Hello readers,
I'm feeling a bit under the weather today with a sore throat and a headache, but I can't help not trying to blog some more today because inspiration is constantly coming to me. I know that I have a lot of topics that I did not write about on Wehaiyo! yet, but I will take it easy at least for this week.
I want to talk about some guilty pleasures today, which is Chinese 狗血 (gou3 xie3) or Dog Blood dramas, which means, according to yabla.com, melodramatic and contrived. I couldn't think of any term in Cantonese for melodramatic dramas that are over the top, but then whenever I watched Hong Kong television dramas or movies when I was young, the plot tended to be over the top anyway so that is probably just a normal story line for everybody. This was an idea of mine to one day post about my absolute pet peeves in Asian dramas.
As per Chinlingo.com, Dog Blood dramas originated from the Peking Opera who would use the dog blood to expel evil spirits. Or I have seen in Quora that somebody answered that the actors actually used dog blood at the Peking Opera as fake blood to do drama scenes on stage. Either way, I think of melodramas as dramas that have ridiculous and unrealistic plot lines.
The first term that comes to me is the Korean term, 막장 (makjang), for dramas with outrageous plot lines. When I first started watching Korean dramas, I thought the plot lines were kind of unbelievable and could not understand why almost every character is shouting as they speak. Korean male characters tend to throw anything in front of them or slam their fist into a wall in a fit of anger. Maybe, the first thing they want to do is punch someone and ask questions later. Either way, this is the type of drama I am talking about.
I can easily find Dog Blood dramas on Youtube. It was over the summer when I easily spent around two hours to watch a plot from beginning to end. Almost every scene had a character being slapped in the face either by a love rival or a parent. People who were not rich enough were constantly being berated and money is power. This type of 狗眼看人低 (gou3yan3 kan2 ren2 di1 in Mandarin / gau2 ngaan5 hon3 jan4 dai1 in Cantonese or Dog Eyes Look Down on People), the way people look down on other people, makes me want to slap them all in real life as well. 我睇唔顺眼啊 (In Jyutping: ngo5 tai2 m4 seon6 ngaan5 meaning "I can't stand it" or literally "what I see is not agreeable to my eyes").
There may or may not be subtitles in the videos, but I was still able to follow along with the basic knowledge of the language.
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| Being slapped is commonplace in a Chinese drama. |
As a Chinese-American, I have never been slapped in real life by anyone. Also, I tend to stay away from trouble so unfortunately, there is really no rich CEO out there waiting to save me from evil rich families or people who want to climb up the social ladder. There is nobody out there claiming to be my long lost parent.
It wasn't long before I started seeing online advertisements to watch Chinese short dramas on applications.
I ended up downloading three English language apps where I can watch Chinese dramas (in Mandarin language):
SnackShort
Kalos TV
DramaBox
I am not including applications or streaming services that are well known to produce great Chinese dramas. This topic is more for the miscellaneous category where somehow these app companies are contracted to license these dramas onto the app.
These short drama apps are not for everybody because unless you are a paying client, free episodes are not free as it makes the user work to earn free episodes. There are a lot of traps in these apps so if you are not willing to put in the effort and not willing to pay money, this experience is not for you.
Traps
Each episode operates on a coin system, much like reading webtoons or mangas or manhwas where each episode consumes some type of points or currency.
Each app allows the user opportunities to watch advertisements for coins. However, there is a timer time delay between each advertisement and I think it is a tactic to keep users on the app as long as possible.
For each drama, the first few episodes are free to hook the user into the drama. Subsequent episodes of the drama will require coins to unlock per episode.
Each episode is less than two minutes long. Normally, each episode is longer than a minute. One minute does not move the plot along that much and can be a mood killer.
Paying for a subscription on the apps are usually very expensive.
Based on the above points, the apps are normally a time waster. I do not recommend the free plan for anybody who has no patience because unless the drama is really good, it is easy to give up on it due to all the blocking factors above.
Still, I keep them around because it's mobile and I can watch an episode whenever I want assuming that I have wi-fi and have a moment to spare and not really time to watch a 45 minute to an hour long episode of a drama.
The good thing is that an unlocked episode stays unlocked as long as the account is not deleted. I can re-watch the entire drama in full after unlocking all the episodes without interruption.
Keep in mind that the drama production is very simple with limited budget, the plot is limited, and the plot is often nonsensical. Sometimes rich people don't dress like rich people with extravagant clothes and in one case, I can see the actress wearing slippers underneath a party gown.
Also, I want to bring up the fact that the plot lines can trigger a lot of undesired themes such as rape, sexual assault, blood and violence, but nothing shown in a graphic way, . However, I can easily tell it is fake acting and not realistic. It is not uncommon that women are treated as objects in the story. If they are useful, they are loved, but once out of use, can be discarded like garbage.
Even watching advertisements has a limit each day. I think all this was designed to make the user come back every day to log in and use the application. There are coins that are received by logging in and consecutive logins usually will be rewarded more coins after the seventh day or on certain consecutive days.
Honestly, this business model is worse than watching cable TV or subscribing to a streaming service. At least, when watching cable TV or a streaming service, the user just need to wait to allow the advertisement to automatically come on, but in the app, the user must purposely click on the buttons to watch each ad that is minimum 30 seconds. Watching one ad is not enough to unlock an episode. It will take almost watching all advertisements to be able to watch an additional one to two episodes.
I would recommend to stay away from these apps as your main source of drama watching, but it is always good for an occasional view.
As a bonus, it is exciting to see some no-named actors and actresses be part of this low budget production, but then go on to act in bigger productions later on. I am also shocked to see various versions of the same storyline on Youtube, but with different actors and actresses. It is not uncommon for Chinese productions to recycle the same storyline. It could be that we are watching the same basic plot of revenge over and over again, but under slightly different circumstances.
Lastly, the apps are not really built for fast forwarding or rewind. The apps usually freeze when I try to go to an exact moment.
Which App is the Best?
After all the warnings above, I can tell some people might want to continue on and watch these dramas.
I will list what I think about the apps that I mentioned from my favorite to my least favorite while not paying for a paid subscription, though I will mention the subscriptions for anybody interested in it.
Kalos TV
I see that Kalos TV is most active on the Tiktok social media platform.
Their "Benefits" package has two paid plans (at the time this post was published):
Monthly package at $29.99 a month ($7.49 per week), providing 2100 coins and a bonus of 1350 coins, and extra 1800 coins per login per day, totaling up to 5250 coins in total.
This plan is probably for the ultimate drama watcher, but I can't see how anybody would want to pay for this plan as there aren't that many dramas on the roster.
Weekly package at $14.99 per week, providing 1050 coins and a bonus of 630 coins, and an extra 60 coins per log in per day, totaling up to 2100 coins in total.
I am cheap so I do not have any subscribed plans. Subscribing to too many services will leave me broke so please don't forget to click on some Google Ads advertisements on this website so that I can earn some change.
Not only does this app have Chinese dramas, but they also have non-Chinese dramas as well. The acting also seems bad and low budget in non-Chinese dramas.
There is a Highlights section to introduce users to other dramas.
I like how there is a "My List" section to show the dramas that I am currently watching so that my drama doesn't get lost in the drama list. It also shows percentages of how much of the drama I have completed so far. For the most part, there are English subtitles, but I don't like how they also translate the character's names to an English name as well, which is very unrealistic in China, at least. The character renaming is done in all the apps that I mention in this post.
Dramas that I have watched in completion so far:
Trio Tycoons Compete For My Heart- I had a bit of nonsensical fun with it and rising actress Zhang Ruo Nan is in it as the main female lead. Her latest drama to date on Viki is "My Boss". The male lead is also cute looking. Somehow, this rich lady in disguise has three brothers protecting her, but two of the brothers are blood-related so the title is misleading or did I miss something. I recommend watching this story instead of the same story on Youtube with different actors. I see at least two more of the same plot line on Youtube, but I won't bother watching it again for the same story line.
When Love Strikes Back - I wanted to believe in this couple, but the male lead is highly toxic, cruel, and it is very hard to root for him. I like the main actress though so I will look out for her other works on this app.
Currently watching:
Little Cuties' CEO Daddy - This one seems refreshing with a couple who comes together on a contract marriage and they each have their own kid to create a complete family.
When it comes to earning free coins, this app is the most easiest app. First, I recommend watching new episodes first. As long as those episode are not the last few episodes of the story, I am allowed to additionally watch one ad per episode without using coins, which is considered a really good deal compared to watching advertisements just to barely get coins.
Unlocking each episode seems to require more and more coins as each episode progresses (45 coins for episode 28).
Afterwards, I recommend checking in on the app, which gives 10 coins, but the seventh consecutive day gives 50 coins.
There is an option to "top up" to buy coins directly as an option, but I think it's very expensive.
After getting those ten episodes, I recommend going to the "Daily Watch Ads" section to watch ten ads with ten seconds of buffer between clicking to generate an ad. I would do this during times when you do not need your phone and let the advertisements run, so it is a multitasking job. This goes for the other apps I review as well.
I think each episode requires around ten coins.
If you happen to watch many episodes from other dramas, there are watching rewards as well at 6, 12, 20, and 30 episodes. I normally do not go past 12 episodes a day, but having an extra 25 coins because of it is not bad.
I can normally watch at least 12 episodes a day so that's maybe 15 minutes of drama watching on this app for free.
This seems to be the best deal out of all the apps that I mentioned.
Dramabox
For those looking for a subscription plan, Dramabox offers a yearly subscription for $199.99 (Wow! So expensive!) and a weekly subscription plan for $19.99 (still expensive). I definitely recommend the free plan and bare waiting each day to unlock free episodes. Rates are valid as of the time this article is published.
I just downloaded this app today so it could be too early for a review. They have a website, which I linked above in the title. They have the basic features that Kalos TV has including a browsing list.
This app is similar to Kalos TV in that it also has non-Chinese dramas on the watch list. However, I am interested in it for the Chinese dramas.
Unfortunately, compared with Kalos TV, I can only watch two episodes without coins by watching an advertisement compared to Kalos TV, which allows me to watch ten episodes with ads.
Their login rewards system is only three coins a day with five coins on the third consecutive login day, six coins on the sixth consecutive login day, and nine coins for the seventh consecutive login day.
Unlocking an episode seems to need around five coins to watch, but I am unsure if this amount would change as I progress.
In the "Earn rewards" section, there are 15 advertisements that I can watch, but there is about a two minute delay between each advertisement before I can click on the button again to launch another one. That is a time waster. Each advertisement only brings me one coin as a reward.
The app also rewards users with the time spent watching at five (one coin reward), ten (two coins reward, and fifteen (four coins reward) minutes.
Starting one new drama allowed me to make it to episode 19 in one day. I am not sure how the math added up to allow me to watch so many episodes. This benefit could be comparable to Kalos TV.
I am currently watching the drama, "Facing Facades: Love Beyond the Deal." It surprises me about the amount of distrust people have over anything the main character leads say in the drama. Nobody, even themselves, believes that the other person is an influential person. There are English subtitles.
My list of dramas had pre-selected dramas already on the list, but I can easily remove the ones that I am not watching for a clearer picture of what I am currently watching.
Like Kalos TV, there is also a "Top up" option to buy more coins. Their most popular plan is 200 + 20 coins at $19.99. Again, I find this very expensive as this is more than a Viki subscription per month with way more benefits.
Snackshort
Snackshort has a Youtube channel, which I linked in their title.
They have a paid VIP Express monthly subscription of $39.99 to watch all shows without interruptions. That would make most people go bankrupt. Rates are valid as of the time this article is published.
This app is a little different than Kalos TV or Dramabox in that there is no personal list that I can make of the dramas that I am currently watching. This is inconvenient to constantly search for the drama that I was watching the previous day.
Unlike Kalos TV or Dramabox, Snackshort does not give any free episodes in exchange for watching an advertisement without coins. One episode a day is much to painful for me and I can't really recommend this app on top of the list. Snackshort calls their coin system Popcoins.
An Episode that I want to watch at episode 16 costs 80 Popcoins to unlock.
I am currently watching "Beg for Mercy My Ex-Husband" at a painful slow rate. There are English subtitles.
They have the usual login reward system to give ten coins a day except at day three and day seven with twenty coins as a reward.
They allow the user to watching up to five advertisements a day for 10 Popcoins as a reward, totaling up to 50 pop coins a day. There is a two minute delay between clicking from one advertisement to the next advertisement. I find that annoying and also limiting to how much we can watch in one day.
They give bonus points for a seven-day consecutive check in (100 Popcoins), watching 5 videos a day (20 Popcoins), and a one-time Facebook sign in (40 Popcoins).
This app does not give many chances to earn coins. I recommend login into the app just to get free login bonus on days that you do not plan to watch anything just so you can get the coin bonuses and it will take a while to add up.
Conclusion:
References:
https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=gou+xie