Meet the DC Crew: Our Top 10 KDrama Tropes

Now that we’ve shared our Top 10 KDramas of all time, let’s talk our favorite tropes! You know, those cliches that pop up in literally EVERY single KDrama you watch. Love them. Hate them. They will always be there.

As we were pulling our lists together this week, we realized we had some very mixed feelings about our KDrama tropes. There are definitely a bunch to love, but also some we loathe with a passion. So, lest you be left out of a minute of our fun, we decided to share not only our top trope loves but also our top trope hates. We hope you’ll enjoy and share with us your top tropes in the comments below!

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Drama Unni

A trope in itself, KDrama tropes and I have a frenemy relationship. I LOVE that little bit of tongue-in-cheek “you saw this coming” vibe that they give. But I loathe with the flame of a thousand fires when they destroy characters I otherwise love.

Or if they hurt my sweet OTP babies. Nobody gets to mess with the OTP babies.

5 Tropes I Love:

1. Quirky Hacker Back-up: If there is a hero out beating up back guys, then you better believe he has a “girl in the chair.” A hysterically funny recluse, she will live off of kimbap and talk with so much sass that you better believe she is the best part of any scene. (Healer, Guardian)
2. Subway/Quiznos: There’s just something about watching an actor try to take down a sub the size of their head AND deliver their lines that gets to me every time. (Every modern drama ever, but the funniest are K2 and Descendants of the Sun)
3. Trope Parodies: I like tropes (usually), but some of my favorite moments are when drama writers decide to turn a trope on its head. For example, like when the girl shoves the guy against the wall(Cinderella and 4 Knights,) or when the guy DOESN’T catch the girl when she’s falling (Her Private Life,) or when you THINK the couple will be locked in and forced to spend the night together and then someone immediately comes and unlocks the door (My ID is Gangnam Beauty.) These moments never fail to catch me by surprise and make me laugh.
4. Found Families: This is the trope I live for, the reason I have fallen in love with so many Korean dramas. I love the warmth that happens when a bunch of broken people creates their own family. It is like butter to my soul. (Mad Dog, Still 17, The Player, The Fiery Priest, Chief Kim)
5. Bromances/Sismances: Often far better than the main romance, a great bromance (or sismance) can make a drama. As diverse as buddy-buddy, love-hate, king-bodyguard, and older sibling-donsaeng, the chemistry between these “couples” will set me squealing into my pillow every time. (Chief Kim, Descendants of the Sun, School 2013, Mad Dog, Moonlight Drawn By Clouds, She Was Pretty, He Is Psychometric, Hwayugi, so so many more)

5 Tropes I Hate:

1. Choosing the Aggressive Male Lead Over the Sweet Second Lead: Grrr!!!!! These are the moments I wish I could sit the female lead down and have a heart-to-heart on what constitutes abuse in a relationship. No volume of sappy backstory and cute haircuts can buy a guy forgiveness if he is treating you like trash. Kick the jerk to the curb and pick up the sweet second lead you friend-zoned. (Boys Over Flowers, Playful Kiss, Full House, so so many more)
2. Noble Idiocy: Admittedly, this trope is probably more truth than fiction — since miscommunication happens just as much in real life as KDrama. But it doesn’t stop it from making me slam my laptop in disgust. Why does the lead think sacrificing himself without telling anyone is the ONLY solution?? Why can’t they just talk before he/she goes and does something stupid??? (Faith, Heirs, My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Gumiho, Legend of the Blue Sea, etc.)
3. Clueless Time-Traveler: Mostly I just can’t stand when leads are obnoxiously stupid, but that is amplified 30,0000 times when they time travel. What is so funny about someone making an idiot out of themselves over basic things like whether an elevator can be used as a changing room? I always feel too embarrassed for them to laugh. (Rooftop Prince, Live Up to the Name, Crossing Hero)
4. Doomed Ending Prophesies: “Oh this thing is coming. And it’s bad. It will wreck your world and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. But we won’t tell you what it is. Oopsies!” (Gu Family Book, Hwayugi)
5. Fatal Illness Out of Nowhere: It isn’t that having a character get sick bothers me. It’s when it is so OBVIOUSLY a plot device because the writer ran out of an actual plot that I start raging. (Basically, every long weekend drama ever)

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TeaRexDramaMama

Tropes are weird. When used well, they can be really great, but even my favorites can be used poorly or start to annoy me. Conversely, the tropes I hate can sometimes be used effectively for the story too.

5 Tropes I Love:

1. First Snow: I love this trope. The visuals are always beautiful for these scenes and there is just something about the two leads running to find each other in the snow that gets me.
2. Bromance: I love a great bromance. Especially if its an odd couple cranky bromance, or an enemies to friends bromance.
3. Found Family: I feel like this doesn’t need explanation. A group of unrelated people coming together to create the family that they need gets me every time.
4. Well Done Product Placement: I love it when the product placement is obvious but seamless. When I’m halfway into the ppl before I even realize that I’m there, that makes me happy.
5. Piggy-Back Rides: I really enjoy the conversations that usually come with these opportunities. Especially if it comes as part of the enemy bromance. Then it’s perfection.

5 Tropes I Hate:

1. Incest That’s Not Incest: I hate this trope. I hate, hate, hate the idea that adopted siblings aren’t “real” siblings. The idea that an incestuous relationship turns out to be okay because “we’re not blood-related” is absolutely gross to me.
2. Teacher-Student Romances: NO THANK YOU PLEASE. I don’t care about the age gap, its the power dynamic and the fact that often one of them is a minor that drives me crazy. Stop. Stop it now.
3. Time Jumps: I love a good “one year later, here’s where they all are now” wrap up. I hate the “multiple year, we didn’t see or talk to each other despite the existence of phones and the internet, but magically still love each other after only having known each other for a couple of months before the separation” time jumps.
4. Amnesia: It is not this common. It generally does not happen so selectively. It doesn’t get cured that easily. It annoys me.
5. Cross-Dressing Humor: I find this trope really uncomfortable. I don’t like deception as a basis for a relationship and using cross-dressing for the basis of that deception is really inappropriate to me.

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KDramasRock

Overall I’d say tropes and I are on friendly terms. I can enjoy their charms and even find humor in any overuse that inevitably happens. There’s also a long laundry list of toxic tropes that I really hate, but I wanted to discuss some of the more random ones.

5 Tropes I Love:

1. Enemies Turned Lovers: This is usually a ‘soft’ form of the term enemy – bickering and chemistry abound. The line between hate and love is actually a very thin one, and I enjoy watching characters dance across it. I’m pretty sure my affinity for this trope stems from being a Pride and Prejudice fan from a young age.
2. Found Family: I wasn’t super familiar with this trope until I found Asian dramas – then I fell hard for it. Folks not related by blood who choose to support each other and experience life together. Gets me all happy sigh-y just thinking about it.
3. Friends Turned Lovers: Any time this trope is done well I melt like a popsicle on a hot summer day. I believe that the best real-life romances are based on friendship, so this seems realistic and natural to me. And now I realize that I need to watch more dramas that include this trope!
4. Bromance/Sismance: I get a kick out of a good bromance/sismance relationship – all the more so if they start out as ‘enemies,’ then grow to tolerate each other and then ultimately become best buddies. I also like how usually these kinds of friendship feature two (or more) characters with very different personalities.
5. Criminal with A Heart of Gold: Doesn’t even have to be a criminal, it could just be an antihero character. This is usually coupled with some great Robin Hood-type antics – helping out those in need or who have been wronged. Also if you get a group of heart-of-gold criminals together and have them be a found family I am in heaven. What can I say, I love redemption and warm fuzzies.

5 Tropes I Hate:

1. Manipulation/Gaslighting: There are a ton of toxic tropes that these are often paired with, but even independently these two are fairly common and insidious. I’m not against villains utilizing these tactics – that can be necessary given certain genres. It’s when these things are done within friendships or romantic relationships that it’s truly difficult for me to sit through.
2. Envoys: This trope is also known as the unnecessary plot bunny that is obviously used for filler. The term came from watching 100 Days My Prince where a super random plot involving Ming envoys showed up out of nowhere near the end of the drama. (It was incredibly frustrating.)
   • See also: a small supporting character or plotline appearing for two episodes near the end of a show only to disappear just as suddenly, leaving no trace that it ever existed. Just feels like a waste of time to me.
3. Not getting to finish your sentence in the middle of an important conversation: On a personal note, this drives me crazy in real life too. Within dramas, though, it’s obvious the writers are just trying to tease in a frustrating way when they pull this trope out.
4. Flashback of scenes you JUST saw earlier in the same episode:
   I know I have a limited memory, but a show should not assume my retrieval capacity is that of an insect. Also, my episode filler alarms start going off when this happens.
5. Passing the person you are looking for on the street without noticing: This has pretty much always driven me crazy. It feels like almost a physical miscommunication or missed opportunity. Unless super artfully done, I would rather they just leave this trope out.

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WineAndAKDrama

When coming up with this list I found that while I would prefer a lot of tropes to not be incorporated in the story, I generally don’t care about them. They can be boring and overused, absolutely, but for the most part, they won’t ruin an entire story for me. They are here and aren’t going anywhere. Here are some of the ones that’ll definitely get me to stay and the ones that have me questioning the writers’ decisions.

5 Tropes I Love:

1. Found Family: I think there is something magical when people can find each other in this world and create a family. It just makes me happy.
2. Friends But Not Lovers: I don’t need romances all the time and I especially don’t need them for every single relationship. I love when a drama can show a great relationship and not make them a couple.
3. BFF Helper (butler/secretary): They’re always there for the tormented rich main lead. They’re their only true family when their rich parents cast them aside, and they are the only ones who can talk some sense into them.
4. Mentor: We see this a lot in office dramas or office settings. I really enjoy watching a character take another character under their wing and guide them in the right path or help them excel. As opposed to hindering them or just making them “figure it out”.
5. Cohabitation: I like this in mostly non-romantic settings. Being forced to be in the same house as someone else exposes a side they would never see otherwise and helps in aiding the understanding of the other character.

What I Hate:

1. Wrist Grab: This is not cute. Stop it. There are other ways to get someone to turn around, and manhandling them should never be an option.
2. Scared Kisses: Not be confused with the bored or terrible kisses, you should not look genuinely scared about a kiss, and the drama should not be passing it off as cute or romantic. It’s creepy and unsettling.
3. Too Many Flashbacks: Most of the time they aren’t to help you remember what happened but to be used as filler. They are especially annoying when it’s of things that just happened.
4. Vacuum PPL: I’m poor and I want that vacuum so badly and it’s too expensive and I wish I could stop seeing it so I’m not reminded of what I can not have.
5. Aggressive Second Lead: I hate this with male leads as well, but I find that second male leads get a little bit more pass AND there’s rarely a redemption arc to back up that pass. It’s just played off as him having a good reason because his feelings hurt, or it’s fine because they’ve known them since childhood.

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SojuNights

For me, I love a good love story, but I also love crime… and sci-fi… And fantasy… and sageuks… and wow I guess I really love everything! Narrowing down what my favorite and least favorite tropes were was difficult. However, I think this list really sums it up!

5 Tropes I Love:

1. Contract Marriage: This is possibly my number 1 most favorite plot trope of all time. As soon as they’re writing a contract out about their relationship and saying something akin to “The number one rule is to never fall in love,” I get extremely excited for what I’m about to witness. I have no idea why I love this trope so much, but It just makes me so happy.
   • For examples see: Marriage Contract, Prime Minister and I, Because this is my First Life.
2. Found Family: Do you know the quote “Blood is thicker than water?” Did you know the actual quote is “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb” and that’s exactly what Found Family is all about. The bonds that are made because of choice and mutual love over those simply due to the circumstance of what family you’re born into really get me going. Perhaps it’s because I’m adopted myself that the idea of forming a family out of shared love rather than biology is especially enthusing to me.
   • For examples see: The Player, Guardians, The Best Hit
3. Noona Romance: Ah yes, a younger man falling for an older woman, generally to the shock and dismay of those around them for some reason. While people might not bat an eye at an older man and younger woman, for some reason older women going for younger men is seen as taboo and scandalous. I, however, love it, and can’t get enough of my fellow getting-up-there-in-age ladies getting some.
   • For examples see: Something in the Rain, Witch’s Romance, Surplus Princess
4. Tsundere Leads: A man who is stoic and almost emotionless so that everyone thinks he’s mean, except that he’s secretly sweet and loving on the inside to the woman he loves? *fans self* There’s nothing more that I need from a Tsundere Lead in my romance stories, especially if they’re paired with a bubbly cute female love interest.
   • For examples see: Go Go Squid, Because this is my First Life, Suspicious Partners
5. Bubbly Female Leads: As a person who loves pink, girly things, fashion, and myself having a generally cheerful and bubbly disposition, I love seeing extremely girly female leads. This comes with a caveat: I like bubbly female leads that men in the story don’t take seriously only to be absolutely owned by them later on. I like that being feminine and cute doesn’t mean you can’t be interesting or powerful!
   • For examples see: Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim

5 Tropes I Hate:

1. Wrist Grabs: Oh jeez, how wrist grabs get my hackles up. Can men just agree to stop manhandling women already? Stop grabbing women by the wrists to drag them around; It’s gross, it treats women like objects, and, women, it’s just not something that we should romanticize.
   • A show that subverts this: My ID is Gangnam Beauty
2. Noble Idiocy: Ah yes, the ol “I’m breaking up with you for a reason”, the reason of which could probably be solved if the two leads just talked to each other instead of one of them deciding to break up with the other one for their own good. How patronizing, am I right? Just communicate your issues first, and if you still decide to break up, then break up mutually. Don’t make decisions for each other.
   • A show that subverts this: Search: WWW
3. The Disappearing Act: You know what people in love don’t normally do? Leave the country for months or years at a time and never call, text, email, or even send a postcard to the person you supposedly love to death, only to have them completely forgive you and have stayed in stasis waiting for you when you get back. This is not how life works. If you ghost someone, generally they’ll be upset and then move on. Skype exists, just email them once in a while.
   • A show that does this but I forgave it anyway: Oh my Venus
4. Truck of Doom: You know what is the most dangerous thing in South Korea apparently? Random truck drivers terrorizing the roadways, coming for the pedestrians, usually good looking pedestrians who it would be reallllll inconvenient to, say, get hit by a truck and maybe come down with a plot derailing case of amnesia. Oh boy, KDramas love to hit their characters with random cars, usually with drivers who face no repercussions and are never seen again.
   • A show that has a truck of doom I don’t actually hate: Suspicious Partners
5. Obviously better second leads: Is there anything worse than seeing a female lead picking a partner that is obviously going to end up in a divorce down the line? Nothing is more frustrating than seeing a character with way more chemistry and a much better personality be shuffled to second lead for no reason.
   • To become enraged: Secret Hotel

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KDramaCriminal

This list was SURPRISINGLY easy for me! I actually wrote down more than 10 and it was harder for me to then cut it down to 10. In making it, this list also just told me that I need to watch more Makjangs because I guess I like a lot of the crazy tropes that you usually see in them.

This list is in no particular order (except #1)

5 Trope I Love:

1. Found Family: HANDS DOWN this is my favorite drama trope of ALL TIME! I love that you can find it in romance dramas as well as crime dramas. There is just something about a wide range of people coming together to reach a final goal or just becoming a big unrelated family!
2. Amnesia: The crazier the amnesia in a drama, the more I love it — haha! (don’t ask me why.)
3. Mistaken Identity/Twins: These always throw curveballs into the plot or are hilarious when they happen! I am never expecting them and love it when they do appear because they just bring the crazy.
4. Injury Scene/Sick Scene: Since I love thrillers and crime dramas so much these type of scenes happen a lot. These scenes cause the “FOUND FAMILY” to become closer or the main leads OR just have everyone to become HELL bent on revenge. haha. So how can I NOT love these scenes with the outcomes that they produce? There is also something heartwarming about being taken care of.
5. Truck Of Doom: I love this trope so much because it is ALWAYS hilarious when it does come up. It happens so much that you actually are surprised when a drama doesn’t have a TRUCK OF DOOM.

5 Tropes I Hate:

1. Evil Mothers/Parents: This trope I hate so much (but maybe secretly love). Sometimes I just find it so unnecessary but also hilarious when they do show up. It is a given that there is one waiting to show up.
2. Inevitable Break-Up Scene(Noble Idiocy): I think I don’t like this one because you know it will always happen between episodes 12-14, so I am not surprised by it anymore (hence why I don’t watch a lot of romance dramas at once.)
3. Old Flame/Love Showing Up: I don’t mind this trope if it is tastefully done, but a lot of times I am annoyed by it because I find it very unnecessary to bring into the dramas. Usually, they are mean and are just there to cause trouble. BUT I have to admit…sometimes they do bring juicy drama
4. Wide Eyed Kisses: I think I just don’t like this trope because it is EVERYWHERE so I just see it a lot. This one also depends on the drama because sometimes I like it and sometimes I don’t
5. Second Male/Female Leads: You hate it but also love it. I rarely get second lead syndrome, but WHEN I DO…GOD a love triangle is SO ANNOYING when you have Second Lead Syndrome.

Basically one of the conclusions I have come up with by making this list…I LOVE THE CRAZY TROPES! The crazier the trope, the more I love it. THE CRAZIER THE DRAMA WITH THESE TROPES…THE MORE I LOVE IT!

BRING ON THE MAKJANGS!!

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Now that you’ve heard our top 10, what are your top 10 favorite KDrama tropes? Please share with us in the comments below!

Related: 

• Introducing the DramaCurrent Crew with the Certified Noonas and Caitlin!
• Meet the DC Crew: Our Top 10 Favorite KDramas