Day 3 of #EndOfYearDramaChallenge #EYDC2025 ended up being easy
An male actor you discovered in 2025
#kDrama #cDrama #jDrama #twDrama

Park Bo Gum #WhenLifeGivesYouTangerines is the first of his I've finished - dropped 2, avoided 7 others, inc. Replly 1988.

So his performance in WLGYT was a discovery for me

Honourable mention to Honda Kyoya from #aCalmSeaAndBeautifulDaysWithYou

Day 4 of #EYDC2025 another easy one.
#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama
Favourite original song from a 2025 Drama

When it first started playing, I thought it anachronistically modern, but it fits the OTP like a glove #aCalmSeaAndBeautifulDaysWithYou

If anyone is looking to dip their toes into the #jDrama "Sea" this is a GREAT way to start

Day 5 of #EYDC2025 once again, an easy choice.
#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

A visually beautiful drama

I watch most of my Dramas on my PC's 34-inch monitor, but for this one, that was simply far too small a screen.

#ToTheWonder was a stunning visual treat

And yes, I know it was released in 2024, but this is my 2025 challenge, and I watched it this year.

Day 6 of #EYDC2025
#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama
I couldn't pick just one, so here are all the Dramas released in 2025 that I dropped. Special mention for Asura, which I WANTED to finish, but was literally unable to, much to my regret. I could not process the sisters all talking at once and keep up with the subtitles😢

Day 7: Your favourite character of 2025. #EYDC2025
#kDrama #cDrama #jDrama #twDrama

I'm gonna have to call a tie: Wan Peng, a longtime fave, in Dear Enemy played a really interesting an unconventional character really well. Non, completely new to me, put Shogi in a whole new light in Miss King. I'd seen another Shogi-themed #jDrama earlier this year, but that was light and fluffy. Miss King was not

Day 8: Standout secondary character of 2025. #EYDC2025
#kDrama #cDrama #jDrama #twDrama

Googling for images of this role confirms her character really was secondary. The whole Drama very much about Yang Mi, so I award Xing Fei this one for her outstanding performance in the little sister role in #ThisThrivingLand . HEA next, please

Day 9: Did you watch older dramas in 2025? #EYDC2025
#kDrama #cDrama #jDrama #twDrama

~60% of the Dramas I watched this year were pre-2025, although I didn't realise before preparing this response that half were from 2024. Here's the list so far - standouts highlighted; each of the 4 countries I watched supplied at least one.
#Doubt #TheAccidentalInfluencer #NagatanToAoto #ToTheWonder

Day 10: Did you rewatch dramas in 2025? #EYDC2025
#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

2 standout partial rewatches: I started REWATCH Nr 5 of #OkitegamiKyouko, halfway atm. STILL love it!

Then I rewatched eps 1-4 of #GiboToMusumeNoBlues where I'd dropped it yrs ago. I decided to give it another go
Now, watched it all, including all the SPs, and LOVE it😍 One of VERY few drops that became darlings

Day 11: A drama that taught you something new. #EYDC2025
#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

2 VERY different dramas taught me about the same sport #HouteiNoDragon was a fun legal mystery that used shogi for courtroom strategies w/ explanations of how they work. The lead was a top female shogi player who left the competitive, organised sport in part because of its incredibly sexist structure

#MissKing was a revenge tale which that vicious misogyny of professional shogi was absolutely central

Day 12: A platonic relationship you loved. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

With #MissKing I loved that the relationship between these two was strictly platonic. Bonded by mutual 'victimhood' and by the same complicated, obsessive relationship with shogi, they became very close. He was her mentor and coach and she became the person that even his wife knew would be the only person he would listen to in a crisis

Day 13: A drama you found boring. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

My choice for this one makes me glad no one can go all "Shameless-Irish--Shill-For-Hire" on me

#OurUnwrittenSeoul about which I wrote in my personal reviews

It could have been a really good Drama. Instead, it was bloated, stupidly overlong and meandering, and had more wrong than right. Hooray for Lee Jae In

Day 14: A writer or director who caught your attention. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

I've never really paid much attention to directors/screenwriters except those I consistently hate (KES) but for my top #cDrama of 2025 #DearEnemy I found out I loved 2 of the director's other works (Someday or One Day, Snowstorm of Love), and the only other of the screenwriter's work I've seen, MLEM

the #kDrama #Doubt close 2nd, newish director and debut writer, stunning!

Day 15: Favourite drama poster of 2025. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

The more I look at the #jDrama #MissKing poster , the more I love its attention to detail. The bloody nose a clear sign of the stresses she's going through - this is not social shogi, people! The look on her face that sums up her determination and focus. And above all, the fact that the shogi piece she is holding is the piece her shogi champion father (and primary series antagonist) named her after.

Day 16: Best female actor of 2025. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

a clear winner here for me:
Wan Peng

In #LovesAmbition and #DearEnemy she played two very different kind of supporting roles. Both w/ unusual features.
Her Dear Enemy character potentially an arch-enemy of the women she became BFF with, and in LovesAmbition, she was the HIGHLY favoured/ preferred sister who was utterly devoted to her neglected sibling. She nailed them both, as she did in #WillLoveInSpring

Day 17: Best actor of 2025. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

Another easy one:

Satoh Takeru shone as an actor in both of his roles I watched this year.

I loved him in #MarryMyHusbandJPN - his character's no-nonsense, frank interactions with the FL were refreshingly different.
I didn't enjoy Glass Heart as much,but part of that was because hiss performance was note perfect, so bravo!

There is also a tiny chance that he may not be the ugliest human ever to have lived.

Day 18: Your most-watched genre of 2025. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

This was a nailbitingly close category, with a shocking upset in the final result:

Of the 93 Dramas I've completed so far, a mere 36 of them have been primarily romance or romcom. Who'da thunk it? 🤔

To quote Paul McCartney:

🎶 And what's wrong with that?
I'd like to know
'Cause here I go
Again!🎶

Day 19: A drama that made you laugh. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

Humour is probably the MOST subjective of all genres, and my clear winner, #jDrama #TheHotSpot is one many hated - for reason I totally grok. NONE of the characters were very likable, and the humour was painful at times. Painfully funny, for me.

Honourable mention to #TheDivorceInsurance - I generally find #kDrama comedy less fun than DIY dentistry, but the actor I still know as Giraffe is a comedic gem

Day 20: A drama that made you sad or cry. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

Lots of tears this year but two #jDramas share the honours:

First
After School Doctor for the raw emotional power of children acting out seriousl health issues meant my lacrimal glands were dry by the end of the show. Plenty of punch in this year's SP too

Honourable mention Asadora Anpan for the cutting short of a very soft, sweet, slow-burn romance as the intro to the misery of the war years eps

Day 21: A drama that surprised you. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

Two winners:

#kDrama #Doubt was one I started full of, well, doubt. I like thrillers if they're not bloody, wasn't sure how this one would go. IT WAS AWESOME, exactly my cup of noir

2024 #cDrama #BankOnMe was a real surprise - I finally got around to watching it after a masto mutual raved about it A LOT. It was excellent, I was surprised that a straight banking Drama could be an 8/10

Day 22: A drama that deserves the hype. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

Nothing else to say about this one except to stress how INCREDIBLY rare it is for me to even HAVE an answer to this question - I normally never think an ultra-hyped Drama is worth it. So That is another thing that makes this one special

#WhenLifeGivesYouTangerines

Day 23: A drama that made you think. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

Since most of the Dramas I watch are lighter, I had to think about this question for a while

The first one that came to mind was #jDrama #The19thMedicalChart

Having lived my entire life in a country with a largely single-payer State-funded healthcare system, watching a Drama about hospitals whose primary reason for existence is profit, not patient care, was scary.

Day 24: Favourite costumes of 2025. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

This was surprisingly easy: Only one Drama came to mind. I don't watch costume historical Dramas from anywhere, so the Drama that won for me, won by being REAL.

Way back in 2014 I watched a #kDrama in which the FL played a call centre drone - in a dress that THEN cost $12K US.

So #cDrama #ThisThrivingLand really impressed me by dressing its poor peasants to LOOK LIKE poor peasants, even the FL. Well done!

Day 25: Sweetest romance of 2025. #EYDC2025

#cDrama #kDrama #jDrama #twDrama

There can be only one winner - these two DEFINE sweet!

BUT, I have to give myself the gift of a runner-up. The lead romance in #cDrama #LovesAmbition was awesome - real chemistry, smart, complex, hot, and fun to watch. But I would not call it sweet.

These two otoh were sweet and cute, and their wedding pix exemplified that.

P.S. - trying to FIND these scenes reminded me of how much BAH HUMBUG MERDE there was in the final 4 of that Drama, serving no purpose but to keep both great couples apart.😡 

@ronsboy67 those last few episodes were not my favorite

Day 26: Most disappointing drama of 2025. #EYDC2025

#cDrama #kDrama #jDrama #twDrama

The ONLY potential disqualifying consideration for my winner is that "most disappointing" might be far too euphemistic

For your entertainment and edification, I present a chronological summary of my hatewatch toots about #kDrama #UndercoverHighSchool -a viewing experience so awful, I'd literally FORGOTTEN it until researching the challenge reminded me

Day 27: A drama you want more people to watch. #EYDC2025

#cDrama #kDrama #jDrama #twDrama

It came down to a choice of two #cDramas - in the end, I went with the shorter and more of them, and the one that ended on a positive, upbeat note.

I don't normally do self-promotion, but I explained at length with #DearEnemy is so special to me elsewhere, so rather than try to condense that ramble, I offer it:

https://robinwalter31.blogspot.com/2025/10/dear-enemy-as-good-as-it-gets.html

Dear Enemy - As Good as it Gets

    In my personal database of East Asian drama viewing, I've scored several dramas at higher than 10 out of 10. All of them have something ...

Day 28: An industry change you want to happen. #EYDC2025

#cDrama #kDrama #jDrama #twDrama

Not one, but two, and they are both relevant to all the tagged Drama countries:

1. Humane, civilised working conditions for the crews - INCLUDING ACTUALLY PAYING THEM ( especially looking at YOU, #kDrama )

2. Investing in skilled human translators for subtitling, resisting the allure of AI slop.

Day 29: A 2026 drama you're excited for. #EYDC2025

#cDrama #kDrama #jDrama #twDrama

There's only one 2026 Drama I know about for sure that I'm excited to see, and it's a #jDrama - and a second season!😱

Really hoping that lightning does strike twice and we get a second serving of sweetness and GREAT food from these two

Nagatan to Aoto2

Day 30: Was 2025 a good drama year for you? #EYDC2025
#cDrama #kDrama #jDrama #twDrama

The numbers don't lie.
2025 was emphatically NOT a good Drama year for me:

It was a GREAT Drama year for me. The most remarkable element? The rise of the Middle Kingdom - reaching previously untouched completion ratios and a staggering average completed score

Day 31: Your favourite drama of 2025. #EYDC2025

#cDrama #kDrama #jDrama #twDrama

This was really hard. For this one question, I've decided to limit myself to Dramas from 2025, and have ended up calling a tie:
For feeling thoroughly RIGHT to me, right to the end
#cDrama #DearEnemy which I wrote about here:
https://robinwalter31.blogspot.com/2025/10/dear-enemy-as-good-as-it-gets.html

and for making me smile, a lot 😍 😍
#JDrama #aCalmSeaAndBeautifulDaysWithYou

@ronsboy67

Due to your enthusiastic appreciation of this #jdrama, I just finished #ACalmSeaAndBeautifulDaysWithYou

For such nervous and naive dorks, they sure made me grin and even get a bit teary-eyed. 😊

@JillsJoy SO pleased you enjoyed it. In the toxic dumpster fire world of today, it's a sweet ephemeral escape
@ronsboy67 @JillsJoy if we consider the choice of the era of the drama (pre-WWII), the extreme innocence of the characters made also a great contrast with what is to come
@drnya91 @JillsJoy YES! The era in which is set made me hesitate to watch it, for that very reason
@ronsboy67 I think I'll pick this one up next...
@JillsJoy I'm always a bit anxious when anyone picks up a Drama on my rec!😱 But I'm fairly confident that with this one at least, you're unlikely to hate it
@ronsboy67 hmmm… vice principle… I could get on board! 😈
@ronsboy67 I forget, which jdrama is that?
@JillsJoy @ronsboy67 A calm sea and beautiful days with you.
@drnya91 @JillsJoy sometimes with #jDrama either the English name or the Japanese original will be short, but this one's long in both😀