Thank you, again. This piece is the direct antithesis of @greenfields piece, so I was wondering if you all would put them back to back. And you did. Thank you.

i loves Coffee Prince for exact same reason as you explained above. Han Gyul love Eun Chan for what she (he) was. He never tried to let go his love for societal pressure. he was strong character all along to fight all odds.

I love gender-bender romances too. It is one of my favorite tropes. The first Asian drama I watched was the Hana Kimi, the Taiwanese version :) Probably my favorite gender-bender Korean drama is Sungkyunkwan Scandal. It was hilarious watching the main lead try not to fall in love with her!

I really love Coffee Prince. I only watched it because it's considered a classic so I had no expectations. I wasn't expecting it to be so profound, so intelligent and so powerful. It's quiet and subtle and nuanced and that's what I love about it.

I find with a lot of gender bending shows (and I haven't seen Moonlight Drawn by Clouds) the women's gender gets revealed as a kind of 'reward' for the male's fidelity and so he can't be angry at the lies because he's too relieved. I really hate that, and not just because it's offensively heteronormative. It's just one of the reasons I love Coffee Prince.

He was willing to love her even though he thought she was a man but was furious with her when he found out she was a woman.

All of the mentioned reasons correspond with mine. I will just add one-that while oblivious to the real sex of the girl, these boys get to a much deeper level of understanding her. Real life serves too many men disrespecting women in some way because their feelings are simply too complicated or they tend to not trust them entitely. But here they see their girl as a friend and human being before the atraction kicks in.
This is so well written, I couldn't articulate it better. Congrats to getting published!

@ally-le, you really do have a way with words. What a great piece! Also, I haven't seen Moonlight Drawn Over the Clouds and I didn't think I could be convinced to do so (tried the first episode and I felt nothing, I guess it didn't help that I'm not attracted to Bo-gum OMG IS THAT BLASPHEMY) but hello, you just made me rethink that decision. Hahaha!

Cross-dressing/gender bender has been my favorite tropes for decades. I think the first one for me was Tootsie though now I kinda have blurred memory about it. about a decade later, I sobbed in the theater watching the tragic story of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry. It remains one of my favorite movies of all time despite it's not really popular among viewers except for Hillary Swank's performance in it. I knew instantly that I will enjoy Coffee Prince when I watched the first episode then it became my top kdrama for a very long time.
I agree with everything Ally said in this piece, but I also have my personal reason why I like these movies and dramas. I believe that everybody can love anybody regardless their gender and sexuality. I also believe sexuality is not cut and dried (I'm not someone from medical or psychological fields so I can be wrong). It's an idealist view of love that I know I will never find anybody in real life (I mean real real life, not online real life) agree with me. So watching drama/movies with this trope make me feel that I'm not that wrong.

For anyone who's looking for a Taiwanese drama gender-bender, I'd recommend Bromance (2015) hands down. It's my absolute favourite drama that I'll keep coming back to. Added bonus: the OTP has amazing on-screen and behind the scenes chemistry too!

Another great post @ally-le! When this theme of the month came up, I was wondering if someone’s going to write about Coffee Prince. I mean, there’s a reason why CF couple still ranks among most favourite OTPs of all time, right?

I first watched CF 10 years ago and was completely smitten with Eun Chan and Han Kyul. But I was too young then to completely understand complicated love lines and why did Eun Chan behaved the way she behaved. It was the second rewatch few weeks ago that made me appreciate this gem of the show even more. To me even after 10 years the show doesn’t feel dated at all.

CF shot both YEH and GY to stardom and it’s well deserved. YEH managed to shed her girly image and completely immersed herself in Eun Chan, she’s the most convincing tomboy character in k-dramaland to date. Javabeans translated the interview with CF writer who said that she wrote Han Kyul with GY in her mind, maybe that’s why his character was so endearing and why nobody could resist his charms. I have yet to find another actor who can emote inner struggles like GY in CF. In 10 years of watching k-dramas no male character came close to my love for Han Kyul. As @girlfriday said I will forever be in love with Choi Han Kyul.

I can’t add anything that hasn’t been said already about this OTP. Someone once said the stars must’ve been aligned when CF was filmed and I think it’s true.

You had me at "Hello! It’s Gong Yoo! Hello, it’s Bo-gum!" 😛

Kidding aside, thanks for this piece @ally-le ! You nailed it when you pointed out how organic the progression of their love is. It didn't hurt that they had actors and actresses who perfectly conveyed the right emotions and expressions. And they had chemistry too!

I love Coffee Prince and it's definitely the best portrayal of a man falling in love with another "man" in a gender bender. Han gyul's struggle was so painful, yet intriguing. After CP, I'm just impatiently waiting for a real same gender drama to come along to give me the same feelings.

I agree with everything said about Coffee Prince & Moonlight, but as I read this I kept asking "what about 'Sungkyunkwan Scandal'?. Readers
comments have confirmed. It has its place among the classics of this genre.

Ah! Long time lurker first time poster! As my display name would suggest CP is the heart of my heart and the soul of my soul! I am yet to come by a kdrama that moved me with the heavy emotion that this drama did. What I really appreciated in this drama was that even though EC was hiding her true self from him, she didnt have to pretend to be someone else - she was still the hard working, one of the boys, girl. She didnt have to act pretty and girly to sway him and never did she even expect HG to fall in love with her even when she was falling for her charismatic jerk boss. And like you said HG was able to be his true self from the beginning and to me that is the foundation of a true OTP. Great writing @ally-le :)

@Ally Thanks for writing this, think something like this is long overdue. Lol because I've always wondered why I've had a soft spot for such dramas. Agree on the confusing factor.
In fact there's another drama based on a similar premise : Hanazakarino Kimitachihe (inspired by Japanese manga). There's of course also the popular Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
Personally I think part of the charm of such OTPs is the innocence and camaraderie, these elements bring us back to that time of youth (frankly, the gender bender confusion cannot extend too far from the teen-young adult range for purely physiological reasons) where things are less clouded by other considerations. It also enhances the bromance thread by adding that vague sense of is he or isn't he? The blurring of the lines is what I'd argue is most intriguing.
Of course, it helps that laughter (at the often clueless male lead) is there to help dispel some of the heavier moments. Even when Han Kyul found out the truth and was angry at Eun Chan, it was the camaraderie and the support of the other Princes (and his cousin) that eventually turned him around.
Bromance to camaraderie to budding love, I think these are the key elements of attraction in these dramas and pairings 😂

Ally, another great essay! Congratulations and thanks!

I remember feeling so surprised/relieved when Han Kyul reacted with anger when he learned the truth, because it was REAL that he would feel deeply betrayed, and not just for a second. Kdrama didn't let me down by glossing over that.

I was thinking if you will write for this month's theme because I know how much you love Gong Yoo in Coffee Prince... and well Gong Yoo in general hahaha. Congrats on getting published @ally-le

Gender-bender is not my favorite trope, but I appreciate it when done well. I have seen a number, but Coffee Prince still stands as the best for me. I've said it before and others have said it too, Gong Yoo's portrayal of Hangyul's struggles, pain, and love for another man was done so well, while Yoon Eunhye is the best, most convincing portrayal of a boy. This pair is one of my fave OTPs of all time. The drama never gets old. It does not feel old too (thanks partly to Gong Yoo for not looking much different compared to himself 10 years ago except that he looks way more fine now).

As for MDBC, I enjoyed it very much and I love the OTP. Yeong's struggles were shown. His reaction to finding out the truth happened in one scene when he showed a progression of feelings through his facial expressions afrom shock and anger to acceptance and relief. He may have been relieved to find out the truth that she is indeed a girl, but he already accepted the fact that she's a boy from the letter he wrote before the reveal. It may not have been as deep and well-developed as what Hangyul went through, but given the period and the grave consequences at the time, how it was handled was okay for me. Also, the pair is just too cute and perfect to ignore.

These two series seems to be postulating the dominance of *pheromones* in the mating ritual. Your eyes say 'guy', your olfactory senses and reptile brain are telling you 'potential mating partner'. Your brain has difficulty interpreting the mixed signals.

About the 'pretending to be gay' trope, don't forget Strong Woman Do Bong-soon. The 'second lead pairing' wasn't so much between the heroine with her cop crush Guk-doo as with drunken Guk-doo and Min-hyuk.

Hi, @Ally. I have wanted to comment here on your post since it was published, but I have not had time. 😖
But I am happy you were published.
Sadly I don't have much to contribute, since this cross gender issue is not exactly my cantnip. But you really made me want to watch the moonlight drawn by clouds, at least out of curiosity. It is just that I am not much into historical dramas😒.
We will see. If I ever watch it, I will let you know.
Coffee Prince was fun for me, sometimes a little bit melo. I was not much invested in the otp relationship,, because it didn't make click for me, but I enjoyed most of the characters and I found the pace and the humor very cool.
I have to go to sleep now. Wish you a good nicht!!! 🏙

This is an interesting point.

> And even as the girls are deceptive, our leading men are honest to a fault, and a true friendship emerges.

This is very similar to my favorite part of the "A Master's Sun" OTP --> they NEED each other for other reasons, so both believably have a reason to discount that the other is thinking of them a romantic interest interest. This allows them to let down their guard and let the other person in.

I find that this is a very easy way to use a trope without the usual trope flaws --> he's a butt, but because she needs something from him that is not about the romantic pairing then yeah, who gives a crap that he's a butt.