parasbhanot

You’ve captured the idea, but unfortunately this kind of emergent love does not translate cleanly into the rom-com genre.

Take The Glory as an example. The romance develops gradually over the course of sixteen episodes. Much of it remains in the background, understated rather than forced, which is why by the final episode it feels natural and earned. It was not inserted as a central gimmick . it was patiently built.

Emergent love can take many forms: storge (familial love), philia (friendship), eros (romantic love), and agape (selfless or unconditional love). This is portrayed beautifully in My Mister, where the monk’s love for his former lover has evolved beyond romance into something deeper and more compassionate.

Rom-coms, by contrast, usually remain confined to romantic love or occasionally parental affection. They rarely explore the wider emotional spectrum, which is why they often fail to leave the same profound impact. Another strong example of emergent love is the bond between military personnel relationships forged through loyalty, sacrifice, and shared hardship. Yet this kind of connection is seldom explored in rom-coms, where the focus tends to stay on friendships or predictable romantic pairings.

In many cases, rom-coms try to market the idea of emergent love, but they often rely on repetitive tropes and familiar formulas to disguise the lack of genuine emotional depth.

Love is not one thing. It is a living force that changes form depending on time, suffering, duty, memory, and relation.

I think this is a common issue across all forms of media(Hollywood films, K-dramas, anime, cartoons, games, books, web series, and more). Truly profound works are rare. The industry either cannot, or often does not want to, create enough of them, because once you experience something genuinely exceptional, much of everything else begins to feel shallow, cheap, or forgettable.

Mad for Each Other fits better in the “emergent romance” category. Writing a truly fresh pure rom-com is incredibly difficult perhaps nearly impossible without relying on overused tropes like love triangles, endless misunderstandings that drag until the final episodes, or the classic “they knew each other in childhood but forgot” setup.

I don’t think a standard rom-com formula can easily sustain the typical 12- or 16-episode K-drama format without falling back on those clichés. That’s why I have high hopes for this drama, though only time will tell whether it can maintain its quality throughout.

And I agree with your constructive criticism of Because This Is My First Life I had many of the same issues with the drama. A second viewing often strips away the charm of most shows; only a rare few truly endure. Those are the dramas that stay with you long after they end so profound that you want to recommend them to everyone, while secretly wishing you could erase them from your memory just to experience them for the first time again.

@InspectorMegre

I can write a long response, but in this case I’m a bit exhausted and lazy, so I’ll try to explain my point using two K-dramas: Because This Is My First Life and Mad for Each Other. Both have similar MDL ratings, but the difference in writing quality becomes clear when you look at how naturally the relationships develop and how the side stories are handled.

In Because This Is My First Life, the main couple is the strongest part of the drama. Their relationship emerges naturally over time, and because of that, it feels genuinely earned by the end. Their dynamic is healthy, grounded, and emotionally satisfying in a way that feels organic rather than forced.

However, the issue lies in everything surrounding them.

The side characters and subplots feel inconsistent and often poorly balanced. Many romantic subplots feel forced instead of naturally developed, and some character motivations are either unclear or revealed too late to properly support earlier events.

For example, Lee So-yeon’s avoidance of serious relationships is only properly explained very late in the series, which weakens her earlier characterization. Her love interest is written as overly understanding and almost idealized, which reduces realism. The third couple is even more inconsistent while Kim Ga-eun’s motivations are somewhat understandable, her boyfriend’s behavior and reasoning shift throughout the story, making their relationship feel unstable and less convincing.

Because of this, the drama often feels stretched to fill a 16-episode structure, when the same core story could have been told more effectively in around 8 episodes.

In Mad for Each Other, the same core strength exists, but in a more focused form.

The main couple’s relationship also emerges naturally, and because of that, it consistently feels earned throughout the runtime. There’s no sense of artificial delay or unnecessary stretching .the emotional progression stays steady and intentional.

It does have a secondary storyline involving the cross-dressing man and the store worker, and while it also explores mutual healing and connection, it feels somewhat forced in the same way weaker subplots do in Because This Is My First Life.

The key difference is execution and scale. Because Mad for Each Other is shorter, these weaker elements are more tolerable. They don’t dominate the narrative or disrupt pacing ,they remain secondary and relatively easy to ignore.

So even though both dramas share similar issues in their side plots, Mad for Each Other feels more cohesive because its main romance consistently emerges naturally and feels earned without being diluted. Meanwhile, Because This Is My First Life has a stronger main couple in isolation, but suffers from stretched storytelling and uneven supporting arcs that affect the overall experience.

I’ve still ended up writing a long response anyway, lol

I’m well aware of why you didn’t like dramas like Vincenzo, Flower of Evil, or Crash Landing on You. But trust me you may start appreciating them after 2030 (pun intended), especially if you keep up with the latest geopolitics.

You’re missing the main point: existing patterns strongly suggest that manipulation may be happening within MDL itself. There is little incentive for platforms like this to refuse money from production houses in exchange for artificially boosting ratings and visibility. We also have to remember that this is still Asian entertainment media, where high-budget productions and projects featuring major stars often receive aggressive promotion.
Production companies in countries like China, Japan, and South Korea frequently invest heavily in marketing, and part of that strategy can include using review or ranking platforms to sustain hype until budgets are recovered. That possibility cannot be ignored.

I’ve personally experienced questionable moderation practices as well. I once wrote a detailed review explaining why Naruto was a weak anime, and my review was deleted by MAL without any warning. Since MAL is connected to the same broader corporate group associated with MDL, that only adds to concerns about transparency and bias.

On MDL itself, you’ll notice that most dramas regardless of actual quality still fall somewhere in the 7 to 9 rating range. Scores below 7 are relatively rare, even for poorly received shows, and within the community a 7.x score is often already considered mediocre. That inflated scoring pattern raises serious doubts about how honest or useful the rating system really is.
Even their “Most Popular” list often looks nothing like their “Top Rated” list, and this mismatch remains noticeable even when applying country-specific filters such as South Korea only. That inconsistency is yet another reason to question how reliable and fair the platform actually is.


On top of that, truly profound art or storytelling often has lower immediate rewatch value. Shows that leave a deep emotional impact are not always the kind of series people want to revisit right away. After finishing dramas like My Mister, Mother, The Glory, Sky Castle, or Juvenile Justice, many viewers need time before they feel ready to experience that emotional weight again—sometimes months or even a year later.

That is exactly why platforms like MDL may be less inclined to favor deeply layered, emotionally demanding content. Instead, they often appear to reward shows that are easier to consume, more casual, or more broadly accessible what could be described as mid-tier entertainment rather than truly meaningful storytelling.

We Are All Trying Here seems to have the potential to belong in that profound category, which may partly explain its lower rating. It is written by the same screenwriter behind My Mister, a drama widely respected for its emotional depth and realism. When a show challenges audiences on that level, it may gain critical admiration but not always the inflated popularity scores that lighter content often receives.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but emergent romance is a far more believable and compelling form of storytelling. Much of the drama community agrees that pure rom-coms often fall flat. Popularity does not equal quality, and mainstream appeal is not the same as depth. More often than not, there is little of real substance or profundity to be discovered in formulaic rom-coms.

Do you honestly think the dramas currently airing have the same profound impact as Vincenzo, Flower of Evil, or Crash Landing on You?

For those wondering why this series has such low ratings, it’s largely because the industry is currently focused on promoting certain high-budget shows like Perfect Crowns or Yumi’s Cells. The ratings are likely to improve once those competing series end, or if this show continues to maintain its strong content quality. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened.

This actually makes sense .

so far it is far better than undercover cop (which is overrated) . it has unique concept . i just hope they do not screw up with the ending .