Stickiness has long been used as yet another barometer to assess a drama, performance, or character. Some successes vanish soon after while other less immediate wins steadily remain for much longer. It’s hard to say which one is preferable, ultimately even the most sticky works fade from memory as the fickle audience mind continues to look to the latest and greatest treats. There are so many K-dramas released annually (prime time, weekend, daily, cable) and most do their thing and shuffle off to be forgotten right away.
It’s getting harder and harder for a drama, performance, or even character to be memorable, but there are still some that stand out among the recent crowded field. The K-media is reporting that a poll of drama viewers asking what recent drama character they most wanted to see again onscreen yielded three popular choices that remain fan favorites. The top three vote getters are Lee Jong Seok‘s Park Soo Ha in I Hear Your Voice, Jang Jae Yeol played by Jo In Sung in It’s Okay, It’s Love, and Kim Soo Hyun‘s alien professor Do Min Joon in You From Another Star. Congrats to these three actors for leaving indelible memories in the minds of viewers among all the recent years dramas. Were any of these three your faves?
mine would be Jang Gurae and Chief Oh from Misaeng!
Me too. Best bromance, IMO. 🙂
I love bromance jongbin is my bias.
Oh, definitely! Bromance for the win forever! But out of these three, then it’s no contest. I Hear Your Voice was obviously the best drama.
YES! Totally agree with you. For female it would be Young-yi also from Misaeng.
I miss Misaeng so much~
I’m glad that Park Su Ha was selected because I thoroughly enjoyed I Hear Your Voice and became a fan of LJS (and LBY) after that 🙂 Not sure if Do Min Joon was that great though. To me, YFAS was all Cheon Seong Yi. If she was not there, there would have been no drama or story or popularity.
agree :D….YFAS is all about JJH.
I thought the same thing…I still can’t understand why so much has been made out of his part and his performance. Nothing bad about them, but really, I can’t see how memorable it would be without her character, and how masterffully JJH played it.
Third that!
Park Su Ha’s definitely one of if not the most memorable character to date. Not sure about the other 2 mentioned, though JIS is by far a much better actor than the other 2. However, sometimes skill/technique can be a hindrance when it doesn’t translate fully to passion and “soul”.
What was great about Park Su Ha compared to Choi Dalpo was the raw freshness of the performance. He didn’t rely on techniques and was just acting his heart out.
Do Min Joon was just playing it cool 90% of the time, so I’d say KSH’s best role to date was the one in Dream High. Even in Secretly Greatly, I felt that he was playing two 1 Dimentional characters rather than a complex character with multiple nuances and layers.
Agree to disagree. IMO, Jo In Sung is one hell of a passionate actor that he used to overact in most of his performances in the past (which turns out to be either green or crazily heartfelt and somewhat uncomfortable to watch, in a good way), now that he’s learned how to cool it down, the passion has translated into something so nuanced, beautiful, and soulful, not just mere skill/technique. At least that’s how I see.
Cheon Song-yi’s Do Managerrr!!! But I still think Sam-dong was Kim Soo-hyun’s best character. He’s had some very memorable ones in his career tbh. I loved his role in WISFC and I hope Producer will be just as great as YFAS.
I never watched these dramas so maybe my top 3 choices are different with k-netz.
Do Min Joon of course <3
P.s. I have a feeling this post is going to turn into a war zone soon, so I'm outta here lol
Of course Cha Do Hyun!!
Lawyer Cha? I liked him too!! In fact, all the characters in IHYV were memorable including Min Joon Gook.
What?? No!! I haven’t even seen IHYV!! Cha Do Hyun from KMHM!
Me too for me
YESSS!!! And don’t forget Shin Segi and Ahn Yona!
Park Soo Ha, totally.
Park Soo Ha!
Me prefer Park Soo Ha
Yayayayay! My first love Jo In Sung-sshi~
none of them are my fav.
enrique geum always be my male fav character
and jang geu rae alway be the character that I think this person really in the real world
*really exist
Park Suha melting 😀
Jang Jae Yeol for me! ^_^
Never really like Jis’s performance before though I enjoy him in his previous dramas, but it’s Jang Jae Yeol that really left me deep impression… it’s for me like 50% of jis real character + 50% at how awesomely the character being written and acted. So, the character very much felt natural and realistic.
Also maybe because I have quite similarity with JiHaeSoo, I find that a man like JJY (minus Schizo ofcourse) would be good match for my personality 😀 He is one of the type that I wish for my husband in future haha
I haven’t got chance to watch these drama, still on my watch list but My fav from last year is the smexy Kang Tae Ha!.
Yes he is. But I got annoyed with female lead character in the early episode.
Mine would be Healer <333
Ji Chang wook ❤
Mine, based on character development and writing:
1. Kang Tae Ha-Eric-Discovery of Romance
2. Jang Jae Yol-Jo In Sung-It’s OKay It’s Love
3. Lee Sun Jae-Yoo Ah In-Secret Love Affair
I’ll add :
Kim Tak Goo (Yoon Shi Yoon) from “baker king”,
Lee Hwon (Kim Soo Hyun) from “The Moon Embrace The Sun”
Moon Jae Shin (Yoo Ah In) from “Sungkyunkwan Scandal”
That’s pretty much my favorite kdramas lead males xD
Let me just meekly say Kim Bong Do
Yes, the most intelligent male lead ever in Queen InHyun’s Man, not counting Do Min Joon from MLFAS since he’s an alien. Still the best in my books.
Yes, still my all-time favorite as well: Kim Boong Do was intelligent and clever and honorable and kind, mischievous and vulnerable, a great fighter and just as enthusiastic a lover. What a character, and Ji Hyun Woo brought it all to life and actually made this paragon believable.
Jang Jae Yeol and Choi Dal Po
Oh, forgot to add Song Joong Ki in Innocent man 😀
Min Jun Guk more memorable for me, if we talk about IHYF. Unfortunatelly, he’s not lead actor 🙁
*I mean IHYV
Even though I’m a LJS fan, my top 1 would be Choi Youngdo from Heirs. Sooha is among Top 3 though. Kkk
I’m a ljs fan.I prefer Choi Dal Po/Ki Ha Myung than Park Soo ha.
I preferred the female leads in all the dramas with LBY’s Hye Sung at the top.
Definitely JIS in IOIL…
my fav: Jang Jae Yol (IOIL) Choi Yong Do (Heirs), Joogun (Master’s Sun) and Choi Mu Gak (TGWCSS). theyre awesome!!
Enrique Geum.
my favorite male characters:
Do Min-Joon (KSH for My Love from Another Star)
Li Da Ren ( BoliN Chen in In Time With You)
Healer/Park Bong-Soo/Se0 Jung-HOo (Ji Chang Wook for Healer)
Oh Sang-sik ( misaeng)
Dokko jin ( Cha Seung Won in Best LOve)
kim Bung-do ( Ji Hyun-Woo in Queen In-hyun’s Man)
Joo Jong-won (So Ji Sub in Master’s sun)
Bong Ma-roo (Nam Goongmin in Can You hear my heart)
Kang Ma-ru (Soon Joong-ki in The Innocent Man)
Kim Joo-won ( hyun Bin in Secret Garden)
Cha Joon-woo (Joo Sang-wook in Single Cunning Lady)
Hwang Tae-Kyung(jang geun-suk in You’re Beautiful)
Moon Jae-shi( Yoo Ah-in in Sungkyunkwan Scandal)
Lee yoonsung ( Lee Min ho in City Hunter)
Byun Hyung-Tae ( Lee Jung Jin in Two outs in the 9th inning)
I believe Jang Geu Rae is a real person out there too…haha!
Rather than Park Soo Ha, I’ll choose Jang Hye Sung as my fave character from IHYV. And for LJS, I love Choi Dal Po (Pinocchio) more.
Other than that, my fave male characters would be:
1. Ta Hwan (JCW in Empress Ki)
2. Enrique Geum (YSY in Flower Boy Next Door)
Park Soo Ha of course!!! No question about it <3 <3 <3
I usually can’t remember names of characters, but Park Soo Ha, I always remember. And the first thing I think of is the rain scene and ‘puppy!’ Lol
And my ultimate fav is Cha Do Hyun (Shin Se Gi). This guy was like the whole package…
And for female characters, I LOVE Hye Sung!
Definitely Park Soo Ha
Most memorable from the top of my head are:
Lee Gun (Jang Hyuk) in Fated to Love You
Cha Do Hyun etc. (Ji Sung) in Kill Me Heal Me
Kim Bong Doo (Ji Hyun Woo) in Queen In Hyun’s Man
Jang Geu Rae (Siwan) in Misaeng
Chief Oh (Lee Sung Min) in Misaeng
Bong Ma Roo (Nam Goong Min) in Can You Hear My Heart
Kang Hyun Soo (Jung Kyung Ho) in Smile, You
how far back are we going lol? Cause this list can include Dokko Jin, Park Kyu etc…
of course Jo In Sung oppa~~
Baksa/ Doctor’s Son and Soo from Heartless City!
Ha Woo Jin from Liar Game!!
Among these three I pick Jang Jaeyeol. If I have to add more, Cha Dohyun (KMHM), Park Sunwoo (Nine), Kim Boongdo (Queen Inhyun’s Man), Kim Eunoh (Arang & the Magistrate), Cha Yoojin (Cantabile Tomorrow), Joo Joongwon (Master’s Sun), and possibly Kang Minho (Falling for Innocence) and Choi Mugak (The Girl Who Sees Smells) are going to enter my list too.
Su Ha is def memorable, he was like a real kid you worry about more than some others.
But It´s ok that´s love would not be on my list. I think Witch´s Romance Dong-ha is very memorable as someone whose kindness could melt all the ice in the Antarctic.
Also, Ji-Hyuk from SUFBB is someone that… it still feels off whenever I see Sung Joon in some other role than a rocker-musician. Like, wait, um…. did he dro the music career? where´s the guitar? It is really weird, I just cannot separate that role from him, ever.
I still call Go Ara soccer ball girl after Who are you?
From women, also Song Ji was much more memorable in Man from the stars than Kim So Hyun managed to make Do min joon
Lady Choi from Faith.
you can notice from Viki comments how people refer to actors and that ajumma is ALWAYS Lady Choi!!!
Gil Ra Im
just trying to equalize the score between men and women here, Arang too. though she aint among my favorites.
I guess I remember Nodame and not Nae Il though.
Park Gae-in from Personal Taste
and how can we forget Dokko Jin and his potato?
But my favorite is Tae San aka Ninja Teacher Lee Jun Ki in Two Weeks – and little Su-Jinnie. there is just something about that relationship and his struggles that is etched in memory.
khmm, Do Hyun / Se Gi Perry etc is a given. cmon, I don´t have to mention them. They are still somewhere out there anyway.
I guess I just have a good memory cause i remember a lot of them. imaginary characters, I always felt related to them
Cha Chi Soo (and the scheduler!)
Hwang Tae Kyung
Crazy Horse
all the Shin Sung Rok´s villains
Nam Soon and Heung Soo from School 2013
Anthony Kim
oh, I forgot Osca!
Without the female leads, these fellows wouldn’t have been memorable…it was a team effort, for sure. Sometimes, the second male leads steals the scene.
I will be interested to see how “The Healer,” fairs? Just my opinion, but it has the same feel or common thread running through it as does Goong, Coffee Prince, I Hear Your Voice, It’s Ok, It’s Love.