“If he’s the river, I’m the sea. I’ll always come back to you”- A Study on 'Mr. Brightside'

 [REUPLOAD!]

So, my sister and I were watching a K- drama recently (If you haven’t watched “You’re beautiful” yet: Consider doing so. It’s really a fun ride through the world of Asian Drama) and we realised something through our Asian – Drama – Experience (We literally reached the final stage of enlightenment xD):

Now in – what I call – Shoujo Drama (Yeah, I am a Japanese influenced person) there’s always two or more love interests of the main character (<-- usually a girl). And you know there’s “this one guy”, you know from the very beginning: “That’s him! That’s THE GUY! She will fall for him!”

Let’s list the features of this guy, shall we? First of all, he’s mean! Take Hana Yori Dango for an example: He makes her life a living hell just because she stood up against their bulling and that’s not all he wants her to get violated by students he paid (in the drama at least) just so she can bow and lick his shoe clean. (Imagine if they would’ve been asked, how they met… awkward…) or in the K- Drama “You’re beautiful”: He nearly let’s her drown just because he wants to see how she’ll get out of the mess (Charming, right?) But that’s okay… WHAT?! Bella didn’t even manage to change Edward!

And that’s basically the whole point in the Asian Drama, he needs to change in order to become the great man you know he’ll become. But to do that he needs a heart breaking backstory in order to show that he’s not that bad at all. Mostly, it’s the mean mother that completely ignored her son. (Seriously, what’s wrong with Drama- mums.)

Ah, and before I forget, he is mostly the high- school celebrity. The guys want to be like him and the girls want to be with him.

Well, obviously we can’t just let that end here, because like I said there’s - what I like call – “the other guy” or “Mr. Brightside”. You instantly know when he pops up, shining like a white knight and helps her out: “That’s THE OTHER GUY! He’ll never get the girl.” And you sadly shake your head and constantly feel sorry for him. Even though nothing has happened yet to feel sorry about that character!

So there are two basic characters of the other guy: the best friend of the main love interest, the random guy, who just pops up, meets the girl and falls for her. The features of those guys are mostly the same but there are some differences.

So his features are: First of all he’s an eye candy…. He looks a lot better than the main love interest. (Why doesn’t the better looking guy get the girl?!)

But now let’s get serious: He’s gentle and I don’t mean like “gentle... a little bit nicer” I mean he’s really well behaved. He will always appear when the guy dumps her to comfort her. It’s almost like he has an alarm in his head. He’ll always be there to hug her when she’s crying in a dark room (“You’re beautiful”). He’s like a Guardian Angel always watching over her and he always happens to hear things that he shouldn’t hear. So you basically always know when the main couple is hugging and the camera shifts to the left that he’s somewhere there, standing behind a wall, gazing at her while looking like a puppy in the rain. And you are like: “Oh my god, why do you have to be standing there in this moment!” And even though you like the main pairing and can’t wait until Mr. and Mrs. “Dense” come together, the other guy has the so-called “pity- bonus” (it’s not that much worth as the “death- bonus” but still  higher than the “main pairing- bonus”)and you can’t help but cheer for him instead. And if it wasn’t humiliating enough that he doesn’t get the girl, he’s even helping our main love interest to get together with the girl in the final episode. Sometimes the other guy even tells the main love interest that he (the main love interest) is in love because that idiot doesn’t even realise it, for god’s sake!

At the end you can’t help but wonder: Would someone in real life really choose someone who constantly makes her cry over someone who’s always there or here when she’s feeling down. (You know: A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, right?) I mean, when you’re young, you are more attracted by a bad boy but that’s only for short. When you want to get serious, you’ll choose the guy who dries your tears and lends his shoulder or embraces you when you really need it.

I guess that’s a question everyone has to answer for themselves.

Then again, Dramas are not about reality, they’re about dreams and how far the main character goes to realise them. No matter how hard the way to her love is. No matter how many hardships she has to face. In the end she gets together with the man she loves. The other guy and the girl mostly stay friends and he becomes a good pal. He’s mostly alone in the end but still happy he could make her smile.

    “If he’s the river, I’m the sea. I’ll always come back to you”- Yu, Koizora (Sky Of Love)