Wish Upon A Star

While i think there may not be a million MDL users, there should be a few hundred thousands of MDL users, but only some of the MDL users are active, or bother to vote. Some also never update their watchlist. For reference: The most popular Kdrama Goblin has almost 180k watchers.

nah, i enjoy Douluo's story better + more interesting students and teachers

Thank you for your support! Yeah, i enjoy uncovering and analysing viewing trends.. helps me in discovering good dramas that i might have missed out. The plan is do yearly review to see if there are changes :) And i'm glad that The Untamed made this list - it's a drama that i chanced upon and which touched me ever so immensely.

For the record, dramas placed at 19th – 76th spots are:
(Dramas with the same number of votes are jointly placed at the same spot, sorted by year of first airing and alphabetical order)

🏆 19th: 9 votes each (3 dramas): 🔸 Go Ahead (2020), 🔸 Falling Into Your Smile (2021), 🔸Reset (2022)

🏆 22nd: 8 votes each (2 dramas): 🔸 Mr. Sunshine (2018), 🔸 The Long Ballad (2021)

🏆 24th: 7 votes each (4 dramas): 🔸 Healer (2014), 🔸 Eternal Love (2017), 🔸Ashes of Love (2018), 🔸 Happiness (2021)

🏆 28th: 6 votes each (3 dramas): 🔸 Goblin (2016), 🔸 One Spring Night (2019), 🔸 My Name (2021)

🏆 31st: 5 votes each (3 dramas): 🔸 The Story of Ming Lan (2018), 🔸 Someday or One Day (2019), 🔸 Through the Darkness (2022)

🏆 34th: 4 votes each (6 dramas): 🔸 I Told Sunset About You (2015), 🔸 Kill Me, Heal Me (2015), 🔸 W (2016), 🔸 Meteor Garden (2018), 🔸 Story of Yanxi Palace (2018), 🔸 Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021)

🏆 40th: 3 votes each (6 dramas): 🔸 The Uncanny Counter (2020), 🔸 True Beauty (2020), 🔸 Lost (2021), 🔸 The Red Sleeve (2021), 🔸 Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022), 🔸 My Girlfriend is an Alien 2 (2022)

🏆 46th: 2 votes each (11 dramas): 🔸 Queen Seon Duk (2009), 🔸 Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016), 🔸 The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (2018), 🔸 Strangers from Hell (2019), 🔸 18 Again (2020), 🔸 Tale of the Nine-Tailed (2020), 🔸 Bad Buddy (2021), 🔸 Doom at Your Service (2021), 🔸 Mouse (2021), 🔸 Move to Heaven (2021), 🔸 Word of Honor (2021)

🏆 57th: 1 vote each (20 dramas): 🔸 Dong Yi (2010), 🔸 It's Okay, That's Love (2014), 🔸 Twenty Again (2015), 🔸 Avengers Social Club (2017), 🔸 Live Up to Your Name (2017), 🔸 Stranger (2017), 🔸 The Crown Princess (2018), 🔸 Be Melodramatic (2019), 🔸 Hot Stove League (2019), 🔸 The Fiery Priest (2019), 🔸 Eternal Love of Dream (2020), 🔸Itaewon Class (2020), 🔸 Love and Redemption (2020), 🔸 Mystic Pop-Up Bar (2020), 🔸 The Penthouse: War in Life (2020), 🔸 My Fated Boy (2021), 🔸 Double (2022), 🔸 Draw the Line (2022), 🔸 P.S. I Hate You (2022), 🔸 Under the Skin (2022)

@lauranevitt @Nonsuch @Kannadin Do press on! After the world building and character development in the first third of the series, the story takes a turn as the plot thickens.. The first third of the series will eventually stitch back to the whole plot. This is a late bloomer drama that eventually overwhelms many viewers. Sharing a popular tweet that i chanced upon: https://twitter.com/katemond/status/1232072023691743237?s=46&t=uQpIEetF4XBdtwRedY6fyg

The article summarising the results of the inaugural Best of the Best – Drama Edition, based on the voting by the first 1004 votes as of Oct 9th, 2022, is now available here: https://kisskh.at/article/best-of-the-best-drama-edition

Just sharing my experience and thought you may want to give another go. No disrespect meant. Cheers.

🙌 Glad to meet like-minded mates.. I had fun working on this article with Cho Na as well :)

So, this is THE drama with the highest number of written reviews submitted!
And the reviews are still increasing.. it had 691 reviews 2 months ago, and 702 reviews now.

https://kisskh.at/28723-the-untamed#comment-11242611

The plot build-up may be slower for C-dramas vs K-dramas but C-dramas usually hit more emotionally than K-dramas.
Not sure which C-drama(s) you have referenced for too many characters, as usually C-dramas also have lead, second lead characters, and a list of support characters, like any other dramas.

AOS is an enjoyable watch, though it did not hit me strongly like TU. You may want to wait for AOS2 to air in Dec, as season 1 has a cliffhanger ending.

I watched The Untamed knowing nothing about the background, the bl novel nor any of the actors, but only that it is the top rated cdrama on MDL that is available on Netflix. I couldnt find Nirvana in Fire on Netflix and so settled for next top rated cdrama TU. I later found and completed Nirvana in Fire on YouTube. And The Untamed resonated and overwhelmed me in an unprecedented way.. never was i so invested in the drama characters.

And no, i find the story is more poignant depicting the deep brotherly bonds between WY and LZ and the eventual parting of Yunmeng brothers WY and JC, due to differences in values (三观) i.e. one's world view (世界观), values of worth (价值观) and philosophy on life (人生观).

And yea, the lousy CGI due to low CGI budget and the loads of details in the first two episodes probably ward off viewers, which is such a pity. On Chinese accents, i actually like the dubbed version, perhaps i'm more used to 普通话 (Standard Mandarin/Putonghua) than accented Mandarin.

i noted that you have watched 2 episodes so far.. the chronology start of The Untamed is at the last few minutes of Episode 2 when the Jiang Clan arrives in a town to attend boarding school. The 1st 2 episodes have a lot of details which may be confusing for new viewers. Starting from the chronology start (i.e. the last few minutes of Episode 2) helps.

I enjoyed Princess Agents too, especially the Yan Xun arc. But it is not a full series, and the second season is almost unlikely.

Yea, you are right, many of the ancient costume cdramas have an ensemble cast. I dont think the part on filler episodes that do not move the story or world build is c-drama specific as many many k-dramas i watched tend to drag with neither plot development nor character growth in the middle episodes, even for AOS.

I didnt notice the trend of c-dramas using cute pet dogs as terrifying monsters .. for The Untamed, the protagonist was an orphan fighting for food with stray dogs for a few years after his parents passed away, before he was brought to and raised at the Jiang Clan. And only the protagonist is afraid of dogs :)

Start anywhere, as you probably will end up re-watching anyways! The chronology start is at the last few minutes of Episode 2.

Nice! If ever you need to discuss the plot, please do not hesitate to message me.. and i'm probably your opposite.. i find it easier to get into c-historical than k-historical, as everyone in k-historical (especially in k-palace) seems to wear the same clothes and has the same hair-do! :)

ahh i see.. while there's no romance here, it's not uncommon to get immensely touched and deeply invested with the characters. Do give it a try :)

Do you mean k-historical drama somehow were easy to get into? I will encourage you to re-pick up TU if you are open to it; it is a late bloomer drama, with the first one-third of the drama on world setting, before the story twists and plot thickens.

Similarities abound as detailed in the article, and TU is not bl, though it is widely misunderstood as a bl, just because it is adapted from a bl novel. Watch for yourself and you will realise it is a big story on the ugliness of society, the struggles to uphold justice and the growing up journey of the key characters.

Yea, JC is also in some ways bearing the blunt of his mom's jealousy of WY's mom. While he blames WY for his parents' deaths and the fall of the Jiang Clan, deep in his heart, he cares for WY deeply, just like how he blamed WY when his dogs got sent away the moment WY was brought to the Jiang Clan, but went out alone to look for him after chasing him out. Yes, NHS is the mastermind behind WY's revival in the drama, which you will notice quite clearly in a rewatch :)

WY and JC do not have the same configuration (格局) nor share the same three fundamental views (三观) or values of a person, i.e. one's world view (世界观), values of worth (价值观) and philosophy on life (人生观). WY is for the greater good and justice, while JC is only for the Jiang clan. It is sad but inevitable that they split ways eventually. To me, JC is the most tragic character in TU.