"Nang rang 18 seh" (2004) TV series

Director:

Myeong-wook Kim

Writers:

Eun-hee Kim (writer)
Eun-kyeong Yun (writer)

Release Date:

19 January 2004 (South Korea)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Number In Title

Cast

Ji-hye Han	...	Yoon Jung-sook
Da-hae Lee	...	Moon Ga-Young
Dong-geon Lee	...	Kwon Hyuk-joon

Also Known As:

Sweet 18 (International: English title)

Runtime:

South Korea:63 min (16 episodes)

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Company:

KBS Productions

One of the Best Romantic-COMEDIES

The dreamy, tough, and silly 18 year old girl; the rich, slightly serious, 28 year old professional. This drama certainly had the exact formula that made so many other K-dramas a success.

Then why is it not recognized on par with other K-dramas out there? It's simple; the aim of this drama was to entertain. Unfortunately, there was no gimmick.

Lee Dong-Gun and Han Ji-Hye did a wonderful job as a couple that were just beginning to get used to each other. The level of love and respect they show each other, as well as the hilarious scenes highlighting their comedic abilities, are believably sugary sweet.

It brilliantly stuck to it's roots, keeping true to both the comedy and romantic aspect of it's genre. The romance and the hardships of marriage were mushy, gushy, sappy... and oh-so-adorable.

There were no sticky love triangles or detailed misunderstandings that often frustrate viewers. Every single character (with the exception of perhaps, Lee Da Hae's humorous villain Moon Ga-young) was realistically portrayed. It beautifully captured both the traditions and teachings of old with the fast paced life of the new.

Korean tradition was brilliantly captured and respected; not mocked as it so often is in other drama. The action scenes were perhaps a bit silly to watch (matrix style jumps typical of K-drama… which only added to the humor) but were also realistically portrayed.

And… that's why it failed. Every single successful K-drama has a gimmick, a enticing point that showed viewers that it was definitely different. No one died of cancer in this drama, no one cried for 5 episodes straight, no one cheated, and no one stole/lied/manipulated the other. There was no famous pop star… there wasn't a famous transformation that made recent drama's like "Coffee Prince" a favorite.

Watch this drama if you want to see some beautiful acting, nice rural scenery, learn some ancient proverbs perhaps ^_^, and some hilarious and scary encounters. Watch it if you want to see a real Romantic-Comedy that manages to balance both out beautifully.