I am so happy to see Chef John Jang on this list because he also stole my heart and was totally swoon-worthy. He was a typical drama jerk in the beginning but man his growth over the course of the show was amazing. I go back to that show only to watch his scenes with his lady love. Yoo Bobby was another one I absolutely fell for. I was sad that he couldn't open up more since that caused problems, but he still stole my heart (and broke it with his tears).

Dramaddictally, I got chills reading this, both for the content and your writing! I completely relate to everything you wrote. Thanks for making my holiday a little brighter!

If we can have the side character can we have the real second lead in Love in contract Gwang-Nam? He was the female lead’s house husband just as Sangwoo was the female lead’s work husband in Love is for suckers. Sangwoo was so good the male lead set him up with his sister to make sure he was off the scene and to ensure his sister was well looked after. These two side characters stole the show for me and could easily have their own spin off shows.

Oh Chef John, in a drama with terrible character arcs and worse plot lines, he and Ji Wan shined. This is a good list. Woong is also fantastic. He was so lovely, that is the best word to describe him. As for Jun Ho, to fall in love and fight for that love despite all the odds.🥰 Ji Yool was nice enough, but the other 3 are head and shoulders above the rest. I didn't watch Yumi's cells so no comment on that.

Bobby: I don't think she could have become a writer without him. He's the one who always believed in her and helped her. So Jeju's girl and the accident plots were so far from his character... It was disapointing how they ended it...

Woong : He was really unique. But for more the half the drama I thought it was ok if they didn't date at the end...

Ji-Yool : he was really the opposite of the usual ML, it was refreshing. He didn't act as a jerk city boy, he didn't try to steal the FL everytime she was with the SML, etc.

Jun-Ho : he was really cute and patient.

Chef John : I was happy to see how serious he was with cooking and how he really liked it.

There is only one hero for me and his name is Jang Uk.

Wow! John Jang married Ji-wan. That's what we call progress at its definition. I guess I'll go watch Ep 16 of LiFS then. I have two things to look forward to.

I haven't seen Small Town, but all the rest stole my heart as well.

A beautiful read. Thank you ❤️

Cheong-san the love-struck puppy protecting his girl during the zombie apocalypse in 'All Of Us Are Dead' was the first one to come to mind. And the first one to come to mind wins.

Chef John for the win! Their story stole the show, I love this couple and wish they have a whole drama based on this story!

My pick on this list would be jang uk…Lee Jae wook can slay the heart with this nuanced expressions! I love this guy since memories of Alhambra and wish he gets many many more shows worthy of him (yeah I got it bad for this guy).

Lee Junho was tops for me.

In the end Chef John Truly does belong on this list - for growing and for recognizing the true with of his lady in defiance of convention. Of course, I think that we all fell in love with her so that made his heart's choice all the more poignant: Somehow, in the end he got it exactly right after all.

I know that as phrased the question implies a male "hero" but what about their female counterparts? Women can be heroic in love as well.

Is ‘hero’ all encompassing or only referring to men? I would like to define it broadly. Let’s mention female characters who were remarkable in small roles that left huge footprints. Just a couple:

Park Jiwan in ‘Love is for suckers’ for reasons we all know and love. May more interesting and multi-dimensional female characters are included in future.
Choi Suyeon in ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ because she was prickly but smart, competent, loyal and kind where it mattered.

Which ones are yours??

I haven't watched any of these yet, but I Love that Extraordinary Attorney Woo's Lee Jun Ho sharing name with THE Lee Jun Ho always comes up in comments and reviews 😄

I fell for Jinyoung in Devil Judge. It is not easy to keep pace with Ji Sung when he is being THAT dramatically over the top, but Jinyoung not only held his own scene after scene, he sometimes even surpassed JS. And I think he was the perfect foil (or match?) for JS because of his understated but fierce acting style.

I totally forgot about Our Beloved Summer! How could I forget Woong and that very odd romance? I enjoyed that show and then it completely passed out of my memory, so I didn't even give myself a bean for it.

Agree fully with your thoughts on male heroes. Let's see more MLs who listen and respect and speak honestly about their feelings. Way swoonier than any wrist-grab.

I've been watching in other directions this year, so the only one of these I saw was Extraordinary Attorney. It's good to know from your essay that male characters are maturing and evolving, because some of the male leads in some of the Korean drama classics just annoyed me extremely (e.g. in Kim Sam Soon). The romance in Extraordinary Attorney was enjoyable and notable for all the reasons you describe, and was convincing, due to his patience and sensitivity. Although I am aware of romances between people with Asperger's Disorder, Young Woo appeared to me to have high-functioning autism, and therefore was even more impaired relationally. I haven't heard about how such a relationship would develop in real life. But I wasn't fully convinced, because I needed a reason why he fell in love with her. If he was just a very nice guy, he would have been a good friend to her only. I think he needed something in his background that would also make him resonate with her fragility and emotional pain. Maybe S2 (which is vaguely being hinted at) will give us more background.

Two Jinyoung headers in a row! Just sayin’, not complaining.

My hero picks of the dramas i watched this year would be:
Jang Uk (AoS)
Choi Woong (Our Beloved Summer)
Baek Yi Jin (25, 21)
Lee Jun Ho (Atty Woo)
Park Tae Jun (Love All Play)
Cha Sung Hoon (A Business Proposal)
Park Jeong Woo (Cheer Up)
Grand Prince Seong Nam (Queen’s Umbrella)

Mine is Jang Uk. He really stole my heart.

Also, Chef John and Lee Jun Ho.

I finished watching "Love is for suckers" because of Chef John Jang!
Thank you for including him in the list.
Also... Kang Tae oh (He is my new crush! i am sure he will be there in there with Jung Hae in, Lee Jong suk and Lee Sun kyun, very soon)

John Jang is definitely my favorite because it was SO unexpected

Bobby!! Such a stellar character and stellar actor. Loved this drama and the adorable villages of Bobby and Yumi. I then had to look up and watch JinYoung's previous work. Well, somebody had to do it. :-)

"All right, I know, this one’s cheating because he’s not the hero of the drama, but he stole my heart nonetheless so I’m throwing it in as a bonus."

He's only not the hero in the sense that he's not the male lead. In all other respects he is undoubtedly the hero of this drama ;)

Gwang Nam, yes, and jang Uk for sure. Chef John, definitely.
But also...
Yeom Chang Hee in Liberation Notes - the "non-hero" hero... I was head over heels obsessed with him by the end of the series. He's not flashy-pretty (but come on, he *is* Lee Min Ki so he's definitely not un-attractive), or particularly smart - although he does have some wisdom buried under all that endearing blunder. And we get to watch him go through some pretty extensive existential turmoil - not just his frustration with life in general, but learning to deal with the loss of his mom and its aftermath, and coming to grips with the truth of his station in life and how he maneuvers through that. He does all of this without being mean or unrelentingly angry, and I loved him for it.

Yumi Cells Bobi. His crush on Yumi was so cute and the little things he did for her were just so damn sweet that's why when he messed up it hurt me bad lol. I was rooting for my boy to go against the script and BE THAT GUY 😔 But I'll have the memories of their cute moments and those kiss scenes

While I am a fairly open and communicative person and does not pretend to be perfect when in a relationship, I am quite like Babby when it comes to my beliefs in loyalty and commitment (There is nothing wrong with being attracted to someone else as long as you don't follow through with cheating. Attraction is automatic, cheating is a choice) . So when he wondered how things would be had yumi believed in him the way he believed in her, I broke to thousand little pieces because I understood.
But the other part of me who understands trauma and trauma response understood yumi 100% as well. So I'm perfect torn in half by this drama.