumiya
Directed by: Tatsuya Hagishima

Hansel and Gretel

((summary taken from jdramas at livejournal))

헨젤과 그레텔

A children's beloved fairy tale takes a bizarre and frightening twist in Hansel and Gretel, a blood-spatting fantasy horror from award-winning director Lim Pil Seong. In the classic folk tale, the two young protagonists happily find their way back home after pushing the evil witch into the burning furnace. But beneath its happy telling lies the disturbing truth that traces roots back to one of history's darkest times when poverty forced many parents to abandon their kids...

While on his way to reunite with his long-lost mother, Eun Soo runs into an accident and loses consciousness. Waking up in the middle of a dark forest, he meets a red-cloaked girl who guides him to her eerie-looking house where he meets her strange family. Though it's quite obvious that there are no contacts with the outside world, the house is somehow always filled with toys, sweets, and other unimaginable goodies. Eun Soo soon learns there is no way out of the forest and a few days later, he notices that the children are bringing in more grown-ups from the woods..
Cast: Chun Jung Myung, Eun Won-Jae, Sim Eun-Kyeong, Jim Ji-Hee
Directed by: Lim Pil-Seong

Beautiful (아름답다)

((summary by me))

아름답다 / Arumdabda

Everyone wants to be beautiful, don't they?

Some go to extremes with unhealthy diets and plastic surgery; others worship and emulate models, read beauty and fashion magazines, and spend money at salons in order to be beautiful. Yet few really consider the darker side of such an obsession. Sometimes beauty isn't as wonderful as it's made out to be... and it doesn't always lead to 'happily ever after'.

Jeon Jae-Hong explores this darker concept of beauty in his feature film debut, Beautiful (Kim Ki-Duk wrote the original story and produced). Instead of showing us a woman striving for beauty, we're shown a protagonist who is already the epitome of what many women wish to become. Eun Young is a natural beauty: Young girls look up to her, men desire her, woman wish to be her. She seems to lack nothing, and is admired by many.

But as Eun Young discovers... beauty has its price.

Cast: Cha Su-Yeon, Lee Chun-Hee
Directed by: Jeon Jae-Hong

Warning: this movie contains disturbing images, nudity, and violence. So don't say I didn't warn you!!

Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do

((summary from Wikipedia, edited by me))

도레미파솔라시도

Jung-won is a high school student who works several part time jobs. One day while working at an amusement park, she is continuously harassed by a boy who keeps making fun of her dragon costume... upset, Jung-won pours soda on him and storms off.

Soon after, she sees that same boy, who's name is Eun Gye, moving into the house next door. Eun Gye is the lead singer/guitarist in a band called Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, and threatens to tell Jung-won’s parents that she works several part time jobs unless she agrees to carry his guitar for a week.

Jung-won and Eun-Gye quickly develop feelings for each other, and the two become a couple. But soon after that, Jung-won meets Hee-won, a familiar person from her past, who is Eun-Gye's best friend and a member in his band. Jung-won and Hee-won had a falling out 10 years ago, and Hee-won stopped talking to her completely. Now Hee-won admits that he still likes Jung-won, and Jung-won finds herself torn between her friendship to Hee-won and her love for Eun-Gye.

Cast: Jang Geun-Suk, Cha Ye-Ryun, Jung Eui-Chul
Directed by: Kang Geon-Hyang

Alone

((summary taken from AsianMediaWiki))

Pim is a young Thai woman living in Korea with her husband Wee. At her birthday a friend reads her fortune with a deck of cards and informs her that there is happy news! Something she has lost will soon return to her! But some lost things are better off staying lost. You see, Pim moved to Korea partially to escape the guilt of being the surviving half of a pair of conjoined twins. Her sister Ploy died after separation, a separation that Pim insisted on largely because she was in love with Wee and the guilt of choosing her husband over her sister and her sister’s resulting death has plagued her ever since. Much as she would prefer to avoid it, however, Pim soon has no choice but to return to her childhood home when her mother is felled by a stroke and – sure enough – it isn’t long before the spirit of her dead sister begins to angrily intrude upon her life.

Love Phobia

((summary taken from asianmediawiki.com))

Cho Seung Woo (Marathon, The Classic) and Gang Hye Jung (Welcome To Dongmakgol, Old Boy) star in this curious romantic drama that spans decades. One sunny day, a young boy named Jo Kang meets a curious young girl, dressed in a bright yellow raincoat. Jo Kang instantly becomes friends with Ari, and falls instantly in love with the beautiful but rather strange young girl - only for her to one day disappear! The story jumps to ten years later, and Jo Kang is now in high school. One day, completely out of the blue, Ari contacts him and asks to meet again. Although they have not seen each other in a decade, they have a wonderful time together, and the love between them begins to grow once more. But then, Ari disappears once more, leaving Jo Kang devastated. Can Jo Kang track down his true love? Will he ever discover why Ari keeps disappearing? Will he be able to do anything about it? All will be revealed in the tender story of Love Phobia.

The Cut / Cadaver

((summary taken from asianmediawiki.com))

 In a cold dark shaded anatomy classn room, 6 student prosectors are taking part in anatomy class Sun-hwa, Ki-bum, Joong-suk, Eun-joo, Ji-young and Kyung-min are smart medical college freshmen in the same anatomy class. Sun-hwa smart and confident; Ki-bum born to be a team leader full of confidence, Joong-suk son a hospital owner; Kyung-min too weak to be a doctor; Ji-young sexy and haughty but poor at study, Eun-joo studious nerd. They are competing with each other to be the best surgeon, but are strongly tied with fellowship as a team. In the first class, they try to suppress their fear and approach the cadaver that is waiting for them…. The first meeting with a deadly beautiful cadaver, and their nightmare begins. The cadaver is assigned to them, right after the first class. They suffer from ghosts and hallucinations. After several accidents and death of some team members, they start to realize something horrible is coming for them. They do their best to survive and find one clue: these accidents all have something to do with the female cadaver.

Capital Scandal (16 Episodes)

(EPISODE 01-16)

((summary taken from dramawiki))

This drama is set in the 1930's when Korea was under the rule of Japan. Na Yeo Kyeong was the owner of a book store and she was also a freedom fighter. Seon Woo Wan was the playboy son of a rich family and he became involved in the independence movement through a bet with his co-workers to win Na Yeo Kyeong's heart. His father paid for the education of his worker's son, Lee Soo Hyeon, and was disappointed to find him working for the Security Branch of the Japanese government. Cha Song Joo was a famous gisaeng who ran a high class brothel.