Korean and Chinese dramas get a lot of hate from the American population, but it doesn’t really make sense why because they are fascinating.

 Sure, the language barrier deters many viewers, but there are easy solutions such as turning on subtitles and the ability to change the audio language. There would be reading involved, but that wouldn’t cause any harm, in fact, it would do some good for the viewer. Once audience members get past all the necessary changes, they can finally sit back and enjoy the show. 

Asian dramas are different from American dramas though. They are conservative when it comes to showing affection to one another, which is partly why I enjoy watching them. American dramas are all about physical contact, but in Asian dramas, if a guy accidentally touches a girl it’s a whole other story. It’s funny to watch how awkward couples get when they’re doing nothing but hugging or an occasional brush of the hand.

Asian dramas are like a book, like a live-action book. With the subtitles on there’s no point in doing the teacher’s reading log using books. By the time the Asian drama finishes audiences will have basically read an entire novel and the viewers could cite their evidence saying, “On scene one, third person who spoke.”

Although K-dramas and C-dramas often seem to relate to each other, there are several differences. In K-dramas the actors act more like a gentleman than the C-drama actors. It’s nothing against the actor but more about the culture. There are also some K-drama actors that can be, let’s say, not the most compassionate. Meaning they are alike to C-drama actors when it comes to showing little to no respect for the women.

They also share a lot of the same customs. In  Asian countries the parents like for their children to stay living with them, even if they are adults. A similarity, though, is sharing the value of education. Both K-dramas and C-dramas are very upfront when it comes to education. They like to start the characters off in school and allow the viewers to watch how the characters grow up and become something. They share the same conservativeness, the same suspensefulness, and the same length of each season.

Don’t even get me started on the episodes though! They are  about an hour each and have roughly seventy episodes per series.  I’ve stopped watching many halfway through the series. The ones that are easily my favorite are the ones that get added weekly because although I do get upset that I have to wait, it builds up the excitement for an upcoming episode.  Asian dramas are also very suspenseful. Most episodes tend to end in an abrupt cliffhanger and sometimes leave viewers waiting to view the next episode. However there are also those episodes that allow the viewer to immediately go to the next episode. 

But when the next episode starts, it is something you won’t be able to stop in the middle which is often irritating because viewers may be hungry but are too entranced in the show to pause it or even get up for a few minutes to make something.  But to drag on the episode it’s probably easier to pause it, go eat, and come back with an open mind.

In my defense, I watched over half of the dramas already and I got tired of the constant suspense. I didn’t get bored, just tired. Though, there are some pretty good series ranging from twenty to thirty episodes which is not so overbearing. 

I will admit, though, that I can understand other’s views of not wanting to watch Asian dramas. They are a bit dramatic, and there are crying scenes all the time. If there is a fight and one of the character’s gets hit in the leg or something, they end up spitting out blood. Eesh. It’s gross, but kind of funny. 

However the added drama just makes me want to watch the dramas more because I like to judge how different the Asian dramas are from the American dramas. Which, I know, is all kinds of messed up, but it’s basically like comparing a book to the movie making.

Then there’s the kidnappings, which are always the best ones, but also very excessive in some points. There’s always that one cop that just so happens to hate the missing person. In other words, there’s always a bad cop. It’s a bit excessive because, yes, cops don’t have to like the person or even know the person, but that doesn’t mean they’ll immediately be the “bad cop”. They’ll help find the missing person, not be the one who sits and idles away their time and does absolutely nothing. 

Asian dramas are very interesting. There’s a lot of positive reasons why they should at least be watched. The point is, don’t knock it ‘till you try it.