DramaMeans

In this episode of the DramaMeans Podcast, we take a serious look at the very unserious 2025 Thai Drama “Break-up Service,” which gives a new meaning to the phrase, “All’s fair in love and war.” We also discuss why sometimes a show is allowed to do everything from cheesy physical humor to over the top product placement and still be considered a quality drama.Summary:Desperate for work, an idealistic young woman finds employment with a company that purposely breaks up couples that are in love. To make things more complicated, she ends up teaming with the most ruthless and jaded partner the company has to offer…who just might turn out to be the man of her dreams.Cast:Boss - OffJued - JorinOat - TayNut - GodjiT - Foei

This week on the DramaMeans podcast, Mel and Ryan dive into the 2025 Japanese live action adaptation of “Cells at Work” to discuss whether or not the feature film lived up to the clever anime. We also ask who the target audience is for the recent trend of live action remakes of popular animations or whether it’s just a studio cash grab.Cast:White Blood Cell (U-1146) - Satoh TakeruRed Blood Cell (AE3803) - Nagano MeiNK Cell - Naka RiisaKiller T Cell - Yamamoto KojiNiko - Ashida ManaDad - Abe SadawoTakeda - Kato SeishiroSummary:An experienced white blood cell befriends a naive red blood cell as she tries to navigate her new duties delivering oxygen to the body without getting hopelessly lost. But when a mutated cell creates a dangerous cancer, it’s all hands on deck to save the body at all costs.

This week, Mel and Ryan discuss how the 2025 Cdrama, Prisoner of Beauty, was able to execute the well-known trope of enemies to lovers. But did the use of several tried and true costume drama conventions make this drama a stand-out success or a tired attempt at doing the same old thing?Summary: Two families form an alliance through marriage, but the bad blood between their clans leads the couple to deeply distrust each other. As they begin to grow closer and learn to find love, they realize the only way for their families to survive is to put the past aside.Cast: Wei Shao - Liu Yu NingQiao Man - Song Zu ErWei Yan - Liu Duan DuanLady Yu Lou - Xuan Lu

This week, Mel and Ryan show appreciation for two dramas that were able to overcome the shortcomings of their source material. Yes, sometimes the TV show is better than the book…or the anime. Both Korean BL drama, "Secret Relationships" and Thai BL drama, "Top Form," do a good job of demonstrating that.Secret Relationships Cast:Jung Da On - Kim Jun SeoJu Seong Hyeon - Cha Sun HyungKim Su Hyun - Cha Jung WooSin Jae Min - Kim Ho YoungTop Form CastAkin - BoomJin - Smart

In this episode of the DramaMeans podcast, Mel and Ryan discuss the unorthodox love story of Hong Kong film, "Love Lies - 我談的那場戀愛." We also advise our listeners not to take any inspiration from the film and become online scam artists in order to find love. That kind of thing only works in the movies!Summary: A widowed doctor signs up for an online dating app and ends up falling for a hunky French engineer who always seems to say the right things. Just one problem. Her French beau is actually a scammer trying to take her for everything she's worth. But can the two find love and happiness together anyway?Cast:Veronica Yu - Sandra Ng 吳君如Joe Lee - MC Zhang 張天賦Joan - Stephy Tang 鄧麗欣

As we discuss the growing pains of the main quartet of characters in the Thai BL Drama “Gelboys,” Mel and Ryan reminisce about the mistakes of youth, and give thanks we didn’t grow up in an era where everything was posted online for the world to see. We also attempt to not sound old and out of touch as we try to find the answer to a very serious question: How the hell do you start a Spotify Jam Session? “Gelboys” (Thailand 2025 - BL Drama) Summary: A group of young people in Bangkok try to survive growing up in the modern era where social media influences everything in life and love, all the while trying to find enough time to get their nails done. Cast: Fou4Mod - New Chian - Pide Baabin - PJ Bua - Leon Faifa - Paper

DramaMeans dives into the action, the violence, and the folklore of Japanese revenge thriller Demon City. Mel and Ryan attempt to find out if movies like this actually need substance, or if giving a popular actor a big knife and covering him with blood is entertaining enough to keep audiences engaged. We also question whether the world of this film has anyone in the police force working forensics. Demon City (2025 Japanese Movie) Cast: Ikuta Toma Touma Ami Onoe Matsuya Il

In this episode of DramaMeans podcast Mel and Ryan discuss how Korean medical drama, Trauma Code tried to stay grounded and address real life issues of the bureaucracy of modern medicine. But do the over the top comedy and mustache twisting bad guys give the show a massive tone problem? The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call Cast: Ju Ji Hoon Choo Young Woo Ha Young Yoon Kyung Ho Jung Jae Kwang Kim Won Hae Kim Eui Sung

In the final episode of the year, we discuss a host of different topics from the international drama world, including what we loved from the year, what we didn’t, and what we wished we had never started in the first place. We also run through the short list of dramas we are currently watching and hope to feature in future episodes of the DramaMeans Podcast. We hope everyone has a great holiday season and we will be back next year to fill you in on all of our thoughts on the plethora of dramas we will have watched!!

If you're already afraid of flying, Hong Kong/China collab action flick, "High Forces" may not be for you. Good thing we watched it for you and in this episode, we take a deep dive into what worked and what didn't. Was this film starring international superstar Andy Lau a fun filled mindless ride that we enjoyed or an over the top wannabe blockbuster that crashes and burns? Maybe both?

This week we discuss the real life drama and controversy that surrounded Korean BL drama “Love in the Big City.” People had their opinions about this show before it was even released, and we breakdown why, in our opinion, it was an overreaction to a show that should be celebrated for its filmmaking instead of demonized by self righteous critics. We also dig deep into each of the relationships in the story and discuss how they are similar, different, and universally relatable.

Men In Love, a 2024 Chinese modern romance drama, following a group of buddies as they fumble through life and love. Leading the pack, Ye Han (Hu Yi Tian) and Xiao Xiao (Liang Jie) showcase their varying maturity levels but only managing to demonstrate luke warm chemistry. Join DramaMeans in analyzing the characters' inconsistent arcs, imbalanced dynamics, and underdeveloped supporting characters. What did Men in Love do right and what did it do wrong? Tune in to find out!!

Come and explore the Thai BL series, "The Trainee," with us in depth. This funny series tracks a group of university students as they navigate their internships and build camaraderie at a busy production house. In this episode, we will talk about the fans' concerns about how unprofessional the characters are portrayed, the relationship that is built within the intern gang and the swoon moments between Ryan (Gun) and Jane (Off). We will examine what worked and what didn't.

So many dramas, so little time... This episode of the podcast, instead of focusing on one series that we've completed, we discuss several dramas we are currently watching and our reactions to them so far. We swoon over the ones we like, bash the ones we don't, and explain how one drama earned the rare distinction of being dropped part way through an episode. This week has a little bit of everything! Dramas listed in this episode: Love of Nirvana Kidnap Fourever You The Gift Of Your Heart Re: Revenge - At the End of Desire Peaceful Property Love In The Desert

We delve into the 2024 Chinese drama, "You Are My Secret," where we talk about the characters' unwavering support for each other, Miles Wei (魏哲鸣) and Karlina Zhang's (张佳宁) undeniable chemistry, but we also, discuss what fell flat and which aspect is down right creepy. Catch our DramaMeans Podcast episode on this hidden in plain sight romance!

Catch our latest episode on DramaMeans Podcast where we break down the intricacies and shortcomings of the 2024 Korean movie/drama series, "Time of Fever." Find out whether or not this prequel capitalizes on the fondness for the characters we met in "Unintentional Love Story," or is it handcuffed by it.

In this episode of DramaMeans Podcast, we dive into the 2024 Chinese drama, "Escape from the Trilateral Slopes." Ryan and I explore the amazing, the bad, the ridiculous, and everything in between. Don't miss this episode! Shen Xing, played by Guo Qi Lin, unexpectedly arrives at his uncle's construction site in the Golden Triangle, much to his uncle's disapproval. When everything goes wrong and his uncle disappears, Shen Xing relies on a new found ally, Uncle Cai, played by the legendary Francis Ng.

Adapting a television series from a book can be a very difficult task.  Especially, when someone else has already taken a crack at it and you’re not only trying to live up to the source material, but also find a unique perspective in which to tell your own version of the story.   We discuss all of these issues on the podcast this week as we talk about the 2024 Thai BL Drama “My Love Mix-Up.”  Having originally been released as a Manga, then adapted into a Japanese series, will the Thai version live up to those that came before it?  And were they able to find their own way to make it even better?

Not all dramas are award winners. Not all dramas are popular. Not all dramas are worth watching to the bitter end. As much as we try to keep an open mind and give every drama we watch a fair chance, sometimes you need to just throw in the towel. In this episode we discuss 5 dramas from 2024 that put such a foul taste in our mouth that we couldn’t stomach even one more episode. Are we kind of being haters this week? Yes! Yes we are!

Yu Yu Hakusho, the popular Japanese Anime, has been brought to life with a live-action adaptation available on Netflix. We discuss whether this action packed series lived up to the hype or whether it is yet another disappointing attempt at bringing Anime style storytelling to a new audience.