Non-traditional romance with assertive/strong female lead

Jul 3, 2016 05:28 am

other with noona romance worked into the story is '9 end 2 outs'. cast is hot!

Jul 3, 2016 10:00 am

@Granuli They do kiss - once. and the love story is sweet and wonderful. Just no big declarations the whole show is them trying to do what's best for them and the people they love. It's a great example of how good relationships can be.

AnicsiRoscoe

Jul 3, 2016 10:34 am

It's not a noona romance, but do try 'It's Okay, That's Love'!!! It's my favorite romance drama by a far shot from everything else. It is realistic and beautiful in every way. The leading lady is a successful psychologist who doesn't take any crap. Even though she's cautious about falling in love at first, once their relationship develops, she is definitely not submissive and can stand her own ground. They feel more like equal partners than in any other drama I've seen. Do give it a try, you won't regret it!

Granuli

Jul 3, 2016 03:11 pm

@HappySqueak thanks for the heads up! Going to take a closer look at it!

@Nat I admit that sounds awesome! Put it on my ptw list.

@AnicsiRoscoe thanks for the detailed description! I've watched 1 scene a few days ago and I got a similar impression, but wasn't sure. That's really great! Although an age gap is definitely interesting, it's not necessary for me to truly like a romance story.

AnicsiRoscoe

Jul 4, 2016 10:24 am

@Granuli: You're welcome :) I hope you like it! I hold it close to my heart. On another note, I was about to recommend 'I need romance 3', which is a noona romance, but I saw that you dropped it. Couldn't warm up to it?

Granuli

Jul 4, 2016 03:42 pm

@AnicsiRoscoe honestly I'm not 100% certain that I Need Romance 3 can't possibly fit. I didn't watch a lot of it. I just looked at some scenes with interactions between the leads and it seemed to me that the female wasn't as self-confident, or (since it's a noona romance) didn't act her age when she was with her love interest, which I think led to the male still pretty much dominating the relationship. But it's easily possible to misjudge just by looking at some scenes.

After reading the paragraph about the frequently wasted opportunity for strong female characters in noona romances on http://kdramafighting.blogspot.com/2014/07/is-age-... where "I Need Romance 3" is explicitly mentioned as a negative example, I dropped it, but she could be wrong of course and if you are certain, then I'd still give it a chance.

"...to make sure that
the guy still gets to be the boss of everything." "...if the writers have an easy option for writing a competent female character and then immediately let it go to waste. The case in point would be I Need Romance 3, where the female lead was headstrong and great at her job--but had the emotional development of a turnip. Sung Joon's character was a gentle second male lead type, and yet he still spent the majority of the show telling his lady love how she did and should feel."

Thanks again! :)

HappySqueak

Jul 6, 2016 12:01 am

I also dropped I need romance 3, I found female lead annoying, scattered and her decisions really frustrating. A lot of people really seemed to enjoy that one though, I did try to give it a fair shot but her character was too irritating to enjoy the story for me anyway.

kmr

Jul 6, 2016 08:39 am

I think you'll like Empress Ki.
The guy she ends up with is literally NOTHING without her, to the point it's almost irritating since she's done so much to help him improve.

Granuli

Jul 6, 2016 11:10 am

Thanks @HappySqueak for the confirmation! Now I really wonder ;) It's interesting, seems people are quite polarized about it.
@KMR thank you! That's one more point for Empress Ki, I guess there's no way around it then :)

AnicsiRoscoe

Jul 7, 2016 12:02 am

@Granuli: I must admit that it's been a while since i've seen 'I need romance 3'. I do remember that she is quite headstrong and decisive at first, but changes once her feelings develop more. However, I think that is something very natural. If you like someone, you want them to like you back, and you might get insecure. It's definitely not one of the best dramas out there, but I loved that the relationship dynamics were more complicated than a simple 'main couple' or love-triangle or such. I wrote a super short review for it, so i'll just copy the final thoughts about it:
"This drama is simply a realistic, down-to-earth, yet passionate slice-of-life drama, that perfectly sheds light on the heaven and hell of dating. I love the mature approach, the conversations that aren't forced, and the struggles that make you remember your own. You can really learn a lot from this drama."

It definitely has its clichés, but I've yet to find a K-drama that doesn't xD So, if you're ever bored, just give it a shot. Don't judge the drama from the first episode. When they first meet, she doesn't know he is much much younger than him, so she gets wrapped around his little finger. However, that drastically changes from the second episode or so... just a heads up ;)

-T-

Jul 7, 2016 01:10 am

i still did not come into that; superior fem mc with tasty male lead as i wished and seen in mangas, but here are my 3 pathetic likes;

Zettai kareshi, (mc got a perfect robot bf ready for her every whim, ultimate joy:p)
Kimi wa petto, (mc got the cutest boy as her personal pet, whom doesnt want to be licked by him?)
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (mc is a total nut case, anyone entering her personal space is subject to heart attack, severe nightmares)

if you can get into zettai kareshi, there is no need to not have fun with hataraki man, it is much more heavy on humour and light on romance.
of course you can rely on gokusen for superior fem but there is no way you will get the taste of romance, even in manga it is very subtle.

Taylorgg12

Jul 7, 2016 05:39 am

While not really a noona drama as she's only 4 years older than him, I suggest The Pursuit of Happiness.
It's a Taiwanese drama. It starts off a little slower but rather there being a person above the other, their relationship is more of an actual partnership. They start off as friends and roommates. Even though it's only 13 episodes it's not a fast paced drama so that might be a bit off putting. I enjoyed it because it gave more time to really get to know the characters and yet didn't feel super draggy like some Taiwanese dramas can.

Granuli

Jul 7, 2016 02:01 pm

@AnicsiRoscoe I think there's a misunderstanding and it's entirely my fault for doing a bad job in defining the criteria, I'm going to edit the first post.
What I'm looking for is a different kind of balance between the partners. Who's the more decisive, strong, emotionally stable one etc. The female shouldn't be the weaker one in most areas.

"I do remember that she is quite headstrong and decisive at first, but changes once her feelings develop more."

this is what I've found to be the case in most anime too. My issue though is less that she changes in some way, or that she relies on her partner for something, but that she looses too much. So much that her partner in the end gets to be the more assertive, the more dominant one inside the relationship and in even worse cases she suddenly starts to fully depend on him even though she was a really independent character at first.

"However, I think that is something very natural. If you like someone, you want them to like you back, and you might get insecure"

Very true and that doesn't automatically exclude it from the criteria, but it's not really important since it's about the balance between the two. Even if you are insecure at first, which I totally agree is only natural, this shouldn't be limited to the female lead. And even if it were so, once the relationship is developed more, the initial insecurities are likely to fade.
But in any case, how that may or may not be doesn't matter so much, what I'm looking for is a different balance inside the relationship than the usual one: where it's mostly him who takes care of her and not/much less the other way around (it can be both ways though). I'd like to see the female partner taking care of him too and/or be the (at least a bit) more stable, assertive one for a change.

Thanks a lot for explaining in such detail and also for your interesting thoughts about the show! It's really not uninteresting and I'd like to give it a closer look!

Also sorry for being so difficult ;)

@-T-
Thank you!
Going to look into them :)
The "pet" behaviour in Kimi wa Petto is quite weird, but it's interesting to see something so different for once :)

@Taylorgg12
I have never heard of it before, nor have I watched any Taiwanese dramas yet. I like the friends/roommates scenario. Thanks a lot for your recommendation, going to try to get into it :)

Roisina

Jul 7, 2016 05:43 pm

Discovery of Romance sounds like it matches up...this drama deals with power roles in a relationship and both male and female leads undergo a change from being the submissive to dominant/dominant to submissive (no pun intended :P) in a relationship until they end on equal footing at the end....it is a very intense drama though but also realistic & thought provoking!
http://mydramalist.com/9849-discovery-of-romance

In fact a lot of dramas with Eric/Jung Yu Mi seems to fit this criteria e.g. Que Sera Sera, Another Miss Oh
Also My Sassy Girl could also be what you're looking for -the girl very much wears the pants in this relationship ! But at the end of the day, they rely on each other
http://mydramalist.com/139-my-sassy-girl