Orange Marmalade

Orange Marmalade aired from May 15th to July 24th, 2015 based off the famous webtoon of the same name. It starred Yeo Jin-goo who is notable for many of his intricate drama roles, AOA's Kim Seolhyun and CNBlue's Lee Jonghyun.

Plot

In a world where vampires and humans co-exist through a peace treaty, the story revolves Baek Ma-ri, a young girl shunned throughout the course of her life. Ma-ri and her family keep their identities hidden like many others of their kind. Humans have formed a prejudice against vampires though they've lived two-hundred years side-by-side and it's often that vampires are discriminated against when they reveal themselves.

From a young age, Ma-ri has struggled with her emotions and is seen to be very distant from others. With a passion to graduate and become a musician, Ma-ri transfers to another school near the city where she has an accidental run in with Jung Jae-min, the most popular boy in her class.

He immediately takes a liking to Ma-ri and tries desperately to get close to her only to realize how cold she is as a person. Inevitably, both Ma-ri and Jung Jae-min fall for one another, but it isn't long before her identity as a vampire is uncovered and Jae-min, whose undying hate for creatures of the night, rises to the surface.

Overall

The story naturally follows Ma-ri and Jae-min's love for one another that crosses in two timeframes; one in the present day world and one trailing back to the Joseon era.

A lot of people had complaints with this show mainly because it hadn't followed the webtoon. While I haven't looked closely into the original, I can say that while Orange Marmalade had a weird timeframe crossover (as per the cliffhanger from one storyline to another), it still excelled in its ways.

I guess I really adored the vampire twist.

It's actually been a while since I've seen anything vampire related and Orange Marmalade lived up to all of my expectations (though it had its moments). Perhaps it's because I'm a huge fan of Yeo Jin-goo. He's made quite the impression on me with his elaborate roles and he can basically act in any sense he deems fit.

The love triangle that Ma-ri had with Jae-min and Han Shi-hoo (played by Lee Jonghyun) wasn't cliché. Rather, it expressed Shi-hoo's feelings for Ma-ri but nothing more. It's not like he fought tooth and nail to win the girl. When he realized that Ma-ri truly was in love with Jae-min, he righteously let her go. Shi-hoo was more of a friend than potential love interest.

While Jo-ara (antagonist) happened to be one of those typical characters that had a thing against the protagonist and tried destroying them in any way possible, Jo-ara developed the most character wise. While she too had a thing against vampires and righteously hated Ma-ri when her true identity was known, her feelings for Han Shi-hoo threw away that stereotype when he came out as a known vampire as well.

My most favorite thing about this drama revolved the prejudice vampires upheld.

In the lives we lead, we've all stumbled upon those who throw racial slurs, commit hate crimes, or simply stereotype those that are different. And in Orange Marmalade where vampires are under close scrutiny, they're picked on for not being of the norm. I think seeing Jae-min and Jo-ara, natural haters of the vampire species, coming to terms with their friends turned love interest (Ma-ri and Shi-hoo) says a lot about knowing more through understanding.