Chibi

Wow, whatta casting <3
*_*

With months worth of drama-hours under my belt now, I rarely get SLS in terms of 'oh, the SML should have got the girl'. It's more about 'damn, they totally sabotaged his character, and I feel bad for the SML, and I wish he had got a better arc' kind of a SLS.
It was never 'about the girl', like is she some prize to be won??!! Give me a story with a SML who has moved on, and is leading his best life ever, instead of moping and wallowing in rejection & sorrow...... and I *wont* be mad. :D

"there is a genre of story that only Kdramas do best (in my opinion) and that is: SLICE OF LIFE."
..... chingu, i'd suggest you try a few j-doramas before you conclude this....
seeing your tastes here, i have a feeling you'd *love* j-doramas (the ones tagged slice-of-life atleast)... japan is known unequivocally and unanimously to have started and eventually perfected the art of 'slice-of-life'. ^^

Sometimes, the way Esther pouts and puffs her cheeks, or randomly giggles, reminds me a lot of Moon Ga Young from True Beauty (although they are wildly different characters)... their brand of 'innocent cute' is quite similar i feel <3

he has an incredibly boyish face that looks super-cute when he frowns. and more than jealous, he acts petty, and i love that about him.
neither of our main leads are 'sha bai tian'.... and hence feel very real *because* they are so flawed :D

He gives her a piggyback ride though, and carries her up and down the stairs, so no matter how much he looks like he needs to eat a sandwich, she's waif-thin too like 44kgs +/- 2.. so yeah he's definitely able to carry her, even though he gets super-winded after the effort xD xD

C-dramas with 'professional' main leads wouldn't get high ratings you mean?
Probably right, i mean, i'm a professional and my life is hardly drama-worthy; nobody would watch xD

Autumn's Concerto's (very problematic) Male Lead... he's been mentioned in this article, hence the comparison lol! xD

Oh god, the FL is such a busybody, and a total slacker at work. Her unprofessional a** would be fired within a week if this wasn't a drama, and she didn't have the 'main-character halo' protecting her. Sure, makes for some adorable OTP scenes, but so unrealistic :/ It's 2021, and still we're doing these kinda characters? *eyeroll*
That said, will continue to watch for Ding Yuxi and Yu Shuxin... both are such cuties ^^

'The King's Woman' and 'Goodbye My Princess' deserve special spot on this article. Rather the MLs... such absolute pieces of work, even Ren Guang Xi would seem like an innocent puppy. :P And the dysfunctional and toxic relationships call for a special award before you can utter the words 'Stockholm Syndrome' xD

How? wait.. what?? :O :O
could you DM me the details if it has too much sensitive-politics and diplomacy involved? :')
T_T

OHMYGOD, i remember Nam Da Reum's name being pitched for playing the Magician's younger self.... moooonths back. and OMG it came true.... I think I had this convo with @ponnu! Yayyy! :')

The magician is proved to be suffering from a mental disorder, he isn't really a magician. He was one of those 'genius' kids back in school who cracked under the pressure. His story kinda mirrors that of Ah-yi and Il-Deung's. Ultimately he inspires the two, not to fall off the rails completely (becoming a societal recluse like the magician).. but also 'to stop and smell the flowers by the roadside' occasionally, while fighting for their dreams. The two kids also take up practicing magic tricks as a hobby on the side :')

I think he needs one drama with Han Ji Min (the noona-queen) and we're all set.
If he does ONE more noona-romance, he'll be crowned the next Jung-HaeIn xD

Maybe they won't glorify it this time..... maybe? :D

Definitely a 'more serious' role for DoHyun. He'd do well to stay away from traffic-y high school dramas... honestly because he has the potential for FAR greater things. This will be epic, as premise lands in a morally-grey territory. I don't approve of it, but pumped to see DoHyun in a school uniform once again being seduced by a super-hot math teacher! ^^

Oooo!!... thank you so much! ^^ Yes this does look updated..!
You're right, I LOVE how MDL has a bunch of active writers, we get wholesome content because of you guys! ^^
I have put this on my favorites-tab already :D

YAAASSSSS!!!~~~~

Well, a musical is a sure-shot way to seal its cult-status. Super happy! Seri and Captain Ri are iconic roles beyond the stardom of Son Yejin and Hyun Bin... will be thrilled to see who they cast as the leads :3

The problem is, the creative team did release a statement regarding the use of 'Chinese elements'. Their reasoning was the gisaeng-house was close to the North, hence they believed a lot of travelers from the Ming would visit. This was an okay reasoning till a historian pointed out 'Ming never shared a border with the Joseon under King Taejong's rule'. [Which is partly both true and false.]
This point itself is under contention because Joseon shared borders with the Nurgen RMC (a special autonomous administrative zone of the Ming Empire under the Jurchens, who are ethnically very different from the Han-Chinese of the Ming Dynasty.... Jurchens are the group who eventually set-up the Manchu led Qin Dynasty following the Ming)....
The use of mooncakes, dumplings and century eggs, is only accurate and justifiable if the Jurchens DID eat those food-items in the 1400's, because it's likely the taverns, EVEN if within the borders of Joseon, would have such food items. Haven't dug into food-habits, so I won't conclude further.

I don't believe they have released statements for using Chinese-style clothes, headdresses, and Chinese-style swords.
That's the technical update for now :D