i burnt out 🙂 took a break from watching for a bit. brb trying to catch up on some dramas i've missed out on

~~

Yes I really saved THE UNTAMED for this long (2023) cuz i knew it was gonna put me in a rut to continue watching other dramas.

CUZ I BINGED THIS DRAMA SO HARD ITS UNHEALTHY. rewatched half already before i even completed the drama.

WHY ARE THEY SO RIDICULOUSLY BEAUTIFUL? THE OVERSTIMULATING VISUALS.
PLUS THE MUSIC. AND THE CHEMISTRY. WTF IS THIS PERFECTION. 🫠
(I'll look past some of the plot holes)

and Xiao Zhan... Xiao Zhan acted so well i completely understand why his popularity went soaring. And Yibo even more so in the role of Lan Zhan, wtfwtf he is so different on and off screen, the switch is crazyy.

i desperately need xz to play YANG GUO in a new adaptation of Return of the Condor Heroes!! perfectly fitting to play this role 😭

But this...this is what got me wheezing. i literally CANNOT deal with their 1 shared braincell:

sldfkjsd the cute aggression between them is so real 😩 

(2022)
Bad Buddy Series got me in a rut 😭 it really takes me away from drama binging when i’m hung on a drama.

i'm not okkaayy the ooozing chemistry!! 2022 was OHMNANON year. ❤️💚

i. cannot. with. them. 😭 🫠 

~ BROMANCE ~

I'm a sucker for good bromances in dramas/movies 🥲
*not BL but close enough ;)*
(Need to update this... 🥲)

Wei Wu Xian x Lan Wang Ji (Wei Ying x Lan Zhan) in The Untamed (2019)
one talks so much and the other so little and they just work lkfjslfs
like the slow burn closeness development hurts so goodd 😭 

Li Xiang Yi x Fang Duo Bing x Di Fei Sheng in Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023)

Ahn Min Hyuk x In Gook Doo in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (2017)

Lee Hyun x Jung Seon Ho in Hello Monster (2015)

Everyone in Hwarang (2016)

Kim Shin x Wang Yeo [Grim Reaper] in Goblin (2016)

Everyone in Reply 1988 (2015)

Kim Sung Ryong x Seo Yool in Good Manager (2017)

Go Nam Soon x Park Heung Soo in School 2013 (2012)

Yoo Shi Jin x Seo Dae Yeong in Descendants of the Sun (2016)

Cha Do Hyeon x Oh Ri On in Kill Me, Heal Me (2015)

~ Best Cast Chemistry ~

Reply 1988

Kill Me, Heal Me

More to come

~ MY IRL CP ~

Wang Yibo x Xiao Zhan - YIZHAN
(they are so chaotic HELP)

Ohm Pawat x Nanon Korapat - OHMNANON
(not delulu, I did believe in and did love their friendship 🥹)

G-Dragon x Young Bae - GDYB
(the OG OTP)

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Okay now onto Drama Talks

“Drama is life with the dull parts left out.” -Alfred Hitchcock

"One of the greatest things drama can do, at it's best, is to redefine the words we use every day such as love, home, family, loyalty and envy. Tragedy need not be a downer." -Ben Kingsley

"We respond to a drama to that extent to which it corresponds to our dreamlife." -David Mamet

"Everyone sees drama from [their] own perspective." -Jean-Marie Le Pen

~ The Intro / Fun/Weird Facts ~

o1. I've been watching Asian dramas/movies all my life. Went on hiatus from 2011-2015, 2021-2022, now back again 🙃 

o2. I definitely consider myself a real drama/movie addict, which is a VERY bad thing. 🤧 

o3. I've went on a dramathon for almost 20 hours before (straight with a bit of rest in between) 😅 , but that's when i had all the time in the world just once in a blue moon ... or when I just gotta know the ending.

o4. You know you have an addiction when you actually have "burn out" moments from watching too much.

o5. I like to watch a couple of dramas at the same time and jump from a few eps of one drama to few eps of another (unless the drama is REALLY good, then I marathon it). IDEK but it helps me not get too burnt out.

o6. Sometimes I like to "save dramas" with high ratings (8.8 & up). I'd watch and complete others on my PTW before that one. The empty feeling of finishing a great drama and having to search for new good ones is a void I do not like to experience.

o7. ON HOLD list = a queue for what I want to watch next, cuz my PTW has gotten long and messy.

o8. DROPPED list = unfinished/no subs/can't find. Some I may pick up again once subs are available.

o9. NOT INTERESTED list = interested list/movie list.

1o. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO DROP A DRAMA/MOVIE. Let's be realistic; there will always be some bad ones made. And not every drama starring your fave actor will be a hit.
It irks me when I gotta drop a drama, too, but when my time is limited I want to watch ones that make me feel good, not make myself feel worse while watching/after finishing (with some exceptions if I really love certain actors and only watch for them 🙂 )

~ Rating Style ~

When you've watched so many dramas/movies, you either learn to become more critical or more forgiving with your ratings. I'm more on the forgiving side.

My ratings are sort of geared by genres: 
- i.e. for me a rating of 7 in rom-com is different than a 7 in thriller/investigations.

And also by country:
- I expect better gang/drug related dramas from Hong Kong than I do Japan (even though Japan is good, too, but they don't specialize in that genre), and I don't expect much in the romance department from both tbh (South Korea & China wins in that genre).
- & i expect better BLs from Thailand than any other country ofc :) (Taiwan coming up strong these days though!)

1 - 3 = Bad. They didn't even try.

4 - 5 = Meh. Not worth watching, can skip.

6 = Average (for me). Decent acting, decent story, but something in certain areas are bad/not good enough.

7 = Good. 7 is where I usually start with each drama, and it goes up/down from there. Good acting, good story, just not enough to be better. (It's why most HK dramas these days sit in the 7s)

8 = Better/Very Good. But it had so much potential to get to great if they had changed this/that.
8-rated dramas are frustrating for me, especially dramas with 8 ratings on MDL, because it actually averages out the watchers that either hate or love that drama lol.

9 = Great. Great beginning and middle, but ending (or something in between) wasn't strong enough to get it to 10 (how I usually see my 9s).

10 = Masterpiece. 10s for me are dramas that made me: go on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the whole drama, great acting, great chemistry, great music, great story, great writing, I keep wanting to rewatch, something in it stuck with me. Dramas that execute any/all of these areas nearly perfect.

There are no dramas that I find perfect, but I rate according to how much of their flaws I can overlook because of everything else that makes up for it (i.e. cliché storyline, but excellent acting/chemistry makes up for it).

I usually don't rate any drama I watch lower than a 2-3 (movies are different because they're not a huge time investment). Because I mean... I would just drop it instead of suffering through it and wasting my time.

I sometimes re-rate OLD dramas/movies that I've watched. Most I leave the same, I like to look back at them to see how I used to rate certain dramas/movies and see if my evaluations/thoughts have changed over time. Because the more you watch, even if its a good drama/movie, the cliches & redundant tropes may throw your ratings off.

~ My Firsts ~

First Chinese Drama: Journey to the West (1986)
First Hong Kong Drama: The Return of the Condor Heroes (1983)
First Japanese Drama: Nobuta wo Produce
First Korean Drama: Full House
First Taiwanese Drama: The New Adventures of Chor Lau Heung
First Thai Drama: Full House (Thai)

First Chinese Movie: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
First Hong Kong Movie: Jackie Chan or Stephen Chow movie
First Japanese Movie: Battle Royale
First Korean Movie: My Sassy Girl
First Taiwanese Movie: Shaolin Popey
First Thai Movie: Ongbak

(Most of them I watched with my mom when I was a kid)

~ Personal Goals ~

o1. Attempt to watch most of Park Bo Gum, Yoo Ah In, Kim Soo Hyun, Xiao Zhan's filmography.

o2. Attempt to pick up some of the dramas on my Dropped List.

o3. Complete 500 Asian dramas. COMPLETED 
o3a. Complete 1000 Asian dramas. COMPLETED 
o3b. Complete 1500 Asian dramas (Goal: end of 2023). COMPLETED (Aug 11, 2023)
o3c. Complete 2000 ASIAN DRAMAS next! Goal: end of 2026.

o4. Complete 500 Asian movies. COMPLETED 
o4a. Complete 1000 Asian movies. COMPLETED
o4b. Complete 1500 ASIAN MOVIES next! Goal: end of 2025.

o5. Reach my 100th Chinese drama milestone by end of 2023. (completed: Oct 2023)
Reach my 150th Chinese drama milestone by beginning of 2024.

o6. Reach my 350th Hong Kong drama milestone by end of 2024.

o7. Reach my 500th Japanese drama milestone by end of 2024.

o8. Reach my 500th Korean drama milestone by end of 2024.

o9. Reach my 100th Taiwanese drama milestone by end of 2025.
(need some motivation for tw dramas right now lol)

1o. Reach my 100th Thai drama milestone by end of 2025.

11. Complete all dramas on the 1st page of Most Popular Dramas for each country/region:
[✔] South Korea, [✔] China, [✔] Hong Kong, [✔] Japan, [] Taiwan, & [✔] Thailand.

12. [✔] Complete Top 100 Most Popular Dramas on MDL.

13. [✔] Complete Top 200 Most Popular Movies on MDL.

14. [✔] Complete all dramas on the 1st page of Top Ranked Dramas. (from date: Apr 2024)

pretty boys are ♥

\^o^/

YIZHAN. imma need all actors to have this hairstyle at least once pls cuz sldjslfkjsf SO PRETTY

Sexy and adorkable Jackson Wang *O*

Just everything Bogummy <3333

eun wooo out of a manga

 (¯`·._.·(¯`·._.· Multi-Asian Drama Challenge ·._.·´¯)·._.·´¯)

Watch at least 10 dramas from each country/region.

,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-( 20 Year Drama Challenge )-,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸

Challenging myself to watch 20+ dramas from 20+ different years.

 ,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-( 365 Asian Movies Challenge )-,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸

Sorting it like this so I can get some varieties in my movie selections.

** taking a break from this challenge this year, a lot of chinese dramas i wanna catch up with and they're taking up most of my time **

2024 Specials Watched

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o9. [✔]