kisskh MDLv6.6
Home→ General Asia→ Recommendation Forum→

Second Female lead sydrome

Black-Phoenix

I personally don't like the second lead syndrome whether it is Male or Female.

If the Ship is Bent more towards One of the Main lead and One of the secondary Lead. Its not for me but I understand that Some people Love It and that's fine by me.

You are Second Lead for a reason. dammit!

 I don't want the  story to sway me towards the second lead.... I am here to enjoy the chemistry and pairing between the main Leads.

With that being said,  we see that in most of the C-J -K drama that its mostly  second male lead syndrome. I can't measure it but I am pretty sure among the Second Male lead Syndrome Absolutely Dwarfs the Second female lead syndrome.

I hardly see any drama where people get that 2FL syndrome. 


So I just wanna see are there any decent dramas where people get the 2FL syndrome??

doesn't matter whether its chinese/japanese or korean 



THANK YOU

Have a Lovely Day...

edited Quote
autumn iris

Does SFL have to be FL's rival in fighting ML's love?

Crash Landing on You SFL  (ML's fiancee) is a cool beauty.

If not then:

Only for Love SFL is ML's cousin niece, SML (FL blind-date partner and admirer)'s fan and love interest, and ML + FL's matchmaker. She's a sweet one.

edited Quote
Black-Phoenix
 autumn iris:

Does SFL have to be FL's rival in fighting ML's love?

Crash Landing on You SFL  (ML's fiancee) is a cool beauty.

If not then:

Only for Love SFL is ML's cousin, SML (FL blind-date partner and admirer)'s fan and love interest, and ML + FL's matchmaker. She's a sweet one.

Nah,

Not a Triangle but where people actually SHIP the SFL  with ML than with the FL

Like you see in all  of those second syndrome dramas  where Most  people actually like the SML  more than the ML 


I have watched Only for love but at no point did I like her more than the FL or ship her with the ML.

edited Quote
autumn iris

Oh, yeah. They won't be in love since SFL is ML's niece so SFL is not FL's rival in love. OMG I wrote cousin. Edit it. I'll think another one if it's about SFL syndrome in which I want SFL and ML to be together. Probably never met one. Hmm...

edited Quote
Black-Phoenix
 autumn iris:

Oh, yeah. They won't be in love since SFL is ML's niece so SFL is not FL's rival in love. OMG I wrote cousin. Edit it. I'll think another one if it's about SFL syndrome in which I want SFL and ML to be together. Probably never met one. Hmm...

exactly..

There are plenty of dramas with SML syndrome where you like SML more than the ML and ship him instead with FL and think the FL should have ended up with SML instead.

But I can hardly find any with SFL syndrome

Quote
autumn iris

Maybe Our Beloved Summer? Because at first the selfish FL is so annoying and she's the 'cause of ML's long-term insomnia. While SFL is a sweet one but in the end I came to the conclusion that (sadly) FL is the only one for ML.

 Black-Phoenix:

exactly..

There are plenty of dramas with SML syndrome where you like SML more than the ML and ship him instead with FL and think the FL should have ended up with SML instead.

But I can hardly find any with SFL syndrome

Imo maybe it's because the novelists and scriptwriters are mostly females and the target audiences are females?

Quote
Saygo
  • The Golden Spoon-ML & SFL had real tension. SFL understood ML in a way FL could not . They would have made sense as couple as flawed as they were as individuals. They could be themselves with each other.
  • The Emperor: Owner of the Mask- SFL was too good for ml lowkey and they actually had a better history/story . she deserved better
  • The K2- I did not like the drama but ML had way more chemistry with the step mom for some reason lol
  • Itaewon Class- This one is probably an unpopular opinion but i liked the SFL a tiny bit . ML and FL had a sibling dynamic to me. I understood why they ended up together and was okay with it
edited Quote
mahiba

I have a whole theory about this, maybe it's too long and you don't care, then you can just skip this part hehe. 

Theory

////Most romance watchers are women, hence, the Female Lead is actually the Main Character, the one we empathize with, and the Male Lead is the Prize/Quest/damsel-in-distress. Basically, in most cases, the female lead will have the most screen time, we follow her from when she wakes up to when she goes to sleep, whereas the male lead is just there to basically be pretty and fall in love with her after she's conquered any obstacles the writer chose to throw her way. Which is why we often have Second Lead's syndrome. The SML basically being the alternative choice, the fork in the road. Having Second Male lead syndrome is akin to turning your head in the street when the babe passes you with your actual honey boo at your arm.
This explains why there are not so many 2FL's syndrome. The 2FL is usually at worst the antagonist/villain, at best she's the sidekick/helper. Even when the FL is a jerk, rarely do we deeply care about the ML (AKA the prize) being happy, we only care about whether the protagonist wins her quest. It takes a very talented writer or a really bad one, to give one 2FL's syndrome, in my opinion. /////

So here a few recommendations. 

The first that comes to mind is To Be With You . This cdrama is frankly a hidden gem, that has reconciled me with chinese romance dramas (particularly those on the longer side), it's so good. There are two potential FLs in this drama, and one of them starts off real bad before turning good, so good. Honestly, there was a point where I thought, if the main leads don't get togeter, this 2FL should have the guy LOL. 

First Love: Hatsukoi she was such a good person, especially to him.

Quote
182
 Saygo:
  • The Golden Spoon-ML & SFL had real tension. SFL understood ML in a way FL could not . They would have made sense as couple as flawed as they were as individuals. They could be themselves with each other.
  • The Emperor: Owner of the Mask- SFL was too good for ml lowkey and they actually had a better history/story . she deserved better
  • The K2- I did not like the drama but ML had way more chemistry with the step mom for some reason lol
  • Itaewon Class- This one is probably an unpopular opinion but i liked the SFL a tiny bit . ML and FL had a sibling dynamic to me. I understood why they ended up together and was okay with it

Omg I thought I was the only one who ship the FL step mom with the ML more than with FL on K2. Pissed me off so much they didn’t have a thing hahaha 

Quote
182

https://kisskh.at/8933-doctor-stranger

I can say over 90 percent wanted the ML to stay with the SFL. A few looneys liked the FL hahhaa 

Quote
AAAAAHHHHHH

if you can bear older dramas

I recently watched 

When a Man Loves a Woman (2004)  and 2fl is wonderful she is one of the best FLs ever and you will likely root for her and spoiler!! they are indeed endgame luckily 


Iris. tho ml x fl were great together i really liked the 2fl becuase they were enemies trying to kill each other first, and male leads kindness swayed the 2fl which i thought great

edited Quote
Arclei

I don't often get second lead syndrome, but when I do, it's usually second female lead syndrome xD Admittedly, a lot of these don't have strong SFL precense so it's a supporting character, but still somewhat counts, no?

  • Joy of Life - Probably my worst case of SFL syndrome. FL had just nothing going for her; she was so bland and boring. I shipped ML with his friend from the north. Their chemistry was *chefs kiss*
  • Gyeongseong Creature - I'm just such a sucker for a morally dubious woman, and I think the dynamic between ML and SFL was crazy interesting. We were robbed. 
  • Summer Strike - Technically TFL, but yeah. ML's friend was a much better pick, as much as I like the similars attract thing he and FL had going on.
  • Two Husbands One Wife - I lowkey didn't ship ML with SML nor FL, instead I shipped him with his friend SFL 😭
  • Trust Is Love - Both FLs really sucked in this one, but at least SFL seemed to care about ML and give him something more than attitude, so defs SFL syndrome. 
  • Ye Cheng Fu - ML and SFL don't really interact much at all, but omg they would've made a much better couple than the leads.
Quote
Elisheva

Only have one possibility - and it's not 2FL syndrome, it's just that I found her story far more interesting and compelling than the MC's. It's also not entirely a recommendation either, because the MC is rather meh IMO and of course that takes up a lot of time. Anyway, You Touched My Heart with Pear Pitchapa as the nominal 2FL. Hated her in the beginning, somewhere along the way I was watching just for her and a few support role characters.

Your post to start the thread reminded me of a line from The Romance of Tiger and Rose - the ML is for the FL but the 2ML is for everyone else (the viewers). It takes skill to walk that line if the 2ML is initially a love rival. 

Quote
kabocha
 182:
The K2- I did not like the drama but ML had way more chemistry with the step mom for some reason lol
Itaewon Class- This one is probably an unpopular opinion but i liked the SFL a tiny bit . ML and FL had a sibling dynamic to me. I understood why they ended up together and was okay with it

Totally agree that both of these have caused fan 2FL syndrome. 

I think the creators of The K2 put a huge amount of energy into making the antagonist step mom sympathetic for her hopeless attraction to the ML. If only they'd cared as much about the leads' romance...

And with Itaewon Class, both the FL and the 2FL are morally grey people. I don't think you're the only one to see the 2FL's good side.

Other dramas that cause 2FL syndrome include:

Dr. Stranger. There are even fan videos of the ML and the 2FL for this one. And they have a ship name! - "Dr. Stranger Quack Couple"
https://youtu.be/ISx-vL-4bBw?si=ozBbj_3qL2DaxGQK

Oh My Ghost. Everybody ships the ML with the ghost <3

My Lovely Sam Soon. I don't know if it was a fan phenomenon, but the 2FL in this is truly sweet and lovely.

One more drama that gave me 2FL syndrome: Your House Helper, although there isn't really a 2FL, it's just that the ML's ex appears briefly, later in the drama, and I shipped them instantly. I remember how jarring it was to suddenly feel chemistry - the FL had left me cold.

Quote

Recent Discussions

Hottest Discussions