Top 25 Japanese Actresses on MDL
Welcome to our latest article honoring the Holidays of Love, Valentine's Day (Feb 14) and White Day (March 14) <-- (My (Hwayi) birthday *wipes a tear*) which is celebrated in many Asian countries. Normally I make a list of Romance titles, but this year I wanted to do something different since I found Hwayi has a wicked good sense of humor as I do. : ) For my previous articles see Love is in the Air: Jdrama Style and Love is in the Air: JDrama Style - Take 2.
Real-life Romance vs. Drama/movie romance. I hate to burst bubbles, but the reality is slightly different but does not make it less endearing to those involved. We will compare the 2 versions through every step a couple makes and regale our stories without letting out too many of our secrets.
Meeting
Images from Wolf Girl and Black Prince, Close Range Love and Hana Yori Dango
Dramas
In dramas, it depends on the setting. School Jdramas feature the cool guy everyone wants to be with and the one shy girl who won't put up with his crap. Or he makes her his slave, and they fall in love (Wait! What?! Nani tf). Let's not go on the teacher-student tangent either, do not become a teacher to pick up a date.
Other settings would be that one guy at work that pisses you off, or the guy you like a best friend who you hate at first. Ahh dramas, if only you could write real-life meetings.
In school Kdramas, it's usually an "accidental" meeting. Or like, the dude gets attracted to the girl who's just casually staring at the window because it's apparently very attractive. I dunno, I've never attempted it. Maybe we all just look amazing, staring at the window.
For other settings, the ones I've seen all have accidental kisses. They trip over each other and accidentally kiss. Even though I'm super clumsy, this has never happened to me once. I don't know if I should feel left out that I'm super clumsy with no benefits or if I should be happy I'm not THAT clumsy.
Real life
Hwayi: I won't say exactly how we met because it's a little personal but I will say my first impression of my hubby. When I first saw him, he intimidated me. It wasn't because he looked mean or anything but it was because he was tall. Really tall. He was also muscular. I am 5'2 (157 cm) and he was 6'4 (193 cm). He was taller than me by more than a foot! How could I not get intimidated by him?
Hwayi's sister: I was present when she first met her future husband. I don't think she was intimidated by him, she was more fascinated. (Hwayi: Way to call me out D:)
OAL: First impression "There is no way in hell I would *Beeep* that guy." Then my fiance asked him to move in with me to help me pay bills because HIS mother would not let him move out. (Alarm sirens ladies, here's your sign). To be fair I tried to dump fiance more times than I can count and even tried to flush the ring down the toilet. And I broke things off before hooking up with now hubby.
OAL's sister: Her now hubby kicked sand on her one night at the beach, she got in his face and told him off loud enough the cops were called. He is a tank gunnery sergeant in the military. Married for 10 years this year.
The wooing /dating/pre-engagement
Images from Love is Sweet, Perfect and Casual, 7 First Kisses and Shanai Marriage Honey
Dramas
This is the time spent chasing each other when EVERYONE else around the main leads knows what going on, but they don't. These are where the romantic scenes are played. City lights on the water, dinner at a fancy restaurant, laughing all night to see a beautiful sunrise. You know the ones. It's also when they finally do hook up, and crap hits the fan, or he has to move for his job, or the ex comes back. BEWARE of ROMANTIC SCENES.
Dating in dramas is literally when all the drama starts to come. It's like it was patiently waiting for them to finally get together before all of the sudden start piling drama after drama. The mom finds out that they're dating and doesn't accept one of the couples, so she does everything in her power to separate them. The dad does the same too. Usually, bribes are their go-to when trying to get them away from each other.
Real life
Hwayi: The first time he asked me on a date was surprising. He asked me to go dance with him. Me? Dance? I almost said no, but I would've felt bad, so I said yes. Little did I know that that would be honestly one of the greatest nights of my life. It was exhilarating. We did like a country dance where you had to swing yourself over his head. It was scary. Really scary. However, in a weird way, it was fun.
We went on a few more dates after that before he asked me to be his girlfriend. I dated him my last year in college, so it was kinda hard to make time, but I always made time.
OAL: Since we were already in cohabitation mode, we never really dated. Like Ever. We never went anywhere before our honeymoon. But we didn't need to. Our honeymoon was great though, a week at a lakeside resort that served gator and had its own Monkey Island. Those monkeys were cool.
Marriage
Summer Nude
Dramas
Very few dramas feature married life, which is sad. Almost like the world is saying after marriage, the romance dies. You got the prize, game over if marriage is shown its secondary or supporting cast. Like the main leads' parents. Or if you do get a marriage title, it's a bad marriage.
Sadly, we need more marriage dramas. Dating isn't the end of anything. It's just the beginning of everything.
Real life
OAL: My marriage is like Married with Children, combined with Roseanne. From the outside, it seems like we hate each other. My husband's psychologist was horrified, but it works for us, he can't live without me, and I won't date anyone else after he's gone, so it's all good. We will have been married 26 years on February 11th.
Hwayi: Now we're more comfortable with each other. Marriage, for me, is almost unbelievable. Growing up, I did not think that I would be married at age 22, freshly out of college. That wasn't even in my very extensive life plans. Like who knew that I'd be married to a dude over a foot taller than me.
My hubby likes to cook. He's literally a professional chef (in my opinion). He could rival Gordon Ramsey. I may just be exaggerating because I literally suck at cooking, so anyone who can cook is like a god in my eyes. He's been trying to get me into the cooking biz, but it's hard. I burn everything. I literally burned my finger on peanut butter once. Lately, I've been asking him to make cookies for me, so he told me I'd have to make them myself or no cookies at all. I'm very competitive, so this made me unlock my true potential. I'm now a pro cookie baker and devourer. Mostly the latter.
This is getting long, but while my marriage isn't like the ones we see in the relatively few marriage dramas there are, it's something I enjoy immensely. I love being married to my hubby. He's the sweetest guy you'll ever meet.
Side note: I've been married for almost a year. It's a year on March 15 a day after my birthday. I picked the date. ;)
And you also get to see the Honeymoon phase vs. The "yeah ill keep him cause I ain't training another one" phase of marriage between my co-author and me. : )
We hope you enjoyed this year take on the 2 love holidays and feel free to comment on anything from your own love story to your favorite Romance Dramas. We love to hear from you. Don't forget to heart this article and like us if you have FB.
Thanks for reading!
Edited by: Yuanwei (1st editor)
