Coffee Prince (2007)

No, Yoon Eun-hye doesn’t actually look like a boy, but in terms of dress, hairstyle and acting she pulls off one of the best gender bender roles. There is no effort to girly up her role, and the writers pull off a character that is relatable and realistically tomboy-ish not a kpop idol with a short haircut and cute boy clothes. She doesn’t try to be pretty. Besides, Gong Yoo is great as well and the two have amazing chemistry. The only reason I can think of for someone not hearing of or watching this drama already is that they felt it was too popular to be any good or they’re a new drama fan. However this is one Korean show that is worth all the hype it gets. The acting, filming, writing, and the music etc. is all amazing.

(Review originally from my blog)

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The only pros this drama has are the main couple's chemistry and the characters of the guys working at the coffee prince.

Now I'll list the many cons.
-FL acts like a toddler all the time;

-ML is immature and unnecessarily rude to the FL during the time he doesn't know she's a woman, I guess because liking a "guy" hurts his macho pride;

-ML kept bullying FL as a supposed form of love which is super fucked up and not cute at all;

-It's impossible to sympathize with the leads, him being a rude prick and her selfishly hiding her real identify;

-The drama has a overall weird aura;

-There were unnecessary disgust inducing scenes for humor but I guess that kind of humor is not my taste;

-Tedious love quadrangle, I couldn't understand who any of them really liked at the beginning, everyone seemed like they were two-timing for a while;

-Didn't get why FL needed to keep her secret for so long, everything could be resolved if she just told ML she was a girl, why the unnecessary drama;

-Really dude? seeking psychiatric help and the doctor prescribing the ML medicine to treat homosexuality? the disrespect, I cringed;

-Treating homosexuality as this alien thing that's forbidden didn't sit well with me at all;

-When they tried being Hyung and Dongsaeng, oh God so weird;

-FL's reason for not telling ML that she was girl all that time didn't make any sense;

-Idk why they thought we would care about the annoying plot of the butcher old guy chasing after the mother;

- The second leads' relationship is confusing as fuck and I didn't care about it at all, I even found myself fast forwarding through their scenes after some episodes;

-When ML discovered that FL was a woman he kept saying how he was glad that she was woman and was acting almost like he was committing a sin back when he told her he liked her even thought she was a man, and now that he found out she's actually a woman everything is fine;

Conclusion: I feel like this drama could be somewhat more enjoyable if you skip from the episode FL starts working at the coffee prince (I think it was episode 4) to episode 11 when he discovered she's a woman. But nope I don't recommend this drama.

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I'm just speechless. It's so hard to tell you guys how much I loved this. I mean it was so different than I thought it was going to be! The first time I ever heard of this drama I was thinking ehhh I'm not too sure about this at all, I mean it's called coffee prince, I mean what?? That's a weird name.. Sure there are plenty of other weird names but still! It may seem like a chick drama. But, my own brother liked this! And he hates all the Asian stuff because it's apparently "stupid and pointless" to watch. So that really has to mean something! Anyways I really enjoyed this and may see it again one day.

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From what one of my BFF's tells me, this show is an absolute staple in South Korean drama, and I would have to agree. However, I'm not really one to cheer on Han Gyul (the male lead) as he comes to grips with his attraction to who he thinks is a boy, but is actually Eun-Chan, an unfeminine girl. His angst over his attraction to a "boy" drove me nuts as did her LYING, but, still, the show is adorable. It really is. Although Han-Gyul is an idiot. How could he NOT tell that she was a girl? She's not THAT flat up top! As the actors go, Gong Yoo is absolutely gorgeous and fun as Choi Han-Gyul and Eun Hye Yoon is cute as Eun-Chan, but it was Jae Wook Kim as the Japanese-speaking waffle-maker that stole my heart. Maybe it was hearing Japanese in a Korean drama that did it or the fact that he has all the delectable qualities of Japanese men while still somehow being Korean. I don't know, but Sun Ki is my man! Great show, a little unbearably annoying at points, but still lots of fun.

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I like gender bender stories a lot but there aren't many good ones out there. It's so obvious the girl is a girl and not a boy. Vice versa the same. Even boys with girly faces are looking like a dude in drag because of the broad shoulders. And girls disguised as boys can fool nobody because of the tiny figure, hands, feets.
That said Yoon Eun Hye played the tomboy convincingly. I have seen a few korean dramas but I'm not an expert. Compared to other dramas "Coffee Prince" seemed to me very fresh, not so much cliche. The guy was charismatic and how the love story evolved ... It was very nice. The kisses, the interaction between the characters, it all felt so natural, funny and passionate at the same time. It makes your heart beat faster. Don't miss this one. Just don't.

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Characters are annoying.

I was not sure how to rate this drama to be honest. I did entertain me at times and I was annoyed and bored at others.
Would I recommend? I think there are better things out there and generally I wouldn't recommend.

Firstly, I do think this drama is too long, and there are times when nothing happens and the slice of life being shown is not entertaining enough (and I generally like slice of life dramas). That being said, I found the middle part the worst one, because it became way too melodramatic but I was not feeling it at all, I only felt annoyed at the main character for the way she was handling things.
I give points for it being the most convincing gender bending drama I've seen so far. Sure, there were moments when it was clear she was a woman because of her figure but compared with other dramas I've seen it gets all my points for that.
There are certain concepts in this drama that I feel are now obsolete with the times, especially when it comes to the aspect of the woman having to take care of the household once married and the view on homosexuality.

When it comes to the characters, something I found bothersome is that there are not many women in this drama but they're all terrible, what a way to go... Even the grandmother that seemed just fine in the beginning turns into a classic controlling over protective grandma for a while (but hey, at least she does change).
Eun Chan was entertaining in the first few episodes (even if childish for her age) and then increasingly annoying, selfish and her tantrums ended up making me angry. I found quite insulting how she was not thinking how Han Gyul would be feeling in terms of questioning his whole life and sexuality for her simply because he thought she was a man (the implications of so in a society very against it). She was so oblivious and self-centered, and she continued to be that way the whole show, she was ok for him to give up his life dream but she couldn't make an effort to compromise with him about the marriage and finding a middle ground they could both be happy about. I understood her thoughts in regards to her father, but I still thought that she lacked maturity for thinking that every single situation and people you encounter will be the same.

Han Gyul was more tolerable to me although I despised a lot how he handled his crush for Eun Chan by sistematically insulting her and dragging her to do whatever he wanted during work. Totally not ok.

Yoo Joo is the kind of woman I've met before in real life, keeps her options open and uses men around her (knowing they like her) whenever convenient. She's a prime example of hypocrisy and the fact she hardly acknowledged this was giving me narcissistic vibes. She was love bombing and provoking Han Sung constantly and I would have prefered their story to be one of moving on and healing. Han Sung on the other hand is the classic "nice guy", and they try somehow to convince you that despite his mistakes he's still such a "nice guy". Funny enough, for me it was not the kissing or the crush he had on Eun Chan what did it, it was the way he was expecting certain traditional family dynamics once he married Yoo Joo, in a very "oh we're married now so I can finally control you".

All the princes at the café were also a hot mess. Sun Gi was a stalker, and then he only is nice to a girl in the end because she spoke japanese? Rude!! Also, while it can happen that people swears in their mother tongue naturally sometimes, he (if I didn't hear wrong) was half korean, so although not explained, chances are he was raised bilingual and the chances of that happening are very low. It was done for the funs, but personally I've always disliked when they do that. Ha Rim was background character, he started being a playboy and ended up being a playboy. Min Yeop was the classic dumb-fun character, and it would have been nice if he had grown up a bit, or they had shown to say no to toxic relationships but he didn't progress at all. Eun Chan's sister was the extrovert narcissist type, and so she manipulated, gaslighted and selfishly cared for no one but herself.
Eun Chan's mother was also a piece of work, and I don't even know why her story with the shop owner is shown, it goes nowhere, it was a filler. Han Gyul's parents were the nicest people in this show, they were a lot more grounded, but then again, I guess they must suck at parenting because they raised Han Gyul to be as he is when the show starts so... That being said, I do still think that Han Gyul is the character that changes the most throughout the show.

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So, I've never given a review before but I love this drama. I've rewatched it many times. Sometimes, I'll just skip to the parts I really like but I never mind watching the whole thing again from beginning to end. For the story, it's a bit unrealistic in a way but very touching and they put it in a way that it's believable so that's why I put 8. The acting is excellent. EunHye is not as experienced as GongYoo but she was amazing and they seemed to connect with each other very well. The music seemed to match the style of the drama very well but some of the songs I didn't like as much when I listened to it on its own, so I gave it a 7 - wasn't sure about that one. This is a really cute drama. It has its sad moments, of course, but it can make you feel really connected to the characters. All of the characters can sometimes seem like a huge family, instead of just a group of friends.

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Yoon Eun Hye and Gong Yoo alone made me watch this. Then they threw in Kim Rae Won… I suddenly spazzed out.

What’s so good about a transgender rom-com? It’s good when it’s Eun Hye who’s being transgenderized (if that’s even a word), it felt like the role was made for her and she wasn’t afraid to step up and get her hair all chopped up for the role. That’s one thing about Eun Hye that I like, she takes strange roles that is full of comedy. I have yet to see her in a melodrama. Maybe somewhere in the near future she will.

As for the story, Coffee Prince is about Go Eun Chan (Eun Hye), a hard working girl who is always always being mistaken as a guy. Then fate made her meet Choi Hang Kyul (Yoo) in a misunderstanding. After which they come to an agreement to help each other out and eventually, she ended up lying about her gender so she could work as a waiter in Gong Yoo’s coffee shop.

The drama was hilarious in all angle, there is no realism in this one because it is obvious that Eun Chan is A GIRL if you look closely at her chest. So let not your head go swimming that this is not realistic enough to be watched. It may not be like that but the storyline would definitely blow you away with all the characters involved. The princes (namely the waiters in the coffee prince shop) and the OST had me hooked as well.

Check out the title “Go Go Chan!”

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At first, I wasn't even interested in this drama but I watched it out of my friends recommendations and all the great reviews that I found everywhere, so naturally I had great expectations and I wish I haven't. Yes, the drama is good but i was expecting more.
Anyway, the cast here have one of the most believable acting skills ever; I was extremly captured by that. The music was nice even though I don't actually focus on any drama's music but here it sticked in my mind.
To tell the truth what actually bothered me about this drama was those moments where the boss liked Eun Chan as a boy and all the parts related to that; I was disgusted by it sorry but I hate those gay moments; It's just my opinion anyway. Beside that the drama was good, I fell for it and for the cast especially the princes; I liked each and every one of them, I laughed a lot in many scenes they had together plus they were so cute.
Yoon Eun Hye played her role in a great way here, she's one of the fewest actresses who's very believable as a boy even the supporting actors were good.
If you're a rom-com lover then you need to watch this.

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I will admit that the first time I started to watch this that I didn't even get thru the first episode. I just looked at Eun Chan/Yoon Eun Hye and thought there is no way that she is going to pull of being a boy and quit watching it. My sister convinced me to try again and I did. Now I totally love this drama!!! The acting is so great that I totally enjoyed all the characters in this drama!!! The story is well written and directed. Yoon Eun Hye pulls off the tomboy as well as the romance of the story with ease. If it weren't for that, then I don't think this drama would be as good as it is. Even the ending is good. I will probably rewatch this in the future.

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