Agree with everything you said here!! I do think k-dramas getting a "boom" and starting to cater more to typically Western tastes made them drop a lot in quality, at least in my personal opinion. And yeah, the "traditional" romantic storylines and clichés can start to get a bit boring to someone who's been watching for a while. A lot of people I know who started watching k-dramas after they got popular here in Brazil (mostly because of investments fro Netflix) LOVE shows like Business Proposal, which I find... ok, at most, and boring at worst. Also, I've been absolutely craving some thriller/mystery dramas. Where have they gone??
To be honest, at the same time I'm happy that k-dramas have gotten more popular, I'm also a bit upset about it. Not only does it seem like their storylines and production are changing, there's other issues as well. Something that has been terribly annoying to me since around mid-2021 (the time Brazilian Netflix started investing more in the K industry) is that dramas are often released MONTHS late compared to the rest of the world because Netflix wants to dub them first. I still remember the fierce disappointment I felt when after waiting more than a year for Hospital Playlist 2, when the day of release finally came, I anxiously waited for episode 1 to appear on my profile and then it simply... didn't. I watched everyone else talking about it, I waited and waited and waited, but the release simply didn't happen. I remember being so angry, and then it only went downhill after that, because Netflix decided to do this with EVERY SINGLE DRAMA they released. What's worst is that they still released by the weekly format, but they started doing that months after the drama has started everywhere else. To me, one of the most fun parts of following an airing drama has always been going online and talking about new episodes with people from the same communities as me, and I was extremely pissed off when that was suddenly taken from me and I had to watch everyone else talking about episodes I'd still take months to watch. Eventually, I found out how to stream from... other sources, before I absolutely went insane lol, but that doesn't make me hate Netflix any less for what they did. Aren't they capable of dubbing dramas later? And why do they have to dub every single one in the first place?
Anyway, rant over hahaha, I just seriously hope this trend of "westernizing" dramas doesn't start consuming the entire industry, and that some new, fresh dramas start being produced more frequently again.
Edit: After reading some comments, I'd like to clarify that when I mention the concept of (popular) k-dramas being more and more "westernized", I am most definitely not talking about violence, nudity, or sex, nor am I wishing we'd return to "ye olden days" of abusive MLs, personality-less FLs and tired tropes. I am talking about other things that personally made k-dramas (and other types of Asian drama, actually, but we're focusing on Korean ones here) unique to me, including but not limited to format, humor, pacing, and the way emotions are dealth with and focused on. Also, I am aware that there's still many good and original dramas coming out, but I'd still say that everything mentioned here has been a trend with mass-produced, popular dramas at least.
I decided to watch this again because of Park Bo Young as Do Bong Soon. My memory is correct. She is excellent.…
no really. just came back to finish this drama (i'd stopped on episode 13 two years ago and only resumed it now lol) and the only thing i can think of is that both male leads are really annoying and bong soon deserves better than them. i can remember i already disliked the SML when i was initially watching this, but i didn't remember disliking the ML this much as well.
To be honest, at the same time I'm happy that k-dramas have gotten more popular, I'm also a bit upset about it. Not only does it seem like their storylines and production are changing, there's other issues as well. Something that has been terribly annoying to me since around mid-2021 (the time Brazilian Netflix started investing more in the K industry) is that dramas are often released MONTHS late compared to the rest of the world because Netflix wants to dub them first. I still remember the fierce disappointment I felt when after waiting more than a year for Hospital Playlist 2, when the day of release finally came, I anxiously waited for episode 1 to appear on my profile and then it simply... didn't. I watched everyone else talking about it, I waited and waited and waited, but the release simply didn't happen. I remember being so angry, and then it only went downhill after that, because Netflix decided to do this with EVERY SINGLE DRAMA they released. What's worst is that they still released by the weekly format, but they started doing that months after the drama has started everywhere else. To me, one of the most fun parts of following an airing drama has always been going online and talking about new episodes with people from the same communities as me, and I was extremely pissed off when that was suddenly taken from me and I had to watch everyone else talking about episodes I'd still take months to watch. Eventually, I found out how to stream from... other sources, before I absolutely went insane lol, but that doesn't make me hate Netflix any less for what they did. Aren't they capable of dubbing dramas later? And why do they have to dub every single one in the first place?
Anyway, rant over hahaha, I just seriously hope this trend of "westernizing" dramas doesn't start consuming the entire industry, and that some new, fresh dramas start being produced more frequently again.
Edit: After reading some comments, I'd like to clarify that when I mention the concept of (popular) k-dramas being more and more "westernized", I am most definitely not talking about violence, nudity, or sex, nor am I wishing we'd return to "ye olden days" of abusive MLs, personality-less FLs and tired tropes. I am talking about other things that personally made k-dramas (and other types of Asian drama, actually, but we're focusing on Korean ones here) unique to me, including but not limited to format, humor, pacing, and the way emotions are dealth with and focused on. Also, I am aware that there's still many good and original dramas coming out, but I'd still say that everything mentioned here has been a trend with mass-produced, popular dramas at least.