End of the Year Drama Challenge - 2021 Edition

Can't do a list for Day 30: Was 2021 A Good Drama Year For You?, cos list can be made only for Shows or People

Thank you to all who have participated in the month-long polls for Wrap-Up 2021 – with 31 challenges/polls, one for each day of December 2021. After 24 hours of tabulating, checking and analysing the poll results, a mini wrap-up is ready to be progressively posted.

For this Wrap-up 2021, while focus and ranking for each poll will be on the dramas aired in 2021, shows aired pre-2021 will be highlighted and mentioned as well where appropriate. Dramas that finished airing in Dec 2020 will also be ranked together with dramas that aired in 2021, to give these dramas enough airtime for viewers to watch and rate.

Before going into each poll, here’s a look at the 2021 Top 25 Ranked Dramas and 25 Most Popular Dramas according to MDL users.

In 2021, a total of 1,483 dramas were released in 2021 (filtered by Dramas and Release Date of 2021 only).

The 2021 MDL Top 25 Ranked Dramas consists of 18 Korean dramas, 6 Chinese dramas and 1 Thai drama, namely:

* Ongoing drama as at 1^st Jan 2021 | 15 dramas that appear in the 2021 MDL Most Popular 25 Dramas are in bold.

The 2021 MDL Most Popular 25 Dramas consists of 21 Korean dramas, 2 Chinese dramas, 1 Taiwanese drama and 1 Thai drama, namely:

15 dramas that appear in the 2021 MDL Top 25 Ranked Dramas are in bold.

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This is the list for Day 2: Favourite Actress Discovered in 2021

Remaining nominations have 1-11 vote(s) each | Click the hyperlink in the Quote for the full list.

• Many of these actresses helm roles in some of the top rated and popular dramas in 2021.
• Of note, 3rd placed Moon Chae Won does not have a drama that aired in 2021, but only a film that aired in 2021.
• Chinese actresses Bai Lu and Zhao Lu Si (9 votes each) are placed 7th, after South Korean actress Jung Ho Yeon (11 votes) who sparkled and raised eyebrows for her outstanding performance in her first drama role in "Squid Game".
• Bai Lu has 4 dramas aired in 2021: "Song Of Youth", "One And Only", "Forever And Ever", and "Ace Troops"; while Zhao Lu Si has 3 dramas: "The Long Ballad", "Please Feel At Ease Mr. Ling", and "A Female Student Arrives At The Imperial College".

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This is the list for Day 4: Favourite Drama OST of 2021

 Remaining nominations have 1-9 vote(s) each | Click the hyperlink in the Quote for the full list.

• All of these dramas are among the top rated and popular dramas. Does this mean OSTs play an important part in the popularity and rating of dramas?
• Topping the list is Thai BL drama "Bad Buddy" with a whopping 21% of all votes, while 2nd placed Kdrama "Nevertheless" only garnered 10% votes.
• "Bad Buddy" is also the only Thai drama that made the top 10 spots.
• The only Chinese drama that made the top 10 spots is "The Long Ballad".
• Read more in this editorial "OSTs That Impacted How I Watch Dramas" by TIP, 17 Dec 2021

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This is the list for Day 7: Favourite Character of 2021

Remaining nominations have 1-7 vote(s) each | Click the hyperlink in the Quote for the full list.

• These 2021 top 5 dramas for this poll are all highly rated with a rating of 8.5 and above.
• Some of these dramas could have more than just 1 favourite character. For example "Vincenzo" is among the top placed in "Any Second Lead Syndrome This Year?" and "Favourite Antagonist Of 2021".
• Are your favourite characters in these dramas the protagonist only or another character in the dramas?
• Korean dramas dominate not just top 5 but top 10 spots. The only non-Korean drama among the top 10 is Chinese BL drama Word Of Honor (2021) with 5 votes.

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This is the list for Day 9: An Older Drama You Watched in 2021

Remaining nominations have 1-5 vote(s) each | Click the hyperlink in the Quote for the full list.

• According to Annie, creator of the challenge, older drama for the challenge just means pre-2021, as the point is to highlight the dramas that have been watched that didn't come out in 2021.
• I am among the bunch who got on dramas during the pandemic, so actually watching many not that old dramas only recently.
• The top 5 dramas in this polls are all highly rated dramas with rating of 8.7 and above.
• The oldest drama nominated is Japanese drama "Long Vacation (1996)" (2 votes, MDL rating 8.1), followed by Korean drama "Autumn Tale" (2000) (1 vote, MDL rating 7.7). Have you watched these dramas before and do you like it?
• Are the older dramas generally rated lower compared to newer dramas? More discussion at Forum "Are the ratings on MDL useful to you?"
• Are there hidden gems in these older dramas that one should watch?
• What other older dramas (pre-2021) that you have watched in 2021?
• Editorial "Drama Recommendations: 2004 to 2013" by Suckerforhappyending, 7 Jan 2022, recommends older dramas that you may want to check out as well.

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[New Day, New List] This is the list for Day 11: A Drama That Kept You On the Edge of Your Seat

Remaining nominations have 1-8 vote(s) each | Click the hyperlink in the Quote for the full list.

• The 2021 top 5 dramas in this poll are all highly rated dramas with rating of at least 8.6, and constitute more than 76% of all votes for this poll.
• The top 10 dramas in this poll (including pre-2021 dramas) are all Korean dramas with at least 5 votes each.
• Topping this poll is "Flower of Evil" aired in 2020, followed by "Vincenzo" with 23% and 18% of all votes respectively. "Squid Game" follows with almost half the votes of "Vincenzo".
• The top cdrama in this poll is "The Long Ballad" with 4 votes.

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[New Day, New List] This is the list for Day 13: A Drama You Found Boring

Remaining nominations have 1-9 vote(s) each. | Click the hyperlink in the Quote for the full list.

• Of the 2021 aired dramas, 1st placed Korean drama "Doom At Your Service" is placed 4th in "A Drama You're Not Sure You'll Finish".
• And ironically, next placed Korean dramas "Vincenzo" and "Squid Game" are placed 1st and 2nd for "2021 Drama That Kept You On The Edge Of Your Seat".
• So these dramas are exciting for some and boring for others?
• Hype (due to popularity and/or high rating) is often a double-edged sword; Hyped dramas often appear to top both 'positive' and 'negative' polls. Do you disagree?
• Some dramas are late bloomer dramas, to build the characters and the world the drama is based on, thus the somewhat flat starting episodes. Are any of these dramas actually late bloomer dramas?
• Have you nominated purely based on the episodes you have watched, instead of the entire drama series?