If you saw the above title and immediately decided that you would rather jump off the Sydney Harbour Bridge than read this post, then I will not stop you. I totally understand. After all, I've got friends who, at the slightest mention of the word "Japanese" or "Korean", would take off and sprint in the opposite directon in case you infected them with your asian-ness. I absolutely would not begrudge you this. Personally, I watch anything and everything, be it Doctor Who, Bollywood films, Hollywood films, American dramas, anime, British soaps or the odd Australian indie film. I'm aware that not everyone else does this so I won't attempt to force feed you something you don't want. Anyway, enough explaining, ONWARDS WE GO!

*******

I've wanted to do this for such a long time now. Sometimes I feel like its a waste that after spending 16-20 odd hours watching a fantastic series, I just file it away in the dusty old corners of my mind, never to revisit it or gush about it to a friend. I've always had an innate fear or forgetting the stuff I watch. What if in 10 years time, I decide that I want to relive those moments where I've been transported to a different world but find that I've totally forgotten the names of my most loved dramas? That would be horrible. So I'll file them here and perhaps in a few years time, I'll dig them out again and see what I thought.

(Play for background music - I haven't figured out how to embed music properly yet)

Warning: Figuring out what order I should rank these dramas in was so hard. I've been watching them over a span of about 4-5 years now and dramas are so diverse in genre that trying to rank them by enjoyment value is actually really difficult. I guess I'll just have to make do trying to relive the level of excitement/anticipation that accompied each series.

9. DEVIL BESIDE YOU

Ah yes, the good ol' Taiwanese dramas. Before I discovered the blindingly superior quality of that thing called the "Korean drama", I watched Taiwanese dramas. This one dates back to..... 2007? 2008? I'm not really quite sure but man, it was such a long time ago. I reckon if I tried to watch a Taiwanese drama today, I wouldn't even get through the first 5 minutes. Once you go Korean, there's not going back. Plus, being Chinese, I just hate hearing the language. Anyway, basically, the plot is something along the lines of "gangster bad boy meets hardworking good girl". Cliched, I know but this drama featured one of the best pairings/on-screen chemistry that I have ever seen in an Asian drama, ever.

Plus, Mike He was hot.

8. PERSONAL TASTE

Lee Min Ho. Pretending to be gay. In order to live in the same house with some woman. What's not to like? Okay, I know this drama flew under just about everybody's radar when it aired but I really, really enjoyed it. I loved all those little comedic moments, the chainsaw humour and the whole "I thought you were gay but you're actually not and dammit why didn't you tell me, I've been walking around the whole house with only my towel wrapped around myself" moments. Maybe I enjoyed it so much because it aired about a year after that whole Boys Over Flowers fad and I was STILL suffering from Lee Min Ho withdrawal. I might've subconsciously dug my claws into it because of this. Who knows. *SPOILER ALERT*SPOILER ALERT*SPOILERALERT* - Oh and it was one of the few Korean dramas I've ever seen that actually had da sex in it, lol. Not that that adds to its value or anything, it was just great to see Koreans not being so... conservative.

7. MY GIRLFRIEND IS A GUMIHO

Have you ever heard of a Gumiho? No? It's basically a creature from Korean/Japanese folklore - a fox with nine tails that appears mostly in the form of a woman. Oh and she feeds on men's organs. So after reading the title of this drama again, you see how having a gumiho as a girlfriend can be problematic? As a Hong sisters drama, this carries their trademark comedic flair and beautiful writing. I absolutely absolutely absolutely loved the main actress in this drama. If I was lesbian, I'm pretty sure I would've dated her, ha. The drama made great use of an old Korean legend and all those funny moments with the gumiho trying to fit into a 21st century world were priceless. *cough*the toilet bowl scene*cough*

6. DREAM HIGH

~DE-NUH DREAM HIGHHHHH DE NA NA NA NA.....oh right, intelligent input. This was basically the Korean version of Glee, but oh, so much better and much more satisfying. It follows a bunch of misfits as they get accepted into a prestigious Performing Arts School and struggle to find success in the fields the love. Obviously, all those issues necessary for a high school drama such as love, rivalry and betrayal are present but the overarching theme is one of competitiveness and of trying to establish yourself as a successful dancer/singer despite some significant problems (e.g. deafness in Sam Dong's case). I think one of its strongest points was casting real idols in the roles of the characters - there were so many great songs that came out of this drama. The best singer was obviously IU but the characters of Hye Mi and Sam Dong also deserve some honourable mentions.

5. SUNGKYUNKWAN SCANDAL

My first reaction to this drama was "Ewwwwwwwwwwwww, historical looking stuff, yuck!" I have never ever watched an Asian historical drama before in my life (those cheesy Chinese ones my mum watches don't count). I really didn't think I would end up trying this but after hearing javabeans rave about it over at http://www.dramabeans.com/, I gave it a try. And it was one of the best decisions of my life. I have to clarify first, this isn't a hardcore historical one, it's actually what you'd call a "fusion sageuk", aka the rules get bent a bit and it becomes rather trendy. It takes place at a famous Korean university called Sungkyunkwan traditionally for males. Our heroine, due to some complicated circumstances ends up attending the school disguised as a male and hence, the fun and games begin. The plot then becomes convoluted with all these king assassination plottings, age old secrets, etc etc but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Oh and Sungkyunkwan also features like, the best bromance ever. Definitely my crack drama of 2010.

4. CITY HUNTER

I FUCKING LOVE THIS DRAMA SO MUCH AAARRRGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

No seriously, if you haven't read any of my fangasms this year about City Hunter, then you were either taking a very very long vacation from blogspot or too busy trying to dig your way to China or something.

3. HANA KIMI (JAPANESE VERSION)

Ngaww, if I had a heart, this drama would be occupying that soft spot right there. Again, this is another of my early ones, right when I was drifting obliviously through The Golden Age of Dramas back in either 2007 or 2008. Originally a manga, this one tells of a girl who disguises herself as a guy in order to attend a boy's school for some reason that I can't really recall right now. Yes, if you can't tell, I really love my crossdressing dramas. But out of all those, this one made the most out of the comedic potential of the scenario. There was the memorable, "Homo jenai" moment, the disastrous school festival, the tight-knit friendships and so much more. Oh, and Ikuta Toma as Nakatsu. And the gorgeous soundtrack. Gahhhh, so much love for this drama. I have so many feelings but I'm having trouble expressing them....

2. YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL

So good, I watched it twice. Definitely the best Hong Sisters one out there (in my opinion). The plot tells on a girl who disguises herself as a boy (yes, me and my crossdressing) in order to pose as her twin brother in the idol band, A.N.Jell. *SPOILER ALERT* Eventually the three other band members find out her real identity but all three do their best to protect her identity. It's just so sweet and beautiful and I grew so attached to the characters, to the extent that it was probably really unhealthy for me.

1. BOYS OVER FLOWERS (Korean Version)

Oh god this drama... where do I start? If you'd taken all my favourite things in the world, mixed them together in a large mixing bowl, added 10 litres of chocolate and a generous amount of magic and rainbows, it would be nowhere as near as addicting as Boys Over Flowers. It literally created a ginormous Korean wave throughout the whole world, airing in countries such as the United States, Japan, Puerto Rico, Canada, Romania and many more. It was also the drama that shot Lee Min Ho to super stardom literally overnight. He was virtually unknown before that.

The drama basically tells of poor girl Geum Jan Di who gets transferred to the richest school in Korea. A series of events causes her to become known to the school's 4 richest guys (known collectively as the F4) and then shit happens and ITS SO FUCKING ADDICTIVE. Looking back at this drama, there were quite a few issues (aka "Almost Paaaaaaaradiseeee"), but these were effectively overshadowed by the how mind-numbingly satisfying the whole thing was. If heroin was turned into a drama, I'm pretty sure it would be this one. I just.... I don't even know how to describe how it affected me. I lived my life in a daze, waiting for episodes to come out every week. If you haven't seen it yet, then I suggest you watch it right now during these holidays.

Honourable mentions:

Hana Kimi (Taiwanese Version) - aka my first asian drama ever
Hana Yori Dango, Season 1 and 2 (Japanese Version of Boys Over Flowers)
Coffee Prince
49 Days
Playful Kiss