Quiet, slowburn romance between adults


 Lily_B:
1) Please only recommend dramas that are on Netflix, Viki or YouTube! 2) Any country, but preferably Korean, Chinese or Japanese dramas.

This is what I'm looking for:

 Romance, drama, slice of life (friendship, maybe melodrama)
Quiet, warm style, slowpaced, slowburn romance; it's okay if it's sad
Modern or historical doesn't matter
Adult, grownup characters, INCLUDING the ML (so no noona romance - I don't dislike it generally, I'm just not in the mood for it!!) Edit: preferably characters around 40!
Nice, kind, calm, mature ML (as for actors,I like people like Kim Myung Min, Iura Arata, Takenouchi Yutaka, Joo Jin Mo, Yang Shuo, Son Suk Ku...)
Soft-toned cinematography and beautiful scenery is a plus (not a must)
It doesn't matter what kind of ending it is (if the couple end up together or not, if someone dies, etc... I'm fine with it)
Does this sound hard to find? I have watched dramas that fit this description well! Here are some examples of what I like:

My Liberation Notes
On the Way to the Airport
A Piece of Your Mind
Miracle That We Met
Mr Sunshine
I really, really want something that could give me as strong feelings as he above mentioned dramas.

 Lily_B:
Things I DO NOT want to watch:

Comedy or romcom, thriller
Enemies to lovers/hate to love relationship, bickering couple, leads who don't get along - not a mood thing, I dislike it!
Childhood sweethears, reunited lovers, separated, found again...
Younger ML or childish ML or boyish looking ML
FL with a "perfect life" discovers that all is a lie and she can't even trust her husband, etc...

 Lily_B:
TL;DR... Please, give me a warm slowburn romance with a handsome, nice ahjussi around 40!

Fit almost all of your criteria:

  • In Time with You - The ML and FL actors were in their late 20s.
  • Because This Is My First Life - The ML actor was in his early 30s and the FL actor was in her late 20s. The ML comes across as a bit cold and aloof at first.
  • The Beauty Inside - The ML and FL actors were in their early 30s. The leads do not get along initially, but they get past it very quickly.

Fit most of your criteria:

  • Search: WWW - The ML actor was in his late 20s and it's technically a noona romance, but it doesn't really feel like it. On balance, the ML and FL feel like they have similar maturity levels and sometimes the ML feels more mature than the FL. The FL actor was in her late 30s. The leads slept together the day they first met, but then the FL pulls away and the romance turns slowburn.
  • The Story of Ming Lan - This 78-episode drama will require some serious patience. The ML goes through some serious character development and it takes him 20+ episodes to get to the point where he fits your criteria. The FL actor was 30 and the ML actor was in his late 30s. I'm not sure I'd call them a bickering couple, but the ML does enjoy teasing the FL a bit even after he matures.
  • When a Snail Falls in Love - For genres, this one is tagged as "mystery", "thriller", "romance" and "crime". The leads are a criminal profiler and a criminal-profiler-in-training and they do spend some time solving crimes, but to me it felt like there were relatively few "thriller" vibe moments (given the premise) and a good number of soft, quiet, slowburn romance moments. The ML actor was in his late 30s and the FL actor was in her early 30s.

@AH

Thank you for your suggestions! :)

I agree that The Story of Ming Lan was good. When A Snail... was also okay. 

I haven't watched the other ones, except the first episode of In Time With You. I dropped it because I didn't like it at the start of it. I felt like I had seen the topic too many times in dramas (woman turns 30, people start calling her old, pressure to get married...) 

Maybe I'll try the other ones later, they seem pretty good! What I was looking for this time, though, was something without the comedy tag. I wanted something very calm and quiet and more towards slice-of-life. :)