ShortCircuit

Faith, with Lee MinHo and Kim SunHee is fantasy (time-travel historical fantasy to be exact.) While there aren't as many instances of "magic events", there are enough to mention it. Come to think of it, also The King: Eternal Monarch might qualify (but it's modern, not costumes), and there's the added bonus of Woo DoHwan. You should watch WDH in anything, LOL. And also Legend of the Blue Sea (still with LMH) might be modern fantasy ( I haven't watched it myself).

More fantasy stories - Gu Family Book (with Lee SeungGi and Choi JinHyuk in a support - but very important - role.) That's a gumiho story, and also a revenge tale. As an aside, does anyone else still remember WolRyung aka Daddy Gu? :D Maybe even Moon Lovers (though the fantasy part is just the time travel I guess, and the romance is the important part.) Or Mr Queen (time travel AND body swap, and it's mostly a comedy :D)

Arthdal Chronicles, already mentioned, involves more subtle magic and the story uses a very much older setting - think a creational myth instead of the usual, historical ancient magic setting. Also, the first three parts make up just one big season, and the story is not concluded because of reasons. There are rumours there will be at least another season, hopefully they'll think of a way to round it up, though the rumours also are that the leads have changed.

The resurrection is what made me instantly think of TU - I mean, Uk gets out AFTER ACTUALLY DYING LOL and it's like WWX comes back to life, Oops, I'm living again!

But you know, I've thought about it a bit. Minus a dragon on his shoulder, and his clothing remaining intact (because WHY, show?! You had the perfect excuse LOL), Uk gets up from the pyre like's he's Daenerys Targaryen, and going to become who knows what, nobody nice probably, at least for a few eps. Particularly since she's not around anymore.

I really, really hope they make a perfect S2, I want some revenge plot, and more dark things and whatnot!

The novel is BL (danmei actually, it matters in presentation, but that's not important now), but the drama is censored, which means there are no PDAs of any kind. The censorship intended to make the (novel) relationship a good bromance. If you're not inclined to see BL in it, you won't. If you've ever watched a story - Chinese, Korean or whatever - involving very good bromance, TU would also qualify.

I say this because you seem to have rated Kingdom high, so just thought to mention that TU involves resurrection and necromancy, and one of the main characters is basically a conscious zombie / fierce corpse. (And there are more of them). The novel is actually full of gore (fierce corpses, living dead people attacking live ones, soul-sucking statues, etc.) The drama made the best of it, what with the censorship. The romance isn't the main part of the novel either - nor is it the main part of the drama.

Then again, tastes differ, and that is very much alright.

@Authors, good job! :)

@readers & commenters: this is definitely a recommendation, not a "let's fight over who's appropriating what" article, LOL.

There are similarities that can't be avoided, and some that keep appearing simply because they WORK just fine. Who doesn't want an untamed hero? Who doesn't like more magic and power? (well, at least we can all dream). Who doesn't want to see justice prevailing and evil-doers brought down? These are ancient themes, the constant fight between good and evil - and the manner of presentation is bound to have some similar aspects.

Both dramas feel magical - they're fantasy after all, but both worlds are lived in, and the overall impression they give is that there's a story that spans beyond what's on-screen. For myself, I liked TU better (I've known it longer, loved it longer, it has some of the BEST character arcs I've ever seen in dramas, for ALL the main cast, not just the leads, there's an amazing soundtrack, and I love the novel and all its adaptations). But AoS, while still needed its second season to bring it to conclusion, shows signs of very interesting plots (I mean, we've all seen the trailer for S2, right? I can't wait for Dark Uk!! I hope they stick the landing and make this a memorable story.) The special effects are better in AoS, and the colour scheme is vibrant. The soundtrack is also good (overall, I still like TU's better, because of the emotions it invokes, but I LOVE some of the themes and the songs in AoS's OST). And the costumes - oh the costumes and sets are amazing in both dramas. I'd have a very hard time picking a favourite. Maybe AoS (because of Uk's outfits. I said MAYBE LOL).

The thing is, kdramas are more accessible to international viewerships (some are being produced by international networks or streaming services, like AoS), while cdramas usually need a lot of word-of-mouth to ever get recognized internationally. TU opened the way a lot, after its immense success in 2019, and there were cdramas before it, and that followed it, that became loved in the whole world because TU made people more interested in the genre(s) that usually involve costumes (xianxia, xuanhuan, wuxia), and it showed what quality could be achieved.

(I was one of those who used to only watch the random Chinese movie, usually a wuxia, before accidentally stumbling over TU. I've now watched more cdramas that I ever would have thought possible, and I've mostly read Chinese webnovels for the past two years. I'm an avid reader, BTW. I read a LOT. And most of what I read is amazing.)

So, if anything in AoS that appeals to you seems to be similar to TU, and you've never taken a chance on Chinese dramas (because they're "long" - not a lot of them are, actually - or "boring" - you won't know until you try, or there's a language barrier...) Consider this: your very best, favourite drama could be a Chinese one (costume drama or modern, it doesn't matter) but you'll never know it because you'd never try watching one. If you like fantasy, some gore, amazing plots, unforgettable characters, and have watched AoS - try TU. The same goes if you've watched TU - AoS is a good choice for a good fantasy.

Have fun, whichever way you choose :)

And I don't know about what will happen, but Tsumugi might be serious about her loving Minato now. I mean, Sou did break up with her over text, never contacted her in 5 years, and if she hadn't seen him at the subway station, things wouldn't have been put in motion for all of them to reconnect.

So I wonder if this will actually be a bittersweet story - Sou still loves her (obviously from his reaction and his declaration in ep1) but she seems to have moved on.

I'm curious what path they'll choose in the end.

If this was on Reddit, Minato would post in AITA (My best friend lost his hearing, AITA for being mad at him not keeping in touch with me and my GF who used to be his GF?) And the most gilded reply would be - "NTA, actually, nobody's an a&&hole here." And then BORU would take the post and maybe any updates and everybody would also love it, LOL.

But seriously, nobody's an a**hole here.

No, it's a Korean movie (Always) remake (AFAIK there's no drama with that plot). The story is the same, the SK version (original) stars So Ji Sub (less known at that time, I guess). I prefer the Japanese version myself, the SK one is a bit too dark/raw for me. Both are pretty good though. (The OP did ask for Japanese stories, though, so that's why I mentioned only this one).

So it's the actor's style :) Thank you for the explanation!

It suits him (them?) extremely well, and I'll check out his (their?) other works, just to find out some more. The short docu is also pretty illuminating, I love finding out new things :)

Your list seems to say you like more actual police procedurals/thrillers with less romance better than a melo-thriller (which FoE is). I love FoE myself, but it wouldn't fit high in your list, IMHO. Viewing pleasure might depend on the right time, right state of mind.

You might try instead something like Beyond Evil, The Good Detective (at least the first season), Watcher, Double Tap, Be Reborn, Missing Noir M, One Ordinary Day, Stranger.

But if you one day find yourself in a reflective mood (what is real and what is a lie?), then FoE might hit that spot.

Depends a lot on your tastes. Myself, I like BL, so from the newer ones, I mostly did watch BL...

Hi-recs:
- Kieta Hatsukoi (with Meguro Ren as a ML too, LOL, in case you want to see more of him until Silent is done).
- 30 Year Old Cherry Magic - another cute BL
- Minato Shouji Coin Laundry - yup, still BL, but they're both extremely cute :)

Older (and non-BL) ones (be warned I am a fan of Kimura Takuya so...)
- Pride: a sports (hockey) and romance drama. It's pretty old, but still so good.
- Hero (a good role for KimuTaku, but it's an older policier and it might not have aged all that well as Pride)
- Bloody Monday, an action story with Miura Haruma and even Sato Takeru as support cast, LOL, in his beginner's days
- Bitter Blood, a police story (and did I mention I also love Sato Takeru?)

Movies:
- the whole Rurouni Kenshin pentalogy (Sato Takeru for the win!! And also Eguchi Yosuke as Saito Hajime, my favourite MibuRoshi.)
- His (2020) - this is a BL movie, but more on the romantic and healing side than on the wooing and fiery passion side, so to speak. There's a drama before it, too, but you don't need to watch it to appreciate this one.
- Your Eyes Tell (this is SUCH a great romantic story, despite the tragedy in it. It ends well though, so don't be shy.) This one also involves MCs with impairments.

2nd ep - thanks Viki TL team! - still very good. I love the flow. There's probably going to be some heartache in the future, but I like how things go, for now.

I officially love the little bro's style - he's so... I don't know how to say it, I've gone out of sync with Japanese trends in fashion, but I'd say something like, glam or visual kei (nothing too extravagant, but there's something there). Basically non gender-conforming in his general appearance. No idea if it's the character or the actor, but I really really like it.

The JSL teacher is also a hoot - what's his backstory? He looks burned on a few relationships, or maybe just internalising all the problems his students / students' families and friends have. I hope there will be a bit about his own life in there.

I'm officially on the TsumuSou ship, they have amazing chemistry, sorry Minato-chan, let's go find someone who suits you better. Ganbatte!

Aww, all SQQ fans unite! *group hug* LOL

I knew Meguro Ren is cute (I watched Kieta Hatsukoi), and that he can act, but he's very good even when he's not supposed to look flabbergasted all the time, LOL. I have no idea how good his use of JSL is, but he seemed pretty fluent in his declaration at the end of ep 1. This looks very promising.

Kawaguchi Haruna is also very cute, and very natural (I guess my age is showing, I've grown used to the kind of wooden type of acting in former Japanese dramas, LOL. I'm glad to see more naturalness, particularly in many young actors.)

I like all the support cast so far, I guess I'll be developing a SLS because Minato-san is so lovable. But this is just episode 1, I am hoping for a HEA for all the good guys in this :)

Thanks to the TL team at Viki for the great job!

There was also a sister, right (she's in the picture with the two boys)? And she was young but older than YoonJae. And the way the men at the center looked at her was pretty creepy. IF she had time, she might have had a child by one of the creeps. And the computer nerdy guy whats-his-name is young enough to qualify, even if the show chart apparently shows him as older than he would have to be.

Is computer nerdy guy InSung? Then yes, he's suspect.

LOL, yeah, that's why I said it's like Sauron's botched reveal in ROP. Completely flat :D

He has 13's memories. His "parents" (at least the mother) are definite they don't like him, nor do they expect anything good from him. Both of them were talking about how they took him from the center, but they would have returned him if the center was still open (and it wouldn't have caused problems). He even heard them talking about it before going to the playground to be comforted by RSH.

RSH couldn't be the adopted child they're talking about, because he's the one "older" than 13. He's also in the picture RSJ just saw at the end of the episode, and recognized as 11 in the wooden carvings group.

That leaves one adopted child (RSJ) that remembers what 13 would remember, who almost remembers who JYJ is, and who has lost his memory over some accident sometime when he was a kid.

So the only explanation that makes sense is that RSJ is 13 and RSH is 11, and IF RSH isn't behind this, then whoever started it wanted to pin the blame on 13/RSJ (and maybe involve 11 / RSH too, when they learned who he is). IF RSH isn't the killer, then he's probably trying hard to keep RSJ safe in spite of himself (because he's pretty dumb IMHO). If he IS the killer... he might have some unresolved anger issues about it.

It's unclear how much time passed - they keep saying 20 years but it might be AROUND 20 years, give or take a few more... Who knows, at this point.

I haven't looked at the chart, you may be right. Then again, character charts might not be binding rules but more like guidelines LOL

ML is definitely 13. He lost his memory somehow, was adopted and might have come back to the center with his adoptive mom (she's connected to Mr Baek, she definitely would have had a chance to go there) and didn't remember about the other kids. The kid with the number 13 he "saw" there might have been a memory within a memory.

The mom kept praising RSH and talk RSJ down, if he was her blood son, she would've been more warm toward him (RSH is better loved in the end as he's an over-achiever so she has reason to be proud of him). As a child he heard them talk about how he was adopted, and couldn't be given back, and that he was YoonJae - he definitely is 13.

I am becoming fast convinced nerd killer is the sister's son. He'd have motivation to start the killings, then. I mean, even this drama must need some kind of logic for why these events happened :D

Nerd computer guy might be the son of the lost sister. Also, he had a cracked lip because he fought with RSJ in the center last ep. Also, he left the table at the wedding (that nobody mentioned this ep, LOL, did they forget about it?) and would have had an opportunity to poison the father's glass and kill the bride.

I think he will be the end killer. RSH though definitely is still suspicious, I don't think they'll let him off the hook. Maybe they're working together.