#i HATE cdrama female romcom characters

[windowsillbells]

tbh i’ve never seen a show try so hard to make a romcom female main character compelling and failing so miserably like gydl lol tianying is at the center of a very weird and fun love triangle with 2 very hot men, she’s the victim of a psychosexual semi incestuous obsession, she’s an opera singer who’s destined to lead the whole troupe when her father retires and she’s enraptured the whole city with her voice and skills, she wants to become an actress, she’s also the lost lin sister or something like that, that would be enough for like 5 seasons of 25 episodes each at the very least and yet. she’s so fucking boring. she literally stands there 99% of the time doing nothing while all the other characters act her story. she literally does nothing at all and all the plot just. happens around her. never seen a better example of “show don’t tell” because literally everyone is TELLING me she’s such an interesting person but NO ONE EVER SHOWS ME

[naksushadows]

My favorite dramas of 2023

Honorable mention: Death Games which is still in release, so I won't include it here yet.

Alchemy of Souls Light and Shadow: As it ended this year I will include one of the biggest obsessions for me in recent years, it was a sublime experience following this drama and despite some unnecessary complaints regarding Go Younjung (who was not to blame for anything and that the hate and misogyny towards a new actress was very unfair) part 2 was a good conclusion to the story, perhaps if there had been more episodes and less insistence on the memory loss plot, and more screen time for the main couple who were the more charismatic characters that supported the plot alone, could have been even better.

Moving: The best drama released this year.

Moving is a story that is not just about the power of a superhero saving the homeland, but about family ties, friendship and companionship.

The story manages to make you relate to the characters with all their anguish, joys and despite them having unusual powers, they are believable and identifiable characters.

Everything in this drama was perfect, from the script, cast, photography, CGI, soundtrack, etc.

Twinkling Watermelon: I love watching stories that focus on family relationships, and one where we have a son going back to the past and meeting his own parents in his youth would definitely be a hit.

I liked how they approached music, art and sign language in this story and how relationships built from these shared experiences between people can change someone's destiny to live life better and enjoy it even with difficulties along the way.

Some things bothered me but nothing that took away the shine of the story for me.  It was exciting to follow the journey of such charismatic characters.

Daily Dose of Sunshine: This drama deserved more recognition.  The way he portrayed mental health was very sensitive and human.  The actors were incredible, especially Park Bo Young who delivered a believable and emotional character.

My Journey to You: The most anticipated drama for me this year did not disappoint despite the open ending.

I believe that the entire story was so incredible and well executed that the ending didn't interfere with the watching experience.

The highlight of this cdrama was the female characters, I thought that even though most of them were spies/assassins they were very diverse, each one with a motivation and past that made them neither good or bad but rather human and complex.

Till The End Of The Moon: I confess that I expected to love this one more.  I don't know if I created many expectations that were broken by the dream part, which I found exhausting and broke the rhythm of the drama for me.  But it was still very striking, an iconic and well-executed enemies to lovers.  The main couple had a lot of chemistry and both as solo characters supported the story itself.  Tantai Jin was incredible and complex👉🏻 simply the most suffering demon I've ever seen

The Glory: I had high expectations regarding this drama, which were met and I believe that waiting to watch it after releasing all the episodes was the best option, because this way it didn't end up breaking the rhythm of the story and I could appreciate the way it was conducted revenge unlike some.

It's the first time I've watched something by Song Hye Kyo and I was positively surprised, she's a great actress.

The Good Bad Mother: I love stories focused on the relationship between mother and child, because even though it is different from my reality because I live on another continent, I can still relate to some issues that are universal.

The highlight of this drama was the performances and the cast's great rapport.  If the ending hadn't been so rushed and there had been about 2 more episodes, it would have closed the story perfectly.

King the Land: This was the best romcom of the year for me.  I looked forward to the weekends so I could be graced by the smiling couple.  It was the cliché and comfort I needed after a stressful week of work.

I loved the vibe and lightness of old dramas that King the Land brought back.

And thankfully they avoided the murder plot in the middle of the story haha

I loved seeing Yoona doing an unpretentious romcom after a heavier drama like her previous one.

Doona: I confess that I was very involved in this drama, I don't think it was perfect but there was a lot of dedication and envolviment from the main couple, they had a lot of chemistry and the melancholy and uncertainty that the story brought really impacted me.

[zhoufeis]

What are your favorite dramas and tv shows? ^^ Are there any you’re currently watching or interested in watching??

Hi there :)

I didn't expect to get such an ask to be honest. The first question is kind of really difficult to answer. Let me start with asian dramas since most things are just them, I'll list the main genre/vibe since I don't know if you're looking for recs.

/

My best kdrama experiences: - W TWO WORLDS (2016) - rather serious tone, sci-fi/romance - I'M NOT A ROBOT (2017) - romcom tone with some serious elements, more of a slice-of-life vibe than a sci-fi drama - HOTEL DEL LUNA (2019) - rather serious tone, fantasy - EXTRAORDINARY YOU (2019) - goes back and forth between utter comedy, romance and utter tragedy, most people put it into the high school kdrama section, i personally think it is much more into the fantasy aspect) - THE TALE OF NOKDU (2019) - serious tone, historical/political with a wonderful romantic ship. The only Korean ancient drama with rights. - FLOWER OF EVIL (2020) - serious tone, crime/romance. - TRUE BEAUTY (2020) - light tone, it's the parallel line directingwise to Extraordinary You without all the severe tragedy and fantasy, high school drama with pure romance - A LOVE SO BEAUTIFUL (2020) - light romantic/comedy. Mostly high school, but they grow into adults. - DOOM AT YOUR SERVICE (2021) - serious tone, fantasy/romance. But beware, the secondary couple is absolutely useless.

/

My best cdrama experiences: - THE LEGENDS (2019) - serious tone, ancient fantasy. The show would have been better if they stuck with their 30 intended eps and didn't end drama for secondary characters for 25 episodes, but overall, good show with awesome messages. - THE UNTAMED (2019) - serious tone, ancient fantasy with politics, the plot is as addictive as it is complex. You must pay lots of attention to understand things. - THE LOVE BY HYPNOTIC (2019) - juggling between comedy and tragedy, a wonderful historical and political drama with a beautiful romance. - I'VE FALLEN FOR YOU (2020) - mostly a romantic comedy with memorable characters and actors. It started off in the most ridiculous ways and gradually became better every episode. - THE ROMANCE OF TIGER AND ROSE (2020) - a time travel / world travel show with romantic comedy elements. If you hated what Goodbye My Princess did, you will love how this show here drags all the bad tropes through the mud. A very entertaining show. - LEGEND OF FEI (2020) - serious tone, ancient fantasy. Badass female lead and warm, soft boy who is in love with her. Funny secondary characters and a nice character journey. - A GIRL LIKE ME (2021) - hidden gem. Barely anyone seems to know it but it perfectly balances romance, politics and tragedy. Absolutely worth a watch because it really has something for everyone who likes ancient dramas. - LOVE BETWEEN FAIRY AND DEVIL (2022) - a tumblr favorite. Very good directing, alongside Ancient Love Poetry the best use of CGI I have seen on a Chinese drama. Cinematopgraphy my beloved. - WHO RULES THE WORLD (2022) - ancient drama. Basically, in the same league as Legend of Fei and The Untamed, but the CGI is better. - LOVE LIKE THE GALAXY (2020) - historical-political drama. Very, very, very slow-moving and utterly serious tone throughout the show. Very intriguing once you get into it. - LOVE UNDER THE FULL MOON (2021) - another hidden gem. Modern fantasy, very well done overall. 1/2 modern day dramas on my cdrama list. - LIGHTER & PRINCESS (2022) - the only modern slice-of-life drama I've sincerely become obsessed with. Serious tone, very good directing, outstanding acting and plot development.

/

My best Thai drama experiences: - NOT ME (2021) - sociopolitical BL with a serious tone and very memorable messages. Directing is spot-on and, honestly, a gem in the maze of Thai BLs. - BAD BUDDY (2021) - romcom BL with all the right messages and the fun you want to have when you wanna watch a romcom.

/

My best experiences with Japanese productions: - MY BEAUTIFUL MAN (2021) - high school BL (later university) that absolutely gives off an independent movie vibe. Very good camerawork and dialogue. Somewhere between very slow moving and sudden time jumps. First season is enough; the second season rather drags the issue the first season had already established. - THE DISASTROUS LIFE OF SAIKI K. (2016) - anime/comedy.

/

Now, western world things that I genuinely enjoyed: - WESTWORLD (2016, U.S.) - THE show. The best goddamn thing I've watched in my life, but sooooo complex and difficult to understand. Serious tone, sci-fi. - SANKT MAIK (2018, Germany) - Comedic tone, romcom/crime. - AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (2005, U.S.) - Light tone, animated fantasy. - THE SOCIETY (2019, U.S.) - Serious tone, fantasy/sci-fi/dystopia. - SIEMPRE FUI YO (2022, Colombia) - Serious tone, drama/mystery. - SIMONA (2018, Argentina) - Light tone, telenovela/romcom. - JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS (2020, U.S.) - a disney show that isn't disney, but is supposed to be fun and entertaining, but somehow utterly destroys you emotionally, idk. - MIRACLE WORKERS (2019, U.S.) - Anthology, satire/comedy, fantasy. - FLORICIENTA (2004, Argentina) - Light tone, telenovela/romcom.

/

Currently watching: - THE STARRY LOVE (2023) - livewatching. went into this show wanting to root for the secondary ship, love them, but the main ship is destroying me. - THE JOURNEY OF CHONG ZI (2023) - livewatching. I do not recommend to watch this, the ML is a disgrace. - MY DEEPEST DREAM (2022) - i should really finish this one it's so good. Modern fantasy. - SEASONS OF BLOSSOM (2022) - a tragic drama. i should finish it, it's so good, but i do not want. - OH! MY SWEET LIAR (2020) - i should also finish this one, it's cute and I'm almost done with it. - HIS DARK MATERIALS (2019) - should finally watch s2&3.

[grrrlsoverdramas]

2021 Wrap Up, pt.1: 2021 Dramas I Most Enjoyed Watching

Run On

Watching this live with all of fandom and my dash got me through winter remote teaching to say the least. I suffered for most of the rest of the year due to an utter lack of comparable synergy in any of the other (k)drama live-watching experiences I had. Of course, the show was objectively well written and produced, and picking apart a drama only really works when it’s good. But also, the tone/thesis/pace nurtured positivity and joy and shared experience, and welcomed critical examinations of media and society while maintaining a light and entertaining mood. Really one for the ages!

Hospital Playlist 2

I really love Hospital Playlist because it is exactly what it thinks it is, a feel-good heart-warming blanket.  It’s also over-sentimental, tear-mongering, intellectually unchallenging, and full of fan service. But it does all its cliches well and builds genuinely loveable characters. It’s a lot like Ted Lasso in that it just makes you feel as though people care for one another! And they do! I’ve watched this show for the past two years with my parents, sometimes in person, sometimes over zoom while we can’t see each other because Covid makes it too risky.  We enjoy it in part because my sister is a doctor and since she’s usually too busy to watch anything with us we feel like she’s there too. A real strength of the show is that it never abandoned its case-of-the-week nature, which is why it stayed just this side of slow and stayed healthily away from being too heavy.

Bad Buddy

I’ve also really enjoyed this as a fandom experience, and I have a friend in reallife who loves it as well, which is a rarity for me. And I’m so glad I learned of Soon Vijarn because watching a show along with its creator and their friends is truly a gift. It’s even made me love product placement scenes because I feel “in” on the joke. Seeing p’Aof respond to criticisms is also so interesting. Whilethe bare bones of this show aren’t revolutionary (it’s just a university y-series in the end…), it doesn’t feel like a tropey, surfacey y-series, or like a y-series trying too hard to be a lakorn (yes this is a subtweet). Instead, it’s a well-acted romcom with honesty and layers that make it feel real.  I’m not really sure the genre can do better.

Welcome Back Mone/Okaeri Mone

What a real joy!  This show was so lovely and I will definitely watch it again.  It had a lot of what I loved about Just Between Lovers: a show dealing with sociocultural fallout of a (real or modeled-on-real) national disaster and thinking deeply about how this would affect different people, being honest about the human failures and feelings of shame/guilt, etc. While slice-of-life is not out of the ordinary for jdramas, I usually have difficulty investing in jdramas of this type, but the Asadora-pacing of the show, the background story, the way it was so easy to believe and care about Mone’s traumas and motivations, but it was also about many little moments.... All of it was easy to watch. Mone was such a wonderful character to see come of age, but I also LOVED her sister and the mountain leader, two very different characters but fully fleshed out. The many different and interesting female characters were like a breath of fresh air. Very grateful to hpriest for subbing.

Dear Diary

I watched SO many cdramas this year it is honestly embarrassing.  Was I watching GOOD dramas? No, I was watching mindless fluff and half of the time hated it.  A great example of some of my most psychologically unwell behavior this year, if I’m frank. Dear Diary is one of the few I watched that felt meaningful and interesting and like it was actually trying to say something and wasn’t created by an AI. It isn’t necessarily that this drama is “good” (in fact the only real way to describe it is “absurd” or “unhinged”) but it was such a good show to watch as I turned 30. Watching these characters manically go through all their baggage and fail over and over and feel things. Oof. Anyway.  Episode 5 is particularly a masterpiece.

You Are My Glory

On the flip side of the cdrama coin, they’re just doing romcoms in a way that kdramas haven’t in a while.  And in part it’s because cdramas are bad in a way kdramas haven’t been in a while, and, like, are good romcoms actually “good”? Because there’s nothing here really, except a hazy video game commercial.   But as soon as it was done airing I rewatched it (very rare for me). I think the success of this comes down to the well-characterized webnovel it’s based on and Dilraba’s charisma. The end waned, since there’s little to no conflict, and it turned more focus to Yu Tu, but Dilraba was still able to maintain enough buoyancy and enjoyment all the way through.

 There’s a Reason for the Love I’m Wearing

I don’t know why this drama jumped out at me so early as a one I should watch, but I’m glad I picked it up.  It was a great drama to watch slowly as it aired. I actually felt tension about whether or not the main characters would end up together.  The show balanced that really well – it would have been ok if they didn’t end up together, but that didn’t stop me from really wanting them to end up together. While the main couple’s chemistry was palpable, and I loved them together, I also loved them individually and was invested in their growth as human beings. It was also another great drama to watch when I was 29, because it was so much about just going for it, but also taking your time to get there.

Racket Boys

Would this drama be on this list if it wasn’t set in Jeollanam-do? No, probably not!  But, it was, so that’s what matters.  I love Jeollanam-do so much and it’s so beautiful and Jeolla accents are so sweet and wonderful. Every drama should be set in Jeollanam-do, thanks. Also, I greatly enjoyed the student dynamics. It’s been a while since there was a similar youth drama, like Queen’s Classroom, and I think this did admirably at making both realistic and likeable characters. Se-yoon’s storylines were particularly good at riding the line between dramatic and slice-of-life.

Inspector Koo

Glad I got this in at the end of the year! Lee Young-ae really went wild here and I love that for her. The chemistry between all the characters really drives the show, and while I don’t thinks its as serious of an endeavor as Run On, it’s a good bookend to the year because it has a similar charismatic ensemble comedy feel. I’m glad I was able to binge it because there are too many ~mysterious~ points that would have made me anxious (both worried about the outcome and feeling like I had to watch “on time” to avoid being spoiled or overwhelmed by fan theories) and I would have dropped it.  Eminently likable and definitely a drama I will recommend to others going forward.

The Uncanny Counter

Another good bookend for the year, I really loved watching this show live at the end of 2020 into 2021. It managed to maintain its interest level by being cartoonish in the right places (the societal issues), intense in others (the really evil seeming demons), and focused on catharsis rather than making you feel sad.  Then last week I recommended it to my sister and she loved it (it’s the first time she’s actually watched a drama without me forcing her to), and I loved how she felt so similarly about it!

Favorite Dramas I Watched for the First Time This Year That Didn’t Air in 2021:

Shanai Marriage Honey

The Good Detective

Honorable mention: The Untamed (I skipped a huge chunk of the flashback section of this drama. I loved the parts I watched, though!)

[its-chelisey-stuff]

And I’m done!

I mean to be honest I’ve been done for weeks but making this post makes it official and that’s why I was procrastinating it, I didn’t want to let it go :(

The happiest of endings!! I swear that I had a stupid smile on my face while I watched the last two eps (and the special! but tbh I loved this last scene SO MUCH). If you’re looking for something to lift your mood, this is it. I laughed so much watching the first eps, and there was some misunderstandings halfway and a tiny bit of angst for a few eps BUT overall it was a sweet, fluffy, hilarious and romantic watch. What’s not to like?

I came for Gong Jun but Zhou Yutong stole my heart and I wasn’t expecting that. The drama was honestly more about her character’s journey and if this role had been in the hands of a less talented actress it would’ve been pretty easy to make the character of Fangning an annoying and childish one. But Yutong’s performance was full of class and emotion, she made FangNing feel like a real person as real as it can be in a romcom where there’s a marriage contract but hey, she managed with how layered she was. I do think the script is to be praised here, but Yutong’s ability to make the viewer smile and cry with her is just amazing. She has made me a fan. I love her.

I did love Gong Jun in this (his scenes with his son are highlights of the show), I thought his character was gonna be pretty much an older version of his character in The Love Equations but he wasn’t, he felt completely different even though the two were similar in some aspects. And I enjoyed the change his character went through in the last third of the drama, it really made him feel like six painful years had passed for him and Gong Jun did great, but like I said, the drama was way more about the female lead. So, if you want a drama led by a strong female character, this is totally for you.

The one thing I never got on board with was the villain lol I hated the way they wrote his character (he felt very cartoonish to me) but I did feel bad for him in the end: he took down his dead gf’s family because he blamed them for her death, and "stole” the company from them but the drama made a point in showing revenge wasn’t the way to go obviously and that didn’t help him heal. He only felt close to her again after he let go of his anger. And it was a really emotional scene. He saw everything his late love wanted in the life Fangning, her sister, had and finally realized sixteen years of hatred only made his loss worst.

I was kinda angry everyone forgave him but what he did also saved the family in a way, and I guess that was the theme of Begin Again, to keep moving forward with life and trying to live without resentment and to be forgiving. It’s what our female lead did after she lost everything unfairly and it’s why Gong Jun did after the woman he loved broke his heart and kept his son from him lol

All things considered, I think this is my favorite Gong Jun drama out of all the ones I’ve seen. I mean, I love romcoms, they’re my favorite genre and although this wasn’t a perfect drama, it was pretty much perfect for me in what it offered: good story with a fun twist (the rich dominant CEO is the woman and the kind hearted but low on money is the man lol), good acting, great development for characters, good script, closure for everyone’s storylines (the side couple’s weren’t my thing but lots of people loved them), an adorable kid and EXCELLENT chemistry between the leads. There was also a lot of spiciness at the start hahaha (i mean spicy for cdrama standards lol). A real feel-good type of drama. Totally worth my time.

[dangermousie]

Is there anything about previous kdramas (say Pre-2013) that you miss, some good element that you don't see in the current ones? Personally, I like how the dramas have begun to give a woman more agency and broken stereotypes (hotel del luna), less noble idiocy cases, more solid plots, more functional relationships. I ask because the local dramas in my country are regressing back to the "pure heroine" and girl-on-girl hate that I thought we had finally shifted away from.

I miss a lot of things, I prefer older dramas actually.

I am SO not the girl to go to for love of functional relationships. I love them fucked up and dysfunctional. I enjoy noble idiocy when well done (true with any trope that gives me angst.) I do like more types of female characters but honestly at least in sageuks you could always find strong women so that wasn’t an issue per se for me though it’s always good to have modern dramas join the bandwagon. As to solid plots, I think the ratio of well-written to badly-written is about the same nowadays. Honestly, I wonder if the issues you mention are most pertinent to romcoms which is my least favorite genre so I don’t watch much of them.

This said, things I miss:

* Serious proper sageuks. More and more they are tongue and cheek or youth sageuks. Some of us adults actually don’t want to watch modern people playing dress-up and cutesy teen romcoms with hanboks, but something nice and adult. Also, there are less and less of ANY.

* Proper melo. Very few good, adult, dark melos are being made. Could Something Happened in Bali, Tree of Heaven or A Love to Kill be made today? The answer is no. I want dark and tragic tales about people too dysfunctional to get a happy ending but for me to want it anyway. Same goes even for more "pure” tale traditional melos like Spring Waltz or Snow Queen.

* A certain degree of earnestness is gone. You don’t need to be cute and riffing and tongue-in-cheek and “we are too cool for school” all the time. That is what I first fell for - the heart - and a lot of dramas think they are too modern for it.

* In some aspects, kdramas resemble Western shows more and more. That’s fine but I don’t like Western shows. The one thing you can always say for jdramas is that don’t give a hoot what anyone outside of Japan wants to watch; they make it for a Japanese audience and that’s it. Kdramas are more and more made to appeal to Hallyu audience all around the world and ask Hollywood how bland and homogenous you end up making you product when you try to appeal to everyone. 

Honestly, I prefer pre-2013 kdramas to post-2013 ones because my personal narrative preferences align with them more. There is a reason I shifted more and more to period cdramas as things go on. It doesn’t mean newer ones are inferior in any way, it’s just my tastes are pretty old-school. I mean, I prefer Victorian novels to modern ones also :)

[khaoray]

Have you watched the cdrama The romance of tiger and rose? It's a hilarious romcom that has the main character, a screenwriter who is writing a period romance drama, enter her own story (that is set in a matriarchal society) as a side character whom the male lead, a one tracked minded murderous prince, hates her at first and plots her death but he ends falling stupid in love with her which makes the entire story change from the original script and she gains the spot of the female lead. It has a real happy ending where the otp reunites in the modern world, so, maybe you would be interested in watching a time travelling story that ends really well?

hi nonnie!! sorry this took me so long to answer, i completely lost track of time and forgot bc i’m dumb. thank you so much for thinking of me 🥰

but to answer your question, no i haven’t seen it yet!! it’s been on my radar since i watched dating in the kitchen, though, because i really liked rosy zhao! and i know a few people on my dash have talked about it too. so, it’s on my list and i’ll hopefully get around to it soon because it sounds super cute!

[sarah-yyy]

sarah can you rec me new cdrama to watch?

I GOTCHU NONNY. I’m actually on a pretty good streak atm, so everything I’ve recently watched has been pretty good! 

obligatory recs, all here for your convenience: the untamed (eng subs) // guardian (eng subs) // sci mystery (eng subs) 

these are the ones that I have finished: 

Young Blood (i haven’t been able to find a link with subs but if anyone has one lmk and i’ll edit to add) // period cdrama // completed // fun show about a group of wayward teens being recruited to be spies! GOD. listen, i was preoccupied with the untamed while i was watching this, but this show is such A Rec as well? all the characters were so well fleshed out, and the character growth arcs were so beautifully done. all the characters are so different but they work so well together? i’ve described the entire group as 呆萌浪贱 but separately to friends i’ve tried to pull down the hole before, and i stand by that yo. if you’re into the found family trope, this is a really good show for that!

Go Go Squid // modern cdrama // completed // cute romcom-y show about a cyber security “god” who had to retire from competitions early for ~angsty reasons~, but starts his own team and helps them to win championships etc etc. this one stars yang zi (ashes of love) and li xian (medical examiner qin ming, tientsin mystic), both of whom are really strong actors, and. listen. i heard a lot about the role yang zi was playing being v annoying, but yang zi did so well, it was impossible to hate her!! ft. fun tropes like fake dating that turns into real dating, and stoic male lead figures out how to be a good boyfriend. 

Welcome to Waikiki // modern kdrama // completed // sitcom-y fun ft. shenanigans of three friends who open a guest house together. this show was so silly and so fun to watch!! this is one of the shows i was watching on commute and istg i was cracking up so much on the train it was low-key embarrassing. if you’re into the found family and strong friendships trope, this show does it so well!! also soft pining and accidental baby acquisition, if that’s something you’re into! :DDD

I’m currently still watching:

Exclusive Memory // modern cdrama // completed // [note: ft. age difference, also before the leads got together, he was her lecturer at uni, so if that’s something that you’re :/ about, feel free to skip this rec!] // college romcom ft. fun tropes like strong female friendships, the most ADORABLE height difference, also ZHANG CHAO whom i’m very soft for

The King’s Avatar // modern cdrama // still airing: 24/40 // #1 professional gamer ye xiu gets thrown out of his professional team and has to start over to reclaim his title with his new team of amateur players. LISTEN i watched this intending to be a casual fan but accidentally got invested in the side characters starting ep6, so here i am, 24 eps into the show and dying for more. i also don’t really care much about yang yang, but he’s cute in this show!! it’s really the side characters that have me. (if this is a thing for you, gao hanyu plays yu wenzhou in this show, and he’s one of my favourites already????)

[its-chelisey-stuff]

I watched 3 romcoms starring Gong Jun so you don’t have to

... Unless you want to lol (and if you like GJ and/or romcoms why wouldn’t you?)

Flavour it’s yours (25 eps) co-starring Song Yiren

A masterpiece lmao such a silly comedy and honestly a bit of a hot mess but a fun one. A few slaps, a bit of unhealthy relationship dynamics, a LOT of wine talk and lots of kisses! I’m honestly surprised that I liked it as much as I did and that I had so much fun with it. Also, I loved the second couple which is rare for me when talking about cdramas. Awesome chemistry between the couples AND between the whole main cast.

If you got nothing to watch, are in the mood for a silly romcom about the main pairing exchanging the sense of taste by kissing and that has it all (murder mystery, revenge plot, enemies to lovers, OTP living together and more clichés) but you want to turn off your brain and don’t want to think too hard about the plot, this is your drama. Or not. HAHAHAHA Honestly, I’m very aware of the fact that if I liked it, doesn’t mean that others will, it can depend on your mood. But hey, take your chances. I took mine and I was actually very pleasantly surprised.

The two of them need to reunite. They had a very fun chemistry. And that height difference? Adorable!

The Love Equations (27 eps + 1 special) co-starring Liu Ren Yu

From the same writer of A love so beautiful and Put your head on my shoulder, a campus romance. I gotta say, I did like it more than ALSB (but only because I have irreparable issues with the male lead in that drama i hated him), but not more than the PYHOMS. Still, it had charm. Well, more like it had Gong Jun. I watched the other 2 campus romances because of the stories, but this one I watched just because of him. Sadly I didn’t fall in love with the main OTP and the last couple of eps were just really cringey to me. I was basically only watching for GJ (I mean that was the whole reason from the start, but it became a real task).

Hated hated the second female lead, I think she was a psycho and I honestly think she should be in jail. No people, especially patients, should be around her. The second male lead was a cute puppy but also pretty useless for the story and didn’t have any other purpose in it than to pine for FL. I ended up FF most of his scenes after ep 10. I’d say more but I don’t want this to turn into a rant. I wll say this though, that this was definitely the drama I enjoyed the least of Gong Jun’s. Ooops.

Begin Again (35 eps + 2 specials) co-starring Zhou YuTong

Okay, my favorite drama in this post, obvi. Also, it’s very recent in this blog, so I will be brief. The chemistry of OTP was amazing. A CEO lady that takes what she wants when she wants it. Her only problem? At first, patriarchy (but then the list grows longer and longer). Her father wants her to marry and have children so she can be a full woman such bullshit. Enter the stage Gong Jun, a quiet, serious at his job, doctor with a six pack (or eight pack?)who never stood a chance against FL’s charisma and shameless advances. He fell fast and hard. Really hard. Like “you divorced me, escaped from our house in the middle of the night after having sex, broke my heart and gave birth to my son, hid him from me for SIX years, found out I was his dad in a shitty way but I never loved any other woman and wow you’re still hot so let’s marry again” hard.

What can I say that someone familiar with this blog doesn’t know already? Thanks to this I became a fan of Zhou Yutong and I just really really really need her and GJ to make another drama. Fingers crossed!

Word of honor, in my humble opinion is his best acting (and arguably his best drama but not my fave) to date. I’d say he has proven himself as a good male lead for romcoms but I wanna see him in more period pieces with awesome but super angsty plots because he has the talent and range for it. Bonus points if his character gets to be twisted and/or traumatized like Wen Kexing was lol Here’s hoping for more pain and tears from him in his future works haha I’m getting my wish come true with Legend of Anle!!