Note: we recorded this podcast episode on Tuesday 9/27 as Hurricane Ian was about to make landfall in Florida. At the time of the recording we were in the middle of tornado warnings (with two touching ground nearby) and Jess was gearing up to be affected almost directly as she lives in Orlando. As Floridians, we are used to hurricanes and do our best to make the situation manageable by keeping a positive attitude and focusing on the few things we can control. We are grateful and lucky to not have experienced significant damage other than some flooding or loss of power. If you or anyone you know was directly impacted by the storm, please review the resources available to help you. If you’re in the position to help or share, this fund was set up by GlobalGiving.

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Today we’re welcoming our FIRST guest on our podcast! What a moment!

We found her podcast dedicated to reviewing K-Dramas when we started ours, and we were immediately impressed by everything about her: her style, the critiques, the ideas, the structure of the episodes. A whole PROFESSIONAL queen! So when we decided to dedicate an episode to the world of K-Dramas, we knew she had to be a part of it. Especially as a fellow 305 till I die/South Florida sister from another mister! 

And so please join us in welcoming Jess from ATC Daebak Rambles Podcast!

Listen here:

A note to Jess: Jess, thank you SO MUCH for having us on your podcast reviewing Love All Play, and for taking the time to be on our episode today! ::finger heart::

What’s so great about K-Dramas?

Jess has a long-running movie review podcast aside from her ATC Daebak Rambles K-Drama-focused podcast, and she really knows what she likes and doesn’t like right away. So what got her hooked on K-Dramas? What does she think gets people hooked despite the language/cultural differences?

Some of Jess’ observations (which she goes into more detail about during our episode) include:

• Extremely attractive actors
• New culture
• Mostly clean content
• OST music
• Genre hopping
• Accessibility
• The format

Changes in K-Dramas from 2010 until now

Jess has been an avid K-Drama consumer for over a decade (while Laura started in 2020 – and has caught up very quickly – and Kathy has only watched 5 K-Dramas total since 2021). A lot has changed in those 10+ years since Jess started watching K-Dramas. Here are some of the specifics as to what Jess noticed has evolved from 2010 to now:

• Fashion and hairstyles
• Fewer male leads that exhibit red flags or toxic traits
• Catering to the taste of international audience
• Genre mixing

Trends in South Korea’s Dramas

In general, we know South Korea is a very trend-driven country. Which K-Drama trends has Jess loved? Which ones could she have done without?

• Trends Jess liked:
  • Physically tougher ladies
  • 12 episodes instead of 16 or 20 (sometimes even less 6-10)
  • More K-Dramas than ever based on webtoons (True Beauty, Yumi’s Cells, Hellbound, D.P., Love Alarm, Nevertheless, Navillera, Taxi Driver, My Roommate is a Gumiho, She Would Never Know, At A Distance Spring is Green, The King’s Affection, and So I Married The Anti-Fan)
  • Higher budget
• Trends Jess disliked:
  • Multi-season K-Dramas
  • More ridiculous product placement (Subway, cars, restaurants/cafes, Kahi wrinkle balm, etc.)

K-Drama Recommendations

Jess has an awesome TikTok series about K-Dramas that don’t have a lot of popular acclaim but are worth the watch. We took advantage of the time we had together during this episode to ask her about:

• Her top K-Drama recommendations,
• The K-Dramas she thinks are overrated/aren’t really must-watch worthy,
• Which K-Drama genre yields the highest quality shows, and
• Her most hated K-Drama tropes.

And of course, since we’re all Latinas, we HAD to talk about novelas that we remember (and that probably shaped the way in which we consume content today without us even noticing).

What an awesome first collab!

Once again, we want to thank Jess for her time and coming to share all her wisdom with us! As we’re relatively new to the world of K-Dramas, it was so great to hear about all the changes, crazy moments we missed out on (RIP Drama Fever), and talk through all the opinions we share as well as the ones we don’t!

Watch here: