ShortCircuit

IMHO in this particular case it works better to have a soft romance. It's very faithful to the novel, including some of the romantic scenes, it's just that WWX is oblivious to it all until the final few chapters. He's way more honest (because that's who WWX is) in the extras to the novels, but throughout most of the story he's incredibly frustrating, LOL. So even if there WERE 18+ scenes and cdramas were allowed to film them, there wouldn't be much to film until almost the very end.

LWJ's jealousy and frustration with the hothead come through particularly well anyway, LOL.

There are other BL cdramas were the flirting is way more direct - like Word of Honor, where Wen Ke Xing flirts outrageously out in the open - but they're few and far between and I have very low hopes of Immortality (for example) 1. airing this year, or 2. having ANY risky scenes (because of the political situation in China and the crackdown on anything remotely fun for the Chinese people). If there were ever a BL cdrama FULL of risky scenes... Immortality should be it. But it won't, most probably, if they allow it to air at all. *sigh*

But I have to admit, I'm a fan of subtle romance anyway, so I really appreciate how TU manages to convey the romance through glances and longing and small jealous fits. And LWJ getting drunk - on purpose!! (just wait for it) - so that he can be a bit more unrestrained.

I don't know how far you've come through the drama, yet, but never fear - there will be romance. Just not the PDA kind. Other than kisses and the like, all the other romantic elements are there. Enjoy :)

Depending on your taste... Tunnel and Signal come on a similar note, though they're not time loop but time travel/communication. Both are detective stories. Signal will break your heart if you're not careful.

And if you want to try something a bit like it, but in animation - then Makoto Shinkai's "your name." could fit.

Wu Bai's Last Dance and Pachelbel's Canon in D (from Reset) gave me PTSD LOL.

So it ended. I see there's an extra scene, I'll have to look for it, just in case it's what I hope it is. Other than that - I started this for the loop, stayed for Greg Hsu's smile and HYX (the character's) sunny personality. If I were to liken it to anything else I've watched, it's more similar to Makoto Shinkai's "your name." (the movie) than Reset, from where I got the rec.

But SDOOD is good on its own, too.

Well, no. They're kind of 18+, all of them LOL. Just married life and such :D

The whole story (as in the novel) is told in this one season (it's not by season actually, it's complete).

But the novel has extras, and lots of them :D

The most important thing is - Daddy Gu comes back. Hold on til then :D

Faith is more sageuk. And romance. Modern day is just a tiny bit of it.

For choice... throw a coin :D

Then you'll love him in GFB. I've seen him there first, and I kept thinking I MUST have seen him before, because he didn't look like a newbie. That voice and that smile - you can't forget him. Tunnel, later, came as a nice gift for me :)

JJH in Jirisan is the one with the supernatural side. I won't tell, if you haven't watched it yet. But seriously, bears! And mountains! (And some serial killing, eh, you'll move past it LOL).

What does in the mist mean? :D

There's this place in China where some or even most historical dramas are filmed, it's called HengDian. It was built specifically for the making of movies, as a parallel to great sets of the big studios in Hollywood or the Indian film industry (Bollywood).

Most of the sets are busy all at the same time, and there are lots of machinery background noise (snow machines, camera trails, wire action scenes, etc.) There is a LOT of noise that can't just be filtered out. So they re-do the sound (usually, there are SOME movies or dramas that don't always need it, but that's rarer than needing it to have it done).

The second reason for the dubbing is the language. China is a huge country, and there are a lot of accents and dialects. The official language is Mandarin, but not everybody can have the perfect accent so that every watcher understands it. So they dub over with voice actors who have a good - regular - accent, AND add subtitles, so that everybody has a chance to understand the dialogue.

PS Some of the actors that appear in the dramas do their own dubbing. In TU, AFAIK, Ji Li (playing Nie HuaiSang) did his own re-dub. (I hope I'm not confusing him with someone else).

TU is not wuxia. Wuxia with no romance comes up usually in movie form, but most current (21st century) wuxia dramas usually involve some romance. There might be exceptions, obviously.

Most xianxia / xuanhuan that are not based on ancient novels (like Journey to the West or other very old stories) usually involve some romance, too. And there is even at least one that has had success and is plagiarized from a BL novel's story.

As for what's a good drama / movie and what's not... Tastes differ, and even critics get it wrong from time to time (going by RT differences between what critics appreciate and what the public does, LOL).

Yeah well, I LOVE LJG, but I don't have much hope for the second season of AC without SJK. Maybe they'll compensate with the plot or sets. Here's hoping. (Also, let's hope Kim OkBin returns as TaelHa too, and that her body chains are even more amazing than in the first part. I'm still not over those pieces of jewellry, and I'd deck myself in (cheap, LOL, I can't afford that much gold) copies of it if I could get away with it (I couldn't, LOL).

I haven't watched Lovers of the Red Sky either, I don't know if I will. I might. Maybe. No promises, LOL.

I've thought a bit more - Tale of the Nine-Tailed is another modern fantasy (gumiho again! and Lee DongWook is killing it), and another one, more horror-like, is Bulgasal: Immortal Souls. This one I haven't watched either, but I've seen bits and pieces and it strongly reminds me of Highlander: The Series. This one would come closer to the horror aspect of the plots in TU and AoS, so if you have no problem with horror (like I do), then it would be worth a try.

If you haven't watched Highlander, there are a few movies (but only watch the first one, there is not other worth watching, LOL), and a drama (pretty old by now, but still good), and even an animated series. And some spin-offs that aren't important. If you did watch it - at least the movie - Bulgasal seriously comes across pretty similar. And people seem to have liked it.

If you'd rather even some very tiny supernatural story... There's Jirisan. (Which I totally don't recc' just because I like it a lot.) There are bears in it!! I promise you, bears :D

CJH's part in GFB is actually the best part of the drama, also IMHO. He's so cute and then so cool and then so scary in it, it made him get the new actor prize even after a dozen years in the industry before his break, LOL. Watch it for his sake, it's worth it :)

Eh, I'm European. I've been watching anime and Japanese dramas long before I've ever watched even kdramas (I think The King and the Clown made me watch the first kdrama ever, and that came a lot later than any manga/anime/jdorama, so my introduction to that world came from a movie anyway). And no, I didn't like cdramas before TU because most of those that I'd had come into contact with were boring (to me) palace dramas involving mostly politics, extreme politeness to everyone who was a superior to the character, and love stories that made no sense (to my usual kind of characters / appearances). Or those amazingly strange - also, to me - hairstyles, particularly for the men, from the 18th or 19th centuries. Some of Jackie Chan's movies might be at fault for this impresion though.

Obviously the movies made it even over to Europe - my favourite (ethnically Chinese) actor is still Jet Li, though I've watched Jackie Chan (his movies are big) and others (not a fan of Bruce Lee, though I appreciate the importance of his work Edited to say, I much more appreciate Brandon Lee's The Crow, despite the tragedy, because that one movie was an amazing fantasy/supernatural story and greatly translated to the big screen). Also, movies from all over Asia made it to Europe - some Japanese masterpieces (everybody knows Toshiro Mifune, or so I hope anyway), and the Ghibli animated movies, and then there's Bollywood sending movies all over the world, and the wuxia Chinese movies, and lately Korean movies get renowned movie prizes.

The idea is, there are no niches, restrictions or wrong ways to watch other countries' media or come into contact with their culture BUT some people - like myself - prefer certain types of stories or don't appreciate OTHER types. There's something for everyone :)

It might be. I was talking of my own experience, and I'm always ready to be corrected, so I thank you for the info.

I'll bet you though that there were people - like myself - who hadn't watched or googled TSOYP then or after, but have become immersed in cdramas anyway due to being introduced to them by TU. So I'll just be glad there's an entry point that fits anyone who wants to enter, and leave it at that :)

Faith, with Lee MinHo and Kim SunHee is fantasy (time-travel historical fantasy to be exact.) While there aren't as many instances of "magic events", there are enough to mention it. Come to think of it, also The King: Eternal Monarch might qualify (but it's modern, not costumes), and there's the added bonus of Woo DoHwan. You should watch WDH in anything, LOL. And also Legend of the Blue Sea (still with LMH) might be modern fantasy ( I haven't watched it myself).

More fantasy stories - Gu Family Book (with Lee SeungGi and Choi JinHyuk in a support - but very important - role.) That's a gumiho story, and also a revenge tale. As an aside, does anyone else still remember WolRyung aka Daddy Gu? :D Maybe even Moon Lovers (though the fantasy part is just the time travel I guess, and the romance is the important part.) Or Mr Queen (time travel AND body swap, and it's mostly a comedy :D)

Arthdal Chronicles, already mentioned, involves more subtle magic and the story uses a very much older setting - think a creational myth instead of the usual, historical ancient magic setting. Also, the first three parts make up just one big season, and the story is not concluded because of reasons. There are rumours there will be at least another season, hopefully they'll think of a way to round it up, though the rumours also are that the leads have changed.

The resurrection is what made me instantly think of TU - I mean, Uk gets out AFTER ACTUALLY DYING LOL and it's like WWX comes back to life, Oops, I'm living again!

But you know, I've thought about it a bit. Minus a dragon on his shoulder, and his clothing remaining intact (because WHY, show?! You had the perfect excuse LOL), Uk gets up from the pyre like's he's Daenerys Targaryen, and going to become who knows what, nobody nice probably, at least for a few eps. Particularly since she's not around anymore.

I really, really hope they make a perfect S2, I want some revenge plot, and more dark things and whatnot!

The novel is BL (danmei actually, it matters in presentation, but that's not important now), but the drama is censored, which means there are no PDAs of any kind. The censorship intended to make the (novel) relationship a good bromance. If you're not inclined to see BL in it, you won't. If you've ever watched a story - Chinese, Korean or whatever - involving very good bromance, TU would also qualify.

I say this because you seem to have rated Kingdom high, so just thought to mention that TU involves resurrection and necromancy, and one of the main characters is basically a conscious zombie / fierce corpse. (And there are more of them). The novel is actually full of gore (fierce corpses, living dead people attacking live ones, soul-sucking statues, etc.) The drama made the best of it, what with the censorship. The romance isn't the main part of the novel either - nor is it the main part of the drama.

Then again, tastes differ, and that is very much alright.

@Authors, good job! :)

@readers & commenters: this is definitely a recommendation, not a "let's fight over who's appropriating what" article, LOL.

There are similarities that can't be avoided, and some that keep appearing simply because they WORK just fine. Who doesn't want an untamed hero? Who doesn't like more magic and power? (well, at least we can all dream). Who doesn't want to see justice prevailing and evil-doers brought down? These are ancient themes, the constant fight between good and evil - and the manner of presentation is bound to have some similar aspects.

Both dramas feel magical - they're fantasy after all, but both worlds are lived in, and the overall impression they give is that there's a story that spans beyond what's on-screen. For myself, I liked TU better (I've known it longer, loved it longer, it has some of the BEST character arcs I've ever seen in dramas, for ALL the main cast, not just the leads, there's an amazing soundtrack, and I love the novel and all its adaptations). But AoS, while still needed its second season to bring it to conclusion, shows signs of very interesting plots (I mean, we've all seen the trailer for S2, right? I can't wait for Dark Uk!! I hope they stick the landing and make this a memorable story.) The special effects are better in AoS, and the colour scheme is vibrant. The soundtrack is also good (overall, I still like TU's better, because of the emotions it invokes, but I LOVE some of the themes and the songs in AoS's OST). And the costumes - oh the costumes and sets are amazing in both dramas. I'd have a very hard time picking a favourite. Maybe AoS (because of Uk's outfits. I said MAYBE LOL).

The thing is, kdramas are more accessible to international viewerships (some are being produced by international networks or streaming services, like AoS), while cdramas usually need a lot of word-of-mouth to ever get recognized internationally. TU opened the way a lot, after its immense success in 2019, and there were cdramas before it, and that followed it, that became loved in the whole world because TU made people more interested in the genre(s) that usually involve costumes (xianxia, xuanhuan, wuxia), and it showed what quality could be achieved.

(I was one of those who used to only watch the random Chinese movie, usually a wuxia, before accidentally stumbling over TU. I've now watched more cdramas that I ever would have thought possible, and I've mostly read Chinese webnovels for the past two years. I'm an avid reader, BTW. I read a LOT. And most of what I read is amazing.)

So, if anything in AoS that appeals to you seems to be similar to TU, and you've never taken a chance on Chinese dramas (because they're "long" - not a lot of them are, actually - or "boring" - you won't know until you try, or there's a language barrier...) Consider this: your very best, favourite drama could be a Chinese one (costume drama or modern, it doesn't matter) but you'll never know it because you'd never try watching one. If you like fantasy, some gore, amazing plots, unforgettable characters, and have watched AoS - try TU. The same goes if you've watched TU - AoS is a good choice for a good fantasy.

Have fun, whichever way you choose :)

And I don't know about what will happen, but Tsumugi might be serious about her loving Minato now. I mean, Sou did break up with her over text, never contacted her in 5 years, and if she hadn't seen him at the subway station, things wouldn't have been put in motion for all of them to reconnect.

So I wonder if this will actually be a bittersweet story - Sou still loves her (obviously from his reaction and his declaration in ep1) but she seems to have moved on.

I'm curious what path they'll choose in the end.

If this was on Reddit, Minato would post in AITA (My best friend lost his hearing, AITA for being mad at him not keeping in touch with me and my GF who used to be his GF?) And the most gilded reply would be - "NTA, actually, nobody's an a&&hole here." And then BORU would take the post and maybe any updates and everybody would also love it, LOL.

But seriously, nobody's an a**hole here.

No, it's a Korean movie (Always) remake (AFAIK there's no drama with that plot). The story is the same, the SK version (original) stars So Ji Sub (less known at that time, I guess). I prefer the Japanese version myself, the SK one is a bit too dark/raw for me. Both are pretty good though. (The OP did ask for Japanese stories, though, so that's why I mentioned only this one).