Make! My! Day! ❤️
Confession: this Dear kfangurl post wasn’t actually triggered by a Dear kfangurl question. It just made sense to group it with the other Dear kfangurl posts, coz that’s where the other lists on the blog live, heh.
BUT! This post was triggered by a conversation with my friend Jan on Twitter.
Basically, yesterday, Jan had remarked that she was looking for a Kim Ji Suk fix, and I’d suggested 20th Century Boy and Girl, in which he is the sweet, perfect boyfriend. Less than 24 hours later, Jan’s super happy with the drama suggestion, and her tweets are filled with happy spazz, and she’s also said that this was the rom-com she’d been looking for.
..Which got me thinking. With all the darker &/or heavier shows that Dramaland’s been serving up of late (like World of the Married, Graceful Friends, Flower of Evil and It’s Okay To Not Be Okay), as solid as these shows are, maybe some – or many? – of you guys might be looking for something lighter to make these dark pandemic days a little brighter.
That’s why I’m here to help. 😀
I’ve got your back, bud. ❤️
WHAT KINDS OF SHOWS MAKE IT INTO THIS LIST?
I thought about what kind of dramas would typically help us feel better when we’re feeling down, discouraged, or just kinda blah in general, and I came up with a few categories.
Here they are:
1. Warm, feel-good dramas that are just cozy and comforting,
2. Uplifting dramas that feature underdogs striving against the odds to make good,
3. Light, easy-breezy dramas that are easy to slurp up,
4. Fun, silly dramas that make us laugh when we don’t take them too seriously, and
5. Dramatic, fun makjang that’s ridiculous, but also ridiculously addictive.
With these 5 categories in mind, I’ve come up with a list of – count ’em! – 36 dramas (now 39, with add-ons!) , and I hope you’ll find something in this list, to make your day a little better. <3
WARM, FEEL-GOOD DRAMAS
Hospital Playlist
Warm, relatable and aspirational, Hospital Playlist defies what most of us think a hospital drama ought to be like. There’re no hospital politics here; just sincere, earnest, often goofy humans, trying to make the world a better place, one patient at a time. The friendship among our key characters runs long and deep, and I luff them, so much.
Review is here.
Prison Playbook
Homey, hopeful and warm, despite its prison setting, this show shines in its exploration of individual backstories, as well as its establishment of found families. Friendship, comradeship, loyalty, and second chances are the themes of the day, and I especially loved the bromance between Park Hae Soo and Jung Kyung Ho.
Review is here.
Answer Me 1988
Even though there’s a love triangle in the center of this story, it’s the deep sense of love and community amongst the various families in this neighborhood, that really steals the show. This is like the idea of found families, amplified, as our entire neighborhood comes together like they’re one big extended family. There’s so much love that’s shared among them, in the big and small things, that they made me smile and tear up on a regular basis.
Review is here.
Life Is Beautiful
This is my favorite family drama of all time. Set on Jeju Island, Show is super pretty to look at, and this large family is tender and loving in all the right ways. Every family member has a personal arc, so there’s bound to be someone you can relate to, and everything is bathed in such warm and cozy vibes, that I was very wistful to reach the end.
Review is here.
Father is Strange
Warm and cozy, and also, fun to watch, at the same time. Mom and Dad are loving and kind, eldest daughter Lee Yoo Ri is all kinds of feisty and awesome, and younger sister Jung So Min has a super cute budding loveline with the proud and prickly actor Lee Joon. Show brings the feels, with a hefty serving of heart and emotional resonance, and I lapped it all up with relish.
Flash Review is here.
Thirty But Seventeen
Cute and likable, yet heartfelt and meaningful at the same time, Thirty But Seventeen is an earnest, comforting, feel-good little package, despite key characters having to work through various effects of personal trauma. Show possesses very strong found-family feels, and our secondary characters turn out to be just as endearing and lovable as our main couple, and I could not get enough of this.
Review is here.
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
A campus romance that’s also about the search for identity, coming-of-age, friendship, and loyalty. The poignant moments feel raw and true, while the relationship feels made me positively giddy with squee. Sensitive yet funny, the OTP relationship is teased out in a way that feels organic and believable. And Nam Joo Hyuk and Lee Sung Kyung share chemistry that basically leaps off the screen and knocks you over. So good.
Review is here.
Coffee Prince
A drama world that feels lived-in and real, characters who are (mostly) lovable and endearing, and an OTP that shares a chemistry that feels deep and true, Coffee Prince is like the gift that doesn’t stop giving. Gong Yoo and Yoon Eun Hye make me feel like I’m a voyeur peeping at real-life lovers, and our gang of coffee princes are delightfully winsome in their quirky ways. Extra brownie points to Show, for featuring recent hot favorite Kim Jae Wook (Ryan Gold from Her Private Life) with a cool, edgy man-bun.
Review is here.
In Time With You [Taiwan]
If you like Coffee Prince, you’d probably like this one too. In Time With You also features a warm drama world that feels real and lived-in, and an OTP that feels ultra believable and relatable. Chen Bolin brings the squishy feels as sweet, melt-your-heart male lead Li Da Ren, who is the ultimate precious cinnamon role, while Ariel Lin is the feisty but vulnerable female lead that Da Ren secretly pines over. Their connection feels strong and believable, and their friends-to-lovers story explores both the anxieties and the highs of their shifting relationship with dexterity, while serving up all of the feels.
Flash Review is here.
Ojakgyo Brothers
This is my second-favorite family drama of all time. Show is warm, cozy and heartwarming as it brings out the family feels, but it’s also got quite a strong romantic bent, as each of the 4 Ojakgyo brothers gets his own loveline. My favorite of the lovelines, is of clueless-but-goodhearted rich girl UEE breaking down the walls of Joo Won’s pensive, reserved cop. Their chemistry is sweet and sparky most of the time, except when it’s electric and breathtaking – which it sometimes is. Overall, fantastic comfort food, despite some flaws.
Review is here.
UPLIFTING DRAMAS
Romance is a Bonus Book
Lee Na Young is our resident underdog, a divorcee trying to re-enter the workforce and reclaim her mojo. Show manages to make it all very earnest and heartfelt, while also infusing everything with charm and a touch of whimsy. The noona romance is melty and swoony, but it’s really our female lead’s journey that takes centerstage. Wholesome, thoughtful and sweet.
Review is here.
She Was Pretty
Dressed to look like just about every other rom-com coming out of Dramaland, She Was Pretty might appear run-of-the-mill at first, but given a chance, it proves itself to be heartwarming and uplifting, with a special emphasis on self-worth and self-love. Show has some OTT tendencies that I needed some time to get used to, but my heart felt so warmed and lifted by the end, that the initial patience was more than worthwhile.
Review is here.
Twenty Again
Choi Ji Woo is wonderful and awesome as our female lead, who’s returning to school at the grand “old” age of 38, on a journey to reclaim her identity, self-worth and mojo, which she gave up in favor of early motherhood. Now separated from her husband, our female lead embarks on a journey and discovers that she’s absolutely not over the hill, and still very much worthy of life, adventure and love. Sensitively written, and excellently acted. Cute and inspiring, at the same time.
Review is here.
The First Half Of My Life [China]
Meaty, mature and thoughtful, Show is that rare combination of real and relatable, while being elegant and sophisticated, at the same time. Ma Yi Li is our female lead, suddenly thrust into a whirlwind of having to start her life over, with a child in tow, and practically no work experience to speak of. Her determination and earnestness is inspirational, and her friendship with bestie Yuan Quan is aspirational and moving. There is some romance in this, but it’s never Show’s main point. This show took China by storm when it aired, and with good reason. Highly recommend.
Flash Review is here.
Fight My Way
Warm and easy to love, our ragtag characters are all underdogs in their own way, each striving to make it in a career where they feel inexperienced and under-qualified. At the same time, Park Seo Joon as a dim-but-goodhearted MMA fighter wannabe, and Kim Ji Won as an aspiring newscaster who’s as blunt as she is loyal, make up our friends-to-lovers OTP, who are very cute and very endearing together. So honest, real and raw, that I even forgive Show’s overly neat ending.
Review is here.
Miss Korea
Underrated and heartwarming, Miss Korea is more about ordinary people than it is about beauty pageants, so don’t let Show’s title fool you. Endearing and charming, Show walks us through our resident underdogs’ journeys, as they work to do battle against bigger, richer, better-positioned competition, in their respective fields. Lee Yeon Hee and Lee Sun Gyun are great in this, and their romance is well-handled and feels nicely organic.
Review is here.
Stove League
Nam Goong Min really shines in this story, as the newly-appointed GM of the Dreams, the underdogs of the underdogs in the baseball league. There’s no romance in this; instead, team dynamics and personal growth take centerstage, as Nam Goong Min’s GM gathers his team to work against obstacle after obstacle, to help propel the Dreams towards, well, their dreams. Solid, heartfelt and worthwhile.
Flash Review is here.
LIGHT, EASY-BREEZY DRAMAS
20th Century Boy and Girl
Angst-lite and warm, Show is feel-good, easy on the brain, and also easy to slurp up. The group of friends is very endearing, and Kim Ji Suk turns out to be a strong contender for World’s Sweetest Boyfriend. Engaging, gentle and charming.
Flash Review is here.
Find Yourself [China]
Breezy, light and often rather silly, Show manages to also be surprisingly thoughtful and reflective at the same time, serving up pockets of insightful voiceovers, amid the frothy goings-on. Victoria Song is relatable and approachable as our female lead who’s pure-hearted and open to love, even as societal pressure bears down on her to get married already, as a mature 30-year-old. Song Wei Long is her young, earnest suitor, and Show does a great job showing us how the sparks fly, between these two. Lots of fun when taken lightly, yet meaty as well, if analyzed. Excellent drama comfort food.
Review is here.
Something About 1%
A fun rom-com, minus all the potential filler. This 2016 remake is shorter and more streamlined than the original, and basically capitalizes on the excellent chemistry between leads Ha Suk Jin and Jun So Min, to serve up crackling hyper-proximity and giddy kisses, while keeping everything angst-lite. Simple and sweet.
Flash Review is here.
We Married as a Job [Japan]
Quirky and cute, this is my favorite Japanese rom-com so far. The plot moves along briskly, while serving up some interesting surprises, and our OTP is awkward, dorky and very endearing in their honest efforts to get to know each other, within the context of their contract marriage. A little OTT wacky in spots, but that’s easily managed with a bit of a manga lens.
Flash Review is here.
Touch Your Heart
Cute, light and quite breezy, Touch Your Heart is basically a Yoo In Na vehicle that showcases her personal charm to great effect. It’s also a great reunion platform for Yoo In Na and Lee Dong Wook, to reprise their OTP chemistry from Goblin. Basically, Yoo In Na is delightful as a failing actress trying to make good, and Lee Dong Wook’s straitlaced lawyer is an excellent foil to her earnest bubbly nature. Heartfelt and sweet.
Review is here.
A Love So Beautiful [China]
Show’s premise is simple and has been done many times before, with a warm girl crushing on a genius aloof boy, but somehow this story lands with charm and a distinct crack factor. Warm, easy-breezy and likable, I quickly grew a huge soft spot for this drama world and its characters. It totally helps that our warm girl is feisty and won’t allow genius aloof boy to bully her, and it also helps that genius aloof boy isn’t really very mean, and actually has understandable reasons for being emotionally distant. I loved this a lot.
Flash Review is here.
Put Your Head On My Shoulder
Angst-lite and cheerful, this show is a little meandering, but still high on the easy-to-slurp-up scale. In a twist from the more common warm-girl-crushes-on-aloof-genius-boy set-up, our feisty warm girl couldn’t care less about our handsome genius, and it’s our handsome genius who falls for her, and hard. Hee! I found it fun and amusing to see our handsome genius flailing about, trying to use his science brain to figure out new and interesting things like girls, feelings and romance. Easy and sweet, despite some annoying secondary characters.
Review is here.
Her Private Life
Show is basically a fairly vanilla kdrama rom-com template, but dressed up with bells and whistles that have strong appeal: Kim Jae Wook as Ryan Gold, the swoony perfect boyfriend (melt), Park Min Young as a charming career woman by day, and kpop super fangirl by night, and their wonderfully sparky chemistry whenever they share the screen. Add on actual healthy relationship dynamics, and a keen, knowing spotlight on the fangirl experience, and Show is basically catnip for drama fans – whether you’re a kpop fan or not.
Review is here.
I’m Not A Robot
Chae Soo Bin and Yoo Seung Ho make an adorable pair in this not-quite-a-robot rom-com, and the whole journey of Yoo Seung Ho’s chaebol overcoming his human allergy to love the very human robot living in his house, is by turn silly-fantastical, and heartfelt-poignant. This show made me laugh (sometimes – I wasn’t always tuned into Show’s sense of humor, though you might be), and it made me cry (also sometimes). But I enjoyed this OTP, pretty much all of the time. A very worthwhile ride.
Flash Review is here.
My ID is Gangnam Beauty
Slurpable and cracky for much of its run, this show does the cold male lead thing right. Bonus point for taking the campus romance to college instead of high school, as most kdramas tend to do. Cha Eun Woo is our cold male lead, who isn’t mean; he’s just reticent. And Im Soo Hyang is our ungainly, insecure, earnest female lead, whom he regularly swoops in to rescue from bullies. It sounds clichéd, but it works, despite the acting of both leads leaning rather green. Charming and heartfelt, while managing to shine a light spotlight on meaningful issues like the general treatment of women and the psychological effect of plastic surgery.
Flash Review is here.
My Girlfriend is a Gumiho
Shin Min Ah is incandescent as our resident gumiho (mythical nine-tailed fox) who deeply desires to become human, and Lee Seung Gi is dorky and endearing as the hapless human who tries to help her achieve her goal. Lots of frothy fun, and yet, Show knows how to punch you in the gut with poignance and feels, when the occasion calls for it. An oldie but a goodie.
ADD-ON!
Splash Splash Love
Delightful, fun and adorable, Splash Splash Love is super easy to love. Doo Joon is oh-so-handsome and swoony as our king, and Kim Seul Gi is precocious and winsome as the modern girl who time travels right into the middle of his world. Their chemistry is sparky-tending-electric, and I could. not. get. enough. I was gutted that this was only 2 episodes.
Thanks to MC, for reminding me that I’d missed this one!
Flash Review is here.
Goong (Princess Hours)
My gateway drama! How did I forget about this one? 😛 Goong is very fresh and fun, in its imagined take on a modern monarchy in South Korea, with Yoon Eun Hye as an ordinary girl getting mixed up in a contract marriage with the country’s crown prince, Joo Ji Hoon. The burgeoning feelings are teased out in a slow-burn, believable manner, amid the nonsensical cute of having a crown prince attend high school among his fangirls. The music is fantastically applied, and brings the world to popping life. Show suffers from drag in its later episodes brought on by an extension (high ratings can be so bad for story!), but is, overall, still a fun, worthwhile watch.
Thanks to Laurie Adgirl, for reminding me of this one, on Facebook!
Review is here.
FUN, SILLY DRAMAS
Terius Behind Me
There’s no edgy spy stuff here, but Show is silly, absurd, and all kinds of heartwarming, which more than makes up for the lack of edgy spy stuff. So Ji Sub is perfect as the reticent spy next door who ends up babysitting the neighbor’s twins in order to investigate a case. Cue cuteness, bonding and adorableness. I also enjoyed how the neighborhood ahjumma network often did a better job of the spying, than the actual real spies, heh.
Flash Review is here.
Bride of the Century
Illogical and tropey to an extreme, Show manages to be quite cracky for most of its run, with a pair of leads who are as cute as a pair of puppies. Not a lot makes sense, and it’s rather charming that Show takes itself so seriously, nonetheless. Overall, silly, ridiculous, and somehow, highly enjoyable.
Review is here.
You’re Beautiful
Frothy and unabashedly illogical, Park Shin Hye is a novice nun who goes undercover as a boy to take her twin brother’s place in the rock band he’s supposed to join. Cue crossdressing and close proximity hijinks, as she tries to blend into the boyband life with her new bandmates. Super fun, with the right lens.
Noble, My Love
Light, easy, and with bite-sized episodes to boot, Show is a great drama snack, for when you can’t commit to a full drama, but still want to indulge in some tropey romantic feels. The story’s predictable, but our leads share strong chemistry – and our male lead Sung Hoon delivers the broody gaze well. Nothing very remarkable, but fluffy and entertaining, nonetheless.
Flash Review is here.
Bromance [Taiwan]
The writing’s not great and logic takes a beating, but Show is angst-lite, and our lead characters are likable and share excellent chemistry that literally leaps off the screen. And Show is not afraid of capitalizing on the chemistry, serving up lots of sizzle at every opportunity. To top it all off, Baron Chen’s intent smolder is of the molten variety that made me go weak in the knees. Cheesy, but delicious all the same.
Flash Review is here.
Just You [Taiwan]
The writing is far from elegant, and stuff tends to be exaggerated, but Aaron Yan is very handsome to look at, Puff Guo’s character grows on you nicely after a few episodes, and Aaron and Puff make a very cute couple. Their chemistry is sparky and believable, and Show takes care to tease out the development of the OTP relationship to make it feel believable, even in an unbelievable world. Illogical yet heartfelt, I found this pretty cracky, given the right lens.
Flash Review is here.
Welcome to Waikiki
I haven’t seen this one myself, but I’m told by multiple people, that this one is a fun watch that is as silly and ridiculous, as it is heartfelt and heartwarming. If you can jive with the broad k-humor, this could be a lot of fun for you.
ADD-ON!
Hana Kimi (2007) [Japan]
This is the very first nonsensical show that I loved, and it’s fantastic. Everything is random and ridiculous, but somehow, so slurpable and cracky. Horikita Maki is very cute as the ardent fangirl who crossdresses in order to enter an all-boys school (where admissions are based on looks, not grades, ha), in order to be near her high jump idol Oguri Shun. I laughed out loud multiple times, each time that I watched this (I’ve watched this several different times), and I have to admit that Oguri Shun is appealingly smoldery in this. A nonsensical manga lens is not just a must; with this show, it’s your best friend. Absolutely worth tracking down.
Thanks to Laurie Adgirl, for reminding me of this one, on Facebook!
DRAMATIC, FUN MAKJANG
The Last Empress
Blithely, unabashedly, insistently makjang, The Last Empress is a rollercoaster that is as ridiculous as it is addictive. Logic doesn’t apply, but who cares when the makjang is this entertaining and delicious? Show got extended and ended up spinning its wheels for a bit in the last stretch, but managed a fairly graceful, not-too-wobbly landing, by the closing credits. Still fun, for the most part.
Flash Review is here.
Graceful Family
Full disclosure: I dropped this one because it wasn’t makjang or hammy enough for my taste, but lots of folks enjoyed this one for the moderate levels of makjang that Show serves up. The plot points do lean ludicrous and I loved the concepts of some of it, so if this one works for you, it could work for you quite nicely.
Dropped post is here.
Are You Human Too?
Omigosh, so out there, and so much fun, given the right lens, y’all. Genius Mom has her son taken from her, and so she designs a robot that looks just like him, to deal with her loss. Cue drama, confusion and hijinks, when her real son – now an angry, dysfunctional almost-terrorist – goes into a coma and our sweet, amiable robot is summoned to enable a cover-up. I love this show. And I love Seo Kang Joon as both human and robot – though I’ll admit I had way more love for the robot than the human, heh.
Review is here.
IN CLOSING
I hope you guys will find something enjoyable and suitably distracting to watch, from this list! Some of these shows are a little older, but sometimes, when the new shows aren’t hitting the kind of emotional strings that we need, older dramas can be a treasure trove to mine.
As always, if you guys have other shows to recommend or insights to share, please tell us about it in the comments – coz sharing is caring. 😉
I hope this helps! Take care, and stay safe, everyone.
Love! ❤
~kfangurl
Let the fun times roll! 😄
POST-SCRIPT:
1. If you feel that I missed anything, or if you have your own insights that you’d like to share with the rest of us, do tell us about it in the comments!
2. Do you have a question of your own? Drop me a comment here or on the Dear kfangurl page, or send me an email!
