burhaa aadmi

I was not told, sorry. Someone in a very good position to know passed on that MCW was taking a break to look after her health, without going into specifics.

An interesting introduction to a couple of actresses I was not familiar with, thanks! Like some other commenters, I can't accept 2020 as the "breakout year" for Moon Chae Wo, because her career and reputation were already well-established long before last year. If anything, 20TEN, not 2020 was her breakout year, with War of the Arrows establishing her acting credentials in a successful movie, followed up the next year with a Drama that is still highly praised, The Princess' Man. Having had to take a couple of years off due to serious ilnness is probably the main reason so many viewers who are newer to K East Asian entertainment may think of her as less well known, and consider FoE as her breakout, when it was really her comeback

Absurdly young prodigies are real, like the Belgian 8yo who's considering Oxford, Cambridge and others at the moment https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-01/belgian-8-year-old-to-start-university/9928762

My big issue with K Drama geniuses is the gender. I've completed 257 K Dramas and dropped 72, and of those only TWO featured genuine genius FEMALE leads. In K Dramas, see the word "genius" in a synopsis, you know it's a guy. 😡🤬

I've been a fan of KJW since Coffee Prince. Krystal I've found underwhelming overall - My Lovely Girl was a comatose snoozefest, and I barely remember her in Prison Playbook. BUT, I did like her performance in Player, so maybe it's just a matter of her finding the right material that suits. Hopefully this one will be that sort of a drama.

Indeed. I didn't MIND the romance in the K Drama original, but even then felt the story would have been stronger without it. Japan to the rescue. :)

EXCELLENT article, thanks! Grateful for the heads up about Radiation House, too. Without having seen the J version, totally agree that Good Doctor would be better without romance, so that's a plus.

"Okitegami Kyoko" SIGH! I gave this one 9.5, eventually- I think I gave it 8.5 the first time I watched it, 9 the second, and 9.5 the third time. The ending IS perfect, but it's a tribute to this awesome Drama that out of the nearly 400 East Asian Dramas I've finished, it's one of fewer than 5 that I really WANTED a second season of. THANK YOU for putting this amazing piece of work at the top of this list.

Thanks for the review, and for the clear distinction between viewers new to K Dramas and those more experienced. I'm going to take more note of how long a reviewer has been watching East Asian Dramas from now on, all the "everything's 9/10" reviews do tend to come from the newly addicted. :)

THANK YOU! I have just started this one, but the manipulation and deceit of the ML in the first 2 eps is as romantic as DIY dentistry, and considerably less attractive. I always value "contrarian" reviews because they show someone taking the time to analyse and express their reaction. On a positive note note, a comment about:
"Alas drama world dictates that no two women, be it in love or career, can occupy the same space and time unless its to be rivals." - you may want to consider checking out The Arc of Lfe, a TW Drama from 2020 that sets up what looks like a love triangle, but isn't

Thanks for taking the time to share this! Our tastes are very different, but I'm grateful for the reminder to check out "Move to Heaven", the only one on this list that is on my "Plan to Watch" list not my "Not Interested" list. :)

Here's another, a 5-part web Drama starring Seo in Guk and Wang Ji Won, Another Parting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgozRplVEl4

That's interesting. I've just checked the listed airing dates for 20 randomly selected J-doramas of the 61 I've completed, (1 out of 3) with airing years from 2011 to 2020, and not one of them took any longer than 3 months. 19 of the 20 took no more than 1 or 2 weeks more than 1 episode per week, so most lasted 8-10 weeks. The 'worst' was Aquarium Girl, which lasted almost 11 weeks for only 7 episodes. Unless MDL and Dramawiki both haves all the airing dates wrong, of course.

Just curious, why do you say watching J dorams as they air is as bad as TW? Excluding taigas and asadoras, Japan makes the shortest Dramas of them all, 10-12 episodes with a run time of around 10 hours, that's half the run time of even 16-ep K Drama, and 3 or 4 J doramas could air in the same period as 1 40-50 ep C Drama

SO happy to see the amazing Song Young Kyu at the top of your list. His voice is just ❤❤❤

I absolutely LOVE the rooftop room you used as header pic! If I had a single Won for every Drama it's been in I could probably rent it! 😂 It was central to my very first 50 episode weekender, My Daughter Seo Young, so has a special place in my Drama heart ❤

A VERY interesting article again. Thanks again for all the amazing time and effort put into preparing such a comprehensive and professionally presented pair of lists. And kudos for including one Drama I'd not heard before, "Please Don't Hate Him"

A very much higher proportions of drops and avoided for me on this list. Lots of "meh", quite a few "ugh!" plenty of "hard pass" and 3-4 faves (QIHM, FCJMA, MOLS, Splash Splash Love), along with my first ever drop (Pasta) and one of VERY few Dramas I hate enough to this day to want to smash stuff in rage just thinking about it, even years later - Full House. 😁

There are no English subs on the the tvN D Site

Thanks for the rec for Tori Girl, sounds interesting. I agree with your view of Her Private Life too, that was fun. A little surprised to see no mention of City Hall even in the comments, a Drama that, imo, avoids the toxicity you astutely observe is often part of this trope.

Ah, thanks!

I skipped all of those Dramas except Angry Mom, so I thought I'd see what line you chose but I don't see a quote fro it in your article?

Can I just say again that I was AWESTRUCK by the amount of work you put into this amazing piece. Someone complained about the lack of opinion, but for me, the focus on facts was one of the BEST bits. Besides the mindblowing attention to detail and the endless hours it must have taken. I would MUCH rather read this list than one of the VERY common articles here that gush about Dramas with 50 million screenshots. I know that all these are Dramas you did enjoy, but instead of forcing that on your readers, you laid out the details and invited all of us to pick and choose and make up our own minds. And as someone who over the last eight years already HAS made up his mind on all but 2-3 of the Dramas in this list, I say, THANK YOU, it's 1000% DAEBAK!