Not really, no. Some of the plotlines wouldn't be out of place in a makjang but it's played more as a dark comedy with a bit of thriller/mystery (so far)
Ooo, fun discussion! 1- I feel the same but in a different way! I don't mind long episodes, but I notice I enjoy shorter episode counts. The writing feels tighter somehow, or at least leaves me wanting more
3- The Fish Lips kiss! Hate 'em, they're so uncomfortable and awkward. Also it always feels like a way to avoid the FL initiating a romance and I hate how passive it makes them.
4- This one I'm on the fence about. I don't mind it as much if it's a) introduced early, and b) relevant to the plot/themes or at least affects the characters somehow. But it's definitely overused rn and often clunky in execution. There seems to be a weird obsession with first loves that I just don't get tbh
5- Similar to 4, I don't have an issue with tropes/clichés because they're kinda the gears stories turn on but they certainly can be badly executed or overused. Although wrist-grabbing can be banished to the shadow realm ugh
Interesting article! I think there are a lot of fine lines at play as well but shirtless scenes have always made me uncomfortable.
I wonder if part of it for me is how they're almost always private moments (shower/dressing scenes) or wardrobe malfunctions? I think I'd be a bit more comfortable if it was something like a playful character actively showing off to impress somebody. It'd also be slightly more character-relevant then.
And certainly outside of the show, people need to respect actor privacies and personal lives regardless of gender >:(
Can someone please just explain this drama. Like I've watched all 6 EPs but I actually don't have a clue what…
I'm going longwinded but from what I gathered:
The school was built on the old site of a pond where a lot of murder/suicide happened and now there's something about the pond which produces energy, draws people in, and kills them/causes them to kill themselves. The pond's referred to as a breathing hole and Hye-min compares it to somebody hungry which implies it's some level of alive but it's never explained exactly what it is. It's got a body count though so the pond was filled in and sealed with the stone but at some point In-pyo's grandfather comes along and decides to try to channel that energy for gain. Which somehow involves building a school and lots of laughing. Worth noting that In-pyo's grandfather actually seems to have been the founder of HSP/ Safe Happiness but at some point seems to have kept his school dealings separate from the current HSP.
I missed a lot on the actual philosophy of HSP but it seems to be a borderline cult that intends to harness spirit/jellies for various levels of gain, and most of the faculty (including english teacher MacKenzie) seem to be a part of HSP. It's also sorta implied that Eun-young was involved with HSP at some point but left on less than friendly terms. When In-pyo's grandfather dies, HSP wants to make moves on the school/basement for personal gain.
Ilgwang Sterilization is actually Hwa-su's work, and is supposed to be in charge of spiritually cleaning the basement. However, they also have interests in controlling the basement for their own gain. When In-pyo's grandfather dies, they lose access to the basement because of HSP but Hwa-su manipulates Eun-young into working as a school nurse there. Eun-young then (unintentionally and unaware) takes over Ilgwang's work.
HSP and Ilgwang seem to have fought over the Busan fish pond in the past as well, although HSP seems to have won that and drained the pond. They seem to have ended up in a stalemate over the school basement because to truly control the basement you need In-pyo and his forcefield aura apparently. For some reason. (Also why MacKenzie was makin' moves on In-pyo presumably).
In the last episodes, as Eun-young learns everything, she feels the best way to protect the students and get unstuck between two warring factions is to just unseal the pond and destroy the school. However the blast of spiritual energy (?) seems to heal the blemish she got from MacKenzie's plant (which seemed to have been responsible her disappearing powers). Thus the returning powers. A lot of the ending is very open but after removing HSP faculty and the weird laughing exercises, it seems like Eun-young and In-pyo feel they can handle the school between the two of them.
Thank you for joining the conversation! Indeed, precisely because the comment sections can sometimes be so unforgiving…
Oo, yes, I'll have to check "The Last Empress" out then! I'd love to see more of that with FLs and 2FLs. I remember I wasn't big on the romance in "I Hear Your Voice" but I loved that the FL and 2FL's 's antagonistic relationship was about each other (not even a ML) and eventually developed into a friendly petty rivalry of sorts.
I like the idea of restricting user tags until a certain point, especially since there'd still be the synopsis and genre tags for general info! Early reviews are frustrating too and while I think there's arguably some value in a review by someone who's dropped a show, I also wonder why reviews aren't closed until later as well. Viki is terrible in that regard too but I suppose at least they have the excuse of not having the individual episode function.
Thank you for joining the conversation! Indeed, precisely because the comment sections can sometimes be so unforgiving…
Good point about cold secondary female leads, I hadn't thought of that! I'm so worn out of antagonistic secondary female leads though lol
I like your idea of having measurable tags too. That might help wrangle some of the weirder "thematic" tags as well (what *does* misunderstanding mean? "Death" is one of higher tags in my stats but I have no idea what it means either.)
Completely agree that inconsistent character writing/ time frame that you tag could really influence the tags as well. I know even some of my favorite dramas are guilty of shoving the FL into a victim position by less than the half way point (I had such hopes for Alice though...). Maybe measurable tags with percentage prerequisites could also buffer against that? People seem pretty tag-happy though so that might be overly optimistic.
Woooooo that's a lotta data! Overall I'm pleased to see how positive the tags are in general. Although the comments sections never seem to be nearly as kind. I think you're right there's a ton of subjectivity when it comes to tagging too— different definitions (like for "strong") as well as interpreting tags as negative/positive. Like for example, I'm actually usually interested in a drama tagged with a "Cold" female lead! Maybe like you mentioned, partially because of other more positive character traits associated with them (like intelligent/smart) but also I think because then they're less likely to be the ones doing all the emotional labor in the romance? Which is nice to see sometimes.
I am absolutely interested in seeing more successful female leads though
Just my two cents, but I'd say no because it's fictional media. Especially if you're thinking critically like…
Completely agree, and I may have to check Extracurricular out based on that! Amazing article by the way— really fun graphics and the stats breakdown is great food for thought.
Thank you for the article. Very well written and illustrated. Bravo!Hence the question: by watching Kdramas, do…
Just my two cents, but I'd say no because it's fictional media. Especially if you're thinking critically like "This scenario works because it's fluffy fiction wherein it's established they lurve each other Forever but in real life it'd be an unbalanced and unhealthy set up." you're probably doing just fine. Of course, how well the show pulls it off is also always up for criticism! And it'd be nice to see more shows reverse the rich-male/poor-female set up too
credit for the subs of course go to douqi.blog :)
(edit: douqi also has the links fixed on her carrd site! see kdoramalama's updated comment)
1- I feel the same but in a different way! I don't mind long episodes, but I notice I enjoy shorter episode counts. The writing feels tighter somehow, or at least leaves me wanting more
3- The Fish Lips kiss! Hate 'em, they're so uncomfortable and awkward. Also it always feels like a way to avoid the FL initiating a romance and I hate how passive it makes them.
4- This one I'm on the fence about. I don't mind it as much if it's a) introduced early, and b) relevant to the plot/themes or at least affects the characters somehow. But it's definitely overused rn and often clunky in execution. There seems to be a weird obsession with first loves that I just don't get tbh
5- Similar to 4, I don't have an issue with tropes/clichés because they're kinda the gears stories turn on but they certainly can be badly executed or overused. Although wrist-grabbing can be banished to the shadow realm ugh
I wonder if part of it for me is how they're almost always private moments (shower/dressing scenes) or wardrobe malfunctions? I think I'd be a bit more comfortable if it was something like a playful character actively showing off to impress somebody. It'd also be slightly more character-relevant then.
And certainly outside of the show, people need to respect actor privacies and personal lives regardless of gender >:(
The school was built on the old site of a pond where a lot of murder/suicide happened and now there's something about the pond which produces energy, draws people in, and kills them/causes them to kill themselves. The pond's referred to as a breathing hole and Hye-min compares it to somebody hungry which implies it's some level of alive but it's never explained exactly what it is. It's got a body count though so the pond was filled in and sealed with the stone but at some point In-pyo's grandfather comes along and decides to try to channel that energy for gain. Which somehow involves building a school and lots of laughing. Worth noting that In-pyo's grandfather actually seems to have been the founder of HSP/ Safe Happiness but at some point seems to have kept his school dealings separate from the current HSP.
I missed a lot on the actual philosophy of HSP but it seems to be a borderline cult that intends to harness spirit/jellies for various levels of gain, and most of the faculty (including english teacher MacKenzie) seem to be a part of HSP. It's also sorta implied that Eun-young was involved with HSP at some point but left on less than friendly terms. When In-pyo's grandfather dies, HSP wants to make moves on the school/basement for personal gain.
Ilgwang Sterilization is actually Hwa-su's work, and is supposed to be in charge of spiritually cleaning the basement. However, they also have interests in controlling the basement for their own gain. When In-pyo's grandfather dies, they lose access to the basement because of HSP but Hwa-su manipulates Eun-young into working as a school nurse there. Eun-young then (unintentionally and unaware) takes over Ilgwang's work.
HSP and Ilgwang seem to have fought over the Busan fish pond in the past as well, although HSP seems to have won that and drained the pond. They seem to have ended up in a stalemate over the school basement because to truly control the basement you need In-pyo and his forcefield aura apparently. For some reason. (Also why MacKenzie was makin' moves on In-pyo presumably).
In the last episodes, as Eun-young learns everything, she feels the best way to protect the students and get unstuck between two warring factions is to just unseal the pond and destroy the school. However the blast of spiritual energy (?) seems to heal the blemish she got from MacKenzie's plant (which seemed to have been responsible her disappearing powers). Thus the returning powers. A lot of the ending is very open but after removing HSP faculty and the weird laughing exercises, it seems like Eun-young and In-pyo feel they can handle the school between the two of them.
I like the idea of restricting user tags until a certain point, especially since there'd still be the synopsis and genre tags for general info! Early reviews are frustrating too and while I think there's arguably some value in a review by someone who's dropped a show, I also wonder why reviews aren't closed until later as well. Viki is terrible in that regard too but I suppose at least they have the excuse of not having the individual episode function.
I like your idea of having measurable tags too. That might help wrangle some of the weirder "thematic" tags as well (what *does* misunderstanding mean? "Death" is one of higher tags in my stats but I have no idea what it means either.)
Completely agree that inconsistent character writing/ time frame that you tag could really influence the tags as well. I know even some of my favorite dramas are guilty of shoving the FL into a victim position by less than the half way point (I had such hopes for Alice though...). Maybe measurable tags with percentage prerequisites could also buffer against that? People seem pretty tag-happy though so that might be overly optimistic.
I am absolutely interested in seeing more successful female leads though