Romantic comedies are the best genre in Korean drama industry. I got together four dramas from my never ending favorites list for you. Naturally all the speaking is in Korean but if you are ready to change English to a more exotic language I bet you will enjoy it. Clearly, by watching another country’s television programs you get to know the culture, history and language. So it is not only entertaining but also educating.
Korean romantic dramas have a wide range of themes. The romance can situate in historical era, have a bit of fantasy hue or other creative themes. In American dramas the relationship between the main characters usually evolves fast, they meet, sleep together, break up and get back together, right? Well in Korean dramas the relationship is usually evolving slowly. The characters first get to know each other and then take their time before any skinship. One drama season is about 16 to 20 episodes and it’s more common to just have one season than multiple seasons. One episode is about an hour.
These drama suggestion are based on my opinions. I have watched all the episodes and truly enjoyed them. So here’s the best four Korean romantic dramas:
Weather caster Pyo Na-Ri (Kong Hyo-jin) has had a one side crush for the news anchor Lee Hwa-Shin (Cho Jung-Seok) for a long time. Things change when Pyo Na-Ri meets Lee Hwa-Shin’s friend Ko Jung-Won (Ko Gyung-Pyo) and starts to have feelings also for him. Eventualy Pyo Na-Ri finds her self trying to figure out which one of these two men is the right one. This leads to jealousy and furious competing between the men and the whole drama is just hilarious. Prepare to laugh hard and enjoy a romance at a broadcasting station.
2. Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo
This drama is a Korean version from Chinese original version Bu bu Jing Xin; Stratling by Each Step. It tells about Hae-Soo (Lee Ji-Eun) who is having enough of her life and accidently drops in a lake. The lake is a portal during a total eclipse of the sun and time travels the girl back to Goryeo era. Hae-Soo takes another girl’s body in the royal family and falls in love with Wang So (Lee Joon-Gi) who is a man everyone else is afraid of.
The passion, fight over love, is furious in the drama. It is also a window to see how Koreans dressed up and lived in the Goryeo era. This drama had the biggest emotion range while I was watching. It is full of tears, cruelty, passion, laughter and deep caring for the one you love.
I chose this drama on the list mainly because of the actors’ truly believable acting and chemistry. The main characters have been friends from childhood till now. That’s why they are very comfortable spending time and fighting together. Ko Dong-Man (Park Seo-Joon) was very talented in Taekwondo and wants to start his career again. Choi Ae-Ra (Kim Ji-Won) wants to get in the television to work as an announcer. The Korean society shows it’s true colors in how difficult it can be to get a job. It is very hard for Choi Ae-Ra to get one of the most competitive jobs, but she keeps fighting for her dream, just like Ko Dong-Man. This drama portrays funny, realistic and enjoyable romance. It is also a reminder to keep going towards your passion.
4. The Heirs
Can you imagine a high school just for rich teens? This drama is all about that. Cha Eun-Sang (Park Shin-Hye) is the daughter of a mute housekeeper. Her family is poor so her mom and she move to a rich family’s house to work. That house turns out to be Kim Tan’s (Lee Min-Ho) who Eun-Sang met during her trip to USA to see her older sister. Eventually Cha Eun-Sang transfers to the same high school as Kim Tan and they start to develop feelings for each other. Romance, drama, friendship, gossip and jealousy is very present each day and makes their starting relationship from different backgrounds difficult.
The list of good Korean romantic dramas could go even longer. These four are just the beginning. Now you may wonder, where to watch these dramas? There are plenty of websites that upload episodes on their site. One of the best ones is viki.com, which requires you to download an app on your device. Viki has a wide range in subtitle languages, you can even find dramas that have Finnish subtitles! Dramas that are in Viki’s site are legal and they have ads in the middle, so for an ad free experience it requires a 4,99$ fee (about 4,28 in Euros) per month.
I hope my list makes you dare to go outside your comfort-zone and try to watch an awesome Korean TV-drama.
Disclaimer: this article is not sponsored.
Picture by Michael Fenton / Unsplash