Sunday, February 1, 2015

New arrivals on Netflix, plus some things I've been watching

Netflix now has Naruto Shippuden: The Movie (anime), Bleach the Movie: Hell Verse (anime), and Coffee Prince (K-drama).

I don't expect much of either of the anime movies, although it's still nice to see them in the catalog. It'll be interesting to see how well I can follow the Bleach movie, since I haven't even been keeping up with the manga, much less the anime.

Coffee Prince was the first K-drama I ever watched and enjoyed. I'm still debating whether to rewatch it - I really do think The Great Doctor has ruined me for other K-dramas. Nearly everything I've tried since then hasn't held my attention well, and I wouldn't be surprised if even Coffee Prince ends up not comparing favorably.

A few things I've been watching on Netflix lately:

City Hunter (live action TV series) - After enjoying Lee Min Ho's performance in The Great Doctor, I figured I'd try another one of his shows. While this isn't bad, I don't know if I'll be watching much more than the 6 episodes I've seen so far. Kim Nana seems more immature than Yoo Eun Soo. Also, it struck me as strange that it took so long for someone to bring up the potential security issues posed by Nana being both dirt poor and a secret service agent (or whatever they're called in Korea). Yoon Sung (Lee Min Ho's character) is technically a good guy, but he has to pretend to be a womanizing jerk a little too often for my tastes. I want to shake him whenever he acts all hurt that Nana doesn't like him. Lee Min Ho as Choi Young was so much better.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel (anime TV series) - I only started watching this because I had heard that it had submarines controlled by AI characters. I need to make myself finish it and write a review, but the short version is that it's pretty meh unless you're into watching submarine battles. The human characters are incredibly boring, I can barely follow the battles, and I can't bring myself to care about what's going on. It also upsets me that the AI character who chose to hide herself under an enormous jacket has been stripped down to her underwear multiple times as a joke. I do not find her embarrassment to be funny.

Cheongdam-dong Alice (live action TV series) - Here is Netflix's description for the show: "A young, aspiring fashion designer believes her positive attitude and sheer determination will help her get whatever she wants out of life." It sounded like light, fluffy fun to me. It was not. I stopped after two episodes and don't know if I'll ever watch any more. It was so depressing. The heroine keeps having her face shoved in the fact that great effort and a positive attitude aren't always enough. Her family might get evicted, her boyfriend has a mountain of debt, his mother is dying, and she was only chosen for her job because the girl who hated her in high school is now her boss and wants to make her suffer. I kind of like the Count of Monte Cristo-esque storyline involving the ruthless luxury brand president, but I don't know if that's enough to get me to continue. Watching the universe crush ordinary people's souls is not my idea of fun.

Dr. Jin (live action TV series) - You need a strong stomach to watch this show. It's incredibly gross - in 6 episodes, there has been brain surgery, trepanning, syphilis, and cholera. Brains, blood, bone, vomit, sores, and diarrhea. And also a time traveling embryo lodged in some guy's skull. The romance doesn't do anything for me at all, but thankfully the focus is more on the medical emergencies. I may actually manage to get through this one, despite its somewhat shaky acting.

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