Thursday 24 September 2015

20th Completed Drama: Coffee Prince

Coffee Prince
Synonyms: The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince
Episodes: 17
Country: South Korea
Aired: Jul. 2, 2007 - Aug. 28, 2007
Network: MBC
Duration: 1 hr. 5 mins.
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Friendship, Romance
Viewers Rating: 8.4/10
My Rating: 9.0/10

Synopsis: A tomboy is mistaken for a young man, but maintains the deception for the sake of employment. The situation is complicated when her male boss begins to develop feelings for this "boy."

Cast: Yoon Eun Hye - Go Eun Chan
Gong Yoo - Choi Han Kyul
Lee Sun Gyun - Choi Han Seong
Chae Jung Ahn - Han Yoo Joo

Review
Contains a lot of spoilers!

General Impressions:
Whenever I asked someone which drama they recommended for me to watch, Coffee Prince was always somewhere in that list. And I can finally understand why. It's a lighthearted drama about gender confusion, issues on homosexuality and status, and deception. It's just so enjoyable to watch, and you can get extremely intense and involved while watching this, you could even throw tantrums and fits about fictional problems. That doesn't sound like a good thing, but that only shows how well done the drama is.

Story: 8.0/10
Although the story is the most lacking thing in the entire drama, it's still brilliant. The gender confusion was definitely the best part and how people eventually found out that Go Eun Chan was never a guy. It is slightly cliche that the female lead's love interest found out last, but I guess it wasn't as cliche back in 2007 as it is now. One thing about the story of Coffee Prince that I wasn't pleased with as the amount of attention that was drawn to Choi Han Seong and Han Yoo Joo. I honestly felt that they didn't need as much screen time (and didn't need to be named as the main protagonists) as Eun Chan and Choi Han Kyul. Their story was just made up of arguments and lovey-dovey stuff. I'm sure they could have still fit in a marriage and miscarriage if they were supporting characters instead. Also, with the miscarriage, I think a lot of people were confused as to what happened with that, so that could have been explained better. But despite all of that, Eun Chan and Han Kyul's relationship throughout the entire series was amazing and I absolutely loved watching it.

Acting/Cast: 9.5/10
Now, the acting in this was superb. I couldn't have asked for a better casting job. I'll start with Han Kyul's actor (as he was my favourite character), Gong Yoo. I just want to say that he is super, amazingly hot, and people could just watch Coffee Prince for his looks. And whenever he smiles, it's the cutest thing. Anyway, Yoo's acting skills are the best and he was completely in character the entire time. Next is Eun Chan's actress: Yoon Eun Hye. Half of the time I was watching this, I would completely forget her character is a girl because she's that convincing. Give or take that her character is annoying when persistent, but still extremely lovable. Last is Lee Sun Gyun as Choi Han Seong, and Chae Jung Ahn as Han Yoo Joo. I won't say much about them because I didn't pay much attention to their time in Coffee Prince, but they were extremely good actors. The only acting choice I didn't like was Yoon Young Ah as Eun Chan's sister: Eun Sae. Not only was her character so annoying, her acting was inconsistent and she didn't show more than five facial expressions.

Music: 8.5/10
I can't say I enjoyed the soundtrack all that much during the series, it was never my sort of thing. But it does suit well with the theme and atmosphere of the series. My favourite song would most definitely be Polly by The Melody (I think the song is called Polly anyway). Not much else I can say about the music, but it makes sure to keep in tone with the scenes.

Rewatch Value: 10/10
Oh my god, yes, I would definitely rewatch. I need to see those scenes with Han Kyul and Eun Chan again. Those are just the best scenes to watch when I need cheering up.

Final Verdict: 9.0/10
Overall, besides the issues previously mentioned, Coffee Prince is definitely worth anyone's time, especially those who love romcoms and extremely hot actors and actresses.

Han Kyul, Gae Shik, Eun Chan, Ha Rim, Sun Ki + Min Yeop.

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