10 K-Dramas That I Guarantee You Will Watch More Than Once
There’s a reason K-dramas have gotten so popular in recent years, taking over every streaming platform and becoming another powerful engine behind the always-growing Korean Wave as it takes over global pop culture. It’s the fact that many K-dramas are just incredibly compelling: Everything from the characters to the best K-drama tropes is perfectly planned to draw audiences in and not let them leave until they’ve lived through several emotional journeys, each one more heartbreaking than the last.
That’s true for pretty much any genre of K-drama, even though there are certain ones that are more predisposed than others — those telling one of the best K-drama romance stories, for instance. It’s this compelling nature of K-dramas that makes them so addictive and, in many cases, also so rewatch-worthy. Even though plenty of new titles are released every year, there are some K-dramas that one will want to return to time and time again.
10
A Korean Odyssey (2017)
A Fantastical K-Drama Hero’s Journey
A Korean Odyssey is a great classic among K-dramas of recent years, based on the famous 16th-century novel Journey to the West, a pillar of Chinese literature and the same basis for the world-famous manga and anime Dragon Ball. The plot of A Korean Odyssey reworks the story of Journey to the West and sets it in modern-day South Korea. It features powerful immortals, demons, and humans who can see ghosts, making it a perfect watch for anyone who loves their stories with more than a sprinkle of fantasy.
A Korean Odyssey was written by the popular screenwriting duo Hong Jung-eun and Hong Mi-ran, known professionally as the Hong sisters. They have penned other great K-drama fantasy romances like My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, Alchemy of Souls, and Hotel del Luna.
What makes A Korean Odyssey so rewatchable is its complex but incredibly satisfying story, which brings audiences along a fantastical ride that leads to an incredibly satisfying place — which is exactly where every hero’s journey should lead. The characters of A Korean Odyssey are also interesting, well-rounded, and easy to love or hate, making returning to them a truly joyous experience.
9
Once Upon A Small Town (2022)
A Veterinarian Is Displaced To A Rom-Com-Ready Small Town
Once Upon a Small Town is a bright, lighthearted, and funny romance story relying on one of the oldest rom-com tropes not just in K-pop but everywhere: An established professional from a big city finds out that they have to move to a small town for some reason or another, and subsequently must adapt to a different pace of life and all the new people who will undoubtedly never stay out their business.
Once Upon a Small Town features K-pop star Joy, a member of girl group Red Velvet, in the leading role of Ahn Ja-young.
Filled with a whole variety of hilarious little mishaps and all the quirks of small-town life, Once Upon a Small Town is not a difficult story to follow, and it delivers a satisfying ending that everyone expects from a rom-com. It might not be incredibly surprising, but it makes Once Upon a Small Town the perfect show to put on for a rewatch when in need of a pick-me-up.
8
Business Proposal (2022)
A Workplace Blind Date K-Drama
In the same vein as Once Upon a Small Town, Business Proposal is also the perfect show to rewatch when one is looking for something funny and cute that has that perfect rom-com happy ending — even though its success has left fans clamoring for Business Proposal to have a second season. As the title suggests, the story of Business Proposal takes place inside a large food company, where researcher Ha-ri unexpectedly finds herself on a blind date with CEO Tae-moo.
With a premise like that, one can expect all kinds of shenanigans to happen throughout Business Proposal‘s 12 episodes, as Ha-ri and Tae-moo circle each other in a series of increasingly ridiculous moments before inevitably ending up together. As it happens in so many K-dramas, though, the secondary couple might rival the leading one in terms of entertainment. In this case, Young-seo, Ha-ri’s best friend, and Sung-hoon, Tae-moo’s secretary, are also perfect rom-com material.
7
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo (2016-2017)
An Aspiring Weighlifter Shines In This K-Drama Cult Classic
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo falls within a much-beloved subgenre, the coming-of-age K-drama, which in this case is mixed with the usual twists and turns one might expect from a sports drama. That’s because main character Bok-joo’s biggest dream is to be a weightlifting champion while at university. The story, of course, follows Bok-joo and her group of athlete friends as they train to pursue their dreams, fall in love, and become adults in the process.
While not that big of a success at the time of its release, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo has ascended to a cult status, with an incredibly dedicated fanbase made up mainly of young viewers who are around the same age as the drama’s main characters. Weighlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo manages to capture that unique feeling of being in one’s early 20s, making it a truly timeless piece, capable of always resonating with new audiences but also of having something new to offer upon every rewatch for viewers even past the target age range.
6
True Beauty (2020-2021)
A Makeover With Downsides & A Fun Love Triangle
True Beauty was a massive success at the time of its release, partly because it is the adaptation of an equally popular webtoon of the same name. The story follows high school student Lim Ju-kyung who has been bullied all her life for her perceived unattractiveness. She decides to master the art of makeup, something that gains her immediate popularity, but that is also not without its downsides.
As it happens in several K-dramas, True Beauty features a good old-fashioned love triangle between the main love interest, perfect student Lee Su-ho, and the secondary one, seemingly harsh Han Seo-jun. While the love triangle trope is a bit dated, some K-dramas still manage to do it perfectly and True Beauty is one of these, making the romantic twists in so entertaining that it’s an easy story to return to time and again.
5
Reply 1988 (2015-2016)
A Coming-Of-Age K-Drama With Plenty Of ’80s Nostalgia
Reply 1988 is the third installment of the Reply series, which also includes Reply 1997 and Reply 1994. Because of this, its release was highly anticipated, and it was also very well-followed as it was airing. Its influence also helped spark a trend of ’80s nostalgia everywhere in South Korea, which expanded to K-pop a couple of years later.
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There are several elements that contribute to making Reply 1988 such a beloved show, from its soundtrack to its realistic portrayal of South Korea in the 1980s, but what helps with its rewatchability factor is undeniably its cast of characters. The story of Reply 1988 follows five friends, all well fleshed out and so realistically portrayed that they feel almost like real people, making returning to the show almost like returning to visit an old friend.
4
Mr. Plankton (2024)
An Emotional K-Drama With A Shocking Ending
Hilarious and with a surprisingly bittersweet feel to it, Mr. Plankton is a relatively new release that still skyrocketed to the top of the list of best K-dramas available on Netflix. Its plot includes a man born from an incorrect artificial insemination, a thwarted marriage that would have saved a clan more than half a millennia old, and a devastating ending that will leave viewers staring at the screen long after the final episode has concluded.
Despite that, though, the K-drama truly is incredibly enjoyable. Mr. Plankton‘s bittersweet ending is part of the story’s journey, and it’s sort of anticipated from the beginning. It makes for a very cathartic watch, which is something that everyone needs every once in a while. Mr. Plankton is also relatively short, another point in its favor when it comes to rewatchability.
3
Hotel Del Luna (2019)
The Beloved K-Drama About A Hotel For Ghosts
Hotel del Luna is another beloved K-drama, starring an equally beloved lead actress: Lee Ji-eun, better known to the public as IU and one of the most influential celebrities in South Korea. Even though she started out as a soloist, IU branched out into acting and Hotel del Luna remains one of her most recognizable roles. In the drama, she plays Man-wol, the owner of the titular hotel that caters exclusively to ghosts.
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With the premise of a ghost-centered hotel, Hotel del Luna can’t be anything but filled with unique, funny, and fantastical situations as the hotel’s staff do their best to help their guests see to their unfinished business on Earth before moving on. Man-wol is an incredibly compelling character, headstrong, vain, and competent, and the main reason why Hotel del Luna is such a rewatchable show.
2
Crash Landing On You (2019-2020)
A Beautiful K-Drama Romance For The Ages
Very few shows have had the impact on South Korean pop culture as Crash Landing on You did. The story of a rich heiress who gets blown over the DMZ during a paragliding session and is brought back to South Korea by a North Korean soldier, all the while falling in love with him, made Crash Landing on You one of the highest-rated series in the history of South Korean cable television.
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Down to Crash Landing On You‘s tearful ending, it’s such a captivating story that one can’t help to return to it every once in a while, even if you already knows all its twists and turns. This incredible rewatchability potential, wherein dedicated fans simply want to experience the romance between Se-ri and Jeong-hyeok over and over again, is a true testament to just how brilliantly written and acted Crash Landing On You is.
1
Guardian: The Lonely And Great God (2016)
A Fantasy Romance Phenomenon
Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, more often known simply as Goblin, was a true phenomenon in South Korea at the time it was airing. Now it remains one of the most beloved fantasy romance K-dramas to come out in the past decade, and rightfully so. Everything about Goblin is incredible, from the stellar performances of lead actors Gong Yoo and Kim Go-Eun to its plot, detailing the beautiful, heartbreaking romance between the immortal Goblin and his Goblin’s Bride.
The show is also known as Goblin because that is the English translation of the word dokkaebi,the particular creature that the drama’s main character is supposed to be. A dokkaebi is a powerful, awe-inspiring creature that can have many different physical appearances.
While there’s no shortage of fantasy romances to be found in the grand variety of the K-drama medium, very few leave audiences with that same feeling of bittersweet happiness in the way Goblin does. That’s what makes it the perfect piece to return to many times, as well as the genuinely funny skits that happen between the leading trio, which, besides Gong Yoo and Kim Go-Eun, includes Lee Dong-wook as a Grim Reaper.
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