Rooftop Prince

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Rooftop Prince is a Korean Series that aired on South Korea's SBS network. A Joseon (1700's) Crown Prince is transported to the modern city of Seoul while investigating the death of the Crown Princess.

Tropes used in Rooftop Prince include:
  • Amusement Park: Park Ha takes the Crown Prince to one, where they eat cotton candy and play some of the games.
  • Blood From the Mouth: Bu Yong spits blood after eating the poisoned persimmons.
  • Cain and Abel: Yon Tae Mu is jealous of Yon Tae Yong's assumption that he will be in charge of the family business.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Yon Tae Yong's cellphone from two years ago.
    • Also, Park Ha's baby picture.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: The boys first outfits in the modern world are different colored tracksuits with matchng sneakers. Even when they change clothes, they still mostly use the same color scheme.
  • Dark Secret: Tae Mu knocked Tae Yong off a boat in a fit of anger while they were both in New York City, then made it look like a drowning accident.
  • Doppelganger Replacement Love Interest: Yi Gak pursues Se Na because she is the exact duplicate/reincarnation of his wife from 300 years ago.
  • Eiffel Tower Effect: Namsam Tower shows up in Episode 10.
  • Family Business: A Home Shopping Network.
  • Fish Out of Temporal Water: The boys are from the Joseon Era approximately 300 years in the past.
  • Five-Man Band:
    • The Hero: Crown Prince Yi Gak, who wants to find the murderer of the Crown Princess in Joseon.
    • The Lancer: Do Chi San, a eunuch who helps collect gossip as part of the investigation.
    • The Big Guy: Woo Yong Sul, a mercenary pledged to help the investigation.
    • The Smart Guy: Song Man Bo, an illegitimate son of a aristocrat, he is logical and intelligent.
    • The Chick: Park Ha, an orphan making a living in Seoul as a produce distributor.
  • Genki Girl: Park Ha, who almost always can find a positive spin.
  • The Glomp: When Yi Gak backhugs Park Ha and pulls her from the edge of the roof. He won't let go until she promises not to commit suicide.
  • Hello Again, Officer: Trying to go back to the palace is more complicated than the Joseon Power Rangers had anticipated.
  • Identical Stranger: Everyone in the modern time believes the Crown Prince is Tae Yong who disappeared in a boating accident two years before.
  • K Pop: Much of the background music.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Subverted in that Yi Gak is pretending to be Tae Yong with a gap of two years in his memory.
  • Manly Tears: When Yi Gak gives in to the inevitable and admits his attraction to Park Ha.
  • Never the Selves Shall Meet: The Crown Prince's doppelganger is mysteriously absent from the present world. Or is he?
  • Not Blood Siblings: Park Ha's dad married Se Na's mother. Inverted Trope since it turns out that Park Ha and Se Na have the same biological mother.
  • Orbital Shot: When the Crown Prince confesses to the Princess in the Joseon arc.
  • Race For Your Love: Yi Gak chases down Park Ha, who is in a bus. He catches up with her, yelling out of the passenger window of a delivery truck, which has the perfect backdrop of a tropical island in the truck bed.
    • Also, when Park Ha is in trapped in a burning building, he races to the scene, then leaps into the flames to pull her out.
  • Ramen Slurp: The ancient boys discover the joys of instant noodles.
  • Shirtless Scene: When the time travelers mistake an elevator for a changing room.
  • Shout-Out:
    • The main group of characters have been called The Joseon Power Rangers due to their tracksuits.
  • Time Skip: The modern story begins in 2010, then jumps to 2012.
  • Year Inside, Hour Outside: When they return to Joseon, the boys have only been gone one temporal day.