Skip Beat: Anime vs. Drama
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I hadn't heard of this Korean drama until a few days before Nail Shop Paris was set to air. When I came across a picture of it, I was curious and quickly looked it up. After reading the description, I thought "Hmm, I like Korean dramas, hot guys and nail art, I will check it out" and that was that! So, without further ado, I present to you, Nail Shop Paris!
The Story:
Hong Yeo Joo (Park Gyu Ri) is an internet novelist who hits a bit of a road block in her career, so she sets off for inspiration. She finds it in a man at the train station and follows him to a nail salon called Paris and is surprised to find out that he is a male manicurist. She decides to go undercover and work in the salon as an Intern. Unfortunately, the shop only hires males.
For the sake of her new story she cuts her hair and dresses up as a boy! (shocker!)
Getting the job after a tense interview she finally meets her co-workers, Jin, Kei and Alex. Working at the shop is not as easy as it seems. The men of Paris love to help customers with anything they can in order to make them happy, even if that means meddling. In each episode they help a different customer with their problems as well as furthering along Hong Yeo Joo's quest to create her new novel.
The Main Characters:
Hong Ye Joo
Nicknamed Bunny by Jin, she will do anything for her story, and that means getting close to Alex. She is hard working and always on alert for anything she can use in her story and often stays up all night just to write. She was saved by a Gumiho at the age of 6 and because of that she only writes stories about them.
Alex
Alex (Jun Ji Hoo) is the quiet guy with a heart of gold. He is often the first one to step up and help his customers. He used to study traditional medicine, but after an accident he chose to be a manicurist. Alex is the hero in Bunny's new story and is seen as a love interest in both her story and her real life. Alex is most popular with the 30 and over crowd.
Jin
Jin (Park Cheondoong) is the happy go lucky guy of the group and is also known as Smiley Angel. He is the first to accept Bunny into the group and quickly becomes a great friend. Jin is the youngest of the guys and looks up to his seniors. He is also most often the first to greet customers as they come in, and always with a smile. I don't know why, but I just want to feed him cake and pet his head when I see him.
Kei
Kei (Song Jae Rim), nicknamed Ice Prince by customers, is just as his nickname says, a tsundere. He is immediately suspicious of Bunny and it isn't any secret that he doesn't like her. In fact, Kei calls her Beanie and is always bullying her. Despite his coldness, he does have a warm side, though it's not often seen. Kei is the master nail artist of the group and wins a lot of contests. Personally, he is my favorite.
Why Should You Watch?
This type of drama is new to me. No, I'm not talking about the gender bender type, totally not new to that! I haven't come across any dramas that take place in a nail salon so it is happily new to me! Also I tend to go right for those lovely dovey dramas and Nail Shop Paris actually isn't one of those. It has a bit of mystery and intrigue to it as well as some supernatural aspects to it. The drama doesn't focus on romance as much as you would think, which surprised me, but I hope to be proven wrong as the drama progresses. It is only a 10-episode drama, so it is fairly short for a Korean drama and I can't help but hope to hear news that it will end up longer. So if you're looking for something short and sweet, I recommend giving this drama a try. As of writing this, only 6 episodes have aired, so now is a great time to catch up!
ENJOY!
