I love a good OTP, and I'm usually looking for a romantic plotline when I watch dramas, but I really appreciate this perspective. And I love your insightful analysis here.

I submit that the leads from Mystery Queen are in this vein, too. No romance, per se, but the right kind of chemistry and characterization make for such a dynamite pair. (Full disclosure: I am hoping for romance in Season 2. Forgive me. I'm weak.)

Two of my favorites, Circle and Forest of Secrets! I know I would like Signal and Monster/I Rememer You as well. I would place Lookout on this list too. Kdramas do such a good job with making us care for OTPs so much that when there isn’t one, we ship them anyway! Well done!

Forest of Secrets, Signal, Circle, I Remember You... are all in my Top 10 dramas list.
Now I see that the "NOTP" is another common pattern among them.

I just love it when the possibility of romance is simply suggested. With a "real" OTP, we already KNOW they'll end up together...which I find less thrilling. However, with these slow-burn type of relationships, when the audience is not assured of the pairing's future, you enjoy what you get (usually sizzling chemistry when done right) without wondering when the promised OTP will FINALLY come together.

I LOVE your take on OTP... Actually I don't mind romance take an BIG integral to the storyline. But AT times more often than not, It's always taking away the initial promosing plot. Can I just say, and the writers start to lost focus of what she might be initial intent and switch the focus to a formulaic romance? Everytime they introduce romance, I always sigh, "oh not again" rather than being excite. There is some drama who
are really smart to take romance become an integral part to the theme and make it more interesting. That might be, all in all, it's depend on the writers!

I love forest of secrets, definitely the leads simple conversations in the soju tents are beautiful.
But I do have a comment didn't you write the previous essay on OTP where you mentioned loving strong Woman Do Bong Soon as an OTP but here you kinda criticise it as an OTP so that was leaning a bit on the hypocrisy side for me

OMG! I was waiting for this one. FoS and Signal are my favorite dramas of all time, and they happen to have the most interesting characters and relationships, because it comes naturally when the story is good and well developed.

Since I grew up watching The X-Files, I can handle UST and platonic relationships pretty well :p Maybe that's why I enjoy those dramas that explore the characters nature and take their time building a realistic relationship, instead of throwing a fated romance.

You bring up some great points, and argeed them well. The only thing I would say is that while you named three dramas, arguably three of the best dramas of the past year or so, there were many highly-acclaimed dramas that had strong romantic elements, and where the romance didn't tear it down. Like you admitted, it's not necessarily the presence of romance, but romance done badly that can mean NOTP is the new OTP.

It seems to me that because romance and love has that crack quality to it--it's a rush of dopamine after all--and since we can actually feel the love as stand-ins for the lead, even rough brush strokes will do to give us something that feels incredible to watch. (I sometimes feel the same way about action elements--they're thrown in haphazardly sometimes, but provide such a jolt of energy that their cliche elements are overlooked easily). Platonic, familial, workplace and similar interactions require more subtlety to get a response, I think, and so writers have to work a little harder on those elements, since most viewers will be expecting more depth from those and it will require more to pull them in.

Love these points of discussion you brought up! I think this month's theme might be my fav so far!

Hi ChinguMode. Thank you for your interesting analysis. We must share similar kdrama tastes. I tend to the mystery/legal/crime genres but not exclusively.
I Remember You, Signal, and Forest of Secrets are right up there probably in my top 10.
I Remember You was more truly (bro)mantic in the sense of showing the brothers' relationships as children and adults played beautifully by all the actors involved. (I may have the grammar wrong there.)
Circle I missed so I looked to see what I was watching during it's broadcast. At that time around June, 2017 I was already watching Suspicious Partner, Ruler: Master of the Mask, Duel, and Secret Forest. I guess had too much on my plate on at that time. I will have to try to work in Circle somehow. The show's ratings were poor but that doesn't matter. ( I am still ticked off that 2 episodes were lopped off A Beautiful Mind which also had a slow romance,)
Duel would probably qualify as NOTP.
Thanks again.

This post speaks to me on another level!

All the 4 dramas you mentioned are some of my favourites. Loved FoS and their relationship was such a refreshing take on how a man and woman can just be friends. When others were suspecting him, she took a risk and chose to trust him, eventually able to break through his barriers. I just loved it when he started smiling!
While circle did hint at an OTP, I'm glad it focused more on the brother's relationship same as IRY.
Other shows which I enjoyed last year are voice and tunnel. While tunnel did have a pair and most of the hero's action was to make sure he returned to his wife, romance was not the central focus of the story.

Yes, yes, yes! Romance is all good but when it takes over all reason, it's not so good anymore. It could also be because I've been watching dramas for quite a while now that I kinda desensitized myself to lovey-dovey acts. Lol.

I'm so conflicted about this post. On one hand, I loved the shows it's pushing for (Signal, Forest of Secrets, Circle). But on the other hand, I'm not sure how to feel about the assumption that what made them great was the lack of romance.

Some shows can still be mediocre even if they lack romance. I'm not gonna name names, but one example rhymes with Shriminal Minds. And some shows focused on an OTP can be enjoyable like Healer, or great overall like Just Between Lovers.

I think what made the author's favorites (Signal, FoS, Circle) great is the writing. They explored different, non-romantic themes, and they explored them well.

Even in Just Between Lovers' case, it explored other issues outside the romance. Like dealing with loss of a loved one and PTSD. But again, in that example, it was the writing that elevated it. Not just the presence of another theme. How many shows did we see that mishandled PTSD by going "Oh, the pain will go away after an accidental kiss"?

Would JBL have lasted 16 hours just with ice cream-sharing and carrot-munching? Probably not. But can you imagine all that paaaaaaain without the sweetness between its OTP? I wouldn't wish that kind of show on my enemy!

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Hmm I don't know. Maybe that is what ChinguMode meant in the first place. Good, straight-up romances are hard to find in dramaland. So she ends up liking NOTPs because there's an opportunity there to explore new themes, while a show that is 100% romance will have to work hard to not go stale. That idea, I super agree with! :D

Thank you for this article, @chingumode.
In Chief Kim there was no OTP, and I was happy that they didn't pair Chief Kim with Ha Kyung, because there were just perfect as friends with the same goal of saving the company.
I also like dramas where there seem not to be an OTP, or at least, where the plot is not necessarily based on romance. Chicago Typewriter, Entertainers, Healer, Cantabile Tomorrow, and even I Hear Your Voice fall into this category, I believe... Not perfect dramas, and some have or ended up having an OTP, but they were not opt-centric. Life is not all about romance, and these dramas definitively don't have the rich chaebol jerk, the poor good hearted girl, the envious second lead female or the crazy, rich and evil future mother in law. LOL 😂
I really enjoyed them a lot.
There are also some few dramas like WFKBJ where although there is an OTP and a very well and beautiful constructed romance, the whole message of the story is not about finding that romance and fight for it and overcome obstacles, but it is about overcoming your own obstacles in life in order to achieve your goals of becoming something, in their case: athletes. Erin their medals and even, find through it means of living. I liked so much that none of them, not even Shi ho, who fell into the category of the crazy envious second female lead for a couple of episodes because she wanted Joon hyung back, was rich. They were just normal middle class people with health issues as well, like us. In such a story, the romance and the OTP felt like a breeze of joy, but the show provided equally amount of time to family and friends relationships. I loved it.
Those who haven't watched our fairy weighlifting should binge it this weekend!!!

I like your write-up @ChinguMode.

My own theory (because I've got theories about everything!) is that dramas can cut believability corners about a lot of thing *apart from* Romance.

I Remember You is a perfect case in point, the police work is really dodgy. He's a geeeeeenius. But as viewers we buy all of that. However, as soon as it comes to that romance, we cry foul. That's not how romance works! We know better than that. Boy's got a phone, why does he disappear for a year?

Another one for me is Nine. I could completely suspend disbelief when it came to the time travel but I could not see the main pair together and I had to stop watching it.

Unless we're police officers (or time travellers lol), we allow the drama to make it up. Do we know what it feels like for the FoS main character to live with the surgery he'd had? No, we don't so we just go with the world that the drama creates.

But most of us know what healthy relationships should look like. When they get the OTPs wrong, I hate the drama and I can't watch it anymore. Therefore your NOTP dramas maybe have it a little easier because they don't show relationships that make me feel uncomfortable. They're not great stories with a mediocre romance added on.

But I don't want dramas to get rid of OTPs completely because when they get it right, it's soooooo addictive. I just want them to take the OTPs as seriously as they do the rest of the drama.

This may be the 1st time I've agreed with every single line of one of these, especially the end - the idea that fitting the network/audience/whatever required standard romance can swamp a decent show. And it isn't an issue with rom-com itself, but the Kdrama trope set up that seems to be the issue - possibly the 2 most successful last year (Fight My Way, Because this is My Life) were focussed around developing the relationship and interactions and not that diagram of 1st 2nd etc leads and their interactions and impacts on OTP etc. The 2nd lead thing, IMO, really only works when it's subverted (Protect the Boss was quite good for that - Na-Yoon was a fab character).

Thank you for this :)

It is funny how i ALWAYS get more strong couple chemistry vibes from those NOTP couples ( eg, Forest of Secrets, Mystery queen, Signal, TEN, Vampire prosecutor, Look out) than those defined couples/ love stories in rom-com/melo shows. For eg: I could watch my favorite lieutenant Han ye jin and Prosecutor Hwang shi mok's ordinary conversations at their go to -Pojangmacha , all night long, and i would not get bored. I could watch Ajhumma detective and Ha wan seung' bickering , nothing which is romantic, but it would still make me smile from ear to ear.

It is also frustrating to watch that these dramas where there is no defined love story , but we still keep our hopes up just to see a teeny weeny glimpse of something starting till the end of the drama, but it just ends on a general note.

I just want to say, i love this post. This is what i needed. Romance does not have to be defined, nor it does need to be shown like -in -your -face. It can be subtle ,it can be non-existent on the outside, but the feelings are more stronger when there is lack of it.

I swear i love NOTP couples than those cheesy couples in rom com dramas.

Ahaha, I just got a goosebumps, few days ago I had a thought it would be great if someone write about friendship of SoF for this month's theme.

Maybe the problem is that K-drama writers are still writing the same romance over and over again.

Hear, hear. The problem with kdrama-romance writing is often once the OTP ends up together (usually in episode 6 and above), the romance suddenly becomes so stale and uninteresting. It's so...shallow and one-dimensional.

Logically speaking, it's hard to maintain the momentum if there is only 1 subject/ focus in the drama. But the shows such as SoF and Signal do it so well because while the main focus is in investigating the case, it explores everything that are related to it; family, friend, workplace. The world in these shows is so vast, so many characters, so many possibilities and twists, unlike many of the predictable and small world of romance-centered kdrama.

We usually can predict where the romance is going, throw some family and in-laws problem or bitchy and jerk SL as a test to OTP relationship. It's why BTIOF is so good, because while the obstacles are going by kdrama textbook, there's a depth to the characters and the obstacles are potrayed in a way that the viewers can relate. It's the same with INAR, JBL and WFKBJ.

Anyway, I do like the romance in IRY. They speak so little but their action speak so much. A simple handshake and a comforting hug are so meaningful for this OTP.

I think one of the reasons I especially enjoyed Chief Kim was because they did stay away from any real romance. The show knew what it was about and knew that romance wasn't needed to keep us viewers watching. Who needed romance when we had the best bromance anyways?!

'Revolutionary Love' would have been MUCH more satisfying if the idiot stalker lead had learned his lesson and the (bad) OTP had instead evolved into work colleagues who mutually respected each other. It had already gone halfway there but that series final scene had me yelling angrily at the screen. You messed it up!

This is pedantic I know, but NOTP doesn't mean no OTP - it means saying no to the OTP. When a drama has an OTP you can't stand, they are your NOTP (e.g. Kim Tan/Cha Eun Sung in The Heirs).

I love a good romance and I admit that most of the shows I obsessed about had an OTP I loved. In fact the OTP was the often the reason I obsessed about it. However I've also stopped watching several dramas that focused heavily on the OTP because I couldn't get in board with the romance.
For dramas with little or no romance between the leads my enjoyment depends on the drama as a whole as opposed to one or two characters so I think that is a big advantage of the NOTP.

I'm invested in dramas with little to no romance lately, but the drama has to really grasp my attention if it doesn't have a love line.

FoS was one of those great dramas without OTP that managed to fully capture my attention.

IRY has the perfect amount of romance that I like in my dramas. It was subtle, deeply rooted in the leads' honest interactions and simple because there were no overdramatic obstacles. The characters were smart and sensible too. It remains my fav k-drama ever after years.

SWDS bored me to tears. I can't bring myself to watch it because it's over the top and annoying.

Signal and Circle are on my to-watch list.

You know what I'm getting tired of? People who hate on love and couples meant to be instead of criticizing where the real problem lies: the writing.

Love and love stories are important!

We live in a dark world with many bad things happening. So I definitely enjoy dramas, even if they're solely about two people falling in love. And even if it's cheesy. As long as it tugs my heart and I'm rooting for them: give me all the OTPs in the world.

Yes I enjoyed Signal and Secret Forest. I loved them even but I also loved Moonlight Drawn By Clouds which was a youthful fusion sageuk about first love. It was fluffy but it felt genuine.

So, don't make the OTP trope the problem when the problem is the writing. Terrible when dramas like "DotS" or "Goblin" get the title for best love story when really it's terribly written cheesy OTP fanservice. And I emphasize the term "written".

I just want to say Nothing to lose/ Judge vs judge wasn't that well written. But I thoroughly enjoyed the interactons of the OTP that wasn't an OTP all the way to the end. But more the fact that they had chemistry and because they didn't make the couple cheesy I actually liked this drama. Even though procedural wise it was pretty bad and based on so many coincidences.

I'm with you on this one. I prefer the dramas without the romance. Sadly, however, one often does not know if a drama will or won't focus on romance, and since I realized I am no longer primarily attracted by lovelines it has become difficult to talk myself into picking up new dramas without clear indication of a main plot other than a love story. I don't categorically refuse romance - but let's just say a drama's OTP's build-up to romance has to be approached in refreshing way to fully engage my interest. No more regurgitated 'they are each other's destiny' please. Let's be more realistic, 'kay, thanks.

For me, dramas light on the romance (or where a pairing was not the main focus of the story being told) that you didn't mention are: Ms. Temper & Nam Jung Gi, Mystery Queen, Awl, Liar Game, Secret Investigation Record, The Devil, Bad Guys, Angry Mom, Police Unit 38, Tunnel.

Totally with you. I wondered why people so obsessed with DOTS, Goblin. The plot is simple and happened at cliffhanger. Why can't you just be together? Dr vs army? So.... just get together. What's with the dilemma. Don't get angry with me dear DOTS fan out there. I love Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo too. Anyway, It is always Happylyeverafter. Though, finally I've realized why Korean and many people loved Kim Eun Sook so much. It was that, in my opinion, she gave her all at her writing in terms of the world she created. The cinematography is always mesmerising. The fantasy she created; detailed and meticulous. Having said that, it wasn't enough for me to keep me awake and follow through these drama till the end. Her latest soon-to-premier (not so soon) Mr. Sunshine's trailer; is super awesome. Hopefully, Byun Yo Han can make me stick through it. I missed Lee Bang Ji.

Anyway, I can't recall recommending people to watch DOTS or Goblin. But I did diliginetly push to go for Signal and Forest Secret to those who asked me what to watch. I guess being addicted to K-Drama for 16 years had me said enough-is-enough to romance as main plotline. I enjoyed drama when it has more complex, new and fresh plotline more and the romance is a secondary. So I am totally with you. Best OTP is NOTP.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on OTP/NOTP @leetennant I loved Signal, Forest of Secrets and Circle too. I think I would focus on the high quality and overall coherence of the writing and direction (together with the acting) as the reasons for their success rather than the lack of OTP in itself. Shows like these are generally much more disciplined and tightly plotted because of their complexity.

I relate deeply to this analysis.
I can't stand romantic clichés as plotlines anymore! That's why I watched Save Me - Signal - Queen for 7 Days - Forest of Secrets - Prison Playbook recently and all made it to my top 10 favorite dramas of all time... and the excessive romance is what made me stop watching A Korean Odyssey. Sun Mi and Oh Gong from eps 5-8 spent too much time in that "are we together? we're not together- romantic- game" that I had to take a break from it.

So because of a bad relationship here and there, you want us to give up on love.

I say “NONOTP!!! LONG LIVE LOVE!” Even bad OTP is better than NOTP.

Because that deep down inside, we watch the NOTP dramas and think “But these two would be so good together!”

Heartless city was a great drama with little opt. It still had the main leads falling in love....somewhat. But was never the focus. Such a good action and thriller drama. One of my favorites and I will definitely rewatch it again.
Is circle that good though? Since Gong Seung Yeong is in it, I guess I will watch it.

I didn't like FoS exactly because of absent romantic element. Just fight against corruptions that is so easily overdone.
I also didn't like New Leaf drama - also excessive fight against corruption.

Um...

OTP = Pairings you like the most.
NOTP = Pairings you like the least.

You make no sense. If it's the best pairings to you it IS your OTP!