Role Reversal (RR) Drama Lovers Club

potatocouch:

Some of these same women salivating over beautiful men in comment sections convince themselves they're not allowed to have expectations in real life??? They'll gush over male celebs and influencers who groom themselves, but as soon as you start talking about dating it's: ahem, appearance actually doesn't matter at all. Women are able to look beyond that, so it's okay that my boyfriend hasn't bathed in four days, and when he does he uses dish soap on his face.

That's crazy to me... Women are always kept very small and ultimately end up keeping themselves there too. It's a shame, cuz so many women suppress desires because society tells them it's wrong. No, it's actually not any more work for a man to be well-kept and well-groomed than a woman!! It's just that women are conditioned to do it since childhood 😭 Ofc personality, compatibility of goals and morals, etc matters more in the end, but acting like appearances don't matter at all is also not the best way to go about it, either... esp when men are never told to settle... 😒

potatocouch:

(I wouldn't call his character from Remarried Empress a loser bbg. I read a big chunk of the webtoon, and he's more of a male green tea, but who knows? The screenwriter might give him a loser bbg spin since it's LJS)

AAAAAA, GREEN TEA LETS GOOOOO!!! I hope he's b*tchy!!!! I'm fine with him being a lil bit of a loser, but I'm ngl... it's difficult for me to spin losercore MLs in an RR way 😬 Not that this drama is gonna be RR, but that's kinda what my issue is with his roles (in this case Hot Young Bloods. I don't think losers are RR 😭 They're just your average guy tbh, it's just that the actor's facecard is too lethal we forget)

potatocouch:

he also gives loser bbg in Pinocchio, While You Were Sleeping (big loser vibes), and a little in Law and the City from the two episodes I watched.

NOT HIM BEING TYPE-CASTED AS A LOSER IN EVERYTHING, PLEASE 😭😭😭 I'm so sad!! He's honestly a fairly decent actor, so I wouldn't mind him taking on more varied... more demanding roles, ahahah- he kinda ate in everything I've seen him in (augh, his whumping in Big Mouth? GOD TIER). I keep seeing Pinocchio pop up... This might be my sign to watch it...

potatocouch:

Are you talking about the one of her cooking like a good housewife with what looks like a sniper rifle strapped to her back? Why did that make you less optimistic?

LMFAAAOO, the sass!!! Yeah, I wonder why... 😭

potatocouch:

OH SNAP, I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING!! Not only is Gong Hyo Jin the lead, but the drama's written by Kim Eun Hee! She wrote one of my fav dramas of all time "Signal"

Another drama that everyone and their mom keeps recommending to me... maybe this is also a sign 😂 Yeah, I checked the screenwriter and noticed she had a rather well-respected list of projects. For me it was more mixed because I LOATHED Revenant, but quite enjoyed Kingdom (and am willing to leave any shortcomings on Netflix's shoulders rather than the creators, AHAHAHA)!

potatocouch:

I'm still not optimistic about the RR because she mostly writes in the action and thriller/horror genres, and doesn't tend to build up the romantic relationships in them (if they're present at all), but I'm surprised and tickled this is her newest project. If she can at least hit egal or egal with RR leanings, and the story's really good, she might get me.

Hmmmmmmm, I see where you're coming from. If it's even close to Flower of Evil levels of RR then I'll be pretty darn happy too 😌 I hope her husband gets kidnapped and whumped <.< It might've been mostly the actors, but in both dramas I watched the leads had pretty decent chemistry, so it shouldn't be too hard to translate that onto romance, right? 😂 Either way, a solid action/horror writer having a go at romance is interesting! I'm more curious now.

potatocouch:

(She's also writing Iseop's Wish, the drama where Lee Jong Suk plays another losercore ML. The lady is diversifying! Is that what you were talking about earlier instead of Remarried Empress?)

This drama sounds like it might scratch some itches for you in specific... like they could lean so good into alpha x alpha type of dynamic where the man eventually yields... 👀 Fingers crossed it's interesting and they don't make FL pathetic. (also no, I didn't know this drama existed xD)

potatocouch:

...and Shadows of Desire, Tigers Sniff the Rose, and even Sweetest Rebellion.

All full-length historicals I'm willing to brave because they look RR, for Daniel's bow mouth, or both. But I can't even mentally prepare because none of them have release dates (at least on MDL).

Ah right, how can I forget your pookie Daniel! 🤣 It's true... they'll give you a trailer three years before the drama airs, but then drop it in an afternoon 😭 Meanwhile kdramas will only give you a trailer the day it releases 😭😭😭 Why can no one be normal with things??? (MDL tends to be pretty quick with updates on release dates so if one is announced, it's usually updated within the day)

potatocouch:

OMG HE DOES LOOK LIKE LEO WU! HAHAHAHA. But softer. Leo Wu has an intense aura, even when he's playing kind characters.

That's true! This guy looks like a mix between Leo Wu and Luo Yun Xi 😂

potatocouch:

Ugh, I dropped Glory, but the scenes you chose make me want to pick it back up. I'm so weak when it comes to RR content 😂 It's the only thing that makes me go back and forth with myself after I've already made a decision.

No, cuz saaaaaame.... I'm still in denial about dropping Glory and blame my slump for not vibing with it, but this compilation made me wanna continueeeeee 😭😭😭😭😭 I'm so weak for this, bro-

potatocouch:

We'll discuss this later. I still can't believe how crappy it ended up being. This is the cruelest bait and switch I've ever seen.

💔💔💔💔

potatocouch:

Not sure if anyone's already posted about "Love in Sync", so:

Never even heard of this one!!! Augh, that synopsis sounds SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO promising!!! You know how much of a sucker I am for softspoken emotional men and in a position where his literal job is guiding through other's emotions? AUGH- But then that trailer............... Hmmmm........ it's not good 😬

potatocouch:

I'm not sure yet, but I figured it should be on our radar just in case. I'm gonna give it a try and report back.

Keep us posted!! If it has some RR I'll add it to the index!

Junntsuki:

Hmm, tbh ABO (Female Alpha x Male Omega) is probably the biggest trope in GB.

AYYOOOO??? You mean MY BREAD AND MFING BUTTER?????? Ahem, I mean, normally and totally respectfully... like... idk, drop some titles or something 👀👀👀👀

Junntsuki:

I don't really have favourites, but I can say that I really liked Love and Leashes, The Glory (Chen Duling & Xin Yunlai) and Glory (Gulinazha & Hou Minghao).

Love and Leashes is absolutely elite!!! A great pick!

Glory is really good with the RR, I really love how green-tea the ML is and how playgirl-coded the FL is, hahaha. Just wish the writing quality was a bit better 😭 As for The Glory.... I didn't know this dramas was RR 👀 Tell me more!

Junntsuki:

I am looking forward to Zhou Keyu's upcoming historicals that is radiating RR energy.

Eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, another Daniel fan!! @potatocouch, our people! Shadows of Desire looks INSANELY delicious- I'm waiting with bated breath

Junntsuki:

Xin Yunlai is acting as 'half' a eunuch in Ming Dynasty Adventures, and I absolutely love that, at least we have a real eunuch ML at some point in the story, because castration & physical/symbolic loss of phallic prowess hhhh.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, we love to see more eunuch MLs!!! Or really in any kinda of prominent role that isn't purely supporting!! Some proper historical dramas have more important eunuch characters (sometimes not even elderly men!!) and they're always interesting! They play such an important part in Chinese history, but are always left in the background... because can you imagine if a ML is something other than a royal, noble, or general???? Whatever would the plot be about???? But I seriously doubt we'll be getting a proper eunuch ML anytime soon... They're always 'faking' and ik it's for censorship reasons 😭😭😭 But hey, if you can tolerate the faking aspect, Dominion and Devotion was interesting (light on the RR, but somewhat present).

As for this drama, the leads aren't giving me anything, which is a shame... 😔 But SFL seems to be a crossdresser, so maybe there's hope for a secondary couple? ahaha

Junntsuki:

《蛊色撩人》——I'm crying, my RR ship is sinking? That kinda sucks considering they slayed RR, aiya.

My disappointment was only drowned out by Ladies on Top 😭😭😭 Our track record this year was too good with too many solid RR dramas coming in one after another...

Junntsuki:

The switch is also a subcategory in GB/4i, one that I try to avoid 🫠🫠 Sounds like kinkplay rather than RR proper. I'm just generally dubious about jdramas delivering good RR because they're such a traditional society despite coming up with the most wild and perverted stuff hhh.

Oh God... so I need to watch out for that in GB too???!! 💀💀💀💀 In the genre specifically meant for us??? Ok, nice... VERY nice... I'm not mad, why would you say that?

I had a good track-record with Japan so I was naively more optimistic 😭 But yeah, their traditions and misogyny are inescapable

Junntsuki:

Recently came out, vshort《将军在上，王爷妻管严》(lit. General on Top, His Highness is Henpecked). I was hoping this would be a promising RR, but after seeing some clips it looks more egalitarian. Sometimes the title says FL on top but it's just a bait 🫠🫠

Ain't that the truth... what a bummer... Ugh....

Arclei:

Women are always kept very small and ultimately end up keeping themselves there too.

That part! There needs to be a lot of mental prison breaks.

Arclei:

AAAAAA, GREEN TEA LETS GOOOOO!!! I hope he's b*tchy!!!!

He's very "aren't I a cute puppy—whoops, did I just murder a bunch of people and seize that kingdom? Also, Navier (FL) it's my first time...please be gentle 🥺" in the webtoon. I'm not caught up, but I was loving him where I left off.

Arclei:

I don't think losers are RR 😭 They're just your average guy tbh,

Ooop—😂😂😂😂 Ngl, that got me.

No, not a straight up "loser", but a loser bbg? Sure. Or at least a case can be made depending on the character.

Arclei:

(augh, his whumping in Big Mouth? GOD TIER)

And the crying??????? 😩 I still vividly remember the scene where his wife comes to visit him in jail. He starts sobbing, sniffling, and whimpering as she wipes his tears like he's her pretty princess, and reassures him. I ate it up. I was like FREE MY BBG, HE AIN'T DO IT!!!!

Ooooh!! The scene's on Youtube:

Arclei:

I keep seeing Pinocchio pop up... This might be my sign to watch it...

Oof—good luck. It had a strong start, but I think I ended up dropping it because they started dragging the revenge/mystery to the point where I no longer cared, and the characters didn't either. But idk you might like it. I'm still trying to get a sense of your taste in suspense/thrillers. I feel like I know what you're looking for in romances/historicals, but not suspense/thrillers.

Arclei:

Another drama that everyone and their mom keeps recommending to me... maybe this is also a sign

Phew! Signal had me in a chokehold while it was airing! But it's been 10 years, and it might now be considered overhyped, so idk. The acting was damn good though.

Arclei:

Hmmmmmmm, I see where you're coming from. If it's even close to Flower of Evil levels of RR then I'll be pretty darn happy too 😌 I hope her husband gets kidnapped and whumped <.< It might've been mostly the actors, but in both dramas I watched the leads had pretty decent chemistry, so it shouldn't be too hard to translate that onto romance, right? 😂 Either way, a solid action/horror writer having a go at romance is interesting! I'm more curious now.

I hope it gives Flower of Evil vibes!! That would be amazing! Her husband better get kidnapped. Why else would I be watching if the stakes aren't her family's safety, particularly her husband?

That's funny because in the older Kim Eun Hee dramas I watched (Sign and Ghost) the leads had zero chemistry hahahaha. Maybe the casting director just did a bad job? But yeah, seeing her as the screenwriter perked me up a bit more. I haven't watched her stuff in a long time since she wants to keep writing scary stuff. And a random sports drama. So it'll be a long awaited reunion.

Arclei:

This drama sounds like it might scratch some itches for you in specific... like they could lean so good into alpha x alpha type of dynamic where the man eventually yields... 👀 Fingers crossed it's interesting and they don't make FL pathetic. (also no, I didn't know this drama existed xD)

I hope so!!!!! I read the webtoon's synopsis, and the FL's supposed to be super competent, so I hope it stays that way. And I hope she isn't afraid of his sh*t.

Arclei:

That's true! This guy looks like a mix between Leo Wu and Luo Yun Xi

Spot. On.

Arclei:

No, cuz saaaaaame.... I'm still in denial about dropping Glory and blame my slump for not vibing with it, but this compilation made me wanna continueeeeee 😭😭😭😭😭 I'm so weak for this, bro-

Bahahaha! Them clips got to you too! I was like..."Well, maybe I could give it another try...." Talk about being in a toxic relationship. Some RR dramas practically scream, "You'll always come back to me!!" in my face, which is soooo ironic.

Arclei:

Augh, that synopsis sounds SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO promising!!! You know how much of a sucker I am for softspoken emotional men and in a position where his literal job is guiding through other's emotions?

Right?!!! I was like, well, well, well...what do we have here? An emotional man? A stoic woman? 😏 And yes, I do know how much you love an empathetic mental health professional 🤭 If only you would write me that book. But sadly, the trailer made it look like the FL would be having most of the emotions :( Which I know is the point, but it should be a gradual thing with her still being repressed, and him feeling everything.

Arclei:

Keep us posted!! If it has some RR I'll add it to the index!

Will do!

Arclei:

As for The Glory.... I didn't know this dramas was RR 👀 Tell me more!

This drama always popped up when I was searching for Glory. I had no idea it was RR too. I would also like to know more...

Arclei:

Eyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, another Daniel fan!! @potatocouch, our people! Shadows of Desire looks INSANELY delicious- I'm waiting with bated breath

This club is gonna be inundated with so many posts once it starts airing hahaha.

Arclei:

LMFAAAOO, the sass!!! Yeah, I wonder why...

Missed this the first time. I swear it wasn't sass! It was my bluntness striking again, and I was trying to be specific because I didn't understand why it made you more wary T . T Her cooking like a good little housewife, but having the sniper rifle gave more tongue-in-cheek, so it actually made me a little more hopeful.

Arclei:

I think it depends a lot on the approach and framing.

I agree!

Arclei:

I REMEMBER THAT SCEN VIVIDLY TOO, AHHAHAHA!!!! Augh, rewatching it... his sobbing and whimpering, and those tearful eyes... Giiiiiirl 😩😩😩😩 He might not've done it, but dang were we being well-fed upon this accusation 😌 I loved that drama, but that ending, man....

BAHAHAHAHAHA! OF COURSE THIS is the scene that lives rent free in our heads 😂 Why am I even surprised? This is why IU called him "an adorable person" when they asked her about dating him. I believe you, girl!!

I know!!! I wouldn't have minded the ending if it didn't feel like they were determined to make it sad. It felt forced. And if the writers were determined to kill someone off, it made more narrative sense for it to be Lee Jong Suk's character in the end instead of his wife. But I guess they wanted to be unpredictable.

Arclei:

I think it's mostly a mix between very character-focused (preferably m/f duos where both are competent), lots of whump, interesting plot that isn't too self-important (bonus points for an unusual approach), and minimal violence against women. Bonus points for role reversal/egalitarian dynamics, sibling dynamics, and disability/mental disorder rep as usual 😄

Good to know! Queen Mantis hits a lot of your main points except the violence against women :-/ There's more of it against men, but since FL and her copycat are killing men who are violent against women and children, you see some of that too. Still might be worth it for you though. It needed two more episodes to really flesh out the mother/son dynamic and some of the other characters' backstories (believe it or not, all the female characters had the most interesting backstories and the mens' were pretty weak or non-existent. It's usually the other way around, so I'm not complaining, but the men having better backstories would've improved the quality of the drama overall) but I still enjoyed it. The ending made it seem like there'd be a season two, but so far nothing's been announced so what was it for?

Arclei:

When there are kids involved, they often have the kids get kidnapped instead

Kids ruin everything 😒 (LOL)

Arclei:

Hmmmm, the chemistry would prolly be lacking for you, yeah.

When both dramas were airing, I remember most people saying it was lacking 💀I'm gonna choose to blame the casting directors.

Arclei:

I knooooowww, we're so baaaaad- but how can I be normal about Neo Hou being manhandled, pinned down, and pampered???

This makes me more empathetic to people who stay in toxic relationships because look at us 🤷‍♀️

Shan Bao throws him around so good!! And his eyes get huge every time! It's impossible to be normal about it.

Arclei:

Also why did it seem like he was aloof?

Yeah, I got that too! If they somehow managed to make this supposed empath a tsundere, I'm gonna scream!!!! Why can't mainstream crap write anythings but tsundere MLs?????

Arclei:

And just... so many trad moments

My stomach sank, man.

potatocouch:

Missed this the first time. I swear it wasn't sass! It was my bluntness striking again, and I was trying to be specific because I didn't understand why it made you more wary T . T Her cooking like a good little housewife, but having the sniper rifle gave more tongue-in-cheek, so it actually made me a little more hopeful.

Oh, I wasn't sure, but it seemed more sarcastic than not xD I'm not particularly keen on how lighthearted it looks 😬 I'm hoping it's a bait n switch and they don't lean into the Yor Forger-core, lighthearted or comedic tone... I'm frankly sick and tired of women being allowed to be the main, badass assassin only in comedies...

potatocouch:

I wouldn't have minded the ending if it didn't feel like they were determined to make it sad. It felt forced.

Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with this! It felt SO forced. I saw comments saying that it 'made sense because he needed to shed his old self to become Big Mouse', but like... the only reason he could become Big Mouse was because of his wife???? So like??? Idk, man- I have a bone to pick with sad endings, and it's usually because they're shite

potatocouch:

Still might be worth it for you though.

Okay, bet, I'll pick it back up again, then! Thanks for the info. I am admittedly a bit bummed that all the male victims deserved it, but I'm not surprised that's the only way people know how to write a female serial killer with a type. Some violence against women is to be expected, just again, irritating that I can't escape from it even with a premise like this, but it's a crime/thriller 😭 Others are exclusively focused on that, so I'll take my Ws where I can get 'em! Looking forward to the mother/son dynamic 😩

potatocouch:

Shan Bao throws him around so good!! And his eyes get huge every time! It's impossible to be normal about it.

One simply cannot!!! I think one day imma just brave a couple of episodes and skip all the boring 'plot' shit just to see him get manhandled (and mark it as completed and give it a 4 rating xD Can't tell you how much it breaks my heart to rate RR dramas low... but it is what it is)

potatocouch:

Yeah, I got that too! If they somehow managed to make this supposed empath a tsundere, I'm gonna scream!!!! Why can't mainstream crap write anythings but tsundere MLs?????

This doesn't even making any sense to me... Idk chief, aren't tsunderes like known for repressing feelings and being bad at expressing them? How is a super empathetic emotional THERAPIST like that??? 😬 I've met soo many mental health professionals and they are all irritatingly nice and soft- LET ME HAVE THIS (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

The Lady Painter

Found this drama randomly on a list and decided to give a try only to get absolutely FLOORED on the first episode!!! 🥵 Talk about a drama that does NOT beat around the bush when it comes to its possessive, nasty femdom role reversal!!! I kept thinking they were going to pull a fast one on me and ruin a good thing by making the ML turn domineering or make FL secretly meek, but.... y'all.... IM SO GIDDYYYYYYYY!!!

Okay, so it starts out with FL rescuing ML and then turning him into her slave with some kind of magic/spell/poison that binds him to her and makes him dependent on her blood to survive every month (WHUUUUMP). They start out as hostiles with him absolutely loathing her so there's some niiiiiice forceful manhandling and stuff of that sort 😌 But despite his negative feelings towards FL, he ends up having to help her get her revenge and thus gradually falls in love with her... and then becomes a total clingy pup. Augh, it was so cute watching him embrace the innocent lil bb that he is

Where they made me doubt was with FL's alter. Due to her trauma she has two alternate personalities and her new alter is a weak, soft uwu girl. Unfortunately this character gets a lot more screentime than I would've hoped and I really thought they were going to push the romance between ML and HER, making the submissive weak alter to be the "true" version of the FL, BUT I WAS WRONG!!!! Though her alter falls in love with ML, ML is only in love with her vengeful, sadistic, dom alter 😩🙏 We love to see a man with his priorities right! Also... this is probably the first time I've seen the reversed trope where FL is her OWN LOVE RIVAL 😂

Now I won't sit here and say the drama has NO trad moments, but they were pretty few and all the most important beats were RR. I genuinely thought that ML was going to turn domineering and crazy possessive over her once he falls in love with her, because I'm so used to the bait-and-switch when it comes to red-flag FLs and that's usually that she either 'wasn't that bad all along and was secretly just a sweet girlpretending all along' OR 'that ML gets his revenge by manning up and dominating and abusing her back tenfold', so imagine my shock when ML falls helplessly in love with her and is possessive like a puppy would be and she still holds all the power between them?!?! Not to mention FL is allowed to remain bloodthirsty and ruthless until the very end!!! YAAAAYYYY!!!!

There was this one scene by the end where FL is about to kill someone important to ML and when ML runs up to her, she tells him to look away AND THE BABY OBEDIENTLY DOES!!! 😩😩😩😩😩 I cannot tell you how full that made my heart!!! He's been so ruthless and strong throughout the drama (though weaker than her), but she still wanted to protect him from seeing such an ugly scene, AUGH IM SO WEAK FOR THAT GENTLEWOMANLY SHIT!!!!

The drama reminded me quite a bit of Dong Lan Xue. Two morally ambiguous leads, vengeful and bloodthirsty FL, FL using ML for her revenge, clingy puppy ML (in TLP he goes from catty to puppy) and femdom p much all-throughout. I still think DLX committed better to the RR, but this one was not bad at all!

Unfortunately the drama kept itself from being great. It was a lot more offbeat than other dramas with an interesting premise surrounding art, viscous villains, actually plot-relevant trauma, and complicated dynamics of all sorts, but it fell short in most of its delivery. I was already doubtful they would be able to deliver good minidrama quality with only 16 eps of 10 minutes, and I was sadly right. The plot meandered in weird places, rushed other things, didnt develop important points (FLs group, ML's arc), and took the initial premise in a weirdly bland direction. The quality however is surprisingly high with some surprisingly nice fight scenes, costumes, and props. ML was a decent actor, FL was really good with the dual roles and her INSANE domme aura!!

Overall, recommend for the role reversal and for an overall interesting but not wow minidrama. I'm still waiting to find it in HD somewhere so I can make GIFS, because MY GOD are there so many scrumptious scenes!

Also, I used the bingo card for this one and I GOT A BINGO!!!

asdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjklasdfghjkl FAMILY!!!!!

RECOMMEND ME SOME DRAMAS PLEASEEEE

Do you guyss have any recommendation for Tall FL and Short ML dramas. atp i dont even care if its RR or not. i mean ofc if its RR thats a genuine blessing. but please, im begging. i love this trope so much.

from this trope i just know lovely complex. That is all.

also if you cannot find any within this category, then the next best thing is this scenario : there are 2 MLs. and FL chooses the significantly shorter one. ( obviously this cannot over take the genuine basic need i have for wanting to watch a short ml x tall fl drama but T_T anything atp)