Drama Review~Trot Lovers (Korean)

Title: Trot Lovers, Lovers of Music, Lovers of Trot, Trot Romance
Writer: Oh Sun Hyung
Director: Lee Jae Sang, Lee Eun Ji
Producer: JS Pictures
Main Cast: Jung Eun Ji as Choi Chun Hee, Ji Hyun Woo as Jang Joon Hyun, Shin Sung Rok as Jo Geun Woo, Lee Se Young as Park Soo In
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Music
Original Run: June 23, 2014 - August 12, 2014
Running Time: 60 min
Original Channel: KBS
No. of Episodes: 16
Language: Korean
Links: MDL ~ Wikipedia ~ Viki/DramaFever ~ Drama Site

Synopsis: Jang Joon Hyun is a talented and popular musician. He looks down upon the traditional trot music genre. Meanwhile, Choi Chun Hee works multiple jobs as the breadwinner to support her father and younger sister. Her mother was a trot singer and she inherited the voice, along with hopes of being a trot singer herself someday. A romantic relationship begins between these two individuals. (Source: My Drama List)

My Rating: 7.5/10

My Thoughts: I had really really high hopes for the one. I mean it has Ji Hyun Woo, whom I LOVED in Queen In Hyun's Man. It has Jung Eun Ji, who was awesome in Reply 1997. And then it has Shin Sung Rok, who blew me away with his performance in You Who Came From The Stars. So how could it go wrong? Sadly, it can. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't horribly bad. But it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be either.

Story: The story was good... I guess? It was full of cliches and kind of predictable. There wasn't really any moment where I would go "OMG I can't believe that happened!". There were moments though when I thought "Ugh! I was hoping this wouldn't happen.". That said, it wasn't so bad. There were some dull moments and I never really got much into the story but it was entertaining to watch and it wasn't all that bad.

Characters: Throughout the first few episodes I kept saying "I want my Kim Boong Do back!". I don't know what Ji Hyun Woo was trying to do or if it was his fault or the writer's but I really didn't like his character! Jang Joon Hyun was awkward, and not in the good sense. And the clothes he wore, oh my God!! I remember, in one of the earlier episodes, he was wearing a shirt which had pictures of small pizza slices on it! And what was up with his hair?! Why were they golden/silver? The only moment he looked good was when he wore a brown wig. He did die his hair in the later episodes so that was a bit better. Other than looks I never really connected with his character at all. He, honestly, felt like a side character.

Jung Eun Ji was really good and Choi Choon Hee was a no-nonsense, strong female lead whom I admired very much! The poor girl went through so much but she worked hard. She sometimes came off as too simple or too good whereas I like my female leads with brains but overall she wasn't that bad, even likable and relatable.

Shin Sung Rok was amazing! To be honest I wasn't sure he would be able to pull it off. I mean his character here is so different from the one in You Who Came From The Stars (thank God!) and I was anticipating his performance but I was also scared that what if it would turn out to be a disaster. Thankfully, Shin Sung Rok showed here too what an amazing actor he is and shined in all of the scenes he was in. His character, Jo Geun Woo, is a very unique one. He is kind of crazy, but in a good way. He is nice and sweet but also smart and clever. He was different from your average second male lead and leave it to Shin Sung Rok to play unique characters splendidly!

I've never seen Lee Se Young in anything before. So the first time I saw Park Soo In I thought "OMG she's so pretty!". She really is. I really enjoyed her character and how she changed over the course of the drama. Her character was very deep and relatable (not for me, but I know a lot of people like her). Her life has been manipulated by her mother and she doesn't have any freedom to do what she wants. Her actions, even though they were wrong, seemed right for her. She was a character whose story I really enjoyed. (Shows that I'm a fan of broken characters.)

Out of the minor characters my favorite was Choon Hee's sister. The little girl who played her did such a wonderful job, she was better than Ji Hyun Woo! I'm not kidding, the kid was amazing! She was really adorable! These Korean child stars never fail to surprise me with their awesome acting abilities! I did like the other side characters, Choon Hee's coach, her senior, the debt collectors, Joon Hyun's manager, even that arrogant singer dude. They were all funny and helped the story-line. I hated Choon Hee's father and I cannot forgive him for what he did. Soo In's mother was a good villain and I understood her motivations. Her sidekick cracked me up every time he was on screen because he was also on Secret Love Affair and I just couldn't help but make up a story in my head that he got kicked out from his job there so he joined Shine Star. Poor guy :P

Romance: I did not like the main couple. Half because InHyun couple and Reply 1997 couple are so much better! And half because Shin Sung Rok & Jung Eun Ji had better chemistry than Jung Eun Ji with Ji Hyun Woo. So, I was not interested or invested much into this couple therefore I have very little to say about them. Except that they were extremely childish which I found uncomfortable.

Music: The music was really good! I had no idea Jung Eun Ji had such a powerful voice! She's an amazing singer! Ji Hyun Woo is good too. The music overall was really good and fun to listen to, even the trot music which I don't listen to that much.

Overall: Overall this was an okay drama. I would have liked it better if I had watched it at the beginning of my drama watching phase but now that I have seen so many amazing dramas this one fell short. I would recommend it though to new drama watchers and to people who want to see a childish romance.