#my mdl is just

[khaotunq]

is it a character primer or a "tag yourself" meme? Yes. Twins (2023)

[ahxiang]

FIRST KANAPHAN as SAN

Only Friends (dir. Jojo Tichakorn)

[blmpff]

NOO FUCKINGG WAYYYY SEOL DONG BAEK FROM THE DIRECTOR WHO BUYS ME DINNER AND HONDA FROM A SHOP FOR KILLERS ARE PLAYED BY THE SAME ACTOR?????

THIS DUDE

IS THIS DUDE

I'M BLUESCREENING NOBODY TOUCH ME

THAT BEING SAID GO WATCH IT AND S2 WHEN

[mostlyfate]

#this is in fact a very serious sports drama #🍩🍩🍩

[pharawee]

Jin literally didn't even do anything this week (except for trying to de-escalate things in the present and being pissed with his friends in the past) and people are still singling him out and hating on him.

[staydandy]

MDL List Update

For those of you who don't know :

I've been keeping a list on MyDramaList (awesome site - highly recommend to keep track of shows!). It's basically a little library of shows with their whump lists linked to them.

I made it because I'm the type to dive into the details of a show, and as mentioned above, I use MDL to keep track of my watchlist. So having the whump lists linked directly to the shows made sense to me.

It's a public list so feel free to explore it!

The last time I posted about this list, at the beginning of this year, it had about 350 shows on it. Now it's reached

500 shows!

Some with multiple lists from multiple list creators!

Now it doesn't have every list that's ever come across my feed, but the grand majority I would say.

As such, I want to give cred to the awesome list writers!

(no order preference, just alphabetical)

@alittlehurtwithyourcomfort

@asian-drama-whump-blog

@chinesedramawhump

@ghostly-whump

@japanesedramawhump

@just-whump-and-suffering

@knights-in-whumperland

@koreandramawhump

@love-me-a-lotta-whump

@paininanime

@painindramas

@rosemelon82

@sara8573

@sasuga-whump

@simply-whump

@somewierd0

@thewhumpyrabbit

@ttokimagic

@wherethewhumpthingsare

@whump-lover-and-reader

@whump4life

@whumpalot

@whumperfect

@whumpetywhump

@whumpily-ever-after

@whumpslist

@whumpy-gems

[heretherebedork]

I go into the MDL comments just to see what people are saying and then I get slapped right in the face with racism in My Strawberry Film where someone is supremely offended by how the girls dress and the idea of how Japanese women 'dress like that and think it's dressing for a date' and y'all I know better but I still looked! Why do I do that?

[pigglepiephi]

This is the most straight boy comment ever 🙄

Star’s firmly rejected him telling him she only sees him as a friend, but his response is to ignore that and decide to ‘wear her down’ until she gives in!

Boy, please just move on!

[i-got-the-feels]

I saw mdl reviews for the director who buys me dinner saying its undercooked and had great potential and needed a run time of 1 hour and like 16 episodes. do yall think the writers, directors and production team don't know that? Queer content still doesn't get that much money!! For fuck sake we still call it bl/yaoi something that was originally made for het women. Support these shows instead of putting them down so they get more finances to make shows with longer duration

[khaotunq]

I already have plans. ⇢ Boom Tharatorn as Pok (Hidden Agenda, 2023)

[theinfinitedivides]

this is so random but i would love to hear your opinion on mydramalist as a fellow asian drama lover. because it’s obviously well known as a reliable wiki of sorts in dramaland but i beg to differ. (the only plus i feel being the summary and cast list for info)

i mean, i’ve not seen a single comsec w more than two brain cells as a whole? there’s always complaints about female leads rooted from misogyny, they are never happy about story progression, and i just find so many of them kinda dumb sorry lol. like zero media literacy to be found, insufferable arguments, etc. the star ratings are rly just given to popular dramas w high profile actors too.

and i personally find it disheartening that so many ppl end up referring to mdl when considering dramas because so many gems are then lost and not given appreciation.

anon. anon anon anon if you know the way i sat straight the f*ck up when i saw the notification and then read through this ask bc yes. yes to everything here that is exactly it. almost three fourths of what i've watched this year was either 1. not received well by the general MDL crowd (Moon in the Day. where is the taste brethren to not like MITD and not even for reasons that actually make sense), 2. received well but had a good chunk of people bitching in the comment section, or 3. received well but had the main point of the show (and its relevant characterization) go over their heads. (The Worst of Evil aka TWOE comment section, i am f*cking looking at you. i can count on one hand the number of people who understood what that show was supposed to be about) the one fourth that managed to escape was bc the toxicity did not reach the comment section and everyone was pretty f*cking civil. alas if only it could be like that all of the time

case in point for the ratings example, since we've already briefly tackled the lack of media literacy—j-dramas on MDL are notoriously rated much, much lower than either k- or c-dramas. half of the time that's bc there are less users watching (and rating) them therefore the average is lower but the other half it's bc people simply do not understand good media when they see it. don't get me wrong there's some freaky ass sh*t in the j-drama world that i would not touch with a Grinch level pole but to see MDLers out here talking about how slow j-dramas are and that nothing's happening. have you considered that you are either watching the wrong genre or you shouldn't be watching j-dramas in the first place bc their entire setup and general narrative framing arcs are not your style. have you even thought about that for six seconds or are you too busy expecting it to read like a typical tropey rom-com k-drama with your trending oppas. (no hate on my tropey rom-coms with [most of] said oppas, i need them when i don't want to think i just want to see sh*t on my screen and scream about hot people and the Hand Umbrellas in the Rain and the Back Hold when the male lead catches the female lead before she falls and you have the fifteen second focus on their faces just looking at each other)

and the misogyny. oh God do not get me started on the dichotomy that was the Cult, as we affectionatly called ourselves, on the feeds while THEE sageuk of the year My Dearest was airing (beloved show [that i still need to finish. JangChae i'm sorry ily life hates me like the mf it is 😭], beloved commentary on the feeds. they saw the vision on the feeds) vs the sh*tshow that was the landmine field of the comment section (the takes i saw on Gil Chae, Eun Ae AND Ryang Eum respectively.......... the misogyny wasn't enough we had to add the homophobia into the mix. buy one get one free deal fr fr). you mad man. that sh*t was insane there was a point i banned myself from scrolling farther than the cast section until the show finished airing. i kid you not on average they didn't have even half a braincell. maybe a quarter of a quarter of one. f*cked up just say you are not decent people and go

this is not to say that all of MDL is like this. i have gotten tuned into absolute masterpieces of content (and have tuned others, amen) bc of a comment comparing a show i'm watching to another one or a review being posted in the feeds about a film with less than 500 people interested. i have reconsidered my choice to not watch something after having spirited discussions in private messages discussing the pros and cons of the premise and whether they managed to get it done without f*cking sh*t up. i still contribute semi-regularly by adding relatively unknown actors and crew members to the database so they can get the credit due them. if you know where to look, you can get some good sh*t out of that place. problem is most users who are new to both the site and East/Southeast Asian cinema as a whole don't know where to look, and the cycle continues, and the ratings continue to be skewed/bloated and no one pays attention to the plot, if there even is any to pay attention to.

tl;dr: begging people to not let MDL be the be all end all for their drama recs a la 'well MDL doesn't like it so i won't watch it'. babe we have said MDLers complaining about how the ratings on Viki are too high but in my entire time watching dramas i've found that in the past two to three years the Viki ratings are making more sense than the MDL ones. sit with that for a sec. when you're done branch out and see the world (literally and cinematically), i promise you will be a better person for it

[clairedaring]

[Series Review] Trillion Game (2023) - an exhilaring fun ride from start to finish

I watched like four Japanese series in 2023 so I'm not sure I'm qualified to rank anything but for me personally, Trillion Game is the BEST Japanese series of 2023. The story and solutions felt cheesy at times but pacing, acting/cast, music, rewatch value. 10/10. I am so happy I decided on a whim to watch this after being in a slump of not being able to truly enjoy any series after I finished another drama which I considered my favorite series of 2023.

STORY

We follow Haru (Meguro Ren), an extremely charming communicator and Gaku (Sano Hayato), a brilliant IT engineer as they encounter obstacles on their start-up journey together. It is VERY fast paced drama with each episode following a certain formula that you'll figure out by the second episode. For the majority of the series, each episode starts with present Gaku, CEO of Trillion Game, reminiscing his and Haru's past adventures in the early days of their start-up business. While each episodes may seem formulaic, the stories are never boring and I found myself binging everything from start to finish, not being able to stop for a second. We've seen the unhinged genius x sane down-to-earth duo a bazillion times before but I think what makes this particular story so charming is the characterization of Haru who is self-proclaimed "the most selfish man in the world" but all his actions are completely contradictory, always self-less and putting everyone's needs above his. I love Haru so much. I don't know what they laced in the series but I am down bad for Tennoji Haru and I get why Princess Kiri wants Haru so bad as well, like same here sis.

ACTING/CAST

Meguro Ren and Imada Mio are just the most enigmatic actors, truly powerhouses. From edits on Youtube on Tiktok, you'd think these two have a lot of screen time together but they DON'T. Regardless, even when acting separately, they are bringing everything to the table and when they get scenes together, the chemistry is CHEMISTRYING. The sizzling tension between Haru and Princess Kiri are just top-notch. Sano Hayato and Fukumoto Riko are also just the most adorable nerds as Gaku and Rinrin. I love our four main leads so damn much. There's this one scene from Episode 2 where the first thing Haru does after receiving their initial 30 million yen investment is to bath in money and I remember thinking this is so nonsensical but at the same time found myself with the stupidest grin on my face watching Haru pushing Gaku out of his comfort zone to do all these insane things with him. I LOVE THEM. Meguro Ren is truly an enigmatic powerhouse in this one. I have only seen Meme in like three other dramas but Haru is definitely my top favorite Meguro Ren role ever.

MUSIC

The score is so energetic and fun. I love the main theme song of the series which is Dangerholic by Snow Man. The song is SAUR good I haven't skipped single outtro of any episode just to listen to this song. I watched a lot of series this year but Dangerholic is probably taking the crown as my favorite OST of 2023 in this very last minute race. As previously mentioned , Trillon Game has very exciting and energizing score and I'd argue that many business/office scenes are hard-carried by the score and excellent editing.

REWATCH VALUE

This series get a 100000000 for rewatch value because I just finished it and I'm already considering for another rewatch just because of how much fun I had watching it. But also because each episodes are so self-contained, Trillion Game will be fairly easy to rewatch any random episode in this series because you don't really need to the past episode to enjoy one, a recap at the beginning of each episode will do just fine. The tension between Haru and Princess Kiri is so insane even though there's no explicit romance going on. I think I need to rewatch it just for THEM.

PRODUCTION

This was definitely a low budget drama but TBS definitely made do with what they got. I understand if Princess Kiri's wardrobe alone was where most budget was allocated to. Like deserved! Trillion Game's strength lies more in the acting and story department so I wouldn't say this was a high value production but I will say I love all the rooftop scenes between Haru and Gaku. Those rooftop conversation scenes between them are just beautiful and heart-warming.

OVERALL

I love Haru with my entire heart. WATCH TRILLION GAME FOR HARU PLEASE.

[ginsoakedgirl80]

Get yourself a man who will destroy a country for you

[dengswei]

me: oooh these wrapped inspired gifsets for tv shows/movies/actors are so cool i should make one for my dramas

also me:

[ryansjane]

why is Gawin so GOOD at being SAD? 😭😭 my heart can't handle it, I want to protect him at all costs. Pisaeng is really unlike any other Jittirain seme, this feels like sorcery fr

GAWIN ACTING KING!!! I already expected to love pisaeng just bc he's played by him but GODDAMN he's exceeding my expectations as a character! I get what you mean about jittirain's love interests, while I do sense some common pathetic-ness between him & khai lol, pisaeng is very mature, healthy & not pushy at all. he's actually a pretty withdrawn love interest compared to the usual ones (I haven't seen vice versa so only talking about khai, sarawat & mork) that are very involved in the main character's life. it's honestly refreshing, and perhaps why I love pisaeng so much? he feels very realistic bc he's honest to himself & his feelings but doesn't make it kawi's problem either which is amazing :)

xxx

[peachblossomdrama]

Battle of the Writers ep 3 Part 2/4 finally has eng sub!!

tbh I started watching for TutorYim & MarkGem (I have a big soft spot for the 1st gen DMD boys, so I'm v excited to see Mark in this role). I only skimmed the premise on mdl, so going in, I thought BOTW was going to be more about the whole plagiarism thing and have a sort of enemies to friends to lovers approach, but after this ep (& actually watching the trailer) it seems like it's just part of the set up for the long lost connection that Shan & Obaun have (and now that I get that that's what they're doing, everything else became a lot easier to follow)

The story within the story does make the show feel a little all over the place (I'm watching the cut version on youtube, not sure if the iqiyi version is uncut & would make it flow a little better?), but the scenes for the novel are gorgeous and I like that their writers groupchat is shown as the 5 of them sitting around a table in their pajamas

I like the novel that they're writing (though the way the five of them are just winging it makes me feel a little crazy). I've been watching cdramas longer than I have Thai bls and I love the fantasy/historical/xianxia/wuxia genres. They're drawing on certain tropes and character types, but adding their own twists (w/ the sci-fi approach & the influence of the Thai bl genre) and I just really appreciate what they're doing with it

I would say this series is definitely worth watching, whether you do so week to week or wait to binge it once it's finished.