Kpop, Anime, and Kdramas

SPOILER ALERT This post may include spoilers of episodes 1-4. I started watching Hotel Del Luna and got up to the end of episode 4, since Viki is being annoying and not allowing me to watch of the episodes that have aired. If it was fully out, I would go search for it on other sites, but since it's not I'm just going to try and gain some self control and wait it out. For those who don't know, Hotel Del Luna is a kdrama that focuses on a hotel that caters to the dead. It's run by Jang Man Wol (IU) because she is being punished for crimes that she has committed, but can't remember anymore since she has been there for a thousand years. She hires a new human manager, Goo Chan Sung (Yeo Jin Goo), who, starting episode 3, starts seeing visions of Man Wol's past.  I like the show. It is displayed as a fantasy, mystery, and romance. I think it really intertwines fantasy and mystery very well throughout the plot. There is the mystery of  Man Wol's past and w...

So, I actually did not know who Woosung was until Face came out a couple of days ago. Face appeared on my recommended a couple of times and I was like "Fuck it, let's see what this is". I learned I was seriously missing out and Face is a total bop. I did a little research afterwards and found that Woosung is part of the band the Rose, which one of my friends mentioned a couple of times, but I never really checked them out. So, if you find any posts about The Rose in the future, it means that I finally hopped onto the wagon and started listening to The Rose, which is probably going to happen because Woosung's voice is heavenly. Anyway, I listened to Woosung's mini album Wolf to see if I just like Face or if I liked his music in general. Turns out that I just like his music in general, since I have positive opinions on all of the songs in the album. The mini album consists of 5 songs, 1 of which is an instrumental version of Face, so I'm not gonna talk about it....

So, I was actually able to watch the entire finale. I'm still going to hold off on writing anything about the actual show portion of this episode until english subtitles are released. That being said the group name is X1. It's sweet and simple and basically sums up the premise of this season. Now onto the rankings. My current top 11 are: 1. Cho Seung Youn 2. Lee Han Gyul 3. Han Seung Woo 4. Keum Dong Hyun 5. Hwang Yun Seong 6. Kim Yo Han 7. Song Yu Vin 8. Song Hyung Jun 9. Son Dong Pyo 10. Nam Do Hyun 11. Lee Jin Hyuk I know I already changed my list from literally yesterday. I honestly happy with whatever the final ranking is as long as Cho Seung Youn and Han Seung Woo get in. If Lee Han Gyul get in, that's an extra bonus. I truly wish that all of the guys could debut in X1, which obviously is not going to happen. Anyway, onto the official rankings. 1. Kim Yo Han When they told us 1st place was down to Kim Woo Seok or Kim Yo Han, I was not surprised. I th...

First of all, it really is a shame that Byung Chan had to leave the show, because he definitely had a chance of getting into the final lineup. It was announced that he was leaving due to worsening achilles tendinitis which we could see happening with his injuries during Concept Battle. I really hope that he can recover from this injury. Now onto the episode. Beauty Lessons I really liked watching this section of the episode. It was really fun to see Han Gyul and Do Hyun mess around with each other. I particularly love the unibrow that Do Hyun was sporting in the end. I also really enjoyed Park Sun Ho and Cho Seung Youn (my two favorite guys TT) messing around in the back making ridiculous makeup looks Cheerful X Field Day I loved that Yohan and Seung Youn were hosting or as Mnet calls them Stir Fried Pork and Steamed Rice. The first competition was absolutely ridiculous with the trainees spinning around blind folded and feeding another member Bugles. Monday to Sunday ...

Ok, this is my favorite section. I love getting new songs and seeing everyone perform them. We're always fortunate enough to get gems like Never from Season 2 and No Way from the Unit. I love this. At the end of episode 5, they released brief teasers of each of the songs. From those teasers the one, I was most looking forward to was Monday to Sunday. That song is totally up my alley, and I couldn't wait to hear the full song and the choreography for it. When they showed clips of each of the songs Monday to Sunday still was my favorite but I also gained interest in U Got It and Move. I loved Cho Seung Youn with his stir fried spicy pork and his friendship with steamed rice Yo Han, but they ended up not in the same team. When they showed trainees entering practice rooms it was clear that Practice Room E was Pretty Girl with all the cute members. Super Special Girl by Kwon Deun Guk and Young Chance (Future Funk) I was so happy for Sung Yeon giving the opportunity to do main...

Ok, episode 8, another elimination, but it was also mixed with the first part of the Concept Evaluation, which I will put in the Concept Evaluation post that combines all the Concept Evaluation parts. It was a nice distraction from the eliminations until they showed everyone crying having their last lessons, which honestly broke my heart because I don't want anyone to go home. For the entrances, my favorite was definitely Peak's. Other honorable mentions are Cho Seung Youn, Jeon Jae Han's and Woo Je Won's, and Park Sun Ho's. I was honestly a bit surprised by the rankings there were a some people that rose drastically like Lee Hyeop and some that dropped like Kim Min Kyu. I'm honestly so happy for those that rose up the ranks because they really deserve it, but it was really sad seeing some people's rank drop. The top 11 for this episode were: 1. Kim Woo Seok 2. Lee Jin Hyuk 3. Kim Yo Han 4. Song Hyung Jun 5. Koo Jung Mo 6. Lee Eun Sang 7. Nam Do Hy...

I love position evaluation. I think it gives the rappers a chance to really shine when they usually have to showcase singing or dancing. It also gives us epic performances such as Shape of You and "Michoji" from Season 2. Either way it allows people to really showcase their talents. The introduction of the X position definitely added interest. I think it is definitely very important for the trainees to be able to both sing and dance at the same time or rap and dance at the same time, since that is what they are going to be doing as an idol. Vocal Position Twit by Hwasa I love how this song was not like the typical ballad type songs to showcase their singing. Their harmonies were amazing and I loved it. Lee Hyeop did really well and I think it was great that he was finally able to showcase his singing ability. Jeonghwa also really stood out with his strong voice and cool stage presence. The performance overall was very captivating and I was really impressed and liked...

Agh, elimination. Definitely my least favorite episodes, because it is so sad to see trainees go home. I do really enjoy the little events they have in between that lighten the mood of the episode a bit, but overall it's really hard to see some the trainees you really like go home. Entrances I love the entrances and how they consist of inside jokes between the contestants and are just the trainees having a fun time. My favorite entrance would be C9's where Lee Jae Bin and Keum Dong Hyun are pretending to play baseball. Other entrances that I enjoyed were Astory Entertainment's Jeon Hyun Woo and Heo Jin Ho, Plan A (or is it Plan M now, I am so confused) Entertainment's Choi Byung Chan and Han Seung Woo, Brand New Music's Kim Si Hun, Yoon Jeong Hwan, Lee Eun Sang, and Hong Seong Jun, and JH1's Jun Euhara. Body Camp This is one of my favorite sections that this show does. It's really lighthearted and fun. When it came to checking if the trainees have a...

So, Produce X 101 changed the first challenge by making the two teams perform different songs by the same group instead of the same song. There are positives and negatives to this. With the same song, it is easier for you to compare the songs, but it might bore the audience seeing the same song twice. Personally, I would have preferred it if they left it with the same song twice, because the songs chosen are the artist's debut song and their most popular song, so the most popular song would have a clear advantage. I viewed the performances once within the show and again on YouTube, just in case Mnet did some weird editing thing. EXO MAMA I was really impressed with Yun Seong. He did a great job as a leader and a center, and totally deserved first place. I was also really impressed with Hidaka Mahiro and Kang Seok Ha. I was surprised with Mahiro's rap parts, and I really liked his voice when rapping. Kang Seok Ha's singing was great and hitting those high notes was rea...

Now, the title track X1-MA.  Let's start with the center, Son Dong Pyo from DSP Media!! He was chosen through voting. So, congratulations Son Dong Pyo!!! 🎉 He was very charismatic and energetic while performing. He is definitely someone to look out for. In the show, he is definitely very cute and energetic and I love his relationship with Seungwoo. Anyway catchy tune, but not as catchy as Pick Me and Nayana in my opinion. However, upon multiple listenings, it definitely gets stuck in your head, and is a total bop. The dance itself was so in sync, like damn. I don't really know how the hell, all 101 of these guys were able to coordinate so well, but they totally killed it.  Arguably, the best part of these songs are the end where they have all of these shots of random trainees. Like at 5:03, they have this kid pouting which is so cute. I decided to look him up and found out he is Lee Jinwoo so I'm gonna keep an eye out for him. there was also the guy r...

Ok, so, I was going to do a whole post on episodes 1-5, but like auditions alone took up so much time and space. So, I decided to divide it into auditions, Group X Battle, and Episode 5. I'm not really gonna go into the preparation for X1-MA and the rankings and stuff, because like that really wasn't the most interesting and we all know Son Dong Pyo got center and the people that got X didn't leave the show. Two notable things from that section though are: 1. Min Kyu is really admirable for really trying his best and actively engaging in the lessons after being ranked X 2. Song Hyeong Jun is also really admirable for being the leader for the X ranks and teaching everyone the dance. He also is a really good dancer and if he wasn't so nervous and kind of having stage fright, he could've easily been ranked higher Now, the auditions. The show itself did not show all of the auditions, but they posted them all of them on YouTube, so you bet I decided to watch all of ...

Ok, so like already I am overwhelmed by the amount of trainees (I'm not going to include all 101 or else I might just slam my head into the keyboard). I really don't know of them except Hangyul, so I really don't have any that I am especially rooting for just by looking at these pictures, because we really gotta see their personality and talent. So I looked at their 1 minute PR videos. All 101 of them (because I don't have a shit ton of work that's due that I really should be doing instead of wasting 101+ minutes of my life, jk it was totally worth it and I have no regrets). Here are my thoughts on EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Yuehua Entertainment- Hwan Geum Ryul- Cute Golden Boy 💛 Cho Seung Youn- Awww, I hope his voice feels better. His smile is so cute 💖. Yu Seong Jun- OMG this guy is hilarious wtf Around Us Entertainment- Choi Si Hyuk- This guy with his recipe. He just dumped it on his head 😂 Jeong Jae Hun- WTF, this guy is so multi talented. And LOLL the rubi...

As many of you know, Produce X 101 is coming out on May 3. Of course I am super excited for this season and started looking into the contestants a little to prepare myself for the premiere. First, the list of trainees. Off the bat, the only trainee I really recognized was Hangyul from the Unit (LOVED his intro part in All Day). I loved him on the show, and was really surprised that he didn't make it into UNB, but hopefully he can make it into the top 11 in this one.  Now I was a bit surprised with how many trainees from the Big 3 there were. In the first season, there was only 1 trainee from JYP, the 2nd season had the trainees from YG KPlus, and last season had no trainees from any of the Big 3. But season has trainees from all 3.  From JYP, there is: Yun Seo Bin For YG, there is: Hidaka Mahiro Wang Jyun Hao Then there is ESteem, which is under SM Entertainment, which has: Kim Seung Hwan Kim Jin Gon  Anz...