Flower Boy Ramen Shop

Flower Boy Ramen Shop (Hangul: 꽃미남 라면가게; RR: Kkotminam Ramyeongage) is a 2011 South Korean romantic comedy television series, starring Jung Il-woo, Lee Chung-ah, Lee Ki-woo, Park Min-woo and Cho Yoon-woo. It aired on cable channel tvN from October 31 to December 20, 2011, on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 23:00 for 16 episodes.

This drama is about "pretty boys" who, with good looks and individuality, operate a ramyun shop with a lively college girl and experience the happenings of daily life.^[1][2] It was the first installment of tvN's "Oh! Boy" series of Flower Boy programming targeted at the teenage demographic, and was followed by Shut Up Flower Boy Band in 2012 and Flower Boys Next Door in 2013.

The series is also known as Flower Boy Ramyun Shop (following the Korean pronunciation of "ramen") and the international title Cool Guys, Hot Ramen.

Synopsis

Yang Eun-bi (Lee Chung-ah) is a university student in her mid-20s preparing for her civil service exam with the dream of being a high school teacher. She accidentally encounters Cha Chi-soo (Jung Il-woo), the arrogant heir to the biggest food conglomerate in South Korea. Cha Chi-soo, newly home after a failed attempt to attend school in New York City, fascinates women with his good looks and easy charm. Eun-bi is attracted to him before she finds out that he is only a high school senior and thus 6 years younger than her. However, her student-teaching assignment finds her not only working at the high school that Chi-soo's family owns, but teaching his homeroom class. She grows to dislike him for his arrogance and lack of empathy. He, on the other hand, becomes fascinated with her because she is outspoken and athletic, unlike the other women he knows. Yet, he does not interpret the fascination as romantic interest, since he is out of her league and usually dates pretty, self-interested girls like Yoon So-yi, a ballet student also dating Chi-soo's rebellious classmate Kim Ba-wool. Eun-bi resists her attraction in turn, believing Chi-soo is only toying with her. Eun-bi wants a more serious relationship after being dumped by a cheating ex-boyfriend after waiting for him to complete his mandatory military service. She frequently turns to her dating-savvy roommate/ex-high school volleyball teammate Kang Dong-joo for advice.

After Eun-bi's father (Jung In-gi) passes away, she is surprised to find that he left the ramen restaurant he owned to Choi Kang-hyuk (Lee Ki-woo), whom he had helped when Kang-hyuk was a troubled youth, instead of to her. It is soon revealed that Eun-bi's father did this with the hope that Kang-hyuk and Eun-bi would marry. Eun-bi, after losing her student-teaching assignment because of her conflicts with Chi-soo, starts to work at the ramen shop, along with homeless fellow students Kim Ba-wool (Park Min-woo) and Woo Hyun-woo (Cho Yoon-woo). Chi-soo wants to work at the restaurant as well, in order to get over his growing obsession with Eun-bi. Kang-hyuk, who knows that he and Chi-soo actually have the same mother, allows him to join the shop out of concern for his cold half-brother.

Kang-hyuk quickly develops feelings for Eun-bi, but she finds herself more attracted to passionate Chi-soo. Chi-soo, after many misunderstandings, realizes that his obsession with Eun-bi is attraction and actively competes for Eun-bi's affections with Kang-hyuk. However, Chi-soo's father (Joo Hyun) disapproves. Chi-soo's (and Kang-hyuk's) mother had also been an average (not rich) woman, and Chi-soo's father believes that difference was one of the causes of their separating several years before. Chi-soo's father's company is planning to redevelop the area in which the ramen shop is located, and Chi-soo's father tries to use the possible destruction of the ramen shop as leverage to keep Eun-bi and Chi-soo apart. Chi-soo has become attached to the ramen shop and is also afraid of being disowned, and so he initially chooses to stay with his father. Eun-bi realizes, however, that she wants to try seriously dating him; she storms his family's apartment to claim him from his father, and they leave together. The ramen shop is forced to close, but its workers accept this development without complaint. Chi-soo's father disinherits him and has his U.S. citizenship revoked, so that Chi-soo is now subject to the South Korean military draft. The show ends with Chi-soo visiting Eun-bi after he has completed his two-year service in the South Korean Army without contacting her; they kiss as the camera pans over the neighborhood where they first met.

Cast

Main cast

• Jung Il-woo as Cha Chi-soo^[3][4]
• Lee Chung-ah as Yang Eun-bi^[5]
• Lee Ki-woo as Choi Kang-hyuk^[6]
• Park Min-woo as Kim Ba-wool^[7]
• Cho Yoon-woo as Woo Hyun-woo

Supporting cast

• Kim Ye-won as Kang Dong-joo
• Ho Soo as Yoon So-yi
• Joo Hyun as Cha Ok-gyun
• Jung In-gi as Yang Chul-dong
• Seo Bum-suk as Coach Seo
• Song Jae-rim as Hee-gon
• Kim Il-woong as Jung-gu
• Kim Hye-soo as fortuneteller (cameo, ep 1)^[8]
• Gong Hyo-jin as record store clerk (cameo, ep 9)^[9]

Production

The cast of the series at a press conference

The series was directed by Jung Jun-hwa, who previously helmed the 2008 film Lost and Found (also known as Sweet Lie). It was produced by Pyo Min-soo, along with the production crew of 2009 KBS drama Boys over Flowers.^[10]

Filming commenced on September 21, 2011, with Jung Il-woo playing Cha Chi-soo and his friends, at a cafe in Hongdae.^[11]

Reception

According to AGB Nielsen Media, the November 7 episode received a viewership rating of 2.07 percent, the highest rating in its timeslot, thus the most-watched cable program for the second week in a row. It also recorded a 200 percent increase in viewership from the previous episode among 20- to 49-year-old men. It was reported that it was the most-viewed show among women in their teens to 30s as well as among men in their teens to 20s. The series was watched by one in three teenage girls with 30 percent audience shares, and in Busan, it recorded five percent in viewership ratings.^[12] At its peak, the series scored viewership ratings in the four percent range, the highest ratings amongst its cable competitors in the same timeslot for eight weeks.

Its popularity has spawned a webcomic version of the show, taking off from characters Ba-wool and Hyun-woo as 20-year-olds managing a ramen restaurant. The cartoon has had over 1.8 million page views since its release on online portal Nate, with the number of visitors increasing by an average 32 percent per day.^[13]

Ratings

International broadcast

• In November 2011, after being on air for eight episodes, the series was sold to Japanese content distribution company Culture Convenience Club at a record price of US$100,000 per episode.^[16][17] It premiered on Mnet Japan in January 2012, with reruns on terrestrial network TBS from June 12 to July 11, 2012.^[18]

• It is currently airing on Mnet's Channel M since March 2014.

• It premiered in the Philippines on TeleAsia Chinese on June 20, 2014. It also aired on TV5 from July 7 to August 22, 2014 under its alternate title Cool Guys, Hot Ramen. It is also being reaired by TV5 every Sunday nights starting November 8, 2015.^[19]

• In Thailand aired on Workpoint TV on October 22, 2013.^[20]

References

External links

• Flower Boy Ramen Shop official tvN website (Korean)
• Flower Boy Ramen Shop at HanCinema
• Flower Boy Ramen Shop at the Internet Movie Database