burhaa aadmi

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!

Fascinating article, thank you! Such an amazing amount of work put into gather, collating and presenting the data for your article, bringing to life a a very interesting topic. I was pleased to see that when it comes to checking how it ends before starting, the most common response was the one I'd have gone with "depends on mood". For example I've seen many people rave about "Something Happened in Bali" without any mention of the way ended ( a LONG way from definition 1), but I'm pleased I did know beforehand. And the excellent "Damo" actually opens episode 1 with its closing scene, so viewers know straight way whether the Drama fits their own definition of a happy ending. I think your closing screencap is the perfect example of an ending that can be described as happy because of feeling right for the story and the characters, well done!

Yes, I think that would be the dream - J content that stays true to itself AND makes subs available freely through properly licenced channels.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. It was of course, just an opinion piece, the intensity of some of the reacions a nice reminder of how much Dramas matter to many. I guess my predilection for J Dramas might be made easier by the fact that kind of stories I enjoy watching are less reliant on the high production value "gloss" that modern K Dramas unquestionably deliver well.

Thanks for your comment - I was especially interested in your comment about the asadora, as I'm about to start watching my first asadora shortly. I've heard good things about the emotional depth in Okaeri Mone, looking forward to checking it out

It's interesting that you mentioned Prison Playbook as feeling Americanised. A Korean friend of mine who does not watch K Dramas urged me to watch it because he enjoyed it as a very authentic depiction of Korean prison life. He said it reminded him of his 2 years in a Korean prison

And you made my day by your kind reply, thank you🙏

I am definitely not a fan of makjang, I guess it depends on how one defines "old", but most of the K Dramas I enjoyed would probably be considered "Old" by many MDL users, being from the early 2010s, and none of my faves from that time are makjang in the standard defintion of that word