Rich Man, Poor Woman

It's been a long time since I have done a review post, probably the longest between review posts ever. There are two reasons for this, one is that I was working away down in London and therefore had at least 2 months of not watching drama at all, and secondly, that this series just didn't grab me enough to make me watch it constantly.

Rich Man, Poor Woman is the story of a young and arrogant IT genius who can't recall names or faces, Hyuga, and an honest and kind job hunter with a good memory, Natsui. On applying for a job at Hyuga's company, Natsui lies about her name to gain Hyuga's attention, and so gets hired temporarily to help the company secure a business deal. She becomes invaluable to the company, and begins to fall for Hyuga despite the competition from his business partners sister. Through ups and downs, their relationship grows as Hyuga becomes a better person with Natsui's help, although he obviously doesn't realise his feelings until the last episode. Then they live happily ever after.

FROM GOOGLE. I just love the kid's face.

I'll be honest, I don't think this series was the best one to come back to Asian drama with. It was predictable and unoriginal, basically the same story as so many other dramas, just with a different premise. That's not to say that it wasn't good, more that its just so familiar now that its hard to get really involved in the story and characters when you've seen different incarnations so many times before. Granted, the whole smart media business was interesting, especially when you know that the products you were seeing would be the latest technology, so at least that was different.

I did like the character of Hyuga, played by Oguri Shun. He's one of the big ones in Japanese drama, with major roles varying from the original Hana Kimi to Hana Yori Dango as poor Rui, obviously with a Gokusen link in there as well. It was interesting to see him playing a completely different character, as even though he is so recognisable, he does have a talent to make you forget his other roles. I think the last series I saw him in was Tokyo Dogs, where he played such a straight and rigid character that really contrasted with the radical, almost child-like mind set of Hyuga. Natsui was a little more stereotypical heroine, with no money yet hopelessly cheerful, and granted, while Ishihara Satomi played the role well, I just wish that the character was a little more interesting, that she had a little more depth, a little more attitude. Unfortunately, in my experience at least, that's rare for adult female characters, especially in Japanese drama.

Would I reccommend this series? Yes. Especially if you're still relatively new to Asian drama.

Would I watch it again? Probably not.

Next up is Faith, and back to Korean drama. It's skipped up the charts like noone's business, back to before My Baby and I, which is kind of annoying because its messing up my list.

OH! It's got Lee Min Ho in, I'm suddenly not so bothered any more :)