World of a Cassiopeia

I don’t like coffee. I thought that coffee smells good but not taste good. It’s changed now, a bit. Coffee is also good to watch. Thanks to the drama Coffee Prince, this just finished airing last Monday on MBC.

A bit preview about the Coffee Prince No.1 Shop

Cast
Yoon Eun Hye as Go Eun Chan
Gong Yoo as Choi Han Kyul
Lee Seon Gyeon as Choi Han Sung
Chae Jung Ahn as Han Yoo Jo

Episodes: 17

Brief Story
Go Eun Chan is a bright young woman who became the parent of her family since her father passed away years ago. She tried to earn every cent by taking job here and there regardless the gender nature of the jobs. Her boyish appearance also made most people at a glance will think she’s a man. One day, when she caught a bag snatcher, she bumped to Han Kyul. The latter who tried to get rid of arranged marriage, used Go Eun Chan as his gay lover, thinking she’s a pretty boy. Liking the ‘boy’ cheerful spirit, Han Kyul offered Eun Chan a job at Coffee Prince, the coffee shop who employed only good looking boys (prince alike). Gradually he fell in love with her, feeling miserable by himself thinking he must be a gay. While Eun Chan at first liked the nice ajusshi, Han Kyul’s only cousin named Choi Han Seong. She couldn’t advance their relationship beyond friends since he has a girlfriend, the pretty and feminine Han Yoo Joo. Later, Han Seong wavered and responded to her feeling. It’s too late as Eun Chan already found herself liking Han Kyul instead. She’s also in pain since she couldn’t tell him she’s a girl after all.

Comments
Although it’s based on the novel of Lee Sun Mi, I found the drama moving to the different direction from the novel. I already read the English translated version of the novel. I get the feeling of romance in the air, flipping through 20 chapters. While watching the drama, I feel a mixture of everything: friendship between Princes at the coffee, romance between our cute couple, the comedy of Han Kyul’s struggle to overcome his ‘gay’ feeling, the misery of Eun Chan missing gender identity in front of Han Kyul, the on-off relationship between a nine years old bf-gf relationship, etc. Three things that made me enjoy this drama the most are

1. It differs from other dramas. While others mostly focus on the family who against the couple relationship, this drama shoot the obstacles of aligning different visions between couples. As the example, our cute couple quarrels when Han Kyul wanted to get married quickly and Eun Chan was surprised thinking they would marry five years later.

2. I fall in love with the background music! I don’t know how they choose the songs that they always fit to the atmosphere and the mood of each scene. My favorite one would be the song of Azure Ray – Across the Ocean. It was played during the beach scene, when Eun Chan was sleeping and Han Kyul couldn’t resist hugging her. You can find the OST download in my playlist section.

3. Really love the ending. You won’t see any Koreanovela ending where the main couple ended in wedding and labored some kids. It’s sweet and natural. Eun Chan becomes a barista and is still in love with Han Kyul.

It's my favorite drama in 2007 so far