Popcxqueen

Kimi wa Petto is my favorite Japanese drama - I hope you give it another try sometime.

This might be the rudest, most pointless comment I've read in a long time.

I change countries and genres to get out of a show hole. It's worked pretty well so far.

Goblin was one of the best K-dramas from the last decade. You're missing out by avoiding it, (in my humble opinion.)

This might be the best comment I've ever read on here. So well said!

Continuing my last comment: if 32 episodes is considered a long drama, then "Hotel King" is my favorite long drama. Even thought I sometimes lose patience with long dramas and think that they could have tightened up the writing in the middle, there is something to be said about being given the space to really expand and develop a story. Thanks for the article!

Two questions:
1) what is the drama in the middle of your article with Yoo Yeon-Seok in it?
2) how many episodes does a drama have to have to be considered a long drama?

I loved your comments about Uehara...

Sometimes I skip all reviews and just watch the drama I want to watch. In the case of Good Morning Call: Our Campus Days, I am so glad I didn't read all of the negative reviews first. I loved it WAY more than I thought I was going to! I thought the first season was ok, but the second season hooked me almost from the beginning and then on to the end. I thought the acting was better, the writing was tighter, the characters were more developed, and they were less immature than when they were in high school. I loved the addition of cutie Sugino Yosuke as Natsume and I loved seeing characters from the first season like they were old friends.
After I finished this, I read the reviews here and (slight spoiler but not really) people didn't like Natsume because he chased after Nao even though she had a boyfriend. But if you paid close attention, you could see that Natsume really didn't want to like Nao - he fought it and fought it, until he couldn't fight it any longer. That doesn't mean that he should have gotten the girl in the end - but it made his character more understandable than I think people gave him credit for.
I was rooting for Uehara and Nao to get their acts together and I think this season showed real growth for the couple. People grow up in fits and starts and none of us were fully formed humans right after we graduated high school - especially ones that basically had to raise themselves. Both Uehara and Nao showed real growth through this season, and I was here for their partnership. Both characters referenced needing to expand their worlds throughout this season - and that is often not easy. They both had to learn how to communicate better (and more often!) but that's life.
The first season was incomplete in my opinion, and that's why I like multiple seasons so much - we had more time to spend with these characters who just needed time to grow up.

Sounds like movies would be a better choice for you than dramas then. Also I don’t agree with attention spans differing by country - people are people (who love being entertained). One last point, considering that k-dramas have bigger budgets than most, I’m not sure that’s true either.

Your comment is bizarre. Not sure why you picked those two types of people, but whatever.

Great article - thanks. I'm finding that I'm in huge disagreement with many drama watchers on this point, however: " I hope multiseason format (ala American series) doesn't become a rule (Kura2ninja)."
So here's my unpopular opinion. First, a quibble about this language choice - while American shows certainly have multiple seasons (if they don't get canceled first, that is), other shows from other places in the world also have multiple seasons, especially British, Scottish, Irish, French and Spanish shows (and even some Chinese and Japanese shows.) Korean variety shows often run for 100 episodes or more as well.

There are several strong reasons for multiple seasons: 1) the viewers just want more of characters they've grown to love, and 2) more seasons allow for deeper character development. Viewers can see how characters grow and change over multiple seasons, through the different challenges the writers give them. Viewers get to see lovers get their relationships tested, and see if their love really stands up.

Are there shows that ran for too many seasons and should have ended sooner? For sure, without a doubt. But no one can tell me that no Asian show should ever run two (or more) seasons because "that's not how it's done", or "it's never been done that way before so it should never change." Because then we would not have been gifted with more of the brilliance of Kim Sabu in Dr. Romantic 2 and we would not be able to look forward to seeing more Winter Garden next year in Hospital Playlist, season 2.

I don't really understand the extreme reluctance of many drama watchers to second seasons of our favorite shows. While I agree that I don't love ending seasons on cliffhangers, not all shows do that. And considering how poorly so many K-dramas end, it would be so nice to have another season to get the ending right! (I'm looking at you, Melting Me Softly.)

J-dramas are so much more sensual than K-dramas, so even though they tend to have much less happy endings than others, I have been on a J-drama kick lately. The acting was really great here. Sakurada Dori is incredibly sexy and beautiful in this - and while he played a believable high schooler, I felt better when I remembered that he was like 25 years old when this came out. Yoshimoto Miyu was an excellent female lead, and I'm going to look for other dramas she's in.
I loved almost all the sexy bits in the drama, however, while I am in no way a prude, I was pretty grossed out by one of the (physical) "relationships" portrayed. IRL, it would be illegal, but this is fiction, so .... (It also helps that the two actors I'm referencing here are actually the same age.)
Other than that, the acting was great, the writing wasn't terrible and had some important lessons for everyone - especially teenagers - which was: life is messy and change happens in fits and starts and it's ok to make mistakes.

I prefer fast burn dramas to ones where there's not even a hug, much less a kiss or anything more, until episode 12 or 13 and then there's maybe one more kiss by the end after all the breaking up and time lapse nonsense. At least if the characters get together earlier, they have more chances to interact romantically, (even if there's a breakup.) A Witch's Romance, Devilish Joy, and Dr. Romantic (swoon), all come to mind here.

What a rude comment. She's not a bad actress at all - she was awesome in Emergency Couple, actually. If you don't want to watch an actor "AGAIN" just don't watch, you don't need to comment.

'Cause that would be no fun??

I loved this movie. I had heard such negative reviews about it, but luckily I ignored them because I wanted to see more Jung Hae In. I'm very glad I did. This was sweet, and poignant, and romantic. I had only seen Kim Go Eun in Goblin before this, (and loved her in that), but now I definitely agree with all of the accolades she has received - she is talented. Is this a perfect film? Of course not. But it's not awful, and even with some plot holes, the actors are given enough to work with.

Thank you! It is definitely getting better, but maybe not fast enough to suit many of us. I appreciate your comment!

And how exactly should our brains be wired to like this ending?

I absolutely hate that Bruce Willis song . I remember when it came out the first time and I hated it then. So I didn't love hearing it multiple times every episode and I actually didn't think it fit the themes well by the end of the drama.