‘When Life Gives You Tangerines’ Narrowly Misses

The 2025 Asian Academy Creative Awards concluded at Singapore’s Capitol Theatre on December 4, delivering one of the ceremony’s closest finishes in recent memory. Per Variety, China’s Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty: To The West claimed Best Drama Series by a razor-thin margin of 0.06 points over Korea’s critically acclaimed When Life Gives You Tangerines, marking a significant upset in the evening’s most anticipated category.

The narrow defeat represents a notable moment for Korean television, as When Life Gives You Tangerines entered the ceremony as the heavy favorite, having swept the 61st Baeksang Arts Awards in May with four wins including Best Drama. The Netflix series, starring IU and Park Bo-gum, achieved a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and garnered widespread international acclaim for its portrayal of life on Jeju Island across multiple decades.

China And Singapore Dominate The Winners Circle

Japan and Singapore led the overall awards tally with six statuettes each, while Korea and India followed with five wins apiece. China and Hong Kong SAR collected four awards each, with China’s victories including Best Feature Film for “MuMu” alongside the contentious Best Drama Series win.

The distribution of awards across 16 nations reflects the ceremony’s expanded scope. According to Asian Academy Creative Awards chairperson Beverley McGarvey, this year saw a record 331 national winners competing across 40 categories, with entries up 30% from 2024 and 176 companies participating.

“Our region is sending the world a strong message this year via the Asian Academy Creative Awards, with a record number of entries, a record number of judges for the National Round, up 30% on last year,” said McGarvey, who serves as president of Network 10 and head of streaming at Paramount Australia and New Zealand.

Historic Win For Nine-Year-Old Actress

Singapore’s Ivory Chia became the youngest winning actor in Asian Academy Creative Awards history, claiming Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a tiebreaker vote for Emerald Hill – The Little Nyonya Story. At just nine years old, Chia’s victory marks a significant milestone for the awards and highlights the region’s investment in nurturing young talent.

The supporting actress category proved particularly competitive, with Chia facing off against Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung for Apple TV+’s Pachinko Season 2 and the Philippines’ Dimples Romana for The Caretakers. The tiebreaker underscores how the judging process sometimes requires additional deliberation to separate performances of comparable excellence.

Streaming Platforms Make Their Mark

India’s streaming platforms demonstrated their growing influence in Asian content production. Prime Video’s The Traitors India and Netflix’s Black Warrant each collected two awards, with Karan Johar winning Best Entertainment Host for The Traitors. The recognition signals how global streaming services are increasingly investing in locally-produced content for regional audiences.

Korea’s five victories included Best Comedy Program for Head Over Heels, Best General Entertainment Program for the 2024 MAMA Awards, and Best Original Production by a Streamer (Fiction) for Study Group. The wins span both traditional television excellence and newer streaming-first content, illustrating Korea’s ability to succeed across multiple platforms and formats.

The Tangerines Phenomenon That Almost Was

The eight-episode When Life Gives You Tangerines, which follows characters from the 1950s through the 1990s on Jeju Island, has been favorably compared to the acclaimed Reply 1988 for its nostalgic portrayal of Korean life and universal themes of family, perseverance, and love.

The series generated significant commercial success beyond critical praise. A partnership with Yuhan-Kimberly resulted in limited edition Kleenex products featuring the drama that sold out during pre-orders, while collaboration merchandise including keychains and plushies quickly disappeared from retail. Netflix hosted a sold-out fan event at Seoul’s Myeonghwa Live Hall featuring the principal cast.

Time magazine praised the series as “devastatingly profound,” noting how it captured not just one family’s story but Korea’s entire modernization from the postwar period to present day. India Today described it as a meditation on time, love, and the quiet labor of care that stretches across lifetimes.

More Results

The awards ceremony revealed several broader trends in Asian content production. Documentary honors were distributed across multiple countries, with Australia’s Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, Japan’s Hiroshima’s Tower of Life, and Singapore’s Addicted – The Synthetic Curse claiming respective categories. This geographic spread suggests documentary filmmaking expertise exists throughout the region rather than being concentrated in traditional production centers.

The Philippines secured two awards, with Dennis Trillo winning Best Actor in a Leading Role for Green Bones and the series Saving Grace taking Best Adaptation of an Existing Format (Scripted). Taiwan earned three wins, while Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand each secured recognition. The diversity of winners indicates that content excellence isn’t limited to the region’s largest production markets.

As streaming platforms continue investing heavily in Asian content like When Life Gives You Tangerines, and local production capabilities mature across the region, the Asian Academy Creative Awards serves as an increasingly important barometer for creative excellence. The record-breaking submissions and expanded participation suggest the awards’ growing influence as Asia’s answer to the Emmys or BAFTAs, providing regional recognition that complements but doesn’t simply replicate Western award structures.