Am I the only one disturbed by dramas & movies that include underaged-adult relations (most common being student-teacher) set up as a romance story? Examples include: Close Range Love;  Flower Boy Ramen Shop; High School King of Savvy; and I haven't seen Gokusen but it seems to be going that route where eventually one of the students is going to be paired up with the female teacher - I could be wrong though.What themes or plots in Asian dramas disturb you?

Nope, you're not alone. I'm disturbed by:

  • Huge age gaps in any setting, especially if one of them is underage.
  • Creepy plots in which a character's in-laws have the say in everything
  • Abuse, wrist grabbing, slaps etc most common in Lakorns.
  • The trend of women giving up on their careers the moment they get married and the fact that they mostly have shotgun weddings, most common in doramas.
  • Drinking alcohol like crazy - I've noticed this in Kdramas mostly, they find it cute and funny to walk around drunk and to embarrass yourself. I only cringe. It's been proved that both Korea and Japan have an alarming rise of alcoholics.

There is more probably.



Rape or sexual assualt in any part of a drama. I just cant understand why they feature that, especially in Thai dramas. The slamming to the wall, wrist grabs, force kisses does feel so romantic for me. Especially when the girl is struggling free. And when it happens between the male and female leads. I know that violence cant be resolved by another violent action but it still makes me wanna punch the male lead for being so highhanded and offensive.

Then there is also the thing about floormat female leads who doesnt make any complains when they are being verbally abused by all other characters. I hate it when they dont speak up.

Another thing is: no one seems to file legal complain or inform police when some dirty and shitty things happen. They just let the bad guys blackmail, abduct, steal all things in a drama. The protagonist find their own way to deal with the evil deeds. Makes me feel bad that they dont see that these actions needs to be dealt in the legal way. 




...for Gokusen, rest assured there is no pairing with the teacher.  They super highly admire her and one or two kinda has a crush on the teacher but she doesnt have romance with anyone. its highly understandable they admire her, she was the first adult to show concern for them as well as fight their battles for them.

 Ceki:

Nope, you're not alone. I'm disturbed by:

  • Huge age gaps in any setting, especially if one of them is underage.
  • Creepy plots in which a character's in-laws have the say in everything
  • Abuse, wrist grabbing, slaps etc most common in Lakorns.
  • The trend of women giving up on their careers the moment they get married and the fact that they mostly have shotgun weddings, most common in doramas.
  • Drinking alcohol like crazy - I've noticed this in Kdramas mostly, they find it cute and funny to walk around drunk and to embarrass yourself. I only cringe. It's been proved that both Korea and Japan have an alarming rise of alcoholics.

There is more probably.



The exaggerated gender imbalances almost freak me out.  Some way worse than others. There a Thai show where she's sold to the guy for a breeder.  Eeek.  And there is a lot of abuse in them too.  And I feel concerned that so many of these are marketed to a younger audience who then romanticize the abuse, think it's normal to be inferior to men...and probably have other issues sneaking in as well.  Maybe it's just because feminism is pretty prominent in the west but....a lot of them leave me uncomforable.  I like a protective male lead as much as the next girl and maybe slightly possessive is fine but a lot of dramas push it way too far.

Stalker behavior that is presented as something funny, cute or romantic bugs the hell out of me.    

 joannesmith:

Stalker behavior that is presented as something funny, cute or romantic bugs the hell out of me.    

See that's something that I acknowledge should bug me, kinda doesnt.....idk....

A lot of things mostly forced kiss. I hate the scenes where the female lead is kissed without consent and she struggles for a bit and then gives up neither participating in the kiss not pushing away. That is not romance and I hate that impressionable people think of it as such when they watch it. 

Huge age difference makes me uncomfortable when the younger of the pair is in early or mid twenties. There are so many people who may be older but not actually wiser. Marrying or talking about true love at the age of 19-25 makes me laugh and not in a good way.

I think this could be just me but I dislike dumb or too nice or too villainous female characters. I don't think women react the way as shown in dramas. Nobody's that nice or that evil or that dumb. Those characters are too unrealistic to connect. Also, when the female lead is shown as incompetent compared to male lead in office setting it just boils my blood. 

A lot of this also depends on the context but these things just irk me a lot.

 joannesmith:

Stalker behavior that is presented as something funny, cute or romantic bugs the hell out of me.    

I hate it. It seems cute when shown in drama but imagine that a guy you like stalks you. That is so creepy If that doesn't creep you out imagine a guy you don't like doing the same things as the male lead. In real life the guy stalking someone may not be the main lead and instead of the mail female lead one can end as that women killed by her stalker in the first episode of a crime thriller.

1. Rich guy - poor girl who end up together

2. Abuse in any form

3. Huge age gap. For example the girl is 18 and the guy is 30

4. Drinking alcohol like crazy

5. Creepy in-laws

Heres a good one nobody has brought up yet:

-Bullying in high school settings

This is the main reason why I don't like high school k-dramas. There is always bullying that happens, and yes, this is something that happens, my issue is the lack of adult concern. Like really? No adult has noticed these kids getting BEAT UP by a group of bullies? Or how they will do something really messed up like dump flour (or some kind of substance) on the victim, and the bully never gets in trouble? Remember how in Boys over Flowers, that one kid was commiting suicide? Its been awhile since ive watched that drama but we can all agree that that scene has MANY disturbing issues about it that are portrayed so casually. 

BL dramas. 

Well, most of them. I just hate the whole concept. The targeted audience is clearly young straight girls who obsess over gay boys. And that's just creepy. And gross.  Also most of the time, the relationships are unhealthy, there's always violence, forced kisses, even rape (like Make it Right or Addicted Heroine which I had to stop watching because of one particular episode..) and people usually don't care because "they're boys so it's cute". 

Seriously, these dramas are so popular and it makes me sick.

 JAY:

BL dramas. 

Well, most of them. I just hate the whole concept. The targeted audience is clearly young straight girls who obsess over gay boys. And that's just creepy. And gross.  Also most of the time, the relationships are unhealthy, there's always violence, forced kisses, even rape (like Make it Right or Addicted Heroine which I had to stop watching because of one particular episode..) and people usually don't care because "they're boys so it's cute". 

Seriously, these dramas are so popular and it makes me sick.

BL and yaoi have been criticized in Japan and worldwide because they don't have anything to do with real LGBTQ themes and problems and even though gay people might read/watch/enjoy them, the fact is that they are created by straight people for straight people just like yuri's audience is straight boys.

I've actually read many analyses on this topic that the reason why BL is so popular among straight girls is because it serves as a sort of escapism - there are no women who get hurt in them and it is usually boys who get hurt therefore women become powerful voyeurs for a change (the reason why there are so many rapes and violent, tragic acts in BL). 

Even though sometimes even I find two men together hot, I believe that when a straight woman solely focuses on BL only and becomes obsessed with it is because she is dissatisfied with her own romance/sexuality so she searches for an escape in gay romance/porn because she would never be able to participate in it - only watch.

It's quite interesting when you think about it :D

i am not a picky when it comes to dramas as long as it has a promising plot. But when i watched a drama that started as the female and male lead end up in bed with no strings attached or not emotionally commited with each other, most of the time i will drop the drama. 

This is actually very interesting! I've never really discussed this topic with anyone before. Thank you for sharing!

 Ceki:
Even though sometimes even I find two men together hot, I believe that when a straight woman solely focuses on BL only and becomes obsessed with it is because she is dissatisfied with her own romance/sexuality so she searches for an escape in gay romance/porn because she would never be able to participate in it - only watch.

Females who fall in love with their rapist.

Fathers who coerce/"encourage" a daughter to marry someone to pay off his debts or get funding for a new business. 

Females who convince themselves that they're the male lead's true love (even though he's told her that he thinks of her as a sister). Female then plots revenge on the lead female. Revenge becomes extreme when they plan a gang rape; throw acid; get physically violent.

Indecisive males.