Surprise-Lobotomy

I am not a huge fan of flashbacks if they happens in the middle of the drama (they often keep you away from what you really want to see) but I really love the first love trope, so I enjoy the flashbacks if they set something like that up.

The young actors are great, both of them from Missing You did two of the young roles in The Moon Embracing the Sun as well, so I have an even greater appreciation for them.

Since you enjoyed Secret Love so much, you should definitely enjoy it. You can expect some of the same - lots of crying / longing and hardship, but plenty of sweet and tender moments as well. That was always the appeal of melodramas for me (or fairly dark/heavy dramas.) They break you down emotionally so that the high points feel that much better.

The first 4 episodes are flashback/childhood episodes, so you may not have a completely accurate feel until several episodes into the adult storyline, but the childhood arc is one of my all-time favorite arcs in any drama. The Moon Embracing the Sun also has a really well-done childhood arc if you find the one in Missing You as touching as I did.

A couple things after looking over your list:
First, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho gets way better after episode 8 or 9 - I came very close to dropping it myself, I had it on hold for a while at episode 8. I picked it back up and I thought it was very, very good. You might want to give that one another shot if you are looking for something to watch.

You mention that you haven't watched any jdramas in a while, so I thought I should recommend the following must-watch: Orange Days, Nagareboshi, Pride, Love Shuffle and Rich Man, Poor Woman. These are all exceptional and listed in the order that I enjoyed them.

SPOILER:
I hate unhappy endings. Missing You has a very happy ending, and it is safe to assume that if it has over an 8 on my list, it probably has a happy and conclusive ending as well.

A Gentleman's Dignity is great - I was skeptical at first because of the age of the main characters, but it turned out to be so good. I think it took more than 4 episodes for me to really be sold on it.

Missing You is very good, but it's also a textbook melodrama. I would say it is fairly close to Secret Love that you have on your favorites as for what to expect, although I didn't really enjoy Secret and I loved Missing You. Missing You may be slightly darker, but it's definitely a tearjerker first and heartwarming second.

The Moon Embracing the Sun is not necessarily what I would classify as "sad" although it definitely has moments (I think all good dramas should.) It's really a story about the strength of eternal love, it may share some aspects of one, but it isn't a tragedy.

I really love this OST

The only flaw this show had for me was that the brother was only beaten up once and didn't die when he jumped. To say I hated him is an understatement.

I absolutely love Toradora, thanks for the suggestion, though! Best kiss scene in any anime I have ever seen.

I truly think Jun Ji Hyun is one of my favorite leads in a very long time. She's so good. I've been a fan of Kim Soo Hyun since Moon Embracing the Sun, and I think they make such a perfect couple.

I'm having the same problem as you. I have such a love/hate relationship with currently airing dramas - it's nice to have something to look forward to every week, but you feel so empty when you finish the new episodes and have to wait another week.

A lot of romance is very feminine and some of it not even I can stomach (You're Beautiful, for instance.) Shounen anime/manga have a very juvenile approach to romance, it's usually only there to show how awesome the main protagonist is - he wins the girl because he saved the world, it's rarely character driven and the girl is typically two-dimensional (ergo she only exists to show that someone loves the main character, outside of him she does not exist.) I don't like that kind of romance, either, because I prefer things that are as close to reality as possible.

I think most guys don't like the fluffy kawaii moments that are associated with romance, but many scripts are so much deeper than that. Don't get me wrong, I love the sweet and intimate moments in dramas the most, but I understand why that wouldn't appeal to every guy. I think something that meets happily in the middle is best

I think it's far less masculine to run from your feelings than embrace them. It's not like guys don't enjoy romance, in fact I'd argue that what most guys don't enjoy is the divisive stranglehold viewership demographics have over the genre. If more shows took a gender neutral approach, it would be much more widely accepted - unfortunately (in western media at least) romance is almost always from a woman's point of view and it's a lot harder to immerse yourself in something that you can't relate to as easily.

I love romance and don't often enjoy a drama/movie if it doesn't have any in it. I've always felt it was the richest human emotion and the one that draws out other emotions the best. And I do think that dramas can heal wounds. It builds you up when you see something touching - if you are connected to yourself emotionally, you come out stronger every time. I firmly believe that.

Love your profile, seems we do feel pretty similarly about dramas. The Moon Embracing the Sun is also my all-time favorite drama, and Nodame Cantabile is one of my all-time favorite animes (haven't completed the drama yet, though.) Thanks for the comment, reading your page left me with a big smile. Hope you have a great day!

Just out of habit I guess

I'm straight, but even I couldn't say no to Kim Soo Hyun

They should just make out at the end of every episode

I don't know if I can handle watching this while it's currently airing - I have been having serious withdrawal on a weekly basis

This drama is outstanding. If you are still on the fence, watch it. Powerhouse performance from Jun Ji Hyun (one of my favorite lead female roles in a while, she is perfect) and Kim Soo Hyun is wonderful as always. I can't recommend this enough: Kim Soo Hyun is badass, Jun Ji Hyun is completely lovable (she transitions from quirky to serious so well) and the romance is so well done. A+++ so far.

I've been single for about a year and half after coming out of a particularly bad relationship - I still write and enjoy the same things whether or not I am seeing someone, it's been pretty deeply ingrained in my personality since I was very young.

I'm sorry to hear that, it's unfortunate that people change over the course of any relationship. A lot of that has to do with complacency, with a certain level of comfort people don't think they need to try anymore. You start taking the other party for granted and you fall out of love (not singling your relationship out by any means, just as a general rule.)

Sometimes the spark comes back, it just needs a little help. I'm really far from an expert on this, though, all of my relationships have crashed and burned pretty hard.

I don't know about putting anything in my profile, but I can share a short one with you. I finished it a few weeks ago and it fits into a comment, so i'll copy and paste it:

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First Kiss
by Aaron Dawson

With the world on my lips, I curl memories
into sound, into whispers, into love.

And I could stare into the rain of your eyes
and drown - silouettes of grey.
A cumbersome grey.

And I could leap into the curve of your smile
and sink - silouettes of grey.
A cumbersome grey.

Yet here I am, I always was
The hourglass of her
fading away.

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The character limit in comments makes it so I have to cut out a lot of my messages, I'm usually fairly long-winded.

I meant to mention that I will finally wrap up Lovers this week. I'll likely focus on finishing up some poems tonight before I fall asleep and start watching the rest tomorrow.