Lucky Romance
I think F/F friendships is definitely something we don't get to see often. I think this might have something to do with shows typically having a small cast of women in general. Girls are also often pitted against each other, forever doomed by the jealously fueled dynamic of liking the same guy. I think it also has to do with that common problem in writing where girls just aren't valued as characters unless they're used to enhance the value of male characters and their storylines. Luckily there are exceptions.
These are some dramas that I don't think have been said already that include F/F friendships:
Cheese in the Trap
Seonam Girls High School Investigators
Descendants of the Sun
the Reply series
Oh My Ghostess
High Society
Legend of the Blue Sea
Suspicious Partner (Cha Yoo Jung and Na Ji Hae)
"Turns out bad writing ruins couples, not the people in them" LMFAO XD This was a really interesting article! Thank you for writing this!!! I hope you do make it to 50 because I would love to see more data to this. It's such an interesting way to look at how dramas are written.
The thing I found interesting about this drama was their play with tropes. My friend and I tried to figure out... but the show would give both Jung Hwan and Taek classic second and first lead tropes throughout the show! It was excellent use of an audience's expectations.
Does anyone know what the song is that is played in the very beginning of Strong Woman Do Bong Soon 1st ep? I'm having the hardest time finding it and its variations online. It wasn't included in the OST!
I tend to avoid dramas if they have muted colors in the poster. Usually I assume those to be melo-dramatic or just more dramatic than I would appreciate.
Wow you're right!!!! What a nice new trend :') I hope it sticks around. I think Reply 1988 also has an end game that reflects this. I'm not sure but I think Lucky Romance did too?
Korean dramas/Asian dramas male leads are always the ones in power. The sexism is less present now that it used…
Men are not always stronger though. Weighlifting Fairy Kim Bok Jo is a good example of a physically stronger lead. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon as mentioned before is a good one as well. There's also Legend of the Blue Sea which has another ridiculously strong female lead.
I don't really remember that well but I think in Secret Garden the female lead was just objectively physically stronger than the male lead?
In Mirror of the Witch she probs wasn't physically stronger, but she was more powerful in general for a number of different reasons.
But yeah Strong Woman Do Bong Soon gives me weird feelings in a lot of ways but also just in some of the comments the male lead makes about Bong Soon? I can't think of a specific example right now but there's a couple moments where I'm like????????
But also I think your point is still made, kdramas tend to favor males in terms of who has the most power in a drama. There are some exceptions, but even some of those exceptions won't keep that approach for the entire drama. Usually when the lead girl starts dating the guy the power dynamic changes for some reason?
10 
43 
2 
1 
I think F/F friendships is definitely something we don't get to see often. I think this might have something to do with shows typically having a small cast of women in general. Girls are also often pitted against each other, forever doomed by the jealously fueled dynamic of liking the same guy. I think it also has to do with that common problem in writing where girls just aren't valued as characters unless they're used to enhance the value of male characters and their storylines. Luckily there are exceptions.
These are some dramas that I don't think have been said already that include F/F friendships:
Cheese in the Trap
Seonam Girls High School Investigators
Descendants of the Sun
the Reply series
Oh My Ghostess
High Society
Legend of the Blue Sea
Suspicious Partner (Cha Yoo Jung and Na Ji Hae)
Edit: found the opening song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB43SxhazL4
I don't really remember that well but I think in Secret Garden the female lead was just objectively physically stronger than the male lead?
In Mirror of the Witch she probs wasn't physically stronger, but she was more powerful in general for a number of different reasons.
But yeah Strong Woman Do Bong Soon gives me weird feelings in a lot of ways but also just in some of the comments the male lead makes about Bong Soon? I can't think of a specific example right now but there's a couple moments where I'm like????????
But also I think your point is still made, kdramas tend to favor males in terms of who has the most power in a drama. There are some exceptions, but even some of those exceptions won't keep that approach for the entire drama. Usually when the lead girl starts dating the guy the power dynamic changes for some reason?