rje1

Interesting article. Most of my favorite dramas are Korean. Japanese dramas often feel contrived, and they're more inclined to sentimentality than the Koreans are (e.g. I much prefer the Korean remake of "Mother" to the Japanese original). Many of the actors have an exaggerated style which keeps reminding me that I'm in the audience watching TV. Even in the outrageously impossible Korean dramas like "Crash Landing on You", the actors have a kind of conviction and naturalness that lets me "suspend disbelief" and enter into their world.
I agree about the problem of live-shots, which is about crass commercial interests overriding artistic integrity. A good author has a coherent vision of their story, and the bean counters shouldn't interfere with that.

Shen Lu Jie was convicted of false accusation of frame-up, considering that she was an accomplice and sentenced to one year imprisonment. Yu hai was convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment.
Tian Peng organized and led the crimes of underworld organizations, drug trafficking, intentional homicide, intentional injury, combined punishment for multiple crimes, sentenced to death, deprivation of political rights for life.

The story is flawed by some extremely traditional Japanese values: that an older man protects the younger girl who comes into the couple relationship naive and inexperienced, marriage is the only worthwhile relationship etc. These traditional values are unwittingly echoed in the scenery: the school and home interiors are gorgeous pre-war timber buildings, not at all like the modern structures we're used to seeing in Japanese movies.

Up to ep26 and finding this drama satisfyingly entertaining, and so dropped in here to read your entertaining article, thank you. The team of five different characters is part of the charm, as well as the detective stories, but I can't keep track of the names of the many characters, they just don't stick in my memory.
In case anyone cares, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was invented in the 20th century. Somehow Asian dramas prefer accidental first kisses to deliberate ones. A lot of the detective work seems anachronistic too. In Korea this would be known as a fusion drama. It's an entertaining genre and I'll look into the other ones you mention.

Watching four hours of a husband treating his wife and children abominably, and her silently submitting, is not my idea of entertainment. This is based on her memoir, so maybe that was her revenge at the end. Or perhaps in an indirect way, this is a feminist call for Japan. Behind every great man there is a woman, but that's slim comfort for the woman.
I always find the acting of Hasegawa Hiroki exaggerated and unnatural, but that seems to be a common style in Japan.

OK sorry

The only flaw in in this excellent drama is the dubbed cat noises. They are the same every time, feature a few times in every episode, and quickly get annoying. They sound like a cat being poked (not a cat being friendly), and the cat's mouth is visibly closed except for a single instance.

that link is gone, but try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVk0Wecgh5A

Half way through thoughts: I haven't watched any "contract marriage" dramas before (and straight-out romance dramas are not my usual fare). Given that it has taken external pressures and a fake marriage to force these two people into the same place, clearly they're both so inhibited that the best we can hope for is a slow burn rather than fireworks. The fun and games, and the expressive moods, come from the two supporting cast couples (who are all more interesting than the lead couple).
This would be the first Asian drama I've watched (and I've watched quite a few Japanese /Korean /Chinese /Taiwanese dramas) where people have grown-up attitudes and feelings about non-marital sex, casual sex, contraception, women's sexuality etc etc. This restores my faith in the possibilities for those cultures. I suspect that such attitudes are prevalent, but that there are forces censoring what can be depicted on television. I've seen a few Korean and Japanese movies with more open sexuality, but alas there are often bad consequences, indicating an underlying conservative morality.

The story is a simple episodic tale of the gradual rise of a female cook in Edo, forever prevented from reuniting with her childhood friend due to the strictures of the Yoshiwara milieu, and it's hard to see why it has attracted at least three versions (the two-part movie in 2012, the series in 2017, and now this single movie, which has the shortest total time and is thus most simplified version of the story). This version is as enjoyable as the others, and distinguished by its stills of dishes in the story (like all good TV cookery shows). Apart from the sundered friends, the potential romantic pairing also never resolves. This movie seems to be saying that you can't have friends or partners and so must deal with this by cooking good food for everyone.

Lee Ji Ann was a tough and brilliant character, but lacked the dignity of the characters that the article depicts (My Mister is one of my top five dramas). I found Jang Man Weol too shrill, but then in Mystic Pop-up Bar, Wol Joo played a similar character, just as shrill, but I enjoyed her much more.

Of the above I've only watched Mr Sunshine and loved the character of Kudo Hina (and the other four main characters). We've seen all kinds of strong and tough female characters, but your choice seems to focus on women who also especially show dignity and self-possession. For any character in such a position, whether male or female, the challenge is to balance courage/strength/drive, with understanding/compassion/tenderness.
My additions would be ChangGe in The Long Ballad, Yoon Se Ri in Crash Landing on You, Jogo in the movie Kakekomi, and maybe Yoon Hye Rin in the old and famous Korean drama Sandglass (from her first scene as a university student she stands up for herself, but by the end of the series has taken over the organized crime syndicate).

The script is tried and true and now its fifth iteration (Korean, Japanese, Philipino, Vietnamese, now Chinese). This version is as exuberant and sentimental as the others (except I haven't seen the Philipino version) and just as good.
The Vietnamese version is not listed at the top of this page: Go-Go Sisters THÁNG NĂM RỰC RỠ.

I had already read that DramaBeans gave a "Worst Forgiveness Award" (i.e. lamest) for the bad character, and was on edge while watching this drama that there would be an unsatisfying ending, but I disagree, IMHO the character was sufficiently contrite and apologetic, and anyway by then the team was so bonded that it seemed almost inevitable that they would forgive.
Did anyone notice the disgraced character in hospital gets sent friendly forgiving videos from the rest of the group scene is similar to the one in the Korean version Queen's Classroom?

Jung Eun Ji playing her exuberant self just like in Reply 1994, Chae Soo Bin showing her range by playing a bad girl quite unlike her sweetie in Not a Robot, and tough girl in Strongest Deliveryman. No wasted moments in the twelve episodes (if only many other series would take heed). The corrupt principal and the toxic parents may be caricatures, or maybe not; there are people lie that in real life. Anyway, loads of tension (always signalled immediately by the same gloomy music sequence), humour, young romance, and joy, and of course young people growing up and overcoming their childhood traumas.
BTW does anyone recognize the bike path in ep 10? Where is the location?

The native title is actually listed as 愛・殺 on several websites, and is such in the poster above.

Prepare to suffer alternating outrage, anguish, and despair at this story of cyclic endemic sexual and physical violence in a school for the deaf, in which the teachers are ineffective or complicit, and the parents are overwhelmed. At least the Korean movie "Silenced" sees justice done in the end. As for the Ukrainian movie "The Tribe", also about a deaf school, it was so traumatizing I couldn't finish it. Lots of stars for the quality of the movie making and acting, few stars because the story is so bleak.

Yes I agree that the people she encounters are doing wrong, but her interventions bring everything to a nasty climax.

Nothing like any other Chinese movie I've ever seen, and apparently it was made in Hong Kong, which may explain that, although it's all spoken in Northern Mandarin. The story appears surreal; four quirky young women working in a cafe which is visited by various bizarre customers, but gradually the jigsaw pieces coalesce into a meaningful story about regaining memory. Unfortunately the background piano music is far too foreground and often drowns out the speaking. The location is mostly in the picturesque cafe, festooned with all manner of objets d'art and pop-culture pieces. Some of the food sequences reminded me of the surreal films of Svankmejer.

Sister discovers while in an alternate reality, that her brother's relentless teasing is actually a set of distractions to protect her from their parents' impending divorce. As the movie progresses the brother is revealed more and more to be totally selfless, to an almost unbelievable degree in comparison with his behaviour at the beginning. And so of course a tearful finale ensues.