C-ent Discusses the Most Popular Chinese and Korean Onscreen Bromances of 2016
Recent years have had no shortage of small and big screen bromances with male leads sometimes stealing the show from even the central OTP romance. It proffers the guys being guys camaraderie tinged with wink wink emotional connection, the best of the bromance makes the viewer believe it extends to real life much like the best onscreen romances spawn fan ships. 2016 is ending with the fantastic bromance of Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook in Goblin, and started off with Song Joong Ki and Jin Goo in Descendants of the Sun. Basically Kim Eun Sook owned the bromance this year, but aside from her male characters there were other pairings that excited and thrilled fans as seen below in the collected list from C-media. Which is your favorite(s)?
Hu Ge and Wallace Huo
JIn Bo Ran and Luhan (Grave Robber)
Tao and Yang Yang (Real Men)
Li Yi Feng and Zhang Lu Yi (Sparrow)
Park Bo Gum and Kwak Dong Yeon (Moonlight Drawn by Stars)
Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook (Goblin)
Jo Jung Seok and Go Kyung Pyo (Incarnation of Jealousy)
Song Joong Ki and Jin Goo (Descendants of the Sun)
*Sigh* How I wish someone would sub Sparrow. Viki did the first five episodes but unfortunately they never got the license, so it’s been abandoned.
This is probably an unpopular opinion…but does anyone else feel that in general, bromances in dramas are a bit overrated? To me, they often feel shoehorned into dramas simply for fanservice and cheap homoerotic subtext. It feels rare to actually see one that feels like a real, authentic friendship.
Have you seen This Week My Wife Will Have an Affair? The friendship between Lee Seon-kyun and Lee Sang-yeob (their characters) definitely feels real and authentic. It’s not fan-servicy at all.
Check out the recaps on discardedmusings.wordpress.com 🙂 Lucia (coffeenlucia) has done a great job summarising the episodes, complete with gifs also! Cannot recommend enough ^_^
I love the con-brothers in Legend of The Blue Sea. Shin Won Ho is just too cute.
Totally into Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook at the moment. On and off screen they are so hot together! Like two Asian Ken dolls with some slick fashion sense. Eun Tak and Sunny who? lol I also really like the bromance in Jealousy Incarnate. The mudd fight was so epic and it broke my heart but it was the best scene in the whole serie! Lol *personal opinion
Me????? Three Meals brothers. Lee Seo Jin-Eric-Yoon Kyun Sang-Kongie and Mongie. Because their bromance is real ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Love the bromine in Goblin. But squad 38 was also really fun and touching. The playground fight was epic.
Damn you auto correct. It’s bromance!
Still DOTS bromance for me! Although Goblin comes close, better than the romance in fact
they said moon lovers is popular but nowhere in many lists,
why I bring this up?
because BBJX bromance is what makes the story more valuable yet moon lovers can’t even get this one right,
what a shame when the original provided a good guide for the bromance yet it’s nowhere to be seen,
I think the list is pretty legit,
Just to be fair, Lee Jun Ki is what people rave about in Moon Lovers. LJK is why people actually talk and went crazy over Moon Lovers. The romance which is the central plot not resonating to some including myself, let alone the bromance. I watched and rewatching Moon Lovers only for LJK and I guess, many are the same. So, just leave Moon Lovers out of this.
No offense but the ‘bromance’ in the original BBJX wouldn’t have made this list either. You do realise that the relationships listed above mainly must have sarcastic banter, skinship (lots) or homoerotic subtext right? The brothers in BBJX and ML (the non-dysfunctional ones at least) are just that, brothers. So I don’t see why there is a need for you to drag ML and BBJX here, out of the blue.
well the moonlight also don’t have that much banter, huge-jinyan, liyifeng also doesn’t,
while many princes in bbjx does have the small banter about teasing each other love life, small and affectionate talk and one lovers clearly want to try that but fail,
look the younger prince who is all about the small banter but lack skill and chemistry,
I remember how the ML fans flocked on any chinese related news and said they are popular there and loved without knowing the truth,
boasting about their so called “best drama and all” and now I just want to show that boasting will just bite them back,
@Dear
Oww….so this is about payback time.
Since the bromance in ML is not even captivating, no matter whether the drama is genuinely popular or not in China, why would anyone listed it here when the bromance almost non-existent in ML? You sure have your mind too wrap up with ML that you need to bring up the drama all the time even when it is irrelevant to rally others to thrash ML together with you. Pathetic.
@Dear: I didn’t intend to reply since you are obviously a spiteful hater, but there was no need for you to put down other bromances listed above either.
Meichangsu-Jingyan wasn’t even on the list (it was aired last year lol) but they have tons of homoerotic subtext. I read the book, watched the drama, and a lot of others agree with me on this.
I didn’t watch Moonlight but 5 eps into Sparrow and you tried to tell me LYF and ZYS dont have banter? The suspense is a large part due to their frenemy relationship; it has a huge role in the show.
The more you try to hate the more it’s becoming ridiculous lol, so this shall be my last reply.
Lol at dear/dd etc. etc. Moon Lovers isn’t even mentioned in this article, your obsession is real.
Isn’t that Sun Yang, the swimmer with Huang Zi Tao, not Yang Yang? I think I remember him seeing him on TV while watching the Olympics.
And by the way it’s Jing Boran, I think…
Yep, that’s Olympic swimmer Sun Yang. He’s been appearing in quite a few variety shows lately.
And the correct pinyin for 井柏然 is Jing Boran.
Mmm.. Moonlight drawn by clouds right?
lol luhan & jing boran is not true
It was an overlooked drama, but my favorite bromance was the doctor and actor in Fantastic. Sometimes bromance is just used as a comedic time out in dramas, but Fantastic took it to a whole other level of what true friendship really is.
I would also throw in the three way bromance of Let’s Drink between the three students studying for their civil service exam. They just knew each other so well so it was funny, petty and often poignant. The fight at the reunion is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in any drama in 2016.
Haha love the random pic of Ma Long and Zhang Jike up top… that’s real life bromance right there…
Can’t speak for all the bromances, but Hu Ge-Wallace and Lay/Zhang Yixing-Sun Honglei are definitely two of the greatest real life bromances in C-ent. Would highly recommend watching anything that Sun Honglei and Lay are in together.
Goblin and DOTS’ – so good
One of the pairs in the 1st picture is not bromance but actually full blown romance.
Is it the pair at bottom right corner? (If yes) I agree. They’re not bromance since they are actual main CP in their series.