Some birds told me that they want to read the next parts of this topic, so I decided to give you the second part. Again I must remind you that the point of this post is to show the typical differences between Korean and Japanese dramas and the things written here cannot be said about EVERY drama (there will always be the awesome unique ones). You can read the first part HERE.
3) EMOTIONS (hate, sadness and love)
In a way I already wrote about it in the PLOT section in previous post, but I felt that I have more to say about this one. Especially as plot and emotions are really tightly related.
3) EMOTIONS (hate, sadness and love)
In a way I already wrote about it in the PLOT section in previous post, but I felt that I have more to say about this one. Especially as plot and emotions are really tightly related.
First of all Japanese
dramas are more complex in the area of emotions.
While it is easy to hate the
“evil character” in Korean drama because the b*tch really is a b*tch, then in
Japanese drama you can’t hate her as she is portrayed like a normal human being
who just is confused or tries to achieve happiness. Of course when you thoroughly analyze a character you can come to understand its actions, but in many cases in Korean dramas their stubbornness and "need of hurting others" is just too non-human like. The reason why I say "Japanese dramas are more complex" is that at many times I feel like I want to hate someone (I mean character), but as I understand her/him too much, then I am unable to do so - the complexity forms inside the watcher. In Korean dramas what you see is what you get and so the watchers feel the emotions that they are told to feel.
In Korean dramas “the family problems” are made into huge mess like a bowl of ramen - it's not complex, but just messy and spicy – most usually the parents of two families are high school friends and one family’s father had an unrequited love towards other’s mother resulting in the main character being unable to be together– did I forget to mention that at least one character’s mother is dead or abandoned her child? A lot of melodrama I must say.
You want to know how things
are in Japanese dramas? “The family
problems” mean that the family is having hard time overcoming grief, the head
of the family has been made redundant or one of the kids is having an incurable
disease – that’s a family problem. In overview we get much more hate-emotions from Korean dramas and much more cry-emotions from Japanese dramas. Yet in a way hate-emotions are more about "other people" as they are visible only while the loathed person is involved in some activity/ talk. Cry-emotions are about "the person itself" as they are about what that certain character feels at the time (even though they are caused by other characters - "others" are not that important in showing the emotions). Remembering that K-dramas focuses on how people interact with each other and J-dramas on how a person interacts with society, then it becomes logical that the former has more exterior emotions and latter inferior emotions.
On the other hand Korean dramas have the upper hand in making viewer’s heart beat faster – all this handholding and hugging and kissing (even though most of them are fishes) - and I cannot not mention the almost kisses and accidental kisses and accidental groping and
– yeah
Korean dramas do a lot more fanservice. In this area Japanese are more
conservative - if you get more than 1 kiss scene then it’s already a success. Again I must remind you that the percent of love-related dramas is much higher in Korea than in Japan so it's logical to have more smooching in Korean dramas. As I wrote in PLOT section - Japanese dramas have more realistic love (if you ignore the skinship part - heck if I were married to some hot Japanese actor, I would take my advantages from it). Even while being in love the characters still do what they are supposed to (work, school etc.) - they have their own lives to take care of. I've seen a lot of Japanese dramas and I can name on my one hand the women who live for the man they love. I cannot say the same about Korean ones. Maybe I haven't been so deeply in love, maybe I'm too self-centered, but I feel like it's more natural to be concerned about my own life rather than thinking about someone else 24/7.
In summary: Korean dramas try to portray characters, their emotions and the emotions that watchers should feel in a black and white way. Those emotions usually involve "the one who feels" and "the one who is the reason of those emotions". Japanese dramas are in the grey area - every watcher decides for herself/himself whether she/he likes or dislikes the character. The emotions usually involve only "the one who feels" as the cause is not that important. That makes the emotions we get from Japanese dramas more real.
 |
| Director Bang from Marry me, Mary! I've never met that self-centered person in real life. |
In Korean dramas “the family problems” are made into huge mess like a bowl of ramen - it's not complex, but just messy and spicy – most usually the parents of two families are high school friends and one family’s father had an unrequited love towards other’s mother resulting in the main character being unable to be together– did I forget to mention that at least one character’s mother is dead or abandoned her child? A lot of melodrama I must say.
 |
| 1 litre of tears - the classic about family handling a problem |
On the other hand Korean dramas have the upper hand in making viewer’s heart beat faster – all this handholding and hugging and kissing (even though most of them are fishes) - and I cannot not mention the almost kisses and accidental kisses and accidental groping and
 |
| even though "You're my pet" is a movie it still carries the same pattern as dramas |
In summary: Korean dramas try to portray characters, their emotions and the emotions that watchers should feel in a black and white way. Those emotions usually involve "the one who feels" and "the one who is the reason of those emotions". Japanese dramas are in the grey area - every watcher decides for herself/himself whether she/he likes or dislikes the character. The emotions usually involve only "the one who feels" as the cause is not that important. That makes the emotions we get from Japanese dramas more real.
4) VISUALS (celebrities, clothing and make-up)
In majority Korean actors are better looking (can't say the same about actresses). There I said it. Maybe
it is because plastic surgery is more common in Korea, maybe because Japan is
less hospitable towards “foreigners” (mixed blood has better qualities) – dunno
the reasons, but Korean people shown on dramas are better-looking than Japanese
ones. The easiest way to compare it is with remakes: “You’re beautiful” and “Ikemen desu ne”, “Hana yori dango” and “Boys over
flowers” ETC. (I'm sure to have hate comments about that one) But I cannot say that it's always a bad thing - in a way for me that makes Japanese celebrities kind of more
human. I've lived in Japan for some time and I've also met with a lot of Korean people - so in my opinion Japanese dramas are more similar to reality: not every guy you meet on the street looks like a underwear model - the same goes to South-Korea, but somehow we can't see that in Korean dramas. Korean entertainment industry is more about looks than Japanese one. If it weren't then there wouldn't be cases like "T.O.P from Big Bang was not accepted to the agency at first attempt, because his body shape was "too round""- yeah the talented man we all know and love was rejected by the entertainment industry because he was considered to be too fat. I can name a lot of Japanese actors who can never pull off being added to the list of world's sexiest men, but as they are enormously talented they get a lot of roles and are loved by the public.
Even if you disagreed with the whole “looks” thing, then you can’t disagree with the fact that Korean dramas have better stylists – while most of the characters (except the main poor girl) in Korean dramas walk around in clothes from fashion shops,
Japanese one’s wear whatever one can find from its closet.
At times it feels like Japanese characters are so normal human beings that if
they were to pass you by on the street you wouldn’t think much about them. Maybe it's because a lot of Korean dramas are involved with the world of "rich and fabulous" and Japanese more involved with "ordinary and casual".
The last most visible difference is make-up! Of course foundation is the almost a must in basically every film industry so no problem with that part. Also mascara and eyeliner are acceptable for female characters. Yet noticeable difference is that mostly in Japanese dramas make-up for females are mostly used as a narrative device - make up is done only when 1)there's an important date/ event for which make up is the most logical thing (for example Riko having an important recital in "Buzzer Beat") 2) when there is need for a "make-over" (usually done by males, for example "Hana yori dango", "Yamato nadeshiko shichi henge") 3) the characters that
are considered to be cute and pretty. In Korean dramas we can see make up on different characters even when it makes no sense - the most known is the "purple lipstick" or as I like to say it "the lips of dead people". I can accept it when one female character per drama wears it, but when I see it even on MALE characters, then I really have to grin and bear it. I consider it to be a fashion crime especially when the lipstick is accompanied with toooooooo white powder. In East Asia (Japan and South Korea, Thai etc) white skin has been the beauty ideal since the olden times, but when it is done by powder that is too visible, then it is far from being beautiful. If you need that desperately having something on your lips (other than someone else's lips), then wear a simple lip gloss that makes them shiny and doesn't make you look like you died yesterday.
In summary: Korean dramas have better visuals, while Japanese dramas portray more of "the real life Japan". Also Korean dramas use much more make-up - sometimes it even looks like 16 hours of commercials for make-up, cars, cellphones, clothes etc.
I thought this post will be shorter, but once I started writing it I just couldn't stop. So again I had to cut some sections (meaning: in the future there will be PART 3). I hope you had fun reading it. If there is anything you disagree about or have an interesting idea, then feel free to share it!
 |
| can you imagine your life without T.O.P? well if he hadn't worked out for months to lose weight you'd know only the life without him |
Even if you disagreed with the whole “looks” thing, then you can’t disagree with the fact that Korean dramas have better stylists – while most of the characters (except the main poor girl) in Korean dramas walk around in clothes from fashion shops,
 |
| I loved the clothes in Buzzer Beat they were so common and natural for the characters |
The last most visible difference is make-up! Of course foundation is the almost a must in basically every film industry so no problem with that part. Also mascara and eyeliner are acceptable for female characters. Yet noticeable difference is that mostly in Japanese dramas make-up for females are mostly used as a narrative device - make up is done only when 1)there's an important date/ event for which make up is the most logical thing (for example Riko having an important recital in "Buzzer Beat") 2) when there is need for a "make-over" (usually done by males, for example "Hana yori dango", "Yamato nadeshiko shichi henge") 3) the characters that
 |
Dear, you are really beautiful in Heirs,
but that lipstick belongs in to the recycle bin
|
In summary: Korean dramas have better visuals, while Japanese dramas portray more of "the real life Japan". Also Korean dramas use much more make-up - sometimes it even looks like 16 hours of commercials for make-up, cars, cellphones, clothes etc.
I thought this post will be shorter, but once I started writing it I just couldn't stop. So again I had to cut some sections (meaning: in the future there will be PART 3). I hope you had fun reading it. If there is anything you disagree about or have an interesting idea, then feel free to share it!
