ASIAN CRIME DRAMAS 101

As we all know, I have been watching crime Asian dramas for a VERY LONG TIME! It is my favorite genre to watch. I want to talk about crime dramas more here on the blog and podcast so, I am going to start talking about crime dramas more. I decided to start with an Asian Crime Dramas 101 blogpost because maybe people have never tried the crime genre and found this blog because of it. OR you are an avid crime drama watcher, frequent this blog and want to learn more about the crime genre in Asian dramas.

*DISCLAIMER – I put some research into this but for the most part this is my own thoughts and conclusions so, please if I state something that is not true, please correct me. Also, just know that if I say something exists in 1 country’s crime dramas, that does not mean it never exists in another. For example, if I say drugs are found a lot in Chinese crime dramas, that doesn’t mean a Thai drama or Jdrama has NEVER done a drama on drugs. This is based off of my own conclusions and experience watching crime dramas for almost 20 years.

So, what we are going to answer first is WHAT IS A CRIME DRAMA?

Google (not Google AI) states that “A Crime drama is a storytelling genre focused on illegal activities, police investigations, courtroom trials and the moral or psychological impacts of crime on individuals and society.”

Now there are many subgenres within the genre of crime dramas. Some of these subgenres (just to name a few) include:

• Procedural Drama
• The Whodunit
• Crime Thriller
• Legal Drama
• Amateur Detective/Private Eye
• Medical/Forensic

A lot of these sub genres can be found in books/fiction and also Western television as well. There are more sub genres than this. What I love about this is that people might hear crime genre but not realize there are MANY different stories and directions stories can go within the crime genre itself.

One thing that I think makes Asian crime dramas stand out compared to crime dramas from western television is they aren’t repetitive. Yes, you are going to find common tropes and if you watch enough crime dramas, they can become predictable, but they aren’t repetitive formulaically like a lot of procedural crime shows in western television like a case a week format that you get a lot in American crime shows. Now, I am not saying this never happens, but it isn’t as common. Asian dramas seem to explore more topics in its dramas other than the straightforward crime a week – catch the killer formula. Asian Dramas find more ways to catch the audience’s attention and make themselves uniquely stand out.

ALRIGHT – Let’s dive into Kdramas, Cdramas, Jdramas Tdramas and Thai Dramas.

REMEMBER, this is going to be an overview of all the countries and the crime genre. This is my own thoughts and conclusions. Please correct me if I am wrong on anything or call out what you have observed. I am going to talk a little about the history of crime genre with each country, what makes that country’s crime drama stands out or common tropes you find from that country and finally name some of my favorite crime dramas from that country that I have seen. every country has its own storytelling quirks, tropes and what makes them stand out compared to the other countries.

KDRAMAS

Korean Crime Dramas is what I started with. Now the Korean crime drama has existed for a LONG TIME! There is a famous crime Kdrama from the 70s and 80s called Chief Inspector that ran for almost 20 years. We got a prequel drama to it in 2024 called Chief Detective 1958 starring Lee Je Hoon which was received very well. A lot of people say this is where the Korean crime drama started. This long running Kdrama was VERY popular and had massive viewer ratings which is probably why it ran for so long. It was your typical police procedural that followed detectives solving crimes. The 2000s is when we got some of the famous and classic crime Korean movies like Oldboy and Memories of Murder. Kdramas had some crime in the 2000s but there was a lot of censorship that networks had to deal with so, the cinema is where you got the gritty crime stories. In the 2010s, networks like OCN came into existence which allowed Kdramas to have a darker tone which is where we got some of the classic crime Kdramas we now love like Voice and Tunnel. OCN did not have the same censorship restrictions as the other television networks. OCN really became known as the “Thriller Network”. We got a lot of Anti-Hero crime Kdramas in this time period. 2016/2017/2018 produced some of the most classic crime Kdramas we see now like Signal which was a MASSIVE hit. Streaming sites coming into Korea opened up more avenues for crime drama writers to flex their creativity without censorship and they could produce dark thrillers with a bigger budget.

COMMON TROPES (Just to name a few)

• The Evil Chaebol: There always seems to be a wealthy evil Chaebol with lots of money to fuel the corruption or trying to bribe their way out of charges.
• The Truck of Doom: I mean this is a given. We see it not only in the romance genre but the crime genre as well. This is just a giant white dump truck that mysteriously comes out of nowhere and tbones a crucial character or witness or the detective to try and silent them.
• Puppy Cop: A lot of crime dramas have a support character who is a younger cop who is usually very loyal, sweet and maybe sometimes naive. This character usually is a rookie cop and is usually beloved by the police unit. This usually means they are the sacrificial lamb for thew storyline where they are severely injured towards the end of the drama or even killed off.
• Anti-Hero Main Character or Deeply Traumatized Main Character: A lot of times the main character investigating the crime is not normal themselves. They could be dealing with past Trauma themselves like losing a loved one to a criminal they could not arrest or losing a partner. There are many different setups we have gotten over the years.
• Thugs/Gangs and Knife/Fist Fights: Gun Ownership in Korea is VERY strict so, we rarely see firearms in scenes. We get a lot of knife fights or fist fights (brawls in Korean crime dramas). If Korean crime dramas need henchman or bodies to beat up during fights, thugs and hired gang members are brought in for the crawl. These makes the fights brutal and intimate with the characters usually all kinds of things as weapons.
• Corruption: We all know South Korea HATES Corruption due its history. So, we get a lot of crime dramas about fighting corruption in various ways.

DRAMA RECOMENDATIONS (Not already mentioned)

• Come and Hug Me (2018)
• God’s Quiz (2010 – 2014, 2019)
• The Lies Within (2019)
• Through the Darkness (2022)
• Karma (2025)

CDRAMAS

Now I don’t know much about the history of Chinese Crime dramas. I know one of the reasons why there is a popular trope in Chinese dramas of Historical/Imperial detective genre crime dramas is because China actually has historical documents and stories of people who actually existed who did this as a job or stories that were written in their history with characters like these detectives. It is called Gong’An. It was essentially crime fiction stories. So, these detectives in this genre are based off of real stories (crime fiction that was written in ancient China) or even real people found in historical documents of China. Judge Dee came from these stories which is VERY popular detective in Chinese Dramas. Due to censorship, crime dramas either were heavily regulated over the years or even could not be made for many years as well. All of the major networks starting their own streaming sites in later 2010s changed this because web dramas have to go through less censorship versus traditional satellite tv. So, we got some classic crime dramas around 2015-2017 or so like Medical Examiner Dr Qin, Day and Night and Love Me If You Dare. 2020 is where the crime genre EXPLODED in China (at least in my opinion). The Bad Kids was a MASSIVE hit. All of the streaming sites wanted to replicate this. The Bad Kids also showed that you didn’t need to make a crime drama 40 episodes. The Bad Kids changed the entire formula of crime cdramas. Now all of the major streaming sites have crime series like IQIYI’s Light On series. We have gotten some iconic crime cdramas over the years that are high acclaimed like The Long Night, The Long Season and The Knockout.

COMMON TROPES

• Multi Year Decade/Year Investigation: You get a story a lot of the time where a crime has happened many years ago that has remained unsolved or the lead investigator did not believe the outcome and is still investigating it in present day. Something happens in present day that makes the case be reinvestigated or reopened and the present-day crime unit solves the crime or finally closes the case.
• Veteran/Rookies Pairing: We see this quite a bit in Crime cdramas (not just cdramas of course). We have a veteran cop who is cynical and set in their ways. They are almost on the verge of retirement and just sitting pretty. In walks a rookie cop and the veteran cop has to reluctantly take this rookie cop under his wing.
• Gritty Look: Chinese Crime dramas are about police getting boots on the ground and hitting the streets. They are usually going into seedy areas; dark streets or a lot of the crime dramas take place in industrial towns. I think this has something to do with the Anti-Drug genre being so prevalent in Chinese Crime dramas.
• Historical Crime Dramas: As I said above, due to Gong’An, we have the historical crime drama genre in Chinese Dramas. We, of course, see this a lot with Kdramas as well but I think Chinese Dramas have a much bigger genre of this. It is usually a detective in historical setting who is running around investigating crimes and probably corruption with a team or is paired in a Male/Male pairing. In recent years, we have also seen the rise of a forensic coroner as a main character and a female coroner at that.
• Anti-Drugs: The government backs this genre. This genre of Chinese crime dramas even has their own name. A lot of times, the government funds these projects or the project is paired with the actual in real life offices to produce these dramas. Cops always win and take down the bad guys.

DRAMA RECOMMENDATIONS (Not Already Mentioned)

• A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower (2020)
• My Roommate is a Detective (2020)
• The Longest Day in Chang’An (2019)
• Reset (2022)
• Coroner’s Diary (2025)

JDRAMAS

Japanese dramas LOVE puzzle-based crime dramas. I think you could make an entire genre just of dramas that are based off of Sherlock Holmes. I know almost nothing about the history of Japanese crime dramas. I know in the 80s, Japanese dramas loved the action police dramas with high-speed car chases and explosions just like a lot of action movies in the US. In the 2000s, Jdramas started to adapt a lot of popular Japanese crime novels which is where we got dramas like Galileo from. In the 2010s, we started seeing the ensemble crime dramas which featured a team working together to solve crimes in the Jdrama Unnatural which features a team of coroners. We also saw a shift in crime Jdramas to have a lot more social commentary interwoven into its crime Jdramas.

COMMON TROPES

• Oddball Genius: Japan has an obsession with Sherlock Holmes. There are MANY Jdramas based off of Sherlock Holmes. So, you have a lot of crime dramas where there is an oddball/eccentric genius walking around solving crimes. Sometimes He or She has his/her Watson and sometimes it is solo. This means you end up with Jdramas meaning a lot less action driven and more psychologically driven.
• Locked Room Genre: The Locked Room genre is where a crime takes place in a situation that seems to be impossible to take place. Usually that means a murder happened in a room that is locked from the inside or in another location where no murderer could possibly access and/or leave. Investigators are not just only trying to figure out who committed the murder but also how it was physically done. Japan LOVES this genre. There are MANY crime Jdramas all centered around Locked Room Mysteries.
• Detective Monologue Speech: A lot of times the mystery ends with a confrontation but not a violent one. It is usually where the detective corners the criminal and then dives into a monologue that explores various topics like the killer’s motivations, societal issues that shaped the killer etc. It is a philosophical monologue done by the detective that brings in conversations about society as a whole and how it shapes people and their decisions. Sometimes the detective is also giving this monologue to his/her partner or rookie cop as well when asked the question of why the criminal committed the crime.
• Social issues Discussion: One of the reasons why I love Jdramas in general is they use dramas to discuss social and societal issues. Crime dramas do the same thing. Some examples of topics commonly discussed is suicide and what led to that suicide or overworking/toxic work culture.

DRAMA RECOMMENDATIONS (Not Already Mentioned)

• Erased (2017)
• Don’t Call it Mystery (2022)
• Miss Sherlock (2018)
• Million Yen Women (2017)
• Subete ga F ni Naru (2014)

TDRAMAS

Just like Japanese Dramas, I know very little about the history of crime Taiwanese dramas. So, mostly what I am going to say here are my own observations. I got introduced to Tdramas through the romance genre and I think in the 2000s – 2010s, this is what Taiwanese dramas were known for. Taiwanese Dramas were known for their romance dramas like Meteor Garden during this time. I did not hear much about the crime genre during these years so, I am not sure many existed during that time period. The shift came around 2020 and OF COURSE, the introduction of streaming sites and their money into the market. I think the first crime Tdrama I ever heard about was the 2019 drama called The World Between Us. It was HIGHLY praised and was very successful. Netflix and Disney Plus entering the market during 2020 or so, of course brought money into the mix. We got darker crime dramas that are now considered classic crime Tdramas like The Victim’s Game and Light the Night. Netflix continues to produce some of Taiwan’s best crime dramas coming out today.

COMMON TROPES

• Retro Time Period: Some of the more popular Taiwanese Dramas take place in the 1980s or 1990s. Not all of them but some of the more popular take place in this retro time period.
• Societal Issues/Marginalized Communities: Just like Jdramas, Taiwanese dramas use their dramas to talk about social issues. A major example is The Victim’s Game. The Tdrama is famous for using its platform to discuss social issues and even has an autistic character as a main character to put what a person with autism might have to deal with on a daily basis from society.
• The Media/Social Media: A lot of Taiwanese Dramas talk about the media and social media and how much damage it can be for everyone. Dramas can show how aggressive the reporters can be during a crime investigation. Maybe how social media condemns someone without knowing all the facts and what that can do to someone and their life. Taiwanese Dramas usually paints the media/social media as a villain in their dramas.

DRAMA RECOMMENDATIONS (Not Already Mentioned)

• Oh No! Here Comes Trouble (2023)
• Danger Zone (2021)
• Green Door (2019)
• Had I Not Seen the Sun (2025)
• Million-Follower Detective (2026)

THAI DRAMAS

Thai Dramas are known for its Lakorns. Lakorns are Highly dramatic, emotional dramas that you can compare to the likes of soap operas and telenovelas. They can get pretty wild and crazy with their storylines. For decades this is what they were known for, or at least what I knew Thai Dramas for. You may have a crime subplot in these lakorns but crime was not a major crime genre within itself. Thai Dramas have sort of the same trajectory as a lot of the other countries we have already talked about. In 2010s, Bad Genius was an international movie hit which told production studios that thrillers with a school setting could be a hit which caused a craze with school-based thrillers to become a genre within itself in Thai Dramas. In 2018, Netflix picked up Girl from Nowhere which caused that to become a MASSIVE global hit. Near 2020, We saw the Crime BL dramas start to pop up like Manner of Death and proved that this was a working sub genre that Thai Dramas could capitalize on. Today we still see Thai dramas in both of these genres coming out and doing very well. We also have seen crime Thai Dramas use crime dramas to discuss social issues like police corruption, class dynamics and human rights exploitation.

COMMON TROPES

• BL Drama mixed with a Crime Drama: Thai Dramas really revolutionized this genre. The dramas took its massively popular Boys Love Genre and mixed it with the crime genre. So, we get a BL romance alongside a crime story as well. Some of the dramas are written better than others but it stands out with this mix. Usually, the main duo starts out as strangers pr platonic friends that turn into romance as the drama goes on.
• School Setting Crime Drama: A lot of the crime dramas take place in a school and not jsut any school, usually it has to do with the elite/private schools. You encounter all kinds of storylines with this setting. Anything from bullying, student-teacher scandals to wealthy people willing to do anything to protect their own.
• Supernatural Twist: This supernatural twist can go in two directions that I have seen. You have the conversation of Karma and usually feature ghosts, curses or supernatural entities that are getting revenge. Something sinister is going on and needs to be investigated. You might also have something supernatural happening with the main investigator such as talk to ghosts, be a shaman, getting visions or paired with someone who is a supernatural being like the grim reaper.

DRAMA RECOMMENDATIONS (Not Already Mentioned)

• Enigma (2023)
• Petrichor (2024)
• Spare Me Your Mercy (2024)
• The Gifted (2018)
• In Family We Trust (2018)

THAT IS A WRAP!

That is my little Asian Crime Dramas 101 for you. I hope this was helpful. It was a lot of fun for me to write out and talk about. Again, this was just an overview of all the countries and the crime genre. This is my own thoughts and conclusions. Please correct me if I am wrong on anything or call out what you have observed. I did a little bit of research but not a ton so, most of this was from my own understanding and my own experience/observations watching this genre.

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