KiSH the Day!
Well, guess who met up from all corners of Metro Manila, including Pampanga, for a fan meet with a Korean star at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum last Saturday, braving age (LOL), the traffic and the rains to KiSH the day, and night? A K-drama fan girl group called the Noonatics (short for Noona Lunatics) who engage in a lot of fan-girling fun, all from Assumption High School Batch ’79 — that’s who.
On July 2, the Noonas got wind of the scheduled fan meet of Kim Seon Ho, whom they call KiSH because of his “KiSHabble dimples,” says Risa Baltazar-Nepomoceno, adding, “not to mention that it helps us remember his Korean name.”
At the same time KiSH’s movie, The Childe, was soon to be shown in theaters. Needless to say, the Noonatics spent days strategizing how to get movie tickets and fan-meet tickets.
And so, July 22 rolled around, and boy, was this the best fan meet the Noonas ever attended, according to Lisa Mapua, Chary Ozaeta Gohh, Connie Katigbak and Risa!
“KiSH was adorable! He was just naturally cute! Even Robi Domingo, the male host, was fan-girling! And Bench did a great job of letting the fans get to know KiSH,” they gushed.
KiSH made an effort to please his fans. He spoke some Tagalog words during his interview, promising to learn more Tagalog for when he comes back to Manila. He approached the lucky contestants who were allowed onstage and they shook hands. He really did his best when he played Pictionary, trying to finish his drawing even when the contestant guessed it too early. He signed his drawings and wrote their names with a “Saranghaeyo.” He cooked tteok-boki for a lucky fan and he kept fixing it to make sure it tasted good for her. He even blushingly shouted back “Saranghaeyo” to an overeager male fan! At the end of the fan meet, KiSH returned onstage to personally hand out signed posters and talk to each of the VVIP fans.
“And his fans love him back! The fans made their own KiSH souvenirs and were just giving them away. It was a first for the Noonas, who go to fan meets. KiSH love was just spreading around and embracing kindred fans. Even the burly security guys and ushers were feeling it! They were extremely attentive, helpful and cheerful! Fan-girl happiness, anticipation and excitement were everywhere!” says Risa, of KisH the dish.
“KiSH is the ultimate oppa, not just because of his dimples or his cuteness, but because he is a genuinely caring and engaged person. He is yeppeuda (beautiful) inside out,” she adds.
It was a “Good Night KiSH” from Bench to Kim Seon-ho fans, indeed!
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The Noonatics have other “oppas” (an honorific or a term of endearment for older men, but online sources say it can also mean “boyfriend”) on our TV screens — and in our techni-Kolored dreams. I guess to me and many Pinays, “oppa” means “male idol,” no matter its formal meaning. Wait till Hyun Bin comes and I’ll be first in the queue, I swear.
The Noona-tics’ “oppas,” according to Noona Guia Mendoza-Tiongson, include but are not limited to: Hyun Bin, Song Joong-ki, Park Bo Gum, Jo In-sung, Kim Seon-ho, Lee Min-ho, Gong Yoo, Park Seo-joon, Cha Eun-woo, Ji Chang-wook, etc. (Sorry, if I missed your oppas, ladies — I mean, Noonas.)
***
The group was conceived after Crash Landing on You, and born on an auspicious day, at that: Oct. 10, 2020, after the Zoom birthday celebration of Chary Ozaeta-Gohh. The after-party was spiked, not by soju (but, who knows?) but by discussions of K-drama. One of those at the after-party was our Korean-born batchmate Innhae Morgan, who suggested “Noonas” as the name of the group. Well, she knew whereof she spoke.
From the original 14, the Noonas’ membership grew as the love for K-drama across oceans took a force of its own. It became a Viber group whose thread of discussions bound classmates wherever in the world they might be. The Viber group has become the “happy place” of many Noonas — no passports, just WiFi or 5G needed.
“For me, the Noona group is my happy place, and it is full of joy and friendly joking,” shared mall executive Lisa Mapua. “Definitely, all this sisterly support is a big stress-buster.” Lisa was “elected” president of the Noonas, hands down — or should I say, finger hearts up? (She was “anointed” by Rina Go, ex-cathedra!)
Lisa has steered the group through pathways of delightful discussions (there is only one rule: No spoilers!) and through the lines of an Excel spread sheet wherein each K-drama series is rated, with information (no spoilers!) about the drama as potent as the spices in kimchi.
Lisa recalls: “After the Noonas gelled, I shared my list via screen caps and expanded the data base fields for everyone’s benefit to include K-drama titles, where to watch, mini-synopses, genre, year released, number of episodes and length, viewers’ ratings, male leads, female leads. As a kicker, we started contributing our own ‘Noona scores.’ A score of 5 means, ‘would watch again.’ This also allowed the Noonas to track what K-dramas they had watched.”
Here’s a bonus for readers: The Noonas’ Hall of Famers for 2022-2023, as meticulously compiled by Lisa: 20th Century Girl (movie); Alchemy of Souls, Season 2, (K-Drama); Dream (movie); Confidential Assignment 2 (movie); Extraordinary Attorney Woo (K-Drama); Love to Hate You (K-Drama); The Good Bad Mother (K-Drama); The Glory (K-Drama); Twenty-five Twenty-One (K-Drama); Our Blues (K-Drama); Queenmaker (K-Drama; The Sound of Magic (K-Drama); Pachinko (K-Drama); and May I Help You / One Hundred Won Butler (K-Drama).
Arraseo? *
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