ItsAMe

The fanbase is completely irrelevant because fans usually expect something in return: dramas, movies, nude pictures. Otherwise, most of them don't give money to actors. Or would you transfer 100s of dollars to Zhao Lusi's account each month even if you don't see her ever again? Probably not. If she does not deliver, she'll quickly become forgotten by most people. And that means that her career as an actress would be over. (This is true for most people in the entertaining industry in all countries on this planet.)

Also, her international fanbase is international. She doesn't have enough fans in a single country (apart from China) to convince producers that she could be a profitable main lead for more than 1-2 dramas/movies. Making movies and dramas is very expensive, so you need a REALLY big fanbase that is willing and able to pay.

A Chinese actress speaking Chinese has the best chance for roles in China. She'll very likely never have such a career in other SEA countries because those countries have lots of famous and beautiful actresses themselves, actresses who speak the local language without any accent.

That's what I meant.

You are right about the banning. That's an additional problem.

You won't miss anything if you don't watch this. It's a low budget drama with a lot of bad writing. The premise was interesting and somewhat unique, though: "old" rich female patron sponsoring "young" poor aspiring male actor. It could have been a really intriguing story if the writers had been better.

I think they made him wear those ugly suits on purpose to show that he's as awkward as FL, who isn't a fashion queen either. ^^

What do you mean by "decent"?

Unfortunately, like in many romance dramas, a kiss happens, then ML and FL are a couple and basically never kiss again. The one or two kisses were not that exciting, in my opinion.

They don't show the explicite details but even I who grew up with horror movies felt sick to my stomach. You know exactly what is happening to the children. And the actors, especially the child actors, are really, really good. It's probably the only movie where I'd have preferred bad acting skills. :(

Yes, the system failed the children but not many people even knew about their suffering until this movie got released. We all know that people love scandals and forget about them when the next scandal pops up. However, this movie is so disgusting that it is not easy to forget it. At least, not for me. I'll hate it forever but I don't regret watching it.

No, I'm afraid you misinterpreted my post completely. I wasn't addressing your personal taste. Feel free to hate this drama and similar dramas, and share your opinion about those drama. I couldn't care less. I was addressing the insults towards people who do not share your taste.

By the way, according to your logic, only perverts enjoy "Alchemy of Souls" because it's full of kitsch, and the FL is a hen of the walk surrounded by multiple hot males. You rated that drama 9/10.

It's FANTASY, not the real life. Most of us watch these dramas for entertainment, not because we need such flawless virgin millionaires as boyfriends or husbands in our lives. Calling us perverts for liking harmless fantasies is like calling men serials killers just because they play egoshooters, or rapists because they watch animu.

Most Kdramas are cringe when it comes to sexuality. Especially the popular new ones seem to promote "chastity" which does not even reflect the reality at all. The grownup actors often look like kindergardeners touching lips in kissing scenes, and once their characters are a couple, you never see them kiss again.

Let's not forget: Kdramas are made to make people with money earn more money. At the moment, female harem fantasies seem to sell. In Japan, harem anime and harem manga with male virgin protagonists and looots of thirsty females are popular.

If you don't like Kdramas like this one here, that's fine, but it would be great if you could refrain from calling those who do enjoy such dramas perverts. In my opinion, words like "perverts" should be reserved for people who enjoy, for example, children being molested.

My ex bf would approve that fantasy. He was totally into the male "hard to get" fetish where there was some pure, innocent man surrounded by lots of horny women. It would be fun to write such a story where the male protagonist is such a "pure and innocent" character and has to run away from looooots of thirsty women who track him down via items.

I think the giant buttefly net is a brilliant idea. We could catch all (hot) men, so only women live in that city. Since there are no men around anymore, it comes a lesbian enclave like the famous island Lemnos. Hot lesbian sex scenes all day, including rape (no, wait, only males can rape; this is butch-femme non-con mating!), but no male gaze, of course.

Then, one day, an ugly random male appears, and women's lust explodes. Half the female population immediately throw themselves onto him. Unfortunately, he doesn't survive the impact. The desperate women then look for the males that were caught with the butterfly net but it turns out that those men who survived are so traumatised by females that they turned gay, so hetero sex won't happen anymore, and humans eventually become extinct.

You are absolutely right. Since there is no difference between fiction and reality, women cannot "consent", so it would be the best to ban all fiction, especially romance, which is rape because the actors are not really a couple. And since women cannot "consent", all approaches by males are rape by definition. I'm glad there are still pure justice fighters like you left who teach women that a woman's pleasure is disgusting and unpure unless she follows the approved pleasure checklist. If women and their disgusting pleasure get banned, they won't get raped anymore. And without available women, men cannot produce rape porn anymore. Afghanistan shows us how feminism works by protecting women in the most efficient way. I hope the rest of the world will adapt soon. No woman must be exploited anymore. Please keep fighting for us! :)

If you did some research, you'd realise that lots of women love their rape fetishes. Look up "bodice ripper". If you are are able to understand women, you'd understand why many of us love rape stories: It's about exploring a fantasy in a safe environment. In real life, we usually don't meet hot millionairs/billionairs/CEOs but, in those stories, we do. Intelligent women are able to distinguish between reality and fantasy. What we consume is not necessarily what we want in our everyday lives.

The problem is that she's a nobody outside of China. Only in China, she can make a living as an actress. If she leaves China, she'll leave the industry, and there are dozens of beautiful young aspiring actresses who could replace her within seconds. That's why the abusers have so much power over her and people like her.

I already watched it. That's why I know that you are a great expert on dramas. Who doesn't enjoy annoying SMLs and lengthy scenes. One of the best dramas, indeed. Please keep criticising people who have wrong opinions and even wronger tastes. I'm sure they'll eventually grasp that you are the wisest among us with the bestest taste. :)

I think the drama became relatively uninteresting after FL and ML decided to be a couple. The story of the young versions also ended, so there wasn't much story left for the last episodes.

There is a happy ending but it doesn't add anything new or exciting to ML's and FL's story.

I don't know how this trope is called but the FL was a fairly typical K-drama romcom FL. Unlike the hysterical FLs in other romcoms, I liked this one. The only thing that truely annoyed me was the fact that she kept the wannabe-30yo 2SML around even though he acted like a deperate leech, and she didn't like that.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt this way. I fast-forwarded many scenes in the last few episodes. Once FL and ML decided to be a couple and everybody knew about their relationship, all problems were solved.

Thanks a lot for sharing your comment. Since your profound expertise evaluated this drama as one of the best, I know what value your advice has for me. :)

Yeah, that's bad casting. Here's one more: Kim Jung-young , the actress who plays ML's mother, is just 10 years older than her "son". She's 52. Ju Ji-hoon (who plays ML) is 42.

This is not about being old or looking great but about believability.

- FL, ML, SML
- Chef, ex-wife #1, ex-wife #2 (both are ML's brother's ex-wifes)
- Chef, ex-wife #1 (the one with the long hair), the divorced reporter
- ML's niece, FL's brother, FL's brother's best friend (or whoever that guy was)
- FL, SML, SML's fiancée(?)
- FL, ML, ML's ex(?)

Maybe I forgot a constellation. :/

I completed this drama. Finally. Apart from the obligatory Mary Sue, it had some unusual aspects for a sageuk, for example, the rather nice royal family (nice king, nice queen) or the queen dowanger's life. The last seconds of the ending were also quite a welcoming surprise. It's certainly not the worse drama out there.

I really hope Hong Ye-ji will work harder at improving her acting skills because she's extremely underwhelming as a main lead.

Well, that's true for FL and ML. ;)