Skibbies

I do agree with you and I specifically tend to watch dramas that have decent FL, but historical cdramas definitely still write shitty FLs because it "causes dramatic tension!!" "create situations for fluff!" or something. I'm not saying it as a defense for people criticising reasonable FLs, I'm saying it as a criticism towards the scripts, both of which are manifestations of ingrained misogynism IMO.

Just started Who Rules the World. i watched super short drama https://kisskh.at/722423-zhang-gong-zhu-zhai-shang (28? x 2mins) and mini drama https://kisskh.at/724971-the-killer-is-also-romantic (18 x 10mins). Liked both of them quite a bit, since there's little that can go wrong with dramas this short.

I was watching Great Miss D before that, it's so so honestly, but it was only 12 eps so eh. Lifelong Journey before that, it's kind of interesting to see people's lives change through like 5 decades, but boy do I hate some of the plot points in this drama, wouldn't rec it for plot, the acting is good though.

you'll see when they meet. I'll tell you about novel liu ling after the drama finish next week in case it spoils anything

A Girl Like Me's FL is sort of meant to be spoiled, cos she grew up extremely priviledged and the emperor adores her. Her being spoiled and her family being dumb most of the time ensure their safety, they are actually pretty smart when it comes to big things. Not sure if this came across in the drama since I didnt' watch it.

MLs are often given far better characterisation (likeability OR depth), and FLs are often dumbed down or given shitty treatment or damseled, it's very frustrating.

You are entirely correct people are super harsh on FLs all the time. While this FL have some issues, she's the more interesting one and ML is more run of the mill (he's a good boi and he does have depth but I haven't really seen it in the drama yet)

You are here!!!!! The main cast are all precious here!!!! I read the novel and I'm slightly disappointed they toned down backstory/characterisation of FL, but I expected it. It's probably for the best since she's pretty dysfunctional (and have very strange relationship with her best friend and somewhat problematic one with ML)

i watched them raw, so idk where they'd be subbed, I recall youtube had them before, but proably not there now.

The whodunnit isn't super interesting i think.

I liked ep 5 ~ 8, if it doesn't work for you with 8, you can safely drop it, cos I think that's the high point.

Rumour has it Blue Whisper and this https://kisskh.at/79469-movie-king-and-his-princess (time travel, idk how much historical bits there are) will air next week

This one is more on the art aspect and light social commentary. I actually like how this one does social commentary and explore perpetrator background, it's not overly heavy handed.

Oh I just realised you didn't watch Reset, you can try that too (I think the pacing is too slow and the plot is bit predictable, but daylight does what it does best with supporting characters background, attention to details and such)

I actually don't remember what she looks like lol. This wrapped up filming just before she came out with the expose. The show have real cases as a base, I still haven't looked it up yet.

they are all from a brand called realme, the company probably sponsored it.

no that's time travel, this is time loop

if it was released on netflix, you'd get this in three months lol.

Oh oh I forgot, if you like sort of game like environment, try Die Now, which has escape room/mafia/battle roayle and time loop, you might want to skip the starting romance bit that establish motivation though, since it's bit cringey. The acting and production is so so but I really loved the concept/story. Poke me if you need more, and hope you find something you like. I tend to watch non romance since good fluffy romance only comes once in a while.

Other people rec'ed thrillers and lost tomb, I'll rec candle in the tomb then (specifically 2016 one and 2020's lost caverns).

There are some down to earth youth series that focus more on friendship, like My Huckleberry Friends (school/coming of age), Hikaru no Go (decent adaptation about a strategy game), Cross Fire (fps esport), Our Shiny Days (chinese folk music/school). (There's more, I think cdrama is better at doing friendship dramas than romcoms lol)

If you want something more about working adults, last year have been pretty good. I really liked Delicious Romance (slice of life tongue in cheek about working ladies with some food analogies to describe the protags' personalities) and Remembrance of Things Past (this is more down to earth, smidge depressing for first two episodes) and Rational Life (on netflix, a soft spoken protag that holds her ground, more about plights of 30+ ladies in modern China, fairly light though)

Last rec, last year had a hysterical body swap romcom called The Day of Becoming You.

There's actually fairly decent cdramas that's not idol-like. I really liked Remembrance of Things Past and Delicious Romance last year, both slice of life and female centric. The suspense dramas are usually decent as well and not filtered, although some end up being way too dark (lighting-wise), and they are fairly short too, like Bad Kids and Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower (both are character-driven stories, not whodunnit). The school/youth dramas that's focused on friendship are pretty good too. e.g. My Huckleberry Friends, Our Shiny Days, Hikaru no Go, Cross Fire.

For fairly unique premise, I'd rec Die Now, just skip through the romance at the beginning (about 15mins? to set up motivation), shame it was small budget made by small platform.

that's fast track, which is technically a vvip-like option. vip should get you more episodes IF tencent was subbing it at the same pace as it releases vip episodes domestically, but it's not.

Depending on what sort of dramas you are thinking of, if you are talking about non fluffy romances, yes they always existed and in large amounts too. This production company specifically tend to excel at producing fairly realistic drama (they are absolutely terrible at romance honestly). If you are talking about suspense dramas, still kind of yes? there's handful of them that's pretty well done overall. Every year, there's a couple that's decent, but yeah they don't really get subbed.

They weren't being detained, they were being questioned.

oh in that case you can do one ep a day, it finishes on 26th