Lee Yo Won is definitely an exception. Her role in Ms. Temper & Nam Jung Gi was also a strong, independent woman…
Yep, she always to pick TRULY strong female roles, characters who need a man like a fish needs a bicycle. Ms Temper another great example. As was her role in Running Mates.
Please forgive the second reply, but felt your two points deserved equal attention. Everything you said about SLS was right on the money - in the overwhelming majority of cases, the "nice" second lead is a passive-aggressive borderline stalker. One example that springs to mind for me is the swimmer in "A Love So Beautiful" - I absolutely HATED his character for most of the show, because of his stalkerish and increasingly aggressive refusal to take no for an answer, to, as you so indightfully put it, give the FL agency by respecting her choice. Out of nearly 400 East Asian Dramas, I've only had SLS 4-5 times I think, time to go back and see if any of them were REALLY "nice guys", which requires being 'nice' enough to be "a good loser" :)
LOVED your analysis. Especially this comment "...supposed to be skilled in martial arts but loses this ability during the critical moment." - I don't even LIKE violence, but it angered me greatly when female characters were "kickass" until they needed to be "rescued". This was doubly aggravating when the character was played by an actor who in real life is highly adept in one or more martial arts. The followup comment about female business leads never seeing actually doing business, made me think of Lee Yo Won, who shone in the very opposite role, a true CEO in Empire of Gold, and again in White Nights. I dropped Suspicious Partner very early because I saw no signs of real agency being given to FL.
If she was forced or coerced in any way to do so I agree. If, on the other hand, it was her choice and what she…
I do find it interesting that they decided to "date with a view to marriage" only after the SP, which dealt A LOT on Japan's regressive attiudes to and treatment of women. The whole "we won't marry until I can keep my name" bit, for example. I like to think that this may indicate the two of them had serious conversations about what they both wanted from life going forward I stress again that I obviously have zero knowledge of their situation, but a woman in her early thirties who's spent half her life in showbiz deciding its time for a change is not unheard of even in cultures that are more accepting of female independence. Because they're a cute couple, I hope this is true here :)
Wow what a surprise! congrats to them. Does this mean she's retiring? I really hope not.
I don't think any of us here want her to retire, but apparently it was announced that she is doing one more project, the 2022 taiga with Oguri Shun, then retiring. By then she'll be 33-34, and she may well have decided that 17 years in the pressure cooker entertainment world is enough and that it will then be time for a change of direction, perhaps including motherhood for real. As long it truly is her choice, I wish her well.
it is ridiculous that women are expected to lead a "modest" life after getting married. She was a good actor (only…
If she was forced or coerced in any way to do so I agree. If, on the other hand, it was her choice and what she wanted to do, as it is for some women, then I support her right to make whatever choice makes her happy. Since I don't know either of them personally, I'm not going to make an assumption either way
What an awesome list! And between the main list and your honorable mentions, so MANY of my all time faves. Seeing the awesome Averngers in your list makes me wonder if you've watched other Lee Yo Won dramas - she owns alpha female roles, and Night Light effectively has a female OTP.
This new did make me squee like the brony I am, but I'm perhaps just a leeetle bit sad that she's apparently retiring after next year's taiga - no Okitegamikyouko no Bibouroku S2 :(
I'm curious why you say the Korean version offers, and I quote, "more of a realistic rural life". I quite liked the Korean movie, it compressed the source material quite well, but I still preferred the J movies, and definitely found it very realistic.
221 Dramas in 365 days is VERY impressive, especially since you "only binge-watch, one drama at a time" That's nearly 2 dramas every 3 days for the entire year, without counting the 83 movies. That makes me feel MUCH better about my own FFing, because you must have watched many of them at like 8X :)
Still huge and not sad 27 is still a young twenties :)
What saddens me is smallmindedness, petty-mindedness and plain fuzzy thinking. All of which are on display when people rant against age gaps. People who fixate on age gaps between actors is that those people who get upset by it are ignoring a very important fact: They are fixating on the age gap between ACTORS. If the CHARACTERS have that gap, then perhaps the arguments (specious though I find them) against age gaps may have some faint shreds of validity. But if a 27 year old actor is playing opposite a 37 year old actor and their CHARACTERS are similar age, then to get upset by the fact that the ACTORS are of different ages is as stupid and absurd as complaining that an actor who plays a neurosurgeon is not ACTUALLY able to perform brain surgery.
Kim Go Eun and Jin Han in a Chinese romantic action drama. She speaks Mandarin.
"She speaks Mandarin" So do all those L1 Mandarin speakers whose voices still get dubbed over - it's sadly very unlikely her voice would be left undubbed.
I just have to say what an absolute JOY it is to FINALLY be experiencing this again "The Torture of Waiting for the Next Episode to Air" - Watching orest of Secrets 2 as it airs and it's the first time in YEARS that I've been edgy and irritable because I have no more episodes available this week! Such sweet pain!
1 
1 
I stress again that I obviously have zero knowledge of their situation, but a woman in her early thirties who's spent half her life in showbiz deciding its time for a change is not unheard of even in cultures that are more accepting of female independence. Because they're a cute couple, I hope this is true here :)
http://koalasplayground.com/2021/05/20/j-ent-losing-collective-minds-over-new-report-that-aragaki-yui-will-retire-after-getting-married-with-one-final-project-the-2022-taiga-headlined-by-oguri-shun/
People who fixate on age gaps between actors is that those people who get upset by it are ignoring a very important fact: They are fixating on the age gap between ACTORS. If the CHARACTERS have that gap, then perhaps the arguments (specious though I find them) against age gaps may have some faint shreds of validity. But if a 27 year old actor is playing opposite a 37 year old actor and their CHARACTERS are similar age, then to get upset by the fact that the ACTORS are of different ages is as stupid and absurd as complaining that an actor who plays a neurosurgeon is not ACTUALLY able to perform brain surgery.