Drama Triggers...
Jun. 10th, 2009 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI am sure this is true for you too: if a certain actor is in a drama, or a certain topic is covered, you find yourself much more eager to watch it. OTOH, some other actors, topics, or writers will likely result in you never checking it out. So, what are the dos and don't if the makers want to get you drama involved?
Have these DOs and I will likely watch your drama
1. Set in 30 years ago or further back.
2. Politics. Lots of politics.
3. Based on a manga/manhwa that is not too cracktastic.
4. Mercenaries/assassins/ninjas/vampires.
4a. Mercenary Ninja Vampires (if that drama was ever made, I might explode)
5. Very prettily shot
6. Student/teacher love
7. Icy tormented rich guy and plucky poor sunny girl
8. Almost anything starring Kang Ji Hwan, Bae Yong Joon, Matsumoto Jun, Vic Zhou, Barbie Hsu, Nagase Tomoya, Sung Yuri, or Takeshi Kaneshiro. Unless it involves wine, lawyers, chefs or advertisers.
9. Fakecest/Revenge/The Mob/Amnesia/Lots of hurt-comfort
10. Having to be cruel to your loved one to save them
These DON'Ts are pretty guaranteed I will skip
1. Anything set in a lawfirm or a hospital unless the setting is super-tangential (e.g. story of a ninja who hides in a hospital to avenge himself is fine, story of young doctors helping patients and learning about themselves is out).
2. Anything involving chefs or wine conosseurs. If I want that, I'd go to a restaurant
3. Anything which has more than two undernourished boys in school uniforms and words "ikemen"
4. Any remake of Mawang.
5. Anything written by the screenwriter of Boys Over Flowers
6. Anything with an ending which resolves nothing.
7. Real incest
8. Anything starring Ikuta Toma or Go Hye Sun.
9. Office drama with older woman younger man.
10. Anything where one part of the supposed OTP tries to kill the other. Unless it's a period drama thing.
11. Any Japanese manga adaptation that is not Hana Yori Dango
12. Heroine who is kind and forgiving to all
13. Anything made by Group 8 unless it has 4 words the first of which is "The" the second of which is "Return" the third of which is "of" and the fourth of which is "Iljimae."
14. Anything with one of Johhny's 20-something boys shirtless.
15. Heroes/heroines who are priests/nuns/ministers. Unless said heroine gave up monastic life to become a card dealer.
16. Life crisis of a 30+ single woman. God, I'll scream if I see another one.
So basically? An amnesiac ninja in love with his stepsister, who travels forward in time and becomes a mobster vampire out for revenge? YES.
A manga adaptation with Go Hye Sun as a doctor who likes to cook and tries to get over her love for her brother by hooking up with a younger man who cleans the floors of her hospital and looks undernourished? Out.
What are yours?
Have these DOs and I will likely watch your drama
1. Set in 30 years ago or further back.
2. Politics. Lots of politics.
3. Based on a manga/manhwa that is not too cracktastic.
4. Mercenaries/assassins/ninjas/vampires.
4a. Mercenary Ninja Vampires (if that drama was ever made, I might explode)
5. Very prettily shot
6. Student/teacher love
7. Icy tormented rich guy and plucky poor sunny girl
8. Almost anything starring Kang Ji Hwan, Bae Yong Joon, Matsumoto Jun, Vic Zhou, Barbie Hsu, Nagase Tomoya, Sung Yuri, or Takeshi Kaneshiro. Unless it involves wine, lawyers, chefs or advertisers.
9. Fakecest/Revenge/The Mob/Amnesia/Lots of hurt-comfort
10. Having to be cruel to your loved one to save them
These DON'Ts are pretty guaranteed I will skip
1. Anything set in a lawfirm or a hospital unless the setting is super-tangential (e.g. story of a ninja who hides in a hospital to avenge himself is fine, story of young doctors helping patients and learning about themselves is out).
2. Anything involving chefs or wine conosseurs. If I want that, I'd go to a restaurant
3. Anything which has more than two undernourished boys in school uniforms and words "ikemen"
4. Any remake of Mawang.
5. Anything written by the screenwriter of Boys Over Flowers
6. Anything with an ending which resolves nothing.
7. Real incest
8. Anything starring Ikuta Toma or Go Hye Sun.
9. Office drama with older woman younger man.
10. Anything where one part of the supposed OTP tries to kill the other. Unless it's a period drama thing.
11. Any Japanese manga adaptation that is not Hana Yori Dango
12. Heroine who is kind and forgiving to all
13. Anything made by Group 8 unless it has 4 words the first of which is "The" the second of which is "Return" the third of which is "of" and the fourth of which is "Iljimae."
14. Anything with one of Johhny's 20-something boys shirtless.
15. Heroes/heroines who are priests/nuns/ministers. Unless said heroine gave up monastic life to become a card dealer.
16. Life crisis of a 30+ single woman. God, I'll scream if I see another one.
So basically? An amnesiac ninja in love with his stepsister, who travels forward in time and becomes a mobster vampire out for revenge? YES.
A manga adaptation with Go Hye Sun as a doctor who likes to cook and tries to get over her love for her brother by hooking up with a younger man who cleans the floors of her hospital and looks undernourished? Out.
What are yours?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:10 pm (UTC)Sometimes my love for you threatens to RULE THE PLANET.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 10:59 pm (UTC)I like my men well-fed and sparkleless :)
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:13 pm (UTC)LOL, somehow for me this sounds baaaad)
My DOs (I'm gonna steal some from you)
1) Facest/incest, student/teacher, younger/older and everything that's even remotely 'forbidden'
2) Based on a manga/manhwa that is not too cracktastic.
3) Anything with Mike He, Yamapi, Lee Min Ki, Lee De Hae, Ariel Lin (I would name Rainie Yang, but after seeing Miss No Good I'm not so sure...)
4) Friendship as an important part of the drama (i.e Nobuta)
5) Icy tormented rich guy and plucky poor sunny girl
6) Shot beautifully (like Utahime...so gorgeous!)
7) Something beneath the surface, beneath simple interactions...New and interesting ideas explored? Something that will teach?
okay at the end of it all, I realized the surest way to interest me is to have a very handsome hero and forbidden love (it's no surprise DBY and Coffee Prince are my favorite dramas)
DON'Ts
1) TRAGIC ENDINGS. NEVER! EVER! My soul simply can't take it.
2) Too much action and politics that takes away from the romance
3) Too much angst, although if it ends happily I'm fine.
4) Office/laywers/cooks
5) Conventional/classical romances...(of course there are exceptions)
can't think of much...basically if nobody dies at the end, I might give the drama a chance.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
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From:no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:00 pm (UTC)So bad it's good, right? :)
I don't mind dying in the drama as long as it makes sense...
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:29 pm (UTC)1. an age difference that is just beyond the realm of reason,
2. a hero/heroine that crosses the line between jerk and irredeemable asshole,
3. forced chemistry (ie. there's nothing here, but we'll still act like ours is tru luv 4eva),
4. anything that rubs my over-exacerbated embarrassment squick the wrong way (this is why I had such a hard time with My lovely Kim Sam Sun),
5. obvious fanservice --or rather, fanservice being the entire raison d'être of the drama,
6. too much angst: that is to say, too much groundless, artificial wangst for not apparent reason (or a very flimsy one that could resolved if the characters just took a minute to talk; I just hate it when 12 episodes are devoted to brooding and punching mirrors when a ten minute conversation would achieve much more),
7. the slappable, meek heroine who can't articulate what she wants and just goes along with what anyone else wants instead,
...I'm sure there are other things and I'll smack my forehead when I come up with them later.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:36 pm (UTC)6. too much angst: that is to say, too much groundless, artificial wangst for not apparent reason (or a very flimsy one that could resolved if the characters just took a minute to talk; I just hate it when 12 episodes are devoted to brooding and punching mirrors when a ten minute conversation would achieve much more),
Wow, you articulated perfectly what I don't like in about half the dramas I try.
(no subject)
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From:no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:31 pm (UTC)...aren't you checking out Otomen? XD :shot: And also, I thought you watched/liked Sapuri? Unless I'm mistaken. ._.
Mostly, if there's an actress that I don't like in a drama, no matter what the storyline is or the side characters, I will probably never check it out. THANKFULLY, none of the upcoming Jdramas have an actress that I don't like in it. XD
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:34 pm (UTC)Hmmm, maybe I should stay out of reading Otomen before the drama...
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:34 pm (UTC)I'm completely helpless against any revenge stories. Also, if you're Korean and historical, I'm there. Anything involving politics, spies, assassins, scheming (preferably, but not necessarily evil) has my attention. My fangirl level rises dangerously when one of the drama characters has a redemption storyarc done right (and if I suspect something like that is included, I'm VERY likely to check out the drama). And I'm always up for quirky romcom and Japanese crack, cause after all of the above I need good cheering up XD
Anything from the 'ANGST FOR THE SAKE OF ANGST AND LET'S ADD MORE ANGST' genre is generally out unless it has at least a few elements from the DOs list. Sports or medical? Nononono.
But I'm a weak person and sometimes casts manages to tempt me and I then die of boredom.no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:02 pm (UTC)Oh yes. Now I need to find something that combines the two!
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:36 pm (UTC)DOs:
1. Romance needs to be a key component
2. Agreed - "Icy tormented rich guy and plucky poor sunny girl"
3. Almost anything starring Matsumoto Jun, Jiro Wang, Yoon Kye Sang, Yoon Eun Hye,
DON'Ts:
1. Anything historical - I watch partially to learn current culture, not the culture of 80-300 years ago.
2. Unresolves ending/ sad ending - I demand happily ever afters! (unless they really, really fit - but then I'll probably avoid it anyway as I tend to avoid depressing stuff)
3. Wierd love triangles that never get resolved
4. Unbelievable pairing - they have to be together for a reason, not just becuase the writers felt like it.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:03 pm (UTC)Oddly, I almost never come across this in dramas. Weird.
(no subject)
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From:no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 08:46 pm (UTC)1) Fairytale elements like Goong or has scifi/fantasy basis.
2) Angst as long as it's not wangst, everyone has a different line in the sand for that one.
3)Best friends falling in love.
4)Forbidden love (but see 2).
5)Male character falls in love first and has to work to get the girl.
Won't watch:
1)Too stupid to live characters.
2)Incest.
3)Medical dramas.
4)Nonsensical plots (BOF I'm looking at you).
5)They die in the end, WTF kind of ending is that?
6)Cancer hits too close to home to be 'entertaining'.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:03 pm (UTC)I love this and wished they did more of that!
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 09:15 pm (UTC)1) Anything with Yoon Eun Hye (except maybe the Vineyard thingy - it looks dead boring) and Barbie Hsu.
2) Romance must usually be a key element (see 3)) , but I also like coming-of-age, self-discovery stuff. E.g. Nobuta, Orange Days, Goong are pretty pretty pretty.
3) Anything involving a good, thought-provoking murder mystery. Even romance can take a backseat - but it must be a good murder mystery series, ala Galileo. Pi Li MIT does not and never will belong here, as much as Fahrenheit's very very pretty Arron Yan is the lead.
4) I have to agree - anything prettily shot. GOONG! *swoon*
5) speaking of Goong, a pretty pretty soundtrack is always a plus.
6) strong, non-useless heroines. moments of weakness okay, not entire tracts of crying/depression/uselessness flail/utter dependance/inability to define self without better half.
7) love triangles, but see don't number 5. preferably a love triangle along the lines of the hyorin-shin-chaegyung triangle of Goong. i mean, they got to throw in shakespeare references which weren't cringe-worthy!
Don't's:
1) anything involving lots of jargon which is apparently integral to the plot. i.e. cooking shows disguised as drama.
2) any terminal illness, except 1 litre of tears.
3) anything involving nishikido ryo being an abusive bf. it's so weird. not that it can NEVER happen, but it's just. weird.
4) pointless angst. pointless misunderstandings.
5) unrealistic, ridiculous, sick-in-the-head 3rd parties.
6) incest.
7) characters who ought to be slapped irl. unless they actually change along the way, and for a point.
why the dislike for goo hye sun and ikuta toma, though? I understand that you disliked BoF, but did goo herself do such an injustice to makino character (i always had a good impression of her from another show, and I gave up on BoF at the 10th episode)?
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:07 pm (UTC)I have been staying away from Last friends. Far far away.
why the dislike for goo hye sun and ikuta toma, though? I understand that you disliked BoF, but did goo herself do such an injustice to makino character (i always had a good impression of her from another show, and I gave up on BoF at the 10th episode)?
Toma? Saw him in his Hanadan cameo, didn't get the fuss. Got scarred by his concave chest in hana kimi. Then he starred in Maou which I abhor on principle as a remake of Mawang, aka "most perfect modern drama ever according to dangermousie." Plus, I find him hideous.
Go Hye Sun? I loathed BOF but even before I did start my BOF loathing in the second half, I thought she was a bad actress - over the top but not in a good way (YEH made in endearing in Goong).
no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 11:42 pm (UTC)Do's
1- Anything with Tomoya Nagase & Jun Matsumoto
2- Love with big age gaps
3- Student/ Teacher love
4- Love Stories with Rich/poor people
5- Detective story but has to have a hot lead actor as a detective
6- Any Taiga drama with actors wearing samurai/ninja outfits and have loooooong silky hair (preferbly hot actors again)
7- a drama with more grown up actors rather than all 20 and under 20 skiny johnny boys.
8- anything with Hiro Misushima after Hanakimi times
Don'ts
1- anything with Maki as a lead
2- court drama/lawyers/chefs/cooking dramas
3- kdramas
4-incest (i know that this already in conflict with #1 of my dos list but it was one off as it was jun's and i still would watch one again if it had Tomoya or hiro in it )
5- any gokusen drama/sp after the 1st one.
6- any tragic ending dramas
7- no real ending, open ending drama
it's time for bed. goodnight every body
;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:07 pm (UTC)I confess I watched it too...:)
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 01:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 01:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 01:48 am (UTC)-Pretty cinematography
-some randomly meaningful object, motion, or phrase that the OTP shares
-childhood love
-ANGST (but well done angst, not people being whiny for every episode because they're too annoying to do anything reasonable about it)
-WOOBIES (emo pianists!)
-Unique concepts that haven't been done to death (though I love my cliches as well xD)
-revenge
-Forbidden love (fake incest, class differences, gay love, etc)
-SCENES IN THE RAIN
-bickering between the OTP
-Anything where the sub-evil group of snobby antagonists get pwned because of main character's used-to-be-hidden and now revealed skills
-Anything starring Lee Wan, Ninomiya, HyunBin, Yoon Eunhye
DON'T'S:
-when dramas constantly have those ridiculous scenes where star-crossed lovers (who are looking for each other) obliviously pass each other whilst walking, driving a car, etc, etc. I mean, once or twice breaks my heart, makes me go "aw", but more than that makes me want to bash both the writer's and the characters' brains in. D:
-ridiculously gullible heroines who don't know how or refuse to occasionally kick someone's ass
-when the whole thing is centered on a particular occupation and there is no romance to tide me over ):
-when a lot of episodes are just filler and make no contribution to the progression of the main OTP or plot
-when bad ass characters stop being bad ass (yes, Jandi, I'm looking at you)
-when actors who can't speak English for their life play business-efficient characters that can
-open endings D:
Speaking of which, I know this is like my third time recommending Hello, God to you, but I recently finished it and I'm still numb from the awesome. Also, it seems to fufill about half of your do's list.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 03:03 am (UTC)Does that mean you won't be watching Triple?
And why the major dislike for Gu Hye Sun?
Dos:
- Strong characters (esp. female characters)
- love/hate relationships
- tons of OTP banter
- revenge
- crack (but not j-Hana Kimi levels)
- beautifully shot/good soundtrack
- historical kdramas
- friendship
Don'ts:
- BOF (this just gets its own category)
- Student/Teacher or huge crazy age gaps
- one half of the OTP stalks/rapes/abuses the other half but it's okay cos it's "twu wuv 4eva!!1!"
- characters who are total wet blankets/doormats/tstl
- anything featuring Kim Hyun Joong
- terminal illness
- tons of stupid misunderstandings and the OTP or characters who are looking for each other but just miss each other at every corner, every single day which leads to unnecessary wangst
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 03:17 am (UTC)I have only seen her in BOF so it is the BOF fall-out. The thing is, unlike with someone like Lee Min Ho, who benefitted from the screenwriter's Kim Hyun Joong's obsession by being given relatively little time in the awful second hald, GHS was front and center for that trainwreck. But also because I thought she was awful as an actress throughout. Even when I liked BOF (first half) I thought she was a bad actress - not only was she not natural/lovable/cool like Barbie or Mao, she was cartoonish but not in a good way (see Yoon Eun Hye in Goong for an example of how to do over-the-top mangaish without coming across as a retarded puppet).
I thought she sucked. Lee Min Ho would have made a good Domyouji with a different script but she would have always made a lousy Makino. Seeing that Makino is one of my fave fictional heroines, I am bitter. Also, I don't think she is cute and I also think she can't act, so I really don't want to watch another drama with her trying...
Also, Triple sounds yawnworthy. If Kang Ji Hwan was in it, I would have checked it out despite the boring premise, but luckily he isn't in it so dilemma is solved.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 05:51 am (UTC)Do:
1. Period drama
2. Comedy
3. Mystery
4. Combine any above with romance
5. Feature almost any significant cast member of Damo or Emperor of the Sea. Also will automatically consider for: Nakama Yukie, Abe Hiroshi, Oguri Shun, Aragaka Yui, Erica Toda, Matsumoda Shota, Fujiki Naohito, Eva Huang, Fan Bing Bing, Eddie Peng, Kimura Takuya, Nagase Tomoya
6. Family and/or friendship focus
7. In truth, I will try most things, given time and resources.
Don'ts (typically)
1. Incest, real or fake
2. Have a male majority (major majority, on the "token female" level) cast
3. Bromance focus
4. Student/teacher
5. Have a female lead that annoys me (I can watch/read if I don't like the guy, but not the reverse.)
6. Villify family and/or all women but the heroine and the token annoyingly cute best friend
7. Have endless complications that exist to keep the pairing apart.
8. Have the second half mainly consist of the girl weeping while the guy sorts through his piles of angst.
Character death is fine as long as it makes sense to me.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:11 pm (UTC)Ahahahaha, no wonder you stay away from kdramas on the whole.
Fan Bing Bing,
Did you know she has an upcoming drama where she is a dance hall hostess from 1940s through 1960s? She looks gorgeous!
Have a male majority (major majority, on the "token female" level) cast
Oddly, I don't think I've ever seen a kdrama or a twdrama that does that. I wonder if jdramas do as I haven't watched as many.
Btw, no idea but have you been checking out all these women-centered sageuks coming out lately?
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 07:29 am (UTC)1. Classroom dramas. My all time fav is The Queen's Classroom. I couldn't get over how good it was. This can include dramas where a student is trying really hard to study.
2. Based on a manga I don't mind, but not in my DON'T list.
3. Anything that's really, really cracktastically funny (like My Boss, My Hero)
4. Obasan dramas -- also known as Life crisis of a 30+ single woman, number 16 on your don't list! And office dramas with the older woman younger man. LOL!
5. Dramas with awkward characters -- they're doing a Korean re-make of the Man Who Cannot Get Married (Kekkon dekinai Otoko I think?) and I kind of want to see it.
6. Anything with Matsumoto Jun, Shida Mirai, or Tomoya Nagase. Sometimes dramas with Oizumi Yo, just because he makes me laugh.
7. Anything with a good, solid heroine who kicks butt. No whimpy women who won't punch a guy for touching her behind.
8. Taken from your list: Icy tormented rich guy and plucky poor sunny girl although this will include angst. The exception is Hot Gimmick the manga. I haaaated that but read it anyway. :(
9. Dramas where Shinohara Ryoko plays someone angry and bold. She's so great when she's angry. :D
DO NOT / Don'ts
1. Anything with 11 - 27 episodes of pure angst, weeping, crying, etc. I like to laugh.
2. ANYTHING featuring rape or incest. I hate hate hate hate rape. This is even worse when the girl is like "Awww, you and your friends gang raped me but I still love you!" as someone else stated.
3. Anything featuring a heroine who is kind and forgiving to all (also taken from your list)
4. Medical dramas are a bore to me as well.
5. Anything with any terminal illness or anything where someone dies. Glass Mask being the ONLY exception. I hate dramas where people die, especially when they were in love.
6. Dramas where Ueto Aya or Eikura Nana are the lead. Although I hate a love/hate relationship with Ueto Aya. Their voices both annoy me, but I really like Abarenbo Mama and managed to get through Meichan's butler.
7. Dramas with girls who start out being strong but end up being whimpy and annoying at the end or for most of the drama (see: Korean BOF). Even worse is when they have a whiny voice.
Don't mind
1. Anything with restaurants. They're hit or miss.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:11 pm (UTC)A little is nice, a lot is "grow a spine!"
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 12:19 pm (UTC)--GOKUSEN! :D
1. Anything set in a lawfirm or a hospital unless the setting is super-tangential (e.g. story of a ninja who hides in a hospital to avenge himself is fine, story of young doctors helping patients and learning about themselves is out).
--ooh. but have you tried IRYU? it's really really good :)
5. Anything written by the screenwriter of Boys Over Flowers -- I LOLed. XDDD
8. Anything starring Ikuta Toma or Go Hye Sun. -- poor Toma, but tbh, I don't really like him >_< *hides from Toma fans :D* and yeah, Go Hye Sun >____<
9. Office drama with older woman younger man.
-- but you liked Sapuri? :)
i love this list! I have to think about mine too :)
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:12 pm (UTC)or Hello Teacher.
Yup, I loved Sapuri. I think it broke every one of my rules but I loved it. it was so cute!
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 05:32 pm (UTC)I started thinking about this but all I got was: 'I'll watch anything with UTW in it' 'If it's too cutsey, sugary and off the wall or Last Friends type of thingy I'm not interested'. ;P That's about it. Which is why the stuff I watch tends to be all over the place.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-11 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-16 03:34 am (UTC)Will post mine in my LJ.
:)