I'm one of those viewers who can't stand the awkward, juvenile interactions between characters who are supposed to be lovers. I.E:
- Dead fish kissing,
- holy crap I tripped and fell on your face type kissing (the absolute worst ever)
- pursed lip kissing,
- only hugging when given the setting and atmosphere it's most natural to kiss,
- having grown adult characters behave too prudishly about sex & intimacy -- like it's an absolute alien concept,
- not having the characters act like 'normal' lovers -- take the opportunity to kiss whenever they're alone, kiss each other goodbye or upon meeting (esp when they've been separated for months or years and are finally back together and all they do is ... HUG??? wtf ...).
You can be naive and inexperienced in sex, without having modern characters behave like they're living in the Silla dynasty. In It Started with a Kiss / They Kiss Again, the female lead was a virgin & as naive as they come, but she knew what sex was and didn't balk at the idea of having sex with the male lead.
I know it's all a cultural thing. What's shown on TV is heavily censored, esp in South Korea (same goes for Taiwan, Japan & China, but to a slightly lesser degree I'v observed). I get it, but I still don't like it. I avoid dramas where intimacy & sex are treated like a big pink elephant that no one wants to acknowledge.
So now that I've explained what 'good chemistry' is to me, here are a few dramas where I thought the (sexual) dynamic & interactions between the leads were somewhat 'natural' or as close to 'natural' as you can get in Asian dramas:
- Lovers and City Hall (both of which are written by the same screenwriter as Descendants of the Sun).
- Too Late To Say I Love You (most believable chemistry I've ever seen in an Asian drama)
- It's Okay, That's Love and The World that They Live In (both written by same screenwriter)
- The Princess' Man (not quite, but to an extent)
