Hmm... Well, that's actually a very honest review. I started this show for the same reason you did and was also dissapointed... Basically all the ingredients were there to have something good and yet the show is just "meh". While I never thought deeply about the "why" it basically comes down to all the reasons you mentionned... Couldn't have said it better.
So far I'd rate this one a basic 7 or 7.5. It's watchable... Not bad per say.... but not good enough to invest 12 hours of my life. If I had known I wouldn't have bothered.
I'm still gonna wait for the end to pass judgment but again 2025 is definitely a bad year for K dramaland imho... I've seen bad to mid shows only, the only drama I watched that I'd rave about this year is "Study Group" even if I think it lost some steam by the time we reached the end.
Well I'm sure most people have noticed it but just in case. In episode 8 with the foodtruck scene, when Armin says:
"It's not food support, it's fan support"
to which Thada answers "It is a fan feeding you"
(I'm not really sure it's what he says actually except for the "fan" part... I checked other languages and they translated it the same but looking up the word in a thai dictionary, there was nothing that corresponded to what he said... Since I have no Thai subs to check, my personal guess is that he said แฟนปอร์ด which would be pronounced Fanport ( colloquial thai often skips pronouncing consonants when two are followed so the "r" would be silent pronounced by a Thai). That's just conjecture on my part though.)
There's a pun here with the with the word "fan" and แฟน . แฟน means "lover/boyfriend/girlfriend" in Thai and it sounds the same as the anglicism "fan" with a Thai pronunciation.
They arbitrarily stuck to English for the translation I guess, given Armin said "Food support" in English as well, but I like the ambiguity of that sentence were from an outside perspective it's "fan" but Armin and Thada both know he doesn't mean that type of "fan".
Agree with what you said. I am quite picky with choosing a BL series to watch. This one I instantly loved from…
Err... Sorry but My Sunshine Night was terrible. One of the worst Thai BL I've seen though arguably not the worse. THOUGH I will agree with one thing... The secondary couple Noh-Peterpan aka Rain-Phayu was its only redeeming quality. I personally stuck with it only for this couple.
The only reason why I gave it a 4.5 is because:
1. It's a Thai BL, I tend to be very generous with the rating because every time I think we've hit the bottom of the barrel, Thailand manages to surprise me with dramas that are even worse. Hence when you get something that is somewhat decent, you bet I'm gonna be generous. 2. Noh-Peterpan. Peterpan has the best chemistry with anyone really. Dude can act. Also the 6 packs doesn't hurt either.
To be fair the show isn't that bad when you start it but at some point it takes a nose-dive into the abyss and it never recovers from it. Also the secondary couple never got the amount of screentime it deserved.
So... Err as many have said before this drama really reminds every SINGLE SINGLE person that they're SINGLE😫
BUT there's one SINGLE positive thing about it: Better watch this ALONE. With all the NC scenes and cringey lines I can't imagine the amount of roasting I would get if my boyfriend was sneaking up on me while I'm watching this.
Also this drama is missing a #: #Fantasy
Thada doesn't exist in real life. Stop giving me false expectations.
So I'm not gonna rewatch this one... I gave it an 8 back then because I enjoyed it overall but it's an 8 for a Thai BL (which bar is lower than the underground because my GOD I have seen some AWFUL things from Thailand but I'm not gonna rant about that)... Mostly because they were trying something different and I'm a sucker for Billy anyway so I give 2 points just for his sheer presence.
Yes, It's stupid SUE ME.
If it wasn't for that I'd have given it a 5.5 because honestly it was messy.
Anyway, I recently started to read the novel... And I find it interesting to see that in the novel, at least were I am ( chapter 3), it's Tharn who is like REALLY into Phaya who basically doesn't care. Like dude is not even hiding how he feels. Maybe this changes later who knows... But from my memory in the drama it was mostly Phaya who was into Tharn, not the opposite. Maybe they changed it because people tend to prefer when the Top is doing the pursuing who knows. On one side, I personally enjoy seeing the "bottom" being the first to fall for a change... But on the other, in the novel, Tharn sounds like a horny 12 year-old whenever he speaks about Phaya. It's really off-putting. Dude is supposed to be 26 if I'm not mistaken. At least in the drama they changed that character trait because otherwise that would have been unwatchable. Crossing my fingers, he gets some additional brain cells by the end of the novel.
That was the useless info you didn't know you didn't need.
No opinion yet on the novel in question. I was mostly curious about the novel because the drama although pretty messy tried to cram too much in 12 episodes so I'm hoping the novel is more clear and contains less plotholes. This being said... the novel seems to move fast as well so who knows if it's not as messy as the drama? We'll see.
You know... I'm really liking that one... As far as I'm concerned it's on par with "My Stand In" but the chemistry is 100% times higher. If I rated it compared to other dramas... I'd rate this one a solid 8.5... But since it's a Thai BL and the bar is set VERY low... I'm gonna probably rate this one 9.5. Because the main pair is establishing a brand new standard in chemistry. My God they. are.HOT.together.
BUT.
Currently at episode 5 and I do have two major caveat:
1. WHY did they decide to make Armin look like a hobo with that shitty haircut? Initially I thought he would change that awful haircut of his once he reset but NOPE, he's keeping it. Honestly, if he was wearing a small ponytail that would have done the trick but loose like that? They're WASTING his pretty face! I'm scandalized!
2... Well not really a caveat per say... but I sort of spoiled myself later episodes and EVERYTIME the bad guys are throwing a tantrum, it's just funny as hell. I really can't hold it in 🤣🤣🤣 I guess it's on purpose ^^
Glad to see First again. He's done bad projects after bad projects after "Don't Say No" so even though it's not a first role, at least he's doing something different... Hope to see him back in a bigger role next time.
... ...
Also, we need a marriage in the last episode. You can't show all that chemistry and not top it off with a wedding.
You do know there's already websites that do exactly the same...Notably MyAnimelist which has exactly the same…
Well... Apart from flexing for people who don't care that would just be a very bad idea, that would make the website overly crowded and unpractical overal。
Hmm. Show's good and I get the comparison with Lovely Runner given the initial premise is the same... but these are 2 different series and it doesn't have the zany energy of LR. ML is also depressed most of the time so that doesn't help.
Bottom line, not enamored with this show... It's enjoyable but not to the point of raving about it imho. Given how many good comments I read I was expecting more... But again 2025 is not the best year in K dramaland as far as I'm concerned, maybe among the currently airing shows it's the best... Who knows? I've almost given up watching K dramas as they are airing this year... Too many disappointments in a row.
Also this show is starting to feel like a reverse harem. Isn't the Evil ghost supposed to be "evil"? I just don't think it makes sense plotwise, ever since he entered the picture, there's more zany energy coming out of this show... which I'm not complaining about, because I definitely think it's way better... but on the flip side, It's not really coherent with the plot.
This being said, I don't care enough for it to bother me so here.
First Night with the Duke is really interesting. You should also try Salon de Holmes, Hunter with a scalpel, Head…
True there are some shows people said are bad but which I genuinely enjoyed and vice versa... This being said, I would argue that when constructive criticism is given it can help on deciding whether you should invest some time on it or not.
I personally like when people explain why they didn't like a show or vice versa. Some things people enjoyed might be a pet peeve of yours and likewise some things people disliked might be something you would enjoy or which doesn't bother you.
If I'm truly intrigued by a show, I'm definitely going to check it out ( Head over Heels is one for instance that I would have checked regardless of people's opinions about it as well as the upcoming " The Nice Guy") but when nothing seems of any interest, I personally think it's pretty handy.
Checking things out is better of course, but various opinion can help with an "initial screening" of sorts among the massive influx of dramas coming out each year if you get what I mean. This being said, I insist on the "comment" part and not the "ratings" part. These past few years MDL ratings don't mean anything anymore. Some dramas are bashed for no reasons while others are boosted by fans.
Your comment regarding Chinese really makes me laugh because I was the same a few years ago. I used to think the language sounded awful and that I would never learn it. Well it's a long story, but I ended up starting to learn the language at some point. It's been over 3 years now and my perception has definitely changed. But again, when learning a language, you learn to listen to it and some sounds you weren't able to perceive before and that you now do hear make the whole experience different.
'Course, as a long time K drama fan, I'm also learning it. Studied it at university for 3 years in my early 20s. Gave up, life happened。 Completely gave it up for over 10 years and picked it up again on my own a little bit less than 8 years ago. Out of all the languages I'm learning, Korean is still my favorite... In terms of how it sounds however, I personally like it as much as Japanese.
But as you said: De gustibus, non est disputandum!
(Did you do a master in Latin or what? Studied Latin for 6 years myself... Can't remember anything of it except for the declensions: rex rex regem regis regis rege, rosa rosa rosam rosae rosae rosa etc...)
First Night with the Duke is really interesting. You should also try Salon de Holmes, Hunter with a scalpel, Head…
Had to look "Laudator Temporis Acti" up. Most K dramas I've watched this year were either mid-good or bad but I'm not saying all were bad. After all I haven't watched everything. But as mentioned I watch things when I feel like it. I honestly don't care about watching things as they are airing with everybody else or when it's finished. I watch things based on my mood.
Given my poor track record with K dramas this year though, I've given up on watching shows when they are airing. I'm waiting for initial feedbacks. Right now I'm thinking of starting Head Over Heels because it seems this show is a winner... But since everybody is comparing it to Lovely Runner, I really don't feel like starting it right now.
I was stupid enough to start Lovely Runner from day 1 because I had absolutely no expectations about that show and was planning to check out one episode and watch the rest if it was promising enough when it finished airing. "Unfortunately", this led to me being completely obsessed for 8 weeks straight and I'd rather avoid that lunacy again.
Unlike you who seem to mostly ( or only?) watch K dramas, I also watch C dramas, Thai, Taiwanese, and Japanese dramas as well as Donghua and anime... on top of being an avid bookworm. Needless to say, entertainment is endless but time is not, so again, I'll do things at my own pace at my own time.
First Night with the Duke is really interesting. You should also try Salon de Holmes, Hunter with a scalpel, Head…
I heard Salon de Holmes has terrible eng subs at present so I'm abstaining. Hunter with a Scalpel seems to lean on that recent trend of going for "edgy characters" and /or overly violent shows in K dramaland for shock value... Something I fled from in Western media and which is to me another sign of the Americanization of K dramas overall so that's another pass. The rest seems more interesting so I'll see in due time.
But to be fair, I never said all K drama sucks. I said there's a general trend of going downward with production of shows that are overall not great, nor bad, just mid on top of removing all the things that made them so great in the first place. But that would require me going into a whole essay that would be too long to write here. This being said, I do notice that long time K drama watchers seem to share the same opinion.
Netflix and Disney has huge budget for their dramas and pay their cast well because they earn so much out of them.…
We'll see how things goes. For now personal opinion here... It seems to me that people increasingly feel like the amount of "great content" is becoming scarce on the platform. Not that there's not any... but not enough to outweighs the "bad". Netflix used to be a pioneer with series such as Balck Mirror, Orange is the New Black, etc... But now they've become risk averse hence they only invest in adaptations. Out of all the names you mentioned only Squid Game and Stranger Things were originals and viewers have been mostly disappointed with their subsequent seasons.
Back when Netflix was launched in my country, the "ad offer" didn't exist...
However if you wanted to share your account with people who didn't live with you, you could with the premium offer which used to cost 12€ Yes... That offer moved from 12€ ( $14) to 22€ ( almost $26)... BUT now if you want to share your account with somebody who doesn't share your wifi ( i.e let's say your brother who lives in another city), you need to pay an extra 6€ ( $7€)
So not only has the service become more expensive but now the service you get is of lower quality.
Also you're mentioning two streaming websites... But some websites offer DDL. You get your files with the highest quality, multi languages subs and no unnecessary ads. I'm all for supporting the industry... but they're definitely killing themselves... It's truly saddening.
Netflix and Disney has huge budget for their dramas and pay their cast well because they earn so much out of them.…
Not gonna lie: a bit. Don't remember which topic it was but I remember we did a back and forth at some point because again we were talking about two different things. Anyway.
The thing is... Maybe for the moment it's not expensive where you are but once they'll have milked every other country they can milk from, you can be sure they're going to rise their price where you live just like they did everywhere else.
Where I'm living the price for "standard with ads" is now 8€ per month which is $9.35 The standard without ads is 15€ per month i.e $17.53 The premium offer which is the only one you can share with 4 other people is now 22€ per month i.e $25.72
And they're still planning on rising their fees.
It's a really short-term vision of things. In the end, if they keep on rising their prices on top of overproducing slop content, people are just gonna go back to piracy, and they're just gonna lose more money on the long run.
They're basically idiots.
In another field, we can talk about ADOBE. Lots of creatives used to swear by Photoshop and all these other programs that they offered... You paid the program once and that was it. At some point , they decided they weren't making enough money so they introduced a monthly fee. At first, prices weren't horrible so people stuck with it.... Of course depending on which offer you took, it could be pricey... but it was still a price people could afford...
But then ADOBE realized they were the leaders, students in movie making, animation, illustrations, concept art etc. were all learning their craft on their programs at school which meant that whether they joined a company or worked as independents later, they would still use ADOBE programs. They grew overly confident and started to raise their prices...
After all, switching to other programs would require too much effort for creatives. Better pay these ridiculous prices than take months to master other cheaper or even free alternatives.
Until it started to become not affordable for part of the work force especially independent workers. They started to lose money as increasingly independent workers gave up on ADOBE to use alternatives and even schools started to favor free programs...
BUT they were still the leaders... But then, ADOBE decided to sell their own AI slop content produced thanks to the AI training made based on the art sold by creatives on their platforms without asking for permission and people snapped. Now the floodgates are opened, everybody's leaving them, and the trust is definitely broken. Their greed ruined them.
Well. I can definitely see Netflix taking the same route.
Netflix and Disney has huge budget for their dramas and pay their cast well because they earn so much out of them.…
You're mixing things up. Your comment has nothing to do with the issue I'm talking about. Netflix, Disney+, Prime and even Apple + have their original content. K dramas that are exclusive to their platforms which they indeed have financed. I'm not talking about those.
Most shows are produced by Korean companies and/or channels, in that case Viki used to be the main platform that would distribute these shows abroad. Now however these big platforms are basically taking viewers hostage.
If they want to licence some content and air it on their platforms, I honestly don't care. The issue is when they're basically having exclusive rights. They didn't contribute financially to the production of these shows, yet viewers are forced to pay a ridiculous fee to view these when it used to be much more affordable on Viki.
Drama producers are literally shooting themselves in the foot. The quality of K dramas have been dropping these past few years. Not all but LOTS of them are now adopting western codes that are very quickly doing damage to Korean storytelling and the industry overall. Adding to that, the rising cost of paying for subscriptions right left and center and you can be sure at some point that people are going to slowly but surely move towards watching more Chinese contents basically to find back what they liked in K dramas in the first place, but which is being slowly being eroded by the industry in their quest to appeal to a more global audience that never cared for K dramas in the first place.
Anyway that's my 2 cents. Not the first time you answered one of my comment by another that is just completely off topic but I disgress.
I don't care about the ratings... HOWEVER I am very nostalgic of that golden age of K dramas not being as trendy as before. Most K dramas were available on Viki which subscription is around 50€ a year.
Ever since the success of Squid Game, Netflix and Disney + are basically taking any hyped dramas on their platform and Viki only gets the leftovers... or dare I say, the crumbs.
Thank God they've been licensing more thai, taiwanese and japanese as well as the occasional fillipino shows and we're still getting the trendiest C dramas there but it seems that now you've got to pay for Netflix and Disney + which are both very expensive to get the trendiest K dramas which is EXTREMELLY annoying because I don't care for anything western so WHY should I pay such an expensive fee when I know most of the money is gonna be used for some Netflix original movie slop or some new US shows I don't care about that they'll cancel after only one season and an incomplete story anyway, or some Marvel or Star Wars series I don't give a sh** about.
Out of all the airing K dramas right dramas right now... only Law and the City and the First Night with the Duke are available on Viki... While I can't judge both since I haven't watched them, they're definitely not the ones K dramas afficionados were the most excited about.
Plus both platforms are basically raising their monthly fees every year now for an increasing amount of slop content.
No wonder Piracy is back on the rise. They're literally advocating for it.
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Well, that's actually a very honest review. I started this show for the same reason you did and was also dissapointed... Basically all the ingredients were there to have something good and yet the show is just "meh". While I never thought deeply about the "why" it basically comes down to all the reasons you mentionned... Couldn't have said it better.
So far I'd rate this one a basic 7 or 7.5. It's watchable... Not bad per say.... but not good enough to invest 12 hours of my life. If I had known I wouldn't have bothered.
I'm still gonna wait for the end to pass judgment but again 2025 is definitely a bad year for K dramaland imho... I've seen bad to mid shows only, the only drama I watched that I'd rave about this year is "Study Group" even if I think it lost some steam by the time we reached the end.
Well I'm sure most people have noticed it but just in case. In episode 8 with the foodtruck scene, when Armin says:
"It's not food support, it's fan support"
to which Thada answers "It is a fan feeding you"
(I'm not really sure it's what he says actually except for the "fan" part... I checked other languages and they translated it the same but looking up the word in a thai dictionary, there was nothing that corresponded to what he said... Since I have no Thai subs to check, my personal guess is that he said แฟนปอร์ด which would be pronounced Fanport ( colloquial thai often skips pronouncing consonants when two are followed so the "r" would be silent pronounced by a Thai). That's just conjecture on my part though.)
There's a pun here with the with the word "fan" and แฟน . แฟน means "lover/boyfriend/girlfriend" in Thai and it sounds the same as the anglicism "fan" with a Thai pronunciation.
They arbitrarily stuck to English for the translation I guess, given Armin said "Food support" in English as well, but I like the ambiguity of that sentence were from an outside perspective it's "fan" but Armin and Thada both know he doesn't mean that type of "fan".
The only reason why I gave it a 4.5 is because:
1. It's a Thai BL, I tend to be very generous with the rating because every time I think we've hit the bottom of the barrel, Thailand manages to surprise me with dramas that are even worse. Hence when you get something that is somewhat decent, you bet I'm gonna be generous.
2. Noh-Peterpan. Peterpan has the best chemistry with anyone really. Dude can act. Also the 6 packs doesn't hurt either.
To be fair the show isn't that bad when you start it but at some point it takes a nose-dive into the abyss and it never recovers from it.
Also the secondary couple never got the amount of screentime it deserved.
BUT there's one SINGLE positive thing about it: Better watch this ALONE. With all the NC scenes and cringey lines I can't imagine the amount of roasting I would get if my boyfriend was sneaking up on me while I'm watching this.
Also this drama is missing a #: #Fantasy
Thada doesn't exist in real life. Stop giving me false expectations.
Yes, It's stupid SUE ME.
If it wasn't for that I'd have given it a 5.5 because honestly it was messy.
Anyway, I recently started to read the novel... And I find it interesting to see that in the novel, at least were I am ( chapter 3), it's Tharn who is like REALLY into Phaya who basically doesn't care. Like dude is not even hiding how he feels. Maybe this changes later who knows... But from my memory in the drama it was mostly Phaya who was into Tharn, not the opposite.
Maybe they changed it because people tend to prefer when the Top is doing the pursuing who knows.
On one side, I personally enjoy seeing the "bottom" being the first to fall for a change... But on the other, in the novel, Tharn sounds like a horny 12 year-old whenever he speaks about Phaya. It's really off-putting. Dude is supposed to be 26 if I'm not mistaken. At least in the drama they changed that character trait because otherwise that would have been unwatchable. Crossing my fingers, he gets some additional brain cells by the end of the novel.
That was the useless info you didn't know you didn't need.
No opinion yet on the novel in question.
I was mostly curious about the novel because the drama although pretty messy tried to cram too much in 12 episodes so I'm hoping the novel is more clear and contains less plotholes.
This being said... the novel seems to move fast as well so who knows if it's not as messy as the drama? We'll see.
Makes my eyes bleed but Good for you 🤣
I'm really liking that one... As far as I'm concerned it's on par with "My Stand In" but the chemistry is 100% times higher. If I rated it compared to other dramas... I'd rate this one a solid 8.5... But since it's a Thai BL and the bar is set VERY low... I'm gonna probably rate this one 9.5.
Because the main pair is establishing a brand new standard in chemistry. My God they. are.HOT.together.
BUT.
Currently at episode 5 and I do have two major caveat:
1. WHY did they decide to make Armin look like a hobo with that shitty haircut? Initially I thought he would change that awful haircut of his once he reset but NOPE, he's keeping it. Honestly, if he was wearing a small ponytail that would have done the trick but loose like that? They're WASTING his pretty face! I'm scandalized!
2... Well not really a caveat per say... but I sort of spoiled myself later episodes and EVERYTIME the bad guys are throwing a tantrum, it's just funny as hell. I really can't hold it in 🤣🤣🤣
I guess it's on purpose ^^
Glad to see First again. He's done bad projects after bad projects after "Don't Say No" so even though it's not a first role, at least he's doing something different... Hope to see him back in a bigger role next time.
...
...
Also, we need a marriage in the last episode.
You can't show all that chemistry and not top it off with a wedding.
Notably MyAnimelist which has exactly the same logo.
ML is also depressed most of the time so that doesn't help.
Bottom line, not enamored with this show... It's enjoyable but not to the point of raving about it imho. Given how many good comments I read I was expecting more...
But again 2025 is not the best year in K dramaland as far as I'm concerned, maybe among the currently airing shows it's the best... Who knows? I've almost given up watching K dramas as they are airing this year... Too many disappointments in a row.
Also this show is starting to feel like a reverse harem. Isn't the Evil ghost supposed to be "evil"? I just don't think it makes sense plotwise, ever since he entered the picture, there's more zany energy coming out of this show... which I'm not complaining about, because I definitely think it's way better... but on the flip side, It's not really coherent with the plot.
This being said, I don't care enough for it to bother me so here.
I personally like when people explain why they didn't like a show or vice versa. Some things people enjoyed might be a pet peeve of yours and likewise some things people disliked might be something you would enjoy or which doesn't bother you.
If I'm truly intrigued by a show, I'm definitely going to check it out ( Head over Heels is one for instance that I would have checked regardless of people's opinions about it as well as the upcoming " The Nice Guy") but when nothing seems of any interest, I personally think it's pretty handy.
Checking things out is better of course, but various opinion can help with an "initial screening" of sorts among the massive influx of dramas coming out each year if you get what I mean. This being said, I insist on the "comment" part and not the "ratings" part. These past few years MDL ratings don't mean anything anymore. Some dramas are bashed for no reasons while others are boosted by fans.
Your comment regarding Chinese really makes me laugh because I was the same a few years ago. I used to think the language sounded awful and that I would never learn it.
Well it's a long story, but I ended up starting to learn the language at some point. It's been over 3 years now and my perception has definitely changed. But again, when learning a language, you learn to listen to it and some sounds you weren't able to perceive before and that you now do hear make the whole experience different.
'Course, as a long time K drama fan, I'm also learning it. Studied it at university for 3 years in my early 20s. Gave up, life happened。 Completely gave it up for over 10 years and picked it up again on my own a little bit less than 8 years ago.
Out of all the languages I'm learning, Korean is still my favorite... In terms of how it sounds however, I personally like it as much as Japanese.
But as you said: De gustibus, non est disputandum!
(Did you do a master in Latin or what? Studied Latin for 6 years myself... Can't remember anything of it except for the declensions: rex rex regem regis regis rege, rosa rosa rosam rosae rosae rosa etc...)
Most K dramas I've watched this year were either mid-good or bad but I'm not saying all were bad. After all I haven't watched everything.
But as mentioned I watch things when I feel like it. I honestly don't care about watching things as they are airing with everybody else or when it's finished. I watch things based on my mood.
Given my poor track record with K dramas this year though, I've given up on watching shows when they are airing. I'm waiting for initial feedbacks. Right now I'm thinking of starting Head Over Heels because it seems this show is a winner... But since everybody is comparing it to Lovely Runner, I really don't feel like starting it right now.
I was stupid enough to start Lovely Runner from day 1 because I had absolutely no expectations about that show and was planning to check out one episode and watch the rest if it was promising enough when it finished airing. "Unfortunately", this led to me being completely obsessed for 8 weeks straight and I'd rather avoid that lunacy again.
Unlike you who seem to mostly ( or only?) watch K dramas, I also watch C dramas, Thai, Taiwanese, and Japanese dramas as well as Donghua and anime... on top of being an avid bookworm.
Needless to say, entertainment is endless but time is not, so again, I'll do things at my own pace at my own time.
But to be fair, I never said all K drama sucks. I said there's a general trend of going downward with production of shows that are overall not great, nor bad, just mid on top of removing all the things that made them so great in the first place. But that would require me going into a whole essay that would be too long to write here. This being said, I do notice that long time K drama watchers seem to share the same opinion.
But now they've become risk averse hence they only invest in adaptations. Out of all the names you mentioned only Squid Game and Stranger Things were originals and viewers have been mostly disappointed with their subsequent seasons.
Back when Netflix was launched in my country, the "ad offer" didn't exist...
However if you wanted to share your account with people who didn't live with you, you could with the premium offer which used to cost 12€
Yes... That offer moved from 12€ ( $14) to 22€ ( almost $26)...
BUT now if you want to share your account with somebody who doesn't share your wifi ( i.e let's say your brother who lives in another city), you need to pay an extra 6€ ( $7€)
So not only has the service become more expensive but now the service you get is of lower quality.
Also you're mentioning two streaming websites... But some websites offer DDL. You get your files with the highest quality, multi languages subs and no unnecessary ads.
I'm all for supporting the industry... but they're definitely killing themselves... It's truly saddening.
Anyway.
The thing is... Maybe for the moment it's not expensive where you are but once they'll have milked every other country they can milk from, you can be sure they're going to rise their price where you live just like they did everywhere else.
Where I'm living the price for "standard with ads" is now 8€ per month which is $9.35
The standard without ads is 15€ per month i.e $17.53
The premium offer which is the only one you can share with 4 other people is now 22€ per month i.e $25.72
And they're still planning on rising their fees.
It's a really short-term vision of things. In the end, if they keep on rising their prices on top of overproducing slop content, people are just gonna go back to piracy, and they're just gonna lose more money on the long run.
They're basically idiots.
In another field, we can talk about ADOBE. Lots of creatives used to swear by Photoshop and all these other programs that they offered... You paid the program once and that was it. At some point , they decided they weren't making enough money so they introduced a monthly fee. At first, prices weren't horrible so people stuck with it.... Of course depending on which offer you took, it could be pricey... but it was still a price people could afford...
But then ADOBE realized they were the leaders, students in movie making, animation, illustrations, concept art etc. were all learning their craft on their programs at school which meant that whether they joined a company or worked as independents later, they would still use ADOBE programs.
They grew overly confident and started to raise their prices...
After all, switching to other programs would require too much effort for creatives. Better pay these ridiculous prices than take months to master other cheaper or even free alternatives.
Until it started to become not affordable for part of the work force especially independent workers. They started to lose money as increasingly independent workers gave up on ADOBE to use alternatives and even schools started to favor free programs...
BUT they were still the leaders... But then, ADOBE decided to sell their own AI slop content produced thanks to the AI training made based on the art sold by creatives on their platforms without asking for permission and people snapped. Now the floodgates are opened, everybody's leaving them, and the trust is definitely broken.
Their greed ruined them.
Well. I can definitely see Netflix taking the same route.
Netflix, Disney+, Prime and even Apple + have their original content. K dramas that are exclusive to their platforms which they indeed have financed.
I'm not talking about those.
Most shows are produced by Korean companies and/or channels, in that case Viki used to be the main platform that would distribute these shows abroad. Now however these big platforms are basically taking viewers hostage.
If they want to licence some content and air it on their platforms, I honestly don't care. The issue is when they're basically having exclusive rights. They didn't contribute financially to the production of these shows, yet viewers are forced to pay a ridiculous fee to view these when it used to be much more affordable on Viki.
Drama producers are literally shooting themselves in the foot. The quality of K dramas have been dropping these past few years. Not all but LOTS of them are now adopting western codes that are very quickly doing damage to Korean storytelling and the industry overall. Adding to that, the rising cost of paying for subscriptions right left and center and you can be sure at some point that people are going to slowly but surely move towards watching more Chinese contents basically to find back what they liked in K dramas in the first place, but which is being slowly being eroded by the industry in their quest to appeal to a more global audience that never cared for K dramas in the first place.
Anyway that's my 2 cents. Not the first time you answered one of my comment by another that is just completely off topic but I disgress.
HOWEVER I am very nostalgic of that golden age of K dramas not being as trendy as before.
Most K dramas were available on Viki which subscription is around 50€ a year.
Ever since the success of Squid Game, Netflix and Disney + are basically taking any hyped dramas on their platform and Viki only gets the leftovers... or dare I say, the crumbs.
Thank God they've been licensing more thai, taiwanese and japanese as well as the occasional fillipino shows and we're still getting the trendiest C dramas there but it seems that now you've got to pay for Netflix and Disney + which are both very expensive to get the trendiest K dramas which is EXTREMELLY annoying because I don't care for anything western so WHY should I pay such an expensive fee when I know most of the money is gonna be used for some Netflix original movie slop or some new US shows I don't care about that they'll cancel after only one season and an incomplete story anyway, or some Marvel or Star Wars series I don't give a sh** about.
Out of all the airing K dramas right dramas right now... only Law and the City and the First Night with the Duke are available on Viki... While I can't judge both since I haven't watched them, they're definitely not the ones K dramas afficionados were the most excited about.
Plus both platforms are basically raising their monthly fees every year now for an increasing amount of slop content.
No wonder Piracy is back on the rise. They're literally advocating for it.