Best On-Screen Siblings

I love filial relationships portrayed on-screen, especially siblings. Here are my favourite sibling relationships in Asian film and TV. Just in case you're a sucker for that too. 

PS Recommendations literally forever welcomed. :)

BeepingMoon May 29, 2021
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  • Hello Monster

    1. Hello Monster

    Korean Drama - 2015, 16 episodes

    8.5

    Lee Hyun recalls childhood memories that bring him back to Korea from abroad in search of answers in connection to the murder of his father and disappearance of his younger brother years earlier. 

    The siblings are at the centre of this series. The acting and chemistry between them is just excellent.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wSPfo06Bl8

  • It's Okay to Not Be Okay

    2. It's Okay to Not Be Okay

    Korean Drama - 2020, 16 episodes

    9.0

    Series about Moon Gang Tae, a psychiatric nurse, as he moves, with his older brother Moon Sang Tae, back to his hometown after many years. 

    The sibling relationship is just excellent here. It's so central to the characters. It's a great drama and the sibling relationship really just holds it together like glue.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50ek4HQo0Bc

  • Tale of the Nine-Tailed

    3. Tale of the Nine-Tailed

    Korean Drama - 2020, 16 episodes

    8.0

    Lee Yeon, a nine-tailed fox, searches Seoul for his first love while he eradicates creatures that should not be there. 

    The relationship between Lee Yeon and his half-brother carry this show through. It was far more interesting than the romance for me personally and pulled me through the drama. It's a great, and complicated, sibling relationship.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7s9pHnIH9E or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvnkFbEq2yg

  • He Is Psychometric

    4. He Is Psychometric

    Korean Drama - 2019, 16 episodes

    8.5

    Lee Ahn aquires the ability to see the memories of a person or object by touching them when his parents die in a fire when he is a child. 

    This is not a biological sibling relationship. His guardian is like an older brother to him. It's a close bond between the characters that the story largely centres around.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh6QjKzhxa0

  • My Annoying Brother

    5. My Annoying Brother

    Korean Movie - 2016

    9.0

    Doo Yeong is a professional judo athlete. He has lost both parents and has one older brother, from whom he is estranged. When he is injured in a judo accident his brother gets parolled from prison to look after him.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ7GnROtsYU

  • The Untamed

    6. The Untamed

    Chinese Drama - 2019, 50 episodes

    8.5

    Wuxia drama. BL-turned-bromance cause Chinese censorship exists. 

    Story centers around Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji after they discover a secret inadvertantly together during their school days. Hyjinks ensue. 

    Both leads have really great, fleshed out sibling relationships. Lan Wangji has a great, supportive relationship with his older brother. Wei Wuxian has an adoptive brother and sister, who he is very close to. There is also a great brother-sister relationship between two supporting characters, Wen Ning and Wen Qing.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAsP69G5rWQ

  • Fatal Journey

    7. Fatal Journey

    Chinese Movie - 2020

    8.0

    This is a side story to The Untamed. It follows the relationship between Nie Huaisang and his older half-brother Nie Mingjue. 

    This is truly wonderfully written. I love their relationship a lot. 

    Warning though: the CGI is really, really not good and the costumes and set feel very cheap. I loved it cause I'm a sucker for loyal/important/complicated siblings in stories, but if stuff like cheap set and costumes as well as bad CGI bothers you it honestly might be a bit too much for you.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMsuDstRj1M

  • Run On

    8. Run On

    Korean Drama - 2020, 16 episodes

    9.5

    An athlete complicates his life and career as his intolerance for injustice leads him to clash with powerful people. 

    Siblings are not at the centre of the story but there's multiple sibling relationships and they appear enough (and I like them enough) for it to be included on this list.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVsok-tMcYw

  • 100 Days My Prince

    9. 100 Days My Prince

    Korean Drama - 2018, 16 episodes

    8.0

    The crown prince gets seriously injured and suffers amnesia and gets taken in by the Hong father and daughter. According to a law the crown prince passed, the daughter must marry. So she proposes he and her get married. 

    The daughter has an older brother. While the sibling relationship is a background one in the runtime, it's central to the lives of both the characters and is very loving and loyal.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LxsJGR7DgU

  • Great Men Academy

    10. Great Men Academy

    Thai Drama - 2019, 8 episodes

    8.0

    Female lead Love has a crush on a boy Vier, who attends an unusual all-boys school. She saves a unicorn and makes a wish. The wish results in her becoming a boy, a roundabout way of satisfying her wish to meet Vier. 

    Love's brother attends the same school. There is great development in their relationship. 

    (PS this drama is aimed at teens and is pretty wacky tbh. But I find it hilarious and I really like the quirks. Also the acting is just excellent, so that helps. CGI could be better, but what can you do lol.)

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsSj8GOSRs0

  • My Sister

    11. My Sister

    Chinese Movie - 2021

    9.0

    A young woman loses her parents and, somewhat unwillingly, becomes the guardian of her much younger brother. 

    This is a complicated sibling relationship. But it's honest and raw and explores the conflict between filial duty and indiviual freedom and desires. It's such a good and moving film.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVMO53rPeiM

  • I'm Not a Robot

    12. I'm Not a Robot

    Korean Drama - 2017, 32 episodes

    9.5

    It's about a man who is allergic to humans who ends up buying a robot AI that is uncannily human-like. 

    The female lead lives with her older brother, his wife and their child. She has a sometimes fraught relationship with her brother. But they have each other's back (mostly, when it counts).

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gVPM3dGVoU

  • Shopping King Louie

    13. Shopping King Louie

    Korean Drama - 2016, 16 episodes

    9.0

    It's about a young chaebol who loses his memory in a car accident meeting a young woman who is from the countryside who is looking for her younger brother who ran away from home.

    The female lead is very dedicated to her brother and his wellbeing. There are also non-sibling relationships that give off major sibling energy vibes in my not-so-humble opinion.

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQn6LKkq7dU

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