Woo Hyun is a Korean man, and Haruka is a Japanese woman. They live different lives, but they both carry emotional scars from their first love. While looking for answers and hope, their fateful encounter will change their lives. It started with one message… Haruka, a stage actress in Seoul, has been in a slump ever since she broke up with her first love. She cannot forget him and keeps sending messages that go unread on LINE. Despite her emotional hurt, Haruka wants to believe in love. In Tokyo, Woo Hyun, an aspiring movie director, keeps on doing interviews concerning “love”. After being deeply hurt by his girlfriend, who thought about getting married, he no longer believes in love. Haruka and Woo Hyun have both grown timid of love. The two of them, who live apart in Tokyo and Seoul, have a chance encounter because of a LINE message delivered to Woo Hyun’s smartphone from Haruka. They exchange messages without knowing each other’s faces and are drawn to each other before they realise it
L, an angel who’s endlessly fascinated with the human world, gets into trouble when she unthinkingly saves the life of Han Shi Yeong, a man who was meant to die. To make up for her mistake she must guard him on Earth for one hundred days and keep him safe from Hwan, a death god who is required to collect his soul. Both supernatural beings must contend with the knowledge that whichever one of them fails by the end of the hundred days will be erased from existence, and the longer they stay on Earth the further their powers fade and the more human they become.
Emilia, a Filipino who arrived in Japan with aspirations of becoming a model, coincidentally encounters Matsuyama Mirai, an aspiring photographer. Their connection deepens as they find themselves drawn to each other. Mirai, intent on immortalising their moments together, diligently captures their essence through the lens of his camera. However, an unexpected parting disrupts the flow of their narrative. Subsequently, the saga of these two individuals unfolds beyond the shores of Japan, traversing the vast sea to the Philippines, where their story takes on new dimensions.
Left alone on a trip to Hong Kong, Tomoko, a sales woman from Japan finds herself the victim of a purse-snatching. The police arrest the man she points out, but it turns out to be the wrong person: a young Korean man named Ji Hoon. Despite his anger and humiliation, he takes her out to dinner since she has lost all her money, and in return, she agrees to model for his amateur film. What follows is a magical and romantic two days. Upon returning to their respective countries, Tomoko must return to her nine-to-five job and Ji Hoon must resume studying to join the family business rather than pursuing his dream of becoming a film director. But soon the two begin to email each other and rekindle their relationship despite the distance and obstacles between them. Marking the very first time in television history that a drama has been co-produced between Japan and South Korea, the story shows us that love has no borders.
When his boss, Dae Jung, goes missing in a ship accident, the company sends Woo Joo to Osaka to finish his business. On his last day in the city, Woo Joo chases someone looking exactly like Dae Jung to Taisho, an area in Osaka. He ends up losing him, but the sound of a guitar draws Woo Joo to a small bar, Pier 34. Its owner, Snow, somehow reminds him of Dae Jung, and listening to his music brings back memories. After passing out right there, Woo Joo ends up missing his flight back to Korea. He quits his job on a whim and soon meets Haruna, who is learning how to play the guitar from Snow. Woo Joo decides to stay at Pier 34 until he finds Dae Jung and so begins an unlikely vacation for him.
Ami, a backpacker from Japan who is four years older than high school student Jimmy, shows up at his part-time job. The two end up spending the summer working at the same store, but Jimmy gradually develops a faint crush on Ami. The two of them grew closer as they rode motorcycles together at night and went to the movies, but suddenly, Ami decided to return to Japan. Ami proposes her "one promise" to Jimmy, who can't sort out his feelings. As time passes, Jimmy visits his parents' house for the first time in a while and finds a postcard that Ami sent him 18 years ago when she returned to Japan. Jimmy's memories of his first love come back to him, and he takes his first solo trip to Japan to confront his past and examine his present. Jimmy rides the train while listening to songs that remind him of his memories with Ami, and he heads to her hometown. Will Jimmy be able to reunite with Ami?
The movies depict a bleak existence for immigrants looking for a better life in a society that thrives on the unequal, sometimes abhorrent treatment of people, esp those who are 'different' and/or those who fall outside a certain socioeconomic bracket. These are not light movies to watch, but if you're concerned about social (in)justice & are in the mood to see a darker side of South Korean society, beyond the rosiness of dramaland, these are both good places to start.
