10 Fan Favorite Korean Drama of All Time –– KDrama Recommendation
You know it. It’s summer, days are getting longer and your girl is getting the Korean drama vibe again.
Since lately I haven’t been able to pick up a book to save my soul, I have decided to go for the next best thing: Korean dramas and movies. And since the Korean dramas that I’m dying to watch are all still in their baby stages (read : just started airing), I have decided to go back in time and pick up the diamonds in the rough.
The fan favorites, the ones that have repeatedly been suggested to me, and all the Korean dramas in between. I’ve decided to start watching those as I wait for the current Korean dramas to finish airing. This way, my thirsty ass will still get my daily Korean drama doses and at the same time; waiting time won’t feel as torturous.
Great strategy I have in place, don’t you think?
1. Prison Playbook
Genre : Comedy, Slice of Life, Drama
Starring : Park Hae-Soo, Jung Kyoung-Ho, Krystal
Episodes : 16
BLURB :
The drama series is set at a prison where a baseball player called Kim Je Hyuk who turns into a convict overnight and an elite prison guard called Lee Joon Ho and a variety of people experience prison life. The drama shares the lives and stories behind these prisoners as well as events that take place there.
2. Moon Lovers : Scarlet Heart Ryeo
Genre : Historical, Romance, Tragedy
Starring : Lee Joon-Gi, IU, Kang Ha-Neul
Episodes : 20
BLURB :
When a total eclipse of the sun takes place, Hae-Soo travels back in time to the Goryeo era. There, she falls in love with Wang So who makes other people tremble with fear.
3. Signal
Genre : Suspense, Mystery, Supernatural
Starring : Lee Je-Hoon, Kim Hye-Soo, Cho Jin-Woong
Episodes : 16
BLURB :
Fifteen years ago, a female child was kidnapped on the way from school. At that time, Park Hae Yeong, who was an elementary school student, witnessed the girl being taken away. A few days later, the girl was found dead, and detectives couldn’t find the culprit. As time went by, Hae Yeong started distrusting the police. Fifteen years later, Hae Yeong is now a police officer and criminal profiler. One day, he finds a walkie-talkie that allows him to get in contact with Detective Lee Jae Han who is in the past. Police officers Hae Yeong, Jae Han and Cha So Hyun then set out on a journey to solve cold cases.
4. Childless Comfort
Genre : Drama, Family
Starring : Lee Soon-Jae, Seo Woo-Rim, Yoo Dong-Geun, Kim Hae-Sook
Episodes : 40
BLURB :
“My Kids Give Me a Headache” tells the story of 3 generations of a family: parents, three sons and three daughter-in-laws and their children.
5. Another Oh Hae Young
Genre : Melodrama, Romance, Supernatural
Starring : Eric, Seo Hyun-Jin, Jeon Hye-Bin
Episodes : 18
BLURB :
Two women, both named Oh Hae Yeong, find themselves constantly mixed up in each other’s lives because of their shared name. From confusion over boys and grades in high school to ending up in the same occupation and company as adults, they can’t stop running into each other. And then there’s the man in their lives, a man with the ability to see into the future, a man who must decide which of these women he wants in it. Will these two women continue to find their lives entangled with each other? Or will they finally find a way to separate themselves from each other and become their own people?
6. I Can Hear Your Voice
Genre : Thriller, Mystery, Supernatural, Romance
Starring : Lee Bo-Young, Lee Jong-Suk, Yoon Sang-Hyun
Episodes : 18
BLURB :
Jang Hye Sung, a bold, sassy, thick-faced, comical, and a materialistic public defender who becomes a lawyer after overcoming poverty and painful memories from her childhood, comes to realization about society and justice after meeting Park Soo Ha, a 19-year-old boy who reads other people’s thoughts and Cha Kwan Woo, an innocent lawyer who lives a disciplined life.
Jang Hye Sung is actually Soo Ha’s first love after she gave a decisive testimony on his father’s murder case 10 years ago and Soo Ha promised to protect her from the killer’s threats.
Meanwhile, Cha Kwan Woo is Jang Hye Sung’s fellow lawyer, a cheerful and an idealistic former cop even though his character is a bit slow, he is nice and pleasant with a firm idea of his principles and justice. Together they will team up to find the justice in the courtroom and solve the toughest cases with less than 1% chance of winning.
7. It’s Okay, It’s Love
Genre : Comedy, Romance, Physiological
Starring : Zo In Sung, Kong Hyo-Jin, Lee Kwang Soo
Episodes : 16
BLURB :
Jang Jae Yeol is a famous mystery novelist and popular radio DJ with a prickly personality. After meeting psychiatrist Ji Hae Soo when they both serve on a talk show panel delving into the criminal mind, they instantly rub each other the wrong way. But when Jae Yeol’s girlfriend plagiarizes his work, forcing him to lie low until the media storm blows over and he can prove his innocence, he unexpectedly becomes Hae Soo’s roommate.
Jae Yeol moves into a home that he owns that is being rented by Hae Soo, Jo Dong Min; another psychiatrist and Hae Soo’s senior colleague, and Park Soo Kwang, a young man with Tourette syndrome. As Jae Yeol and Hae Soo’s personalities clash, they help each other heal from their own deep-rooted emotional scars.
8. My Mister
Genre : Melodrama, Slice of Life, Business
Starring : Lee Sun-Kyun, IU
Episodes : 16
BLURB :
Park Dong Hoon is a middle-aged engineer who is married to attorney Kang Yoon Hee. However, his life is not that happy. He has two unemployed brothers, Sang Hoon and Gi Hoon, who rely on him. Moreover, his wife is secretly having an affair with CEO Do Joon Yeong, Dong Hoon’s college junior but current boss.
One day, Dong Hoon receives an unexpected bribe and notices that his co-worker Lee Ji Ansaw him. Ji An is a young part-time worker at Dong Hoon’s company who is drowning in debt and left alone to take care of her ill grandmother. Dong Hoon then gets entangled in his brothers’ struggle to get back on their feet and the company’s internal rivalry between the company’s CEO and the people opposing him, all the while not knowing that CEO Joon Yeong wants to get rid of him and Ji An is working for the CEO.
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9. Healer
Genre : Action, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Starring : Ji Chang Wook, Park Min-Young, Yoo Ji-Tae
Episodes : 20
BLURB :
Seo Jung Hoo is a special kind of night courier, known only as “Healer”. For the right price and with the help of a genius hacker, he gets his clients whatever they want, as long as it doesn’t involve murder. His latest job leads him to a second-rate tabloid writer, Chae Young Shin and the successful reporter, Kim Moon Ho. He begins to uncover the mystery of a shared past with the two reporters, putting them all in danger.
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10. Fight for My Way
Genre : Comedy, Slice of Life, Romance
Starring : Park Seo-Joon, Kim Ji-Won, Ahn Jae-Hong
Episodes : 16
BLURB :
Despite an increasingly hostile world, Ko Dong Man and Choi Ae Ra decide not to give up. No matter what others speak of them, they together make their own way to live a happy life.