Before I begin, here’s my obligatory post on shower scenes. It tells you where I stand on this issue.
I can’t find my post where I mentioned that lesser-known male actors can’t stipulate “no nudity” clauses in their contracts. Sex sells. There are enough viewers who get excited over these shower scenes so the director deliberately incorporates them in the first few episodes to generate a buzz about the drama.
But a top actor can demand that no nudity nor sex scene be shot. And when he does, the producer has no choice but to work around the details if he wants the actor to appear in the drama. Hyun Bin and Lee MinHo had zero shower scenes in “Crash Landing on You” and “The King: Eternal Monarch” respectively. Nam JooHyuk didn’t either for “Start-Up.” They don’t need to disrobe for the cameras for the people to get excited about their dramas.
So note to fangirls: If oppa stripped for the drama, then he doesn’t have clout. At least, not yet….
Now, here’s my round-up of the naked torsos on the kdramas we’re watching right now.
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The “Top Muscle Award” goes to Ahn Hyo Seop. He was FLEXING in all sort of different ways.
Gifs from chr-stos’ tumblr
The “Biggest Tree Award” goes to Ahn Bo Hyun. lol.
Gifs from cuddlybitch’s tumblr
The animation was spot on. And I’m surprised that it passed the censors. (Oh, wait?! tvN is cable.) Wood is slang for the male sexual body part. Regular viewers would have no problems detecting that Yumi was looking at his muscular chest. But viewers would know that Yumi was actually thinking about the shaft between his legs. That’s why the Cell wrapped his leg around the wooden tree trunk. lol.
“The Shining Award” goes to Kim MinJae.
Gifs from kateknowsdramas’ tumblr
He looked scrawny but hey, he made it up for this scene.
Gifs from dreamingsnowflakes2013’s tumblr
I get it: the director wanted us to see the veins on his hand. If I were Rodin, I wouldn’t mind making a model of his hand.
lol. His skin is as smooth as glass that it even reflected the…what’s that? the director filming the scene??? lol.
What’s the lesson here, ladies? It’s not the size of his muscles that matters, but what he does with them.
Last, the “Ahjussi Award” goes to Kim SeonHo. We were just shown his nipples?? I think Mr. Shy Guy is more comfortable showing off his physique in a wetsuit.
On a different point, I recently read that there was a recent brouhaha when Chinese censors edited out an actor’s nipples on a video. Yeah. Nipples.
Fans were outraged and began hashtagging #FreetheNipple. The censors were forced to return said missing nipples to the actor.
I saw the gifs and ewww… his nipple-less chest looked as ghoulish as Voldemort without his nose.
source: hardwarezone.com.sg
Voldemort’s creepy face.
But thanks to the fracas over the nipples, this actor Wu Lei created buzz for his upcoming film, “Me and My Father’s Generation.”
@Packmule3,
I must confess that I was impressed by…your Awards!
I am trying not to laugh out loud! Seriously!
LMAO!
I was laughing at Mr Shiny’s gifs. He was so sparkly.
KSH’s gifs — I noticed he brushed his hair again. 😂
Both Ahns did well, though. 👍
@Packmule3,
I haven’t checked Dali and they Cocky Prince yet!
I just remembered that Sparkly was also Edward Cullen from Twilight! （⌒▽⌒）
I agree about the Ahns. I give kudos to your “Top Muscle Award” 😀
We have naked torso awards now too. 🙌🏻😎
I can’t remember seeing KMJ in this scene so it’ll be my first. I have to catch up to his drama.
The nipple-less guy is the partner of Rosy in a 60 episode cdrama which they are currently filming. 😆 That didn’t look good at all. 😬 Here’s a picture of them, cto.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CUTc3caPjfG/?utm_medium=copy_link
Thanks, agdr03. The tit-less guy is in a film with Rosy?? 🤪 What a coincidence.
Yours is better, tit-less. He’s fine once they put back his nipples. 🤣
Yes, it’ll probably be the most number of episodes that I’ll watch for a cdrama. 60! 😱
I almost died laughing reading this post, @packmule3🤣🤣🤣 Thankfully I was on Mute on an office call😄😄
Hahaha..nipple-less chest looking as ghoulish as Voldemort’s noseless face..I can’t stop laughing even now 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Talk about censors going to heights of ridiculousness🙄
And KSH getting “Ajusshi award”🤣🤣🤣
This is just hilarious! I didn’t know abt the nipple scandal in China. I’ll be shallow and express my dissapointment with the apparent no nudity clause in Yang Yang’s contract for YAMG. We only could see his back while he was taking off his shirt, but there was so much tension anyway that oh well, not seing his bare chest just spared me a heart attack, so I’m still with you LOL
Btw “Ajusshi award” I almost died laughing. Was expecting to see some gifs with Lee Seo Jin or Jin Jee Hee at least (whom I love both) but they aren’t in any drama airing right now.
Manic Monday laughs as I woke up to this!
It’s interesting that these shower/naked torso scenes happen so early in the episodes, too! It’s like click bait fan service, LOL! Are they not confident with their storylines?
As I’ve watched only Yumi and HC3, what I can say is that the shower scene of WG is “required” by the script since this is about Lust vs Lustosaurus part. And since he made good use of his muscles to carry her Princess-style for over 10 mins to the ER, ok brownie points there. A show the biceps would have been sufficient – Start Up made good use of that with Nam Joo Hyuk and we noticed.
HC3 shower scene can be done without.
LOL for noticing the hand-in-hair-flip tic (2x) even in this scene, @PM3! I like his lean form in a wetsuit.
those tit-less photos!!! WTH?
Thanks for this post! I really enjoyed the shower scene in Yumi’s Cells because it finally showed a k-drama FL with lust on her mind. I get so tired of all these FLs who look terrified when they finally get kissed. Yumi is more real than most of them (and with a torso like ABH’s who wouldn’t imagine him like that in the shower!).
I quit watching HC3 because I just don’t like KSH as an actor. He still lacks range. He either seems cute/dimply or irritated/annoyed. Even his shower scene is kind of wimpy. [Apologies to you HC3 fans. Shin Min-A was great in the two episodes I saw her in.]
I feel a little bit sorry for these actors having to take their shirts off in the first episodes of k-dramas–I imagine they may have to diet and exercise like mad in anticipation of these scenes. But considering what actresses have had to endure all these years–with tabloids speculating if they are pregnant if they gain a bit of weight, shaming them if they don’t lose baby fat, praising them if they lose too much weight (I assume it’s like this in Korea as it is in the USA, with maybe even more emphasis on thinness there)–my sympathy kind of dissolves. I do, however, feel proud of those actors who are far along enough in their careers to get beyond the obligatory nude scenes. (And can turn it into a kind-of tease, like Hyun Bin in CLOY, when he showed off bits of his torso while revealing his scars to Seri).
Thanks, @packmule3 and everyone else. I laughed and laughed.
I really don’t mind seeing male nipples, even if they’re a bit over-displayed. What I don’t enjoy is the sight of underarm hair. Neither do I relish tooth-cleaning scenes. What on earth is the point of them?
I think the director’s got the sex idea just right with “Naughtysaurus”, the cell who doesn’t wear pants, and the tree. Build these up, and you have something akin to the perfect ending of Episode 4. But I’m glad we don’t have to cope with seeing the interior characters in other drama series.
On the whole I think Gu Wung is a bit of a dill, as we say in Australia, but he’s appealing. I’ll like him better when he changes his pants.
Ok, Imma just gonna walk away… eyes closed 🤪🤪🤪
Love this post,@packmule3, I think nipple gate has to do with the Chinese crackdown on pop culture particularly what they attribute to being gay, ergo nipples. They are censoring boy names with dyed hair, jewelry and make up. Actors are being disappeared. This is more serious than it appears and may signal a second coming of the cultural revolution. They are also doing it with gaming and they control the internet. C Dramas produced on the mainland may soon reflect this trend. Probably the nipple erasure went too far and the government had to save face-they don:t want to look ridiculous fit export. This issue is quite complex and above my pay grade. But I know we’ll see more of this sort of thing I’m the near future.
Getting back to K Dramas, I’m happy that we don’t get the gratuitous bare breasts of western media or the flashing tush, mostly on women. I’m also happy we don’t get grotesque male musculature overland with tattoos. Thank goodness for small favors.
And hooray for Korean animation. Yumi’s cells are adorable. K anatjl. Does ‘y have to be Pixar to bring it-look to the Simpsons for a great examr of the influence of K animation shops. What is so great a out Yumi is how seamlessly the animation and live action go together. And on this K Drama we see how the production team is taking chances and expanding the genre.
I don’t mind the shower scenes but ai think they’re overused. I occasionally watch a BL because they use handsome young actors with great bodies whose kisses are generally less chaste. But even in that genre we have too much repetition. I look but find I’d rather watch heteronorm ative romances. And those dramas rely on the underwater kiss-seminaked with breathing issues-,think.about their contracts.
But seriously, keep an eye out for C Drama changes. The more stuff is just a harbinger.i’ll take my K Drama shower scenes .nipples and all
Haven’t seen a lot of Kdramas to establish that shower scenes are a requisite.
But this post is so funny from Kim Seon Ho’s ahjussi award to freeing the nipple. I also read the embedded article and found it also hilarious for an alien needing to bathe and w a towel wrapped.
Thanks Packmule3! Agree that big-name actors don’t need to show their bare chests since they have clout.
I honestly don’t enjoy any of the shower scenes to be honest. I actually disliked it and turn the other way when I see men run shirtless in public too.
Agree with @Old American Lady that I am thankful we don’t see bare breasts in K-drama. Makes K-drama stay at PG-13 levels .
Maybe it’s the having grown-up-in-Asia-and-lived-in-Japan-conservative part of me, but I personally do not find excessive tattoos attractive and am glad they are not prominently featured in K-dramas.
Interesting fact: In Japan, in many public baths people need to cover their tattoos with tattoo stickers or make-up before they are let in. Crazy right?
omg @PM3, i was laughing so hard during my break while reading your post. i love it! i’m watching all these shows so i’ve seen all these scenes except the Yumi. will have to wait til after work to check that out haha… love the awards, too. i concur and applaud them all for winning 🏆
thanks again for the laughs and good job on this. oooh lala. even though it’s obligatory or contract requisite, i think it’s just “eye candy” moments. right? if you have it, flaunt it. please (jebal)just do it haha. if you don’t, it’s ok, they shouldn’t require them to hahaha (or you get the adjussi award haha.) but ahn hyo seop, yes! (yumi lusty look here haha).
the nipple-less bruhaha —ewwwww. good to know though. wow. thanks for the info @OAL on chinese censorship. interesting and a bit sad.
more of this @PM3 🤣. i concur with @janey – manic monday laughs, indeed.
Wow @Hatlady, what we learn on this blog-I’ve always read about the bathhouse in Japan and find the tattoo stickers very interesting. Given that there are so many full body tattoos, I guess those people would not be able to go to some bathing facilities. I’ve also seen so many Yakuza movies, but maybe the gangsters have their own bathhouse. You have my imagination running wild and thinking noir movies too.
@OAL I was reading about the crackdown on celebrities, idols and gaming over the weekend. Scary. It occurred to me that the two c-dramas I have enjoyed most this year You Are My Hero and You Are My Glory are very patriotic films and would withstand censors. Curious though about the gaming aspect in YAMG though.
On the torso front – Viki censored the “it’s big” comment so I had no idea. I’m shallow so no complaints about muscles and a good tan shower scene in Yumi’s cell. Naughtysaurus having to be soothed and patted on the head cracked me up!
Oh, right…this thread is about male leads. I thought, @Packmule3, you’d pointedly overlooked Chang Yeong Guk’s shower scene, sparing us another look at the sagging skin where his pecs should be. (You should append a clip of that scene to your post on obligatory shower scenes as an example of the dangers of shower stalls, especially dancing in wet shower stalls.) When I was researching online what to call that type of sagging skin, I learned a couple new terms: moobs (man boobs) and chesticles (I’ll leave that to your imagination).
How male actors prep for us to ogle their bare torsos: They exercise vigorously while at the same time denying themselves adequate nutrition and fluids for a few days before filming the scene. When their skin is at maximum tightness, for best definition of their musculature, they’re almost at the point of passing out from dehydration. And that’s when the director calls “Action!”
@Welmaris, I totally forgot about Yeong Guk’s (ex husband) shower scene in HC3 and now I can’t stop laughing again. I wonder what should be @PM3’s award for that?!!!
If there were GIFs on that scene, they will be super hilarious! I laugh at the comedy but it’s really dangerous.
@Welmaris, I saw something similar with a male model showing underwear. He ate very little, didn’t hydrate and just before the shoot commenced pumped iron to gain definition.If I remember correctly, the make up team liked his body. Pecs and abs as well as shoulders and arms have to be cut. To the uninitiated it’s all very technical but it requires a lot of work. It’s not so glamorous.
And I can’t even begin to think of what our leading ladies go through
I think if their skin and haircare. Yikes!
The hottest shitless scene in dramas that I’ve seen is Shirtless Shin in the Unanny Counter finale. He was shirtless. In hell. Well, damn. How hot that is? As hell. Hot as hell literally and figuratively.
Ok, so, my drama no sex policy rant. That bed scene from the gifs is the reason why dramas are so frustrating. Look at them. They are stiff as if someone made them swallow broomsticks. Their bodies are far apart, they are clearly keeping a chaste distance to avoid skin on skin cause that would be too realistic. They are like 2 robots. It’s all so tiresome. No passion. No contact. Nothing. Oof.
@Old American Lady Because of the very recent geo-political changes involving Australia, we here are being inundated with late-evening documentaries about China. A couple of days ago, one of these said that the Chinese government is currently cracking down very hard on the showing of “feminine men” – I believe they mean the androgynous males we see among KPop idols.
My eyes 👀 my eyes 👀!! How much of that shine/oil do they spray on to accentuate the muscle curvature? Thank you for putting them all in one glorious post so we can compare. The cancel culture in China is taking things a bit far methinks. Not a fan of the nippleless man. 😂
Thanks for the laugh, @packmule3! I was very much amused from the start, but I lost it at the “tit-less” gifs and the mention of Voldemort’s nose. ROTFL!
I also read the original post on shower scenes attached here as well as the comments there and somebody mentioned a shower fight scene in K2. I haven’t seen this drama and never heard abt that scene so I decided to check it out on YT and OMG once you have seen it you cannot unsee it. A bunch of naked guys with the parts blurred out having a fight in the shower. I just watched a few secs without any context but the level of cringey factor was just sky high. How could Ji Chang Wook’s agency have accepted this in his contract? I’m not a prude but this was just over the top. I wonder if inserting this into the drama made any sense from narrative point of view. This is not a fan service but rather disservice. How I’m I now supposed to thing abt the actor without cringing.
@Linnea,
Although K2 is the first tv series I have officially dropped. That scene was not the case I dropped it.
In the series, K2 is an elite soldier who becomes a bodyguard. In that scene, the other males tried to bully K2 in the shower and he fought back. I took the scene as a fight scene and nothing more. I do remember that we didn’t see any body parts and I was watching the series on Viki, although it is on Netflix as well.
JCW has declined to play in any other action series. I believe that he got tired from all that. I do hope he will use his talent, because he is very talented for a worthy tv series. So far, we are being informed about two…
@Cleopatra thank you for clarifying. Maybe watching the scene without context made it much more cringey for me than it was. But still, maybe they could have tried to bully him at any other location I guess. But I haven’t watched so maybe I’m wrong.
I’m with you abt JCW though. I loved him in Healer and I think he really suits the action genre. But I must admit than none of his other dramas attracted me when it comes to their plot so I just skipped them. Maybe I’ll try Lovestruck in the city, I saw it’s on Netflix. He has something new coming too so let’s hope it’s good bc otherwise it would be a waste of his talent. It’s not like he’s just some handsome face. He’s just been unlucky when it comes to role choices.
OUT OF CONTEXT:
@Linnea,
I totally understand your shock! It would be awful to watch it without context!
Of course they did that in order to show us his combat skills. It is combined with the story and I won’t reveal more from the plot.
I loved JCW on Healer too. I know that @GB Unnie was watching “Lovestruck in the City” back when it aired and she has done a superb job with the synopses.
I didn’t have time to watch it yet, but I know he was pretty good at that role!
As for his new project today it was announced that he will play on “Island” and I really like Sooyoung as the FL.
https://www.soompi.com/article/1490721wpp/ji-chang-wook-sooyoung-and-sung-dong-il-confirmed-to-star-in-new-drama
The other one we are waiting is: “The Sound of Magic or Annarasumanara”, which is based on a webtoon by the same name!
https://mydramalist.com/63835-annarasumanara
I do hope he will be in good stories from now on!
Yes, sorry for creating an off-topic discussion here. But thank you @Cleopatra for taking time to explain and recommend. I’ll definitely put Lovestruck in the city on my must watch list. And let’s pray to drama gods so they can bless JCW with some quality scripts.
@Linnea,
I didn’t want you to be stressed about something you didn’t know.
I think we are good, aren’t we? Uri Queen @Packmule3? (Sending loads of cookies on your way!)
Huh? What’s happening?
Off-topic conversations? Naked guys? Ji Chang Wook?
You should know by now that I don’t mind if regulars don’t stay “on topic.” Discussion rules like that are only imposed by moderators in forums like soompi or dramabeans where there are hundreds of posters who don’t know know each other, and whose feelings might get ruffled with off-topic stuff.
This is a small blog and majority of us know each other. If outsiders or a few readers don’t like what they read, they can just scroll down or exit the blog.
My taboo subjects are political and legal matters because I don’t want stress. 🙂
I haven’t been off topic before @Packmule3 and I didn’t know that…
Thank you for the information!
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@Anonymous — FYI – the GIF from DATCP (Dali and the Cocky Prince) wasn’t a bed scene but a scene where he had accidentally slipped in the dark on a Roomba and landed on the floor on top of the FL. So he was trying to avoid skin contact–no romance intended. I agree with you, though, that many k-drama kissing scenes often show the two people who look like they’re allergic to one another, especially in the FL’s reaction.
@BethB OMG YES! “two people who look like they’re allergic to one another, especially the FL reaction” is perfect summary of drama’s “sexy” moments.
I haven’t watched K2, heeding the advice of others that it’s a mess, so I can’t discuss that show’s shower scene; however, I have seen a couple shows with scenes in men’s communal showers, and they are certainly not just fan service. In Prison Playbook and in D.P. (where there’s even a glimpse of a naked butt in the background), setting characters’ interactions in the showers highlights vulnerability. The ripping away of personal dignity by the military or prison experience is also emphasized.
@Welmaris,
The shower scene is exactly what you are describing.
They were trying to teach K2 a lesson, because he kicked some a$$es, but it backfired on them. Thank you for giving another dimension to it. 🙂
Thank you @Welmaris and @Cleo for further clarifiations. I seem to have hijacked the thread with my misinterpretation but it was interesting to discuss. I think what mislead me when I glimpsed the video without context was a long take of JCW muscles and tatoos in the beginning. But the possible prison/military bullying context in such scenes gives me shivers although it can be necessary when a narrative relies on this kind of topic.
But moving back to pleasant stuff – in lack of shower equipment in sageuks we get some nice royal bathing scenes. In LOTRS Prince 2 was plotting his scheme when having a bath with flower petals. And I remember that the king in Queen for seven days had the same habit. I find it very sensual that they still have their white silky robes on 🙂
Have to say Yumi’s cells continue to send me laughing and that lust cell!!
NamJooKyuk had a shower scene in the Bride of Habaek 😛 I guess that was when he wasn’t that hot yet?
Interestingly Yangyang in the bts of You Are My Glory also was very careful about showing too much of himself in the bedscene where the script states to take of all his clothes. He protested 😛 There was the shower scene among the engineers and YY was particularly careful about not showing his nipples or something like that.
I wonder how these actors get past so many ppl ogling..oh i meant admiring them 😛 Either they are happy to show off or feel embarrassed?