| |

Korea is for Lovers – the appeal of the K-Drama

Several years ago, a friend introduced me to watching Korean television series (K-dramas) on Netflix. I was skeptical at first but I realized that K-dramas were the Korean language embodiment of all the tropes I love about romance novels. They cover nearly every subgenre of romance, and include well-known tropes like marriages of convenience, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, and more.

I took a break from watching them for a couple of years but I recently found a new one I like, and I thought it would be good to share some watch-alikes for romances for those interested in trying out the K-drama world. Don’t worry that you need to know Korean, as all the shows suggested are available with subtitles in English, and sometimes Spanish. Plus, you might pick up a little Korean while you watch!


Here are some suggestions of dramas to watch, based on romance subgenres.

Contemporary Romance

There are almost too many titles to even narrow down here. Contemporary settings are the most common in K-dramas and there is a wealth of great options.

If you like a heart-wrenching story, with a touch of humor, try Coffee Prince. It is the story of a poor girl who disguises herself as a boy to get a job at an all male coffee shop. Her handsome boss (played by the always precious Gong Yoo) starts to develop an attraction to her, even thinking she is a man. This drama made me ugly cry as I watched. The love between Choi Han-kyul and Go Eun-chan took over my heart and soul. For those that love tropes, you’ll find some forced proximity, forbidden love, and gender bending. This is my all-time favorite drama.

If you want to go full-on tearjerker, try It’s Okay, That’s Love. It is the love story between a psychiatrist and a man with schizophrenia and it will tear your heart out.

If you like medical dramas, try Emergency Couple. It is the story of two exes who are now forced to work as hospital interns together. There is more than a little bad blood from their divorce, but the time spent working together, and some moments of jealousy over flirting with coworkers, brings them back together. Both leads are incredibly charming, even when they’re fighting with each other.

If you want more comedy than tears, Personal Taste  is a great option. A young man pretends to be gay so he can land a place to stay with a woman. Her clumsy attempts to befriend him while he tries to maintain his facade are really fun. Plus it stars the very handsome Lee Min-ho.

Perhaps you want something with a surprise baby and plenty of melodrama. I’d suggest Fated to Love You. A young woman gets pregnant after a one night stand with a man who is destined to take over his family’s corporation. They have to make it work for the sake of the baby, and given their mismatched personalities, there are plenty of soap opera-like twists and turns.

More titles to try out:

Pride and Prejudice (legal drama)

The Good Doctor (medical drama that was remade for American TV)

I Need Romance (akin to Sex and the City)

Sly and Single Again  (about reuniting exes)

The Producers (in the style of the American The Office)


Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Paranormal

For those who want some light sci-fi, try My Love from Another Star. An alien comes to earth to and gets trapped for hundreds of years. Of course, he looks like the super cute Kim Soo-hyun, so when he meets an actress she falls head over heels for him.

There are tons of ghost stories in K-dramas. I’m currently watching Oh My Ghost, which is about a ghost who died a virgin and is now out to possess a living woman and get it on. Both the lead actresses are funny and compelling, and the love story is complicated and sweet. You might also like Master’s Sun about a woman who can see ghosts, and has more creep factor than Oh My Ghost. If you want ghosts in a historical setting, there’s Arang and the Magistrate,

In the Fantasy genre, there is the fairly new Goblin, starring Gong Yoo of Coffee Prince fame. He plays a centuries old goblin who cannot die until he meets his true bride and she pulls the metaphysical sword from his chest. There’s also Secret Garden, about a couple that switch bodies and have to learn to walk in each other’s shoes (literally) on the way to falling in love.

More titles to try out:

Blood (vampires)

Scholar Who Walks the Night (historical vampires)


Historical Romance

Most of the historical dramas I have seen are all set in the Joseon era, when Korea was a dynastic kingdom, from around 1392 to 1897. You won’t find any Korean Regency romances, obviously, but the costumes, monarchical politics, and sword-wielding warriors are worth the watch.

The Sun that Embraces the Moon was adapted from a historical novel about a king who falls in love with a female shaman. It was one of Korea’s most popular dramas and won several awards. It stars the same cutie from My Love From Another Star as the king who loves the same woman as his brother. It does have some fantasy elements as well, but if that isn’t for you, perhaps Sungkyunkwan Scandal would be better. It takes place at a prestigious Joseon era university that does not allow women to enroll, so a girl disguises herself as a man in order to attend.


Romantic Suspense

If you enjoy a romance novel with a sexy soldier lead, or something with elements of a thriller, K-dramas have that covered as well.

City Hunter is based on the Japanese manga by the same name, and features Lee Min-ho looking so gorgeous it is unfair. His character is seeking revenge for the Rangoon bombing in 1983 and it has all the espionage, shoot outs, and hand-to-hand fighting you could want.

If you prefer military men, there’s Descendants of the Sun. It is about a Korean Special Forces captain who falls in love with the doctor treating his injury. They must overcome their opposing values, taking lives versus saving them, in order to find love.


Time Travel Romance

I included this as a separate category than Sci-fi and Fantasy because there seem to be a lot of time travel stories in K-dramas.

Both Faith and My Only Love Song involve modern people going back in time. Faith has a bit of an Outlander feel, as it is a female doctor who goes back in time 700 years to the Goryeo period and has to use her modern medical knowledge to help people. I liked that she was a plastic surgeon, so she had to refresh her own knowledge of basic healing techniques to work with the technology (or lack thereof) in the Goryeo period. My Only Love Song is about an actress and pop star who goes back in time to the 6th century Goguryeo kingdom.

More Titles to Try:

Scarlet Heart Ryeo

Queen In-hyun’s Man

Rooftop Prince


Young Adult

This is probably the most prolific category after Contemporary. K-dramas often feature teenage protagonists and are set in high schools. These tend to be stories about rich and poor students meeting and falling in love, and the poor girls working multiple jobs to help their families.

One of the most notorious examples of this is Boys Over Flowers. It is a manga and a Japanese drama as well, but the Korean adaptation is like the drama gateway drug for many viewers. It has every over the top thing that dramas are known for: kidnapping, super rich guys, amnesia, near death experiences, girls keeping their eyes open during kisses, love triangles, bad soundtracks… and I could go on. It is a hot mess of a show, yet it’s somehow completely addictive. The costumes are silly and so are the storylines, but it draws you in somehow. It launched the career of Lee Min-ho, even if he did have truly ridiculous hair in the series

Along the same line, and somehow also starring Lee Min-ho as a teenager four years later is Heirs. A poor girl meets two super rich guys who both fall for her. Interestingly, it has some scenes shot in California.

For something more lighthearted, try You’re Beautiful. It is another gender bender, this time about a girl pretending to be her twin brother in order to fill his role in a K-pop boy band. It is funny and over the top, and all three of her bandmates are really charming guys.

More Titles to Try:

Goong (a historical YA about arranged marriage)

Dream High


So, what else do you need to know before dipping a toe in the K-drama waters? There are quite a few, especially older ones, available on Netflix. For those that aren’t, you can try DramaFever, which is similar to Hulu in that you can watch free with ads or get a paid subscription that is ad free. Also, be prepared that all dramas are, as the name suggest, very dramatic. Expect some histrionics and physical comedy. Also, they are all typically chaste love stories. The sexual tension and anticipation are what it’s about and the kisses are few and far between. However, if you want something a touch more saucy, both Emergency Couple and Coffee Prince have (fade to black) sex scenes.

I’d love to hear about any K-dramas you’ve enjoyed, or answer your questions so comment away and happy watching!

 

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

13 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments