It all started back when my siblings got into anime. I still watch the occasional anime, and I have liked a few shows such as Ouran Highschool Host Club, Sailor Moon, Parts of One Piece up to Alabasta, Bleach, Itazura Na Kiss, Maid Sama and Cardcaptor Sakura. But, I am not really into anime anymore, I don't really read watch them unless I am re watching something. In 2010/2011, I heard about the live action Japanese drama of Ouran Highschool Host Club. I decided to watch that and that.
For a while that was the only drama I watched, and it wasn't
until after I saw the anime, Itazura na Kiss and loved it that my journey into
kdramas continued. The first kdrama I watched was Playful Kiss the drama based
on Itazura Na Kiss. I also then watched
It Started with A Kiss and even watched part of It Started with a Kiss 2,(my
first Tawianese dramas) (I tried to
watch the Japanese live action version, Itazura na Kiss(1996), but I couldn't
finish it, and dropped that.) before I went back to see another Korean Drama.
I cannot be sure of what I watched next but, You're
beautiful was one of them. To this day that is still my number one favorite
drama and I have watched around 90 or so. I was at first a kdrama closet fan,
as I went to college for a semester by myself (2nd semester my
sister came with me), and I had no room mate and made literally no friends.
When I wasn’t in class or doing homework, I spent all my time in my room
watching kdramas. In fact, I would say I probably watched more than half of those
kdramas in that year alone.( I did go to a semester of Bible college before
that first semester and I would watch things only at night and early in the
morning as not to disturb my 4 roommates. But, that semester at my new college
was really when a became a fan, I watch way more than the occasional drama at
Bible college.) My semester at the new college was early 2013.
I was still a closet fan for a while and it wasn’t really
late 2013 when I decided to tell everyone. Or rather, when I told my parents
about it. They did not seem to mind as much I thought they would so I started
to openly talk about them using kdramas as references for real life and stories
to tell other people. I met a few people at college who watched kdramas, but I
did not have time to hang out. When My Love from the Stars came out, everyone
knew that I was really invested. While waiting for my English class after
chapel I would watch the new episodes of My Love from the Stars as they came
out. Because I watched these using Viki (I watch shows on both Dramafever, and
Viki and I have paid for both, but, I prefer the awesome comments and I like
the subtitles better on Viki.), I was able to watch episodes sometimes with no
subs at all because I could not wait. I remember in particular episode 16,
where I watched the conversation between Do Minjoon and Yoon Jae. It
was so awesome that I understood a lot of that conversation.
Around that time, I met a Korean girl going to my college
and she invited me to spend time with her, her roommate, and her boyfriend as
she watched an episode of My Love from Stars with no subs whatsoever. It was to
practice her Korean while she was over here. She seemed very impressed that I
could understand the episode and therefore laugh at the right times and be
totally invested. (Thankfully, I had already watched the episode with subs, so
I could understand it all. I also could understand enough to know what the
summary of conversations were. Therefore, I would have the right reactions at
the right time.) We watched it together and I enjoyed also her little comments like,
‘‘gwiyeobda’’ and small phrases that I understood while we were watching.
I did try to get my sisters into kdramas, and at first, it
did not work as well as I thought it would. My older sister watched My Girl
with me, but, I made a fatal mistake. I did not watch the drama before I showed
it to her. She finished it one morning while I was asleep. Apparently, she did
not like the fact that they had to separate and that it took so long for them
to get together. But, since I still haven’t watched the last three episodes, I
still really can’t say what she really disliked. Not that she hasn’t watched kdramas
since then. She watched quite a few dramas, including You’re all surrounded, My
Love from the Stars, Queen In Hyun’s Man, Skipbeat, Her Lovely Heels, and Bride
of the Century. My oldest sister who is
now married, has watched only parts of kdramas so far, but, I gave her two for
her wedding present and one of them included, My Love from the Stars, so I
expect she will love the ones she watches. My younger sister likes watching
Chinese and Tawianese dramas and several times watches different kdramas than
me.
Just recently, I got to force my younger brother to watch a couple of
kdramas. He enjoyed for the most part the ones he watched. I know what each of
my family likes so, I tend to only show them dramas that I know they would like
watching. My dad has to work in New York for his job, and before he left, I
made everyone watch My Love from the Stars (I edited it to be 14 hours instead
of the 21 hours. This meant I took out most second lead parts and the whole
past girl that Song Yi looks like. I left in most funny parts except Do Minjoon
getting jealous since our second lead was no longer a second lead, and her
actress friend never became evil. My siblings insisted that they hated these
parts.) My parents like it well enough, and I even showed my mom You’re all
surrounded she love it. I think I need to do her reactions to kdramas and kpop
sometime, she had very different reactions than other people. My mom even got
so used to reading the subs that when we watched a movie without subs she was
confused and then realized it was all in English.
This is in essence, how I got into kdramas.
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