MediaCrash Blog

Recently, I’ve noticed so many more K-dramas gathering buzz in the pop culture conversation. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve known that drama series (and movies) from South Korea have always had devoted fans and that they had a reputation for good writing and characters. But, I was slow in searching them out.

I’m shocked at just how good they are. As a student of Japanese for many years, I’ve spent quite a bit of time watching Japanese dramas as a way to absorb culture and language, and because I write fiction and comics, I’ve read Japanese manga for a long time. When you’re involved in those subcultures, you hear a lot about K-drama (and Korean music as well), it’s unavoidable.

In the last few months, I finally dove into a few series to see what I’ve been missing. Oh man, I was missing a lot.

I think the first series I watched was Squid Game. That is maybe one of the most intense television watching experiences I’ve had. I honestly couldn’t remember a series that was so brutal and heartbreaking and yet sort of funny at the same time? I don’t know if I’m explaining it well…

Next, I watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo. I know that the show got slammed a bit for depicting people with disabilities in a way that didn’t make everybody happy. But I thought it was just amazing. Park Eun-bin is totally brilliant as Woo Young-woo; I don’t care what the critics think. Another series that makes you feel happy & sad & worried & hopeful all at once.

I just finished watching the second series of ‘Alchemy of Souls’, by the Hong sisters. This show is just fire. If you like Chinese wuxia & xianxia fantasy type series (which I do), you will love this show.

Anyway, I’m glad that I finally hopped on board because I really enjoyed what I’ve seen so far. If anyone has any recommendations of other series to watch, let me know!

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