burhaa aadmi

I agree about KES. I've actually only watched 2 of hers because Goblin, DOTS etc have zero interest for me. Because so many of her Dramas are meh or worse (Heirs(), I keep forgetting she also wrote City Hall, which I love. Very, very different to all her later work, well worth a look for those who like me are NOT fans of her work

Awesome article, well done! Thanks too for teaching me that three of all my time favourite Dramas were written by the same person Nogi Akiko - Nigeru Wa Haji, Juhan Shuttai and Okitegamikyouko, all scored at at least 9.5/10 for me, and 2 are on my "10+" list. Thanks to your article, I'll be looking out for more of her work.

Sorry, It's Forest of Secrets (literal Korean name) or Stranger (Netlflix name) Bae Doona is AWESOME, and the quality of writing and acting is superb. The literal name a MUCH better fit than the vague, meaningless "Stranger" too

Thanks, and rest assured you're not alone. The only Netflix Korean Dramas I've really enjoyed are Forest of Secrets1 & 2 (outstanding imo) and Crash Landing On You (despite being a fan of SYJ, I watched more for SJH). I dropped Start Up after 1 episode.

And that's why I didn't present it as all good or all bad because ultimately, it's a business, and it's their livelihood. It is nothing more than entertainment for me, but for those involved in the industry, it's much, much more than that. Certainly if the involvement of Netflix, Hulu et al leads to an increase in cast AND crews actually getting PAID for what they do, that's a VERY good thing

Thanks for your kind words. Change really is the only constant, and I guess that's true of our personal tastes, too. I too now have a backlog of C Dramas to clear, along with many J Dramas, and even a few K Dramas I'm hoping will entertain me

Yes, I believe you're correct about CLOY being at least partly live shot. IIRC they pre-filmed some episodes, then live shot the rest. The toll it takes on actors (often publicised) and crew (often NOT) is the main reason why I hate the practice and hope it dies. It saddens me when people defend it for reasons that totally ignore the human toll it takes - like having actors and crews working in temperatures well below -10C throughout the night.

Thanks for your very thoughtful response. I'm pleased to see my article given such attention. A couple of small replies: The header image doesn't show K Dramas trailing J Dramas, it shows my journey from K to J - a series of footprints going from right to left. A very well-chosen graphic by my invaluable mentor Cho Na.

As for the why there was so little about J Doramas, that was mostly fear about writing too long an article. This was my first article for MDL, although it was published second. I had no idea what was an acceptable length, so limited myself to a paragraph that summed up my impressions of the J Doramas I have seen.

Similarly, you ask why I didn't go into details about the differences between Vincenzo and An Innocent Man. The main reasons were again, concerns about the length of the article also the fact that judging from what I've seen of MDL membership it's very possible MANY here have not seen a Drama from 2012. It would be impossible to give a detailed comparison without going into spoilers, so once again, Cho Na very deftly summed up my perceptions of the differences in the image of SJK.

As to " not any convincing reasons why you prefer J-dramas (e.g. you've stated J-dramas had a wider genre" - THAT is the reason I've come to prefer J doramas, as I stated in my article. I've come to prefer them because more of them suit my tastes.

Finally, I want to say again how grateful I am that you and so many others have shared your reactions. My article was clearly an opinion piece, stated as such, and inviting others to reply with their own opinions. My experience of all East Asian Drama is limited by my personal viewing tastes, as mentioned in the article. I only watch content that I consider entertaining, so my opinions will necessarily be shaped by those choices. Others who watch more broadly will likely reach different conclusions, and that's great. I wrote the article hoping to trigger discussion, not as a presentation of immutable fact, so it's a joy to see the discussion continuing.

That is VERY kind, thank you, so glad you enjoyed it

Thanks for replying, That is impressive - most people are bored comatose by my tastes😴🤣

Thanks for reading! On the matter of language, I tell all my friends who are L1 speakers of Korean or Mandarin that I am fluent in "Drama Korean", which I define as "phrases that will get you punched if you try them on a random stranger in the street" especially saranghae/wo ai ni etc. 🤣

Thanks for your kind words, Matt. Your influence has been far from small. Enhancing my personal database with genre info is next on my todo list for better stats - you got me hooked! 🤣🤣

Thank you! Especially for this "A good author has a coherent vision of their story, and the bean counters shouldn't interfere with that" - I agree 1000%!

Of course, the bean counters interfere in all creative endeavours since at least the Renaissance, but any time the creator is allowed to keep at least MOST of their vision intact, the results are vastly superior.

Very true! That's why I mentioned "improved (but still bad) working conditions" It is one thing I think all K Dramas can be grateful for, that the involvement of companies like Netflix have taken some of the worst edges off the brutal production process. Not out of altruism of course, but because as global corporations, they're concerned about their global PR image.

I doubt I could do justice to it, my viewing preferences are too narrow, and my writing skills too poor. It would be great if someone more knowledgable and more skilled than I took this concept and enhanced the delivery in a followup, that's for sure

Thank you! Your final paragraph nicely sums up the dilemma, very well summarised

Thanks for reading! I tried to keep the article to a manageable length so I focused more on the impact of Western media giants on the content being produced, an influence which is more noticeable in the K Dramas I watch (or see news about) than the J doramas I watch. As for why J doramas have broad international appeal despite not even trying, I have no idea. Although the number of J doramas that are adapted from manga suggests you may very well be right in crediting the global appeal of anime as having an influence👍

Yes, that's a fair summary of the process, thanks. Other thnigs that live shooting allows which damage the quality of the Drama are reacting to viewer ratings by either cutting or adding episodes - both can really hurt the the end quality. Much, much worse though, is the damage done to the human beings who made Dramas under those conditions. Exhaustion hypothermia, hospitalisation and the standard use of IVs to keep actors sufficiently functional to perform all routine parts of the lvie shooting system.

Live shooting is pretty much advil described it. It was not uncommon for actors to receive scripts minutes before shooting an episode started, which obviously doesn't make for great acting. Worse though is the physical toll it took on actors and especially crews - 20 hour days were the norm on such sets (and may still not be uncommon, though now being illegal)

Thanks for your kind words and the update on the growing influence of US English features into J doramas too, very much appreciated!