[Exclusive] Soompi Hangs With the Dramabeans Team!

During the crazy excitement that was KCON, Soompi had the opportunity to sit down with drama blogging superstars girlfriday and javabeans, the lovely ladies behind Dramabeans!

We asked them some really, really hard questions (sorry about that!) but I think you’ll all enjoy their answers! Check out the full interview below.

Okay, first things first, what is your favorite show this season?

javabeans: Pshhhh…. long silence…

girlfriday:  Okay that’s really hard…

javabeans: There are a lot of shows I like right now, not one that is my all time favorite… “Joseon Gunman?” It’s not the awesome amazing 100% I wanted, but it’s pretty good. “Marriage Without Love” as well – not the 100% but I’m enjoying it.

girlfriday: “Marriage Without Love” is probably the best but in a year, will I think it’s the best drama of the year? No, probably not.

What is your most anticipated upcoming drama?

javabeans: “Secret Door?”

girlfriday: “Secret Door” is the most anticipated for hoping it’s gonna be really good and expecting it to be good. I’m also anticipating “Nodame” for the possible trainwreck it might turn out to be. It could be awesome and cute or it could really be a trainwreck…

Now that K-drama is such a huge phenomenon, how have your jobs changed? Has the hallyu blogosphere changed a lot since you first started?

javabeans: We’ve always been in our own bubble, so on a day-to-day basis nothing is different – my day is the same. There’s new drama, but it’s the same routine and it’s weird to come to places like this to see how other people react to it. For me it’s always been the same but it’s interesting to see how other people react to it as well.

girlfriday: Clearly the field is growing and everyone is out there doing a blog, a video blog, some kind of reaction to K-pop or K-drama. But I don’t think it changes our perspective because we just put our heads down and do what we do. There are always going to be people who pop up, especially when there’s a popular drama, you know, My Love From The Stars comes out and everyone is blogging about it but then they only do that one show and disappear. This happens year after year so interest waves like that.

Who are your personal favorite bloggers? Has anyone caught your eye?

javabeans: I feel really bad, because my answer is no. The thing is though, when we write, we need to formulate our own opinion first as a rule and I don’t read spoilers – I hate when people talk about things before I’ve seen it. So I don’t read anything until I write my recap about it. But once I write my recap I’m just really tired, I’m done.

girlfriday: I just don’t want to deal with that episode and I never wanna look at it again.

javabeans: So I’m not going to read my recap again, much less go out and read a bunch of other recaps. I do like to kind of know what’s going on, but I just don’t have the time. We work ourselves into the ground just doing our own thing so we don’t really have the time. I would actually like to hear about other bloggers and if someone is really good I’d like to really hear about it (girlfriday: Mmhmm!) but…

girlfriday: Sadly we don’t have time.

javabeans: Unless other people say “you should check this out.”

girlfriday: Yeah, a lot of time people recommend other sites. Fans let us know more often.

We’re in bizarro world, there is no such thing as K-Drama. What is your life like?

javabeans: Am I writing for Television Without Pity then?

girlfriday: Then I’m doing this for American television.

javabeans: Television With Pity? TV Without Sympathy?

So you guys would definitely be doing some sort of television blog?

javabeans: Well, some sort of that… before I was drama blogging, I was still watching dramas but I was a writer and a blogger so it seems natural to continue that.

girlfriday: We’re both writers first and we’re fans of television first and so-

javabeans: This just happens to be the way.

girlfriday: Yeah… Otherwise we’d be talking about American shows I guess?

javabeans: And that market is saturated!

Good thing Korean drama’s exist then! Next question, if you had to live in a drama world, which role would you be?

javabeans: I would be the villain, with lots of money, who never gets caught doing anything bad. Like the evil mother-in-law so I can be like “I don’t like her” because I want my son all to myself. Except, that would be kind of icky…

girlfriday: Well, if it’s a drama world, might as well be someone really crazy rich!

javabeans: Exactly, if you’re going to give me a hypothetical, like I’m going to choose to be poor!

girlfriday: I don’t want to be the cinderella. I would like to be a professional dilettante.

javabeans: Oh, like Mo Ne in “Bad Guy”.

girlfriday: Yoon Eun Hye did that in “My Fair Lady,” I’ll be that. She gets like male butlers and stuff.

javabeans: Hot male butlers.

girlfriday: Hire a whole staff of flower-boy butlers. That’s what I would do.

So a lady chaebol, nice. Now, you’re making the ultimate drama, a romcom,  who would you cast?

javabeans: We should pick the girl, that’ll be harder. There are very few that we like… Park Bo Young, because no one has seen her lately.

girlfriday: She’d be good for being young, youthful, trendy.

javabeans: Although, she’s in her twenties now so not that young.

girlfriday: She plays young.

javabeans: I mean considering, Yoona played way older, Go Ara played way older. She can be leading lady, and leading man… I want to see her with Lee Min Ho again. Like, for the fourth time.

girlfriday: Park Bo Young and Lee Min Ho?

javabeans: Cause if you see the old photos of them , they’re super cute together in school outfits hugging – super cute.

But not as high school students right?

javabeans: No no no, as adults. Okay, now this question is like cooking – everything has to come together well…

girlfriday: Who is the second lead?

javabeans: Well, I can’t like them more than Min Ho.

girlfriday: If it’s someone I like, then I’d want them to be the lead of their own drama.

javabeans: Right! Actually I could do Park Bo Young and Lee Je Hoon. Cause I wanna see Je Hoon happy for once.

So you’re going to make him the second lead!?

javabeans: No no, as the first lead! He’s my obsession right now – hence the Secret Door hype.

girlfriday: Now I have to do the second lead? A second lead who tugs at my heart… Sung Joon? But then he’s so pretty and so perfect, like how could you… See? Second lead’s hard.

javabeans: I could say Sung Joon.

girlfriday: Okay, but already in that drama I’d be rooting for Sung Joon to get the girl. And then we’d fight.

javabeans: Well maybe the girl that Sung Joon could end up with could be…

girlfriday: Could be…

javabeans: See? This is a long question.

girlfriday: It opens a can of worms…

javabeans: We’re going to end up calling you like “we changed our answers!!”

javabeans: Go Ara?

girlfriday: Jung Eun Ji? I don’t like her in “Trot Lovers” right now but I like her in other stuff…

javabeans: Either of them I guess.

Okay, now you’re committed! No changing your answers!

Who’s an underrated second-lead who deserves the spotlight?

javabeans: Yoon Hyun Min.

girlfriday: He’s great.

javabeans: He’s the friend in “Witch’s Romance” and he was in “Heartless City.”

girlfriday: He’s really great.

javabeans: He keeps being the third lead so he needs to get something!

Now for a speed round of questions. Most number of shows followed at once?

javabeans: Six?

girlfriday: Six, maybe seven?

javabeans: That’s a full load. Two on Monday/Tuesday, Two on Wednesday/Thursday, one Friday/Saturday, and one Saturday/Sunday.

girlfriday: Maybe even more than that

javabeans: Yeah, maybe one more.

girlfriday: It might be more like eight.

javabeans: When we were training minions, it was definitely more like eight because we would watch things we wouldn’t have if they were doing them.

girlfriday: Even now on the site, all of the other recaps, we have to still follow the shows.

Longest drama marathon in hours, or days, in one sitting?

javabeans: I used to marathon old dramas that had already aired and I would do a Saturday, so maybe 12 hours?

girlfriday: I’ve sat through 16 episodes straight of a drama… I don’t sleep very much.

Since we’re at a K-Pop event, an idol actor who’s really good? (Not including Yoochun!)

girlfriday: Oh, I like Yoon Doojoon. He’s surprisingly really good, I really like him in “Let’s Eat” – I was shocked.

javabeans: I feel like there are some really good ones. Seo In Guk? Does he count as an idol?

girlfriday: I don’t know if he counts…

javabeans: I don’t know since he was a soloist but he’s good.

girlfriday: He’s great.

Favorite all-time drama couple?

girlfriday: Gumiho and Tae Woong in “My Girlfriend is a Gumiho!” There are others but…

javabeans: I can’t even think of romances! Help me! What do I like?

girlfriday: “Choonhyang?” “My Girl?” I like the couple in “Answer Me 1997.”

javabeans: I’m being really picky…

girlfriday: Your favorite dramas aren’t necessarily romances, like “Shut Up! Flower Boy Band,” “Gaksital“…

javabeans: Oh! “Princess’s Man!”

Most disappointing ending?

javabeans: We have a lot of them…

girlfriday: Oh god, so many…

javabeans: “Bad Guy?”

girlfriday: “Big?”

javabeans: “Shark?” Although that wasn’t that good to begin with… What started okay and then went bad? OH! “GOD’S GIFT!”

girlfriday: “GOD’S GIFT!”

javabeans: It started off so good and then it crashed… I want my hours back!

Most satisfying ending?

javabeans: “Gaksital?” I mean I cried but it was healing.

girlfriday: That was the most satisfying.

Favorite drama OST?

javabeans: “Princess’s Man.” “The Moon Embracing The Sun” is also good, a lot of sageuks (historical dramas) have good OSTs…

girlfriday: I like “Queen In Hyun’s Man.”

So, check out all of their recommendations and let us know your ultimate drama casting below!