burhaa aadmi

Thanks for your reply. Once I settled on 1000 watchers as my cutoff, that did pretty much guarantee the majority would be J. If I'd gone with low review numbers instead, I could have included a few more K Dramas, but as you say, in terms of raw viewership, KDramas are the overwhelming majority. Even for me, as my profile pic illustrates :)

I think the most important thing to remember is that Dramas are entertainment. Watching them and discussing them is supposed to entertain us, bring us pleasure. Many find GREAT joy in the big name well known Dramas, their enthusiasm for them is understandable.

Thanks for reading! It is VERY hard, to find Japanese Dramas subbed.

Thank you! I hope you enjoy the experience of trying something new, even if they end up not being to your taste.

Thanks for your kind words. "Yeah That's How It Is" had VERY low ratings, single digits iirc, almost unheard of for a weekend Drama. It was made during a time when SBS had pledged "No makjang", and I think the low ratings were part of the reason SBS abandoned that pledge with the Drama that followed it :)

THank you! If one person finds one Drama they enjoy from this list, I will be happy. 🙂

I didn't use the word "underrated" in my article because it is subjective, but in my personal opinion, you're absolutely right 😁

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. I did watch S2 of Neko Zamurai, but it made less of an impression on me, I can't recall it as clearly. It is great that we can all find Dramas we enjoy, whatever our preferences

That is right, but the impact of their contribution was so significant that I consider them to be a co-writer

Thanks, it was a joy to collaborate with the experienced and talented Cho Na in sharing this. 🙂

" a medical suspense series that will punish people who believe they exist" LOL! Doesn't EVERYONE "believe they exist"? Descartes' "cogito ergo sum" is pretty universal, I'd have thought.

She did get sick, and looked quite fragile and unwell for a while in 2017-2018. It's great that she's healthy and active again.

Yes, I've sen it often, but haven't heard such wonderfully catchy name for it. Go Go Squid was FULL of it, from ep 1 to the end.

Excellent, thanks. BTW, I absolutely LOVE your phrase "Government PPL" - it made me smile. 😀

It's about suspension of disbelief. I know that when I'm watching a drama about violinists the actors are most likely not going to be very good. I don't play any musical instruments at all, but having watched a lot of TwoSet Violin reviews of violin playing in dramas, especially C-dramas, I now know that the dramas don't even try to depict violin playing, and musicality in general, with any degree of authenticity. It's especially a problem when the player is supposed to be at a genius level, and the viewer knows that in fact they are awful. That takes me out of the drama, it breaks my sense of immersion. I had the same problem with "Do You Like Brahms?" I tried to watch it but it was supposed to be all about music and music students, and there was just so much that was laughably wrong about it, that I couldn't get engaged with the characters. That's why I asked how prominent actual violin playing is in this drama. The less we see of it, the easier it will be for me to ignore.

VERY interesting and helpful review, thanks! I have it on my PTW, now I will be better prepared thanks to your carefully crafted review. A question about the violin playing - is there much? Watching TwoSet violin shred basically EVERY Drama that features violin playing has made a bit cautious about starting them. I the actual amount of screentime devoted to playing the violin is small, I can probably ignore it/suspsend disbelief/skip it.

"I have seen anecdotal evidence that would suggest actresses get treated differently than actors, often to their detriment." as have I, and more than anecdotal in one specific case. Perhaps my slightly idiosyncratic preference for the phrase "female actor" made part of my comment less clear than would have been optimal. If so, I apologise. A civil exchange of (not so very) different opinions with mutual respect is refreshing, in no small part because it is sadly rare these days.

An excellent point about the distinction between antagonist and villain. I had scanned my watchlist and realised not many had villains, although most had antagonists. As for question 6, having been watching Dramas for 8 years, and having worked in market research for nearly 30 years, I personally thought it opened with "a truth universally acknowledged". Certainly the world of East Asian SNS is infamous for being savage toward female actors who play villain/antagonist characters to the point where some have had to close their SNS accounts or make them private because of abuse from fans whose grasp of the concept of "acting" leaves much to be desired

I dropped it. I have more Dramas to watch and books to read than I have years left to live, so I'm getting ruthless - grab me in 4 -6 or bye bye 🙅‍♂️

Actually, this is one of the main reasons I *MUCH* prefer the K version to the TW original. In the K Version Se Ra was portrayed much more sympathetically than in the original. In the original, the harm she inflicted on the FL was shown to be calculated and deliberate, without remorse. In the K version, the same harm was inflicted, but not intentionally, and Se Ra was appropriately guilty about what she did. It also helps that the actor portraying Se Ra in the K version really WAS a ballerina, making her character more believable.