Are Jdrama more popular than Kdrama, and if so why?

[beertax]

From reading the forums and looking at the post numbers, it seems to me (although I may be wrong) that Jdrama are more popular than kdrama. Is this true? And if so, why do you think this is the case? More specifically, which do you favor more in general?

Until very recently I favored jdrama more than kdrama because of the excess of cliches and percieved lack of story variety in kdrama. But than I discovered some of the kdrama sleepers, such as Ruler of Your Own World, What's Up Fox, White Tower, and the more popular Fantasy Couple, and now I am on the fence.

What is your opinion?

[oceansportrait]

From reading the forums and looking at the post numbers, it seems to me (although I may be wrong) that Jdrama are more popular than kdrama. Is this true? And if so, why do you think this is the case? More specifically, which do you favor more in general?

Until very recently I favored jdrama more than kdrama because of the excess of cliches and percieved lack of story variety in kdrama. But than I discovered some of the kdrama sleepers, such as Ruler of Your Own World, What's Up Fox, White Tower, and the more popular Fantasy Couple, and now I am on the fence.

What is your opinion?

1. There's much more variety. There really is something for every one each season. There's some targetted towards teens, to young females, to middle aged males, etc. etc. And they're not just all love-dramas either. All the Korean dramas I've watched in the past have been epic love dramas. They're so over the top and dramatic.

2. Jdramas are shorter. I have this weird need to ALWAYS finish a drama no matter what (okay, I abandoned Princess Princess but that's a rarity). When I invest my time into a 20+ episode like most Kdramas are, then that's a huge investment of my time. So alot of the time I feel reluctant to start a Kdrama at all because of it.

3. Jdramas don't tend to lag. Since Jdramas are really short (9-12 episodes) it doesn't feel as repetitive even if they do repeat the same storyline over and over. Whereas with Kdramas, geez....the first 5 episodes are usually amazing, but then the plot holes start becoming obvious past ep 5, then by ep 10 I stop caring at all about what happens to the characters and I keep watching for the sake of completion. And as the series progresses it's like they have nothing left for the characters to do so they start pumping it full of cliches (the tug of war between two guys for the main girl, the terminal disease, amnesia, the long separation, another girl tries to steal the guy from the main girl...)

4. And this one doesn't apply to all, but I understand Japanese, so that opens the door up to all the Japanese dramas on d-addicts regardless of whether its subbed. But with Kdramas, I'm pretty much limited to the ones that are subtitled. And those that are subtitled, tend to follow the pattern listed above.

[Neji-sama]

For foreigners it is, I got into Jdrama/Jmovies through the anime along with many others.

[pokute]

Frankly, I've watched few Kdrama's just because the subtitles tend to be abominable, so the show has to be totally brilliant to make it worth wading through the mystery of what is being said. So far, Full House and Dae Jang Geum have made the grade.

[KaoruKamiya]

I think it really depends on the person. I actually speak Japanese fluently and have fansubbed Japanese anime but I rarely watch Jdramas. Except for a few I find them quite boring. I love Kdramas though and have watched tons. And yes if you are going to buy vcds etc off the net, the subbing is probably going to be horrible but I think that the fansubbing teams here do a terrific job translating (although I don't speak korean). Of course there are boring and sucky kdramas too but more often than not I find them good and entertaining.

[kobe23]

You can't really gauge the popularity by post numbers because AFAIK (someone can confirm this) d-addicts started out with only J-dramas and then introduced K-dramas later on, so it's only natural for the J-drama forums to have more posts.

There is also a [Poll] in the general forums about this and it currently stands at Korean 40% and Japanese 45%. Not a huge difference. Polls on d-addicts are usually heavily rigged anyway, since you can vote multiple times on the same IP.

[releanoyed]

I think that interest in anime and/or manga leading to an interest in Jdramas is probably a huge factor in bringing more attention to jdramas ingeneral. For example the Hana Yori Dano anime can lead to the manga (or vis versa) can lead to the live action show can lead to other shows featuring the stars in an ever expanding web. For me that expanding web lead to d-addicts which lead me into expanding into kdramas and more. At this point my collection is very spread out and this given moment I am mostly watching TWdramas, but I gt here via Jdramas first.

[nallan]

i watch both, but i tend to watch jdrama more...variety i guess.

[Néa Vanille]

Actually, according to the poll kobe posted, KDramas used to be much MORE popular here until the issue posted a while ago with licensed KDramas being removed. I suspect that a lot of KDrama fans then moved to other sites, especially soompi.com.

In addition, we've had a lot of JDrama fan newbies in our German thread recently because of HYD 2. It seems to me like JDramas are naturally getting more newbies because a lot of people are introduced to Asian drama via the JDramas they found through anime.

KDrama is more popular than JDrama in Asia these days, so don't be fooled by the posts on this forum.

[groink]

You can't really gauge the popularity by post numbers because AFAIK (someone can confirm this) d-addicts started out with only J-dramas and then introduced K-dramas later on, so it's only natural for the J-drama forums to have more posts.

The origin of D-Addicts is true; D-Addicts did start of as a Japanese drama-only site. However, that has no affect on the number of posts because virtually all the earlier posts have been deleted/pruned.

Based not on the amount of posts, but more on the subject matter of the posts, it seems that Korean drama fans are more extreme than the Japanese drama fans. To me, it is kind of along the same lines of comparing Star Trek fans to Battlestar Galactica fans. I posted about this awhile back, where most of the K-drama oriented posts are way more about the artists (especially how they look), while the J-drama posts are more about the dramas. I also observe this on DramaWiki, where the K-drama fans are so heavily into the details, where us editors have to keep cleaning up the articles after a fan edits the articles with fancruft (hobbies: giggling???? Yeah, right!)

Bar none, the fans of K-dramas are more animate about what they love than the J-drama fans. That's basically why K-dramas are more popular world-wide - not because they're better but rather the K-drama industry have fans that will go to the extremes of pushing the shows on the Internet and among their friends/family.

--- groink

[eternal_dragon_666]

I don't know about the claim that kdrama fans are more extreme/radical than jdrama fans, but I agree with Groink on at least one point: kdramas are more focussed on the looks (not only in the actors, but also in the scenery) while jdramas are more about the storyline on the whole. As for which one's more popular, I think it just follows the respective country's popularity, like in a tug-of-war. Right now, korea's the new fad in Asia, thus kdramas seem to be on the rise, while Japan's been in a sort of slump both economically and politically for the past few decades, so jdramas may be suffering from the side-effects of that as well. I, myself enjoy both, so I tell em, keep the tug going!

[kobe23]

Although it might not seem like it here at d-addicts, I'm pretty sure k-dramas are vastly more popular than j-dramas. I don't have any proof of that (who does), but the overall feel I get from talking to family/friends and people over the internet is that K-dramas are more mainstream, whereas J-dramas seem to be more alternative.

K-drama fans are more animate with good reason. People tend to get excited about beautiful actors & actresses and many would watch a drama purely based on how good looking the cast is. That's not to say Japanese stars aren't good looking, but the general consensus is that Korea is home to the best looking artists in Asia. It does seem shallow that looks play such an important role, but it's something that attracts us to K-dramas in the first place.

[belleza]

That's basically why K-dramas are more popular world-wide - not because they're better but rather the K-drama industry have fans that will go to the extremes of pushing the shows on the Internet and among their friends/family.

And that's the key thing. In the past 10 years or so, Koreans have arguably expended more energy into marketing their pop culture to Asia and then outside of Asia than the other Asian countries. In the past 5 years, the Korean "netizen" community is among the most active grassroots force on the Internet. Until recently, you could find Korean TV shows all over the Internet. At least in Southern California, we have two TV UHF channels that's dedicated to Korean programming (including subtitled shows) during primetime on the weekdays. Whereas Japanese programming is consigned to the weekends.

Looking at it objectively, the debate is centered between Japanese idol dramas and Korean melodramas, a touch apples and oranges. Neither accurately reflects what most of their respective countries actually watch.

I love both K-dramas and J-dramas. And sometimes, a Alone in Love comes along, blending aesthetic and cultural sensibilities from both countries, to be a singular miracle of a show. And ironically, a literal translation of the Korean title is "Love Generation."

[Chidori-Chan]

i think now it is still the korean wave going on at least in asia, despite of the typical plots (childhood sweethearts and sad scenes/ending), kdrama has not yet died out as new stuff are being made, new plots or funny drama such as FULL HOUSE; MY GIRL, GOONG, GOONG S .... and most recently i totally love DAL JA's SPRING ... so i must say kdrama still has its charm ...
I think those who still watches jdrama are old timers those who loves jculture and those who are into anime/manga ....
As for me, I like both. As the plots are so different between a jdrama and a kdrama ..
I'm a big anime fan ...