As the leader of the Asian film and television industry, the Korean drama market in 2020 is still very lively. “Please Answer” series trilogy director Shin Won-ho’s “The Life of a Witty Doctor”, “The King: Eternal Monarch” by Lee Min-ho who just retired from the army, and the second season of the blockbuster drama “Kingdom” are all coming.
The types of dramas are also very rich, including love, suspense, costumes, science fiction and other themes. But up to now, there has not been a truly phenomenal hit TV series, but many dramas have gone up and down. For example, “The King: Eternal Monarch”, which is expected to explode, and the unfinished “The World of the Married”.
While waiting for the popular new dramas, the editor will take stock of the ten most popular Korean dramas on Douban. The ranking is based on Douban’s tags and reviewers to see what’s amazing about these popular Korean dramas.
10: “Full House Romance”
- Broadcast time: 2004
- Douban Score: 8.0
- Reviews: 120,000+
Everyone is familiar with this drama. It can be said that it is the memory of a generation. It is the first Korean drama that many people watch. “Full House” starring Rain and Song Hye Kyo, adapted from the manga of the same name. It tells the stories of rookie novelist Han Ji-eun and arrogant superstar Lee Young-jae who agreed to marry and live together in the Full House under various circumstances.
The first broadcast exceeded 34% of the ratings, and the highest rating reached 47%. It was also extremely popular after it was broadcast in other countries. This drama is a milestone work in Korean dramas. It has opened a new mode of Korean dramas. It no longer continues the previous sad mode, and the protagonist can happily talk about love.
In the play, whether it is Qiao Mei’s prosperous beauty, Rain’s poor contrast when she laughs, or the lovely “Three Little Bears”, they are all wonderful and romantic, and the setting of love after marriage is later imitated by various kinds. It is said that “Full House Romance” will also be remade in China. The heroine is Yang Chaoyue. I don’t expect the remake to be more brilliant.
9: “My Name is Kim Sam Soon”
- Broadcast time: 2005
- Douban score: 8.5
- Reviews: 120,000+
The upper part appreciates Qiao Mei’s prosperous beauty. In this section, let’s feel the handsome charm of her former predecessor, Hyun Bin. The two were together because of “Their World”. Back then, when Hyun Bin participated in “My Name is Kim Sam Soon”, he was still a rookie, but he was still handsome, and his partner was actor Kim Sun Ah. In order to be more in line with the characters in the play, Kim Sun-ah gained weight and created a classic screen image – pastry chef Kim Sam-soon.
“My Name is Kim Sam-soon” broke the viewership record of the year in South Korea, and ended with a super high viewership rating of 50.5%. It also won the Baeksang Arts Awards TV Awards and TV Screenplay Awards, and was rated as the best TV series by many people. nice korean drama. At first glance, the play is a typical story of a prince falling in love with Cinderella. The heroine, Jin Sanshun, the third daughter of a rice milling shop, has no looks, no education, a 29-year-old maid, and the only skill is to make cakes.
The male protagonist, Xuan Zhenxuan, is young and handsome, and he is also the president of the hotel. As the plot progresses, we discover that this is not the case. Although the male protagonist is handsome and excellent, he is full of pessimism about life, and the female protagonist is ordinary but has her own unique shining point.
Facing the difficulties of life, she is optimistic, and she bravely confesses to the people she likes. It is precisely because he met the heroine that the hero slowly walked out of the shadows and embraced life again. The play also tells everyone through the heroine’s story, even if life deceives you, don’t give up, still love, as if you have never been hurt.
8: “Crash Landing on Love”
- Air time: 2019
- Douban score: 8.2
- Reviews: 150,000+
This should be the most popular Korean drama last year. Every time it is updated, it must be on the hot search. After the return from the broadcast, it directly crashed a live broadcast website.
The ratings of the finale surpassed that of “Reply 1988” and “Goblin”, becoming the highest ratings in tvN history. The plot is also very bold. It tells the story of Yoon Se-ri, the heiress of the Korean chaebol, who was accidentally forced to land in North Korea by a hurricane while flying a paraglider. Two people from different worlds started a particularly romantic love story.
Of course, the most important thing is the two actors. The immortal combination of Hyun Bin + Son Yejin is top-notch. As netizens said, the plot is not care at all, just licking the screen is enough. The special appearances of Kim Soo Hyun and Choi Ji Woo are also surprising.
Although the plot is still Mary Sue, it is to make everyone fascinated by all kinds of things. Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin are pleasing enough to stand together, not to mention holding hands, hugging and kissing. Every eye is full of sweetness, and every frame of the picture is soothing to the heart. In short, it is a magical drama where star charm saves everything. After reading the editor, like everyone, I strongly urge Son Ye-jin and Hyun Bin to get married immediately!
7: “The King”
- Air time: 2019
- Douban score: 8.5
- Number of evaluations: 160,000+
“The King” is the first original Korean drama invested and produced by Netflix, and the theme of zombie + palace fighting was well received once it was broadcast. After 6 episodes of all kinds of enjoyable and refreshing chases in one breath, it was selected by the “New York Times” as one of the top ten TV dramas in 2019.
The second season was launched in March this year, with a score of 9.4, which shows that everyone likes the show. The cast of the show is also very strong. The director is Kim Sung-hoon, who directed “Tunnel” and “The End”, and the screenwriter is Kim Eun-hee, the “golden screenwriter” who wrote “Signal”. Plus the super high cast of Zhu Zhixun, Bae Doona, Ryu Seung Ryong, and Kim Sang Ho.
The episode was very eye-catching at the beginning, with acupuncture between the eyebrows, the medicine pouring in the mouth, and the smoke blowing into the nose, the picture was weird and full of movie quality. I have to say that Netflix is very sincere, and the whole drama is very attentive from the plot, photography, and atmosphere.
As a zombie theme, the biggest attraction is of course zombies. The zombies in the play have realistic makeup, fast movements, countless reversals, and climaxes, which make people addicted to watching. Of course, “Kingdom” is essentially a palace fighting drama, using zombies to talk about politics, but it is a little weak in the role of power and plot, and the image of the characters is too thin. On the whole, “The King” is an excellent drama, and it is very suitable for audiences who like excitement.
6: “W-Two Worlds”
- Air time: 2016
- Douban score: 7.9
- Number of evaluations: 160,000+
The plot of “W-Two Worlds” is very high-energy, building a “two-dimensional” world from reality to comics. It tells the story of a series of chain events that happened after Wu Yanzhu, a female doctor in the real world, accidentally entered the world of the popular comic “W” and met the protagonist Jiang Zhe of the comic.
I have to admire the Korean screenwriters. The plot of breaking the dimension is very interesting, and the combination of Lee Jong Suk and Han Hyo Zhou is also very eye-catching. The progress of the two’s emotional drama is not abrupt or procrastinated, and the sugar is not stingy, breaking the 8-episode rule of Korean dramas, all kinds of kisses and I love you come as soon as you open your mouth. Even the heroine Han Hyo-joo said that this is a drama that she has performed the most kiss scenes among the dramas she has filmed so far.
In addition, suspenseful elements are also added to the play, and the plot of Jiji breaks through the limit of brain holes, making you completely unable to guess how the plot will develop next. It can be said that “W-Two Worlds” perfectly combines romance and suspense, creating a new theme for romantic dramas. No wonder the Korean nation, who loves sharing national honors, would rather give up the Olympics than watch it.
5: “Descendants of the Sun”
- Air time: 2016
- Douban Score: 8.0
- Number of reviewers: 180,000+
When this drama was broadcast, the editor felt that the whole network was using it, and its shadow was everywhere. For the first time in the history of KBS dramas, a drama was filmed using the “shoot first and then broadcast” method. In recent years, the most invested Korean dramas, 80% of the dramas are filmed in foreign countries.
The first Korean drama to be broadcast simultaneously in China and South Korea. In that year, it was the champion of the ratings, the first Korean mini-drama with the highest ratings in the first broadcast, and the Korean drama with the highest data on Weibo in China. Any one of these data is enough to prove its quality and popularity, not to mention that it is the love work of Song Hye Kyo and Song Zhongji. From the continuation of the sweet love in the play to the holding hands outside the play and then to the divorce and separation, it is also embarrassing.
“Descendants of the Sun” is worthy of praise in terms of casting, style and episodes, and the beautiful scenery of Greece is also very eye-catching. The story does not have conventional plots such as car accident and amnesia, but adds military, medical and other elements, and the rhythm is clear and not procrastinated. The protagonist fell in love at first sight in the first episode, broke up in the second episode, and met again abroad in the third episode.
The two protagonists are no longer strong or weak, but more evenly matched. There is no drama of you chasing me and hiding. If you like it, they will be together, if they are not suitable, they will be separated, and they will be neat. Of course, there is also the immortal appearance of Qiao Mei who ate preservatives, and Song Zhongji’s various flirting skills are also full of highlights. Although the former Shuangsong couple has been separated, this drama is still very classic and worthy of aftertaste.
4: “Signal”
- Air time: 2016
- Douban score: 9.2
- Reviews: 190,000+
The super combination of the director of “Weisheng”, the screenwriter of “Ghost” and the Newcomer Award for Best Actor and Actress in South Korea. Once broadcast, it was well received, so that you can neither fast forward nor pause, and countless viewers want to send their knees after watching it. It won the Best TV Drama Award and Best Screenplay Award in the TV Drama Department of the 52nd Korea Baeksang Arts Awards, which can be called tvN’s Taiwanese drama.
The drama tells the story of Park Hae-young, a detective who lives in the present, and Lee Jae-han, a former detective, who connect through time and space through an old-fashioned walkie-talkie, and cooperate with each other to solve some long-standing unsolved cases.
As a suspenseful reasoning drama, the show has strong logic, the actors’ acting skills are online, and every reversal is very exciting. The setting of the walkie-talkie connecting the past and the present time also makes the plot more exciting. Although an episode is 60 minutes long, each episode is of movie-level texture, so that the audience cannot easily look away.
In addition, the biggest highlight of “Signal” is that the cases in the play come from reality, and these real cases have also been shown in many Korean movies. The play uses a seemingly fantastic story to show the unsolved historical cases in South Korea one by one, whether it is comforting the victims, not giving up on the truth, or reflecting on the society.
It is presented to the audience in a more shocking form, generating energy beyond the plot itself. “Signal” makes us believe that justice may be late, but never absent. The second season is also confirmed to be filmed, and I look forward to the early return of the drama.
[rve src=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSh-THyL7Vk” ratio=”16by9″]3: “You Who Came From the Stars”
- Broadcast time: 2013
- Douban score: 8.4
- Number of evaluations: 260,000+
Another phenomenal Korean drama, I didn’t expect it to be ranked third on Douban. The story is actually very cliché, a romantic love story in which the hero and heroine overcome danger to pursue true love. However, its character and plot setting is very bold and novel, and screenwriter Park Dae has created a new height of love drama – aliens and humans fall in love.
The outstanding acting skills of the two protagonists have brought the TV series to a higher level. Quan Zhixian plays the big star Qian Songyi. This role is simply tailor-made for him. Whether it is the transition between the goddess and the female nerve, or the cute and queen-like domineering, she has performed it to the fullest.
What’s more, there are all kinds of beauty and long-legged crit from Quan Goddess. Kim Soo Hyun plays Do Min Jun from an alien. He has a handsome face, eight pack abs and abstinence, and his super power is a super assist to seduce girls.
2. “The Lonely and Splendid God: Goblin”
- Air time: 2016
- Douban score: 8.7
- Number of evaluations: 270,000+
2016 can be called the year of the explosion of Korean dramas. The director and screenwriter of “Descendants of the Sun”, which was popular at the beginning of the year, brought new dramas to the screen at the end of the year. The premiere ratings set a new record for the premiere of tvN TV series over the years, and even beat the national drama “Reply 1988” to refresh the cable station record.
From the ratings to the topic, it exudes a divine drama temperament. The play is definitely the pinnacle of ghost themes. The screenwriter boldly added legends of ghosts and ghosts, making this somewhat conventional story novel and creative. The pictures and special effects are also very powerful. The ancient passages used a 16:9 format similar to the movie screen, with darker tones and textures, while the modern dramas used a 4:3 format.
The war and fighting scenes in the play are supplemented with CG special effects, and the battlefield picture in the first episode is very shocking. The starring lineup is also very luxurious. Kong Liu, Kim Go-eun, Lee Dong-wook, and Yoo In-na are all good-looking and powerful. Of course, the most eye-catching is Uncle Kong Liu.
As a cooperation that took 5 years for the screenwriter of Jin Da, of course, he must use his advantages to the extreme. 360 degrees of various handsome shapes, sweet interactions with the heroine, and various quarrels with the second male lead. No wonder netizens unanimously said that even if “Ghosts” has no plot, as long as Kong Liu walks around in front of the camera, 100 episodes can be played in a loop!
1: “Please Answer 1988”
- Broadcast time: 2015
- Douban score: 9.7
- Number of evaluations: 520,000+
This drama should not need to be introduced any more. I have watched Korean dramas many times. The fighter in the Korean drama has the highest ratings on TVN, and no one has surpassed it with a score of 9.7 on Douban. It is the No.1 Korean drama in the hearts of many people.
Ah Ze, Gou Huan, De Shan, Zheng Feng… The characters in the play after so many years are still so unforgettable. As the third part of the “Reply” series, “Reply 1988” is better than the first two. Unlike 1991997, which focuses on first love, the play is mainly based on family relationships and neighborhood feelings.
The story is very lifelike, but it is warm and delicate, and people can’t stop watching it.
Everyone who has watched “Reply 1988” can find their youth in the play. The warmth between the families, the harmony between neighbors, and the throbbing in love are silently placed in every shot. Whenever we click to watch it again, we will be healed and moved, reminding us of our youth and beauty.