Ranking Dramas I Watched In 2024

In my list of: 'The GOAT Dramas That Will Stay With Me Forever'

Without spoiling anything, one of the best Korean dramas ever. Full on emotional rollercoster. A true slice of life. Severely underrated. I hope more people watch this gem instead of trashy populars.  The score here angers me, but at least it's rightfully a 9.0 on douban. That says a lot since it is too hard to reach even 8.0 on douban. 

Strongly and highly recommended. 

In my list of: 'The GOAT Dramas That Will Stay With Me Forever'

This short and low budget drama happens to be the highest rated period drama on douban (8.6). People called it a dark horse. Now that I watched it, I realized why. Because this drama is so well done! The budget was smartly used and the makers of the show truly cared about the story. This is a passion project which is remake of a series of FMV an user on BiliBili made taking Liu Yi Fei & Zhu Yi Long as main leads. This drama exists all thanks to that user, so I want to appreciate them for it. 

A fun fact: you can watch this show in reverse order too, from ep 14 to ep 1. However, I'd say that you watch it in it's intended order first and then rewatch it in reverse.

The cinematography was amazing, the production quality was amazing, the lighting was amazing, the acting was amazing, the music was amazing, & the story was amazing too. Everything in this was amazing. The rain scene from episode 7 was so well done I could not help but rewatch it over and over again. 

I highly highly highly recommend this show. Also, after watching the show, do read this analysis. If you hadn't noticed all the details in this before, this article would make you realise how well done and attentive to details this show is: https://www.tumblr.com/dramavixen/727755290489094144/for-those-who-arent-quite-over-an-ancient-love?source=share

CW

This is bound to go in my list 'The GOAT Dramas That Will Stay With Me Forever'

One of the best wuxia shows with mystery, investigation, & action being the key themes. This also had a few side murder mystery cases which were highly well done. They leave enough clues for the viewers so that the viewers can solve the mystery alongside JBZ. I really loved that aspect of this show. I went back several times to study clues in detail and find out the killers before JBZ's revelations. Also, the main mystery was well done too. They provide clues for the viewer to guess it before it is revealed, and if you pay enough attention from episode 1 itself they give you clues. 

Another thing to love here was how subtly feminist it was. All females were strong and smart. I couldn't find a single weak female character in this, including even smallest of supporting roles. FL was a lethal and powerful assassin, SFL(paired with SML) was a smart femme fatale, and I don't want to give spoilers by revealing other female characters, as many appear later into the show. 

Also, the bromance was amazing. JBZ & ZWH were like soul mates. YXX & SMD were also very interesting. 

I would highly recommend you guys to watch this show. Better than many overrated shows on MDL. This should have the same rating as 'Reset' here on MDL according to me, as it was as interesting, detailed, intriguing, and well done as Reset. 

Amazing crime drama. One of the best. 11/10 based on my enjoyment and the emotional impact. 9.5/10 when looked at logically. Logically there were a few unanswered questions(related to very minor things tho) and mistakes seen towards the end. However, the emotional impact and enjoyment were sky high. This was addictive and very creative. I enjoyed it as much as 'Reset'. 

Also, female characters are very well written here. I can see why 'Delicious Romance' is so well loved. Also, it is a feminist show. I just love it when shows depict feminism without being preachy about it. This is one such show.

Despite the few faults, I couldn't bring myself to rate it any lower than 10. I highly recommend this mystery, thriller, and crime drama.

CW

As good as I expect of the Reply series. I really love this director-screenwriter duo. They create the best slice of life Korean dramas. Even with the FL having the kind of a personality that I have strong dislike towards, Lee Woo Jung writes them and the show in such a manner that I won't dislike them. Loving every moment of this. Truly a blessing in kdrama world.

CW

Although this one is not as good as expected from cinematography and CGI's point of view, the story is pulling. I never thought I would be interested in this kind of a drama or like this kind of a FL, but Yang Zi (also Deng Lun) is making it worth it. I wasn't so sure if I would have loved her as a childish character, but she has pulled off Jin Mi so well. She has given some of the most funny and interesting expressions here. I know what awaits ahead, and I am not a fan of that kind of a plot; but this drama could be an exception with how addictive it is.

CW

One of the physically strongest FL in a Chinese period drama. She is VERY VERY strong. One of the major reasons I love Chinese historicals is that they have the strongest/smartest FL's you could have seen.

The cinematography and production quality is great! Although set design is historically inaccurate according to Chinese people, but since this is so interesting I am willing to let it go and think of it as a fictional dynasty. 

CW

• Good Things:
  • Zhao Li Ying.
  • Strong, smart and capable FL. Also badass.
  • Interesting plot.
  • Good Acting
  • Interesting female villain
• Bad Things:
  • Production quality, cinematography, and lighting are bad even for 2016. 
  • Fashion in this does not really look accurate to the era it is set in.  

Overall, I'd say that I am watching this drama due to the 5 positive points I mentioned. I love ZLY. Also, China makes best strong/smart female leads (contrary to what most people believe, a lot of strongest and smartest FLs I have seen are from Chinese shows) and this show's FL is also one such FL. The plot seems interesting and captures emotions well, and the acting here is really good. I actually feel sad in moments I am supposed to feel sad. I love villains that have depth to their character rather than those that are evil for the sake of being evil. The main villainess here has a really sad story, and I totally understand her turning bad. Given her conditions, there was no going back for her. 

However, the production quality, cinematography and costumes are not doing well with me. With all these combined, I don't get the feeling that I am watching a Minguo drama at all. The production quality is rather bad even for the time of it's released. 'Battle of Changsha', 'The Disguiser', 'Tientsin Mystic', 'The Mystic Nine' & 'Sparrow' were released either before or at the same time around RAR, yet their production quality was very good. Also, the outfits that FL wear look too modern to belong to 1930s China. Someone made a blog post on this matter too explaining how different the fashion of 1930s China actually used to be. 

However, this is still billion times better than that trash 'Love O2O' which is somehow higher rated and more popular than this drama (both were 2016 shows). 

I think this is the best BL I have seen till date. Their chemistry was electrifying. Short, sweet, to the point, & highly romantic. Beautiful.

W is such a creative drama that explores so many things that comes to an imaginative person's mind when they think of a situation like that of the drama. It explored so many things that similar dramas made after this one had not dared to explore. The twists got me EVERY SINGLE TIME! It is so hard for me to get hooked with a drama, usually I don't even finish a whole episode before taking a break. But this one has my full interest, so much that I had to force myself to stop binging. I found the romance good, but I felt that they could have been given more sweet scenes. 2nd half got quite messy and we barely got happy moments. However, I still enjoyed it and will definitely come back to rewatch the romantic scenes and my favorite twists. 

Just like W, MOTA was a very creative drama full of twist and turns. I have to say: Song Jae Jung is an amazing screenwriter. Although I do admit that she is not the best as she messes up the show towards the end and we also come across plot holes, but the enjoyment that I get from the good things in her writing far exceed the flaws in them. I look forward to watching 'Nine: Nine Times Time Travel', 'Queen In Hyeon's Man', & 'Yumi's Cells'(it seems different from her usual scripts). 

As for the drama, I loved the thriller part the most. Romance, not so much. W had better romance compared to this. Also, as others might've pointed out, I wish that FL also contributed more towards the gaming story. Although I don't dislike her like others, she isn't a favorite. Also, this had way less mess in second half than W, and I am happy about that. But still, I felt that the last 2 episodes could have been done better. I was left with many questions at the end and recognized a few plot holes as well. 

I would still recommend this show as I feel it deserved higher ratings, maybe 8.4. It was a very engaging show. 

One thing I love about China is it does period dramas the best. I have watched Korean rom-com historicals before, and was only able to finish one with ton lots of fast-forwarding. All of them had 3 main flaws: the boring political part overpowering the comedy, had too much angst for a comedy, or had the weakest FL I had ever seen that annoyed me to the core *looks at Hwarang, LITM, &  TTON*. 

This was my 2nd Chinese rom-com period drama, 1st being The Killer is Also Romantic(which I absolutely LOVED), and I must say, Chinese always understand the assignment. Although there were moments where we had misunderstandings, and 'pushing you away for your own good' part (first time saw a FL doing that tho, truly a reversal show) that resulted in me giving an 8 instead of 9 as I had planned; but it still remained a comedy filled show with a FL that remains constant in her personality, and not turning weak after being strong for 2 or 3 episodes *looks at TTON & LITM*. There are tons of well done comedy scenes here, and none of them use cheap comedy tricks. 

The comedy and the FL was the primary highlight of the show for me. I dare anyone say ZLS can't act well since she is the one that made me love this show so much. I enjoyed DYX's acting as well and he did a great job here. The cute moments were really cute and not cringy, and their playful bantering was enjoyable. ZLS was such a drama queen in this one. Her comedic timing is perfect. Also, I loved ML's parents. Her mother was another highlight of the show for me. 

Huayuan was a matriarchal city and it truly felt like one. There were so many subtle details with how men & women behave, even in background that it truly feels like a female dominating society. The production was not high budget, but they used their budget well and managed to create a show which is better than many high budget productions. I would recommend people to watch this drama as it is one of a kind show.

'Zhang Gong Zhu Zai Shang' couple paired again, and just like ZGZZS they had amazing chemistry. Did well for their budget.

Nice short drama with amazing lead chemistry. They did well for the budget and time they had.

A good dark thriller. The storytelling is very different here and reminds me a bit of Rusty Lake's Cube Escape game series. I enjoyed my time watching this

CW 

Just watched the 1st episode. Cinematography is very aesthetic here, and I am loving the feels it gives. Male lead seems like an interesting character. Hopefully it turns out to be an good show.

It was a very entertaining ride. Sure the logic was all over the place and stupid, haywire things kept happening, but if you put your logic away and watch it just for entertainment, you would enjoy this a lot. To me, if a show is not very entertaining then I'll point out all sorts of mistakes in frustration and rant about every inaccuracy, but if it is capable of entertaining me well, then I'll let even huge mistakes, plot holes, and logic flaws slide. This right over here is entertaining enough for me to ignore otherwise rant worthy things.  

• This has got amazing action scenes. 
• I love the BGMs and the OSTs in this. 
• CYJ is an interesting villainess. I don't support CYJ, but I love her as a villain. She is a layered villain. 
• I don't hate Anna like the others. She is the way she is due to the kind of life she had lived. It wouldn't make sense for such a woman to be a badass babe. 
• I like the lead romance too. 
• This show has a slow start, and for the first 2 episodes you might feel bored like I did, but trust me it gets better. Although illogical, this gets very entertaining from episode 3 onwards. 
• Also, this is one of those shows that is not that interesting at the start, but it gets better in the middle and pulls you in towards the end. The last 3 episodes were very happening and I was fully engaged. I did not skip or fast-forward like I usually do to many average dramas at the ending episodes.

All in all, I would recommend this show for those who are in search of a brainless entertainment which involves action and romance. 

I let go of my previous reservations of this show and decided to try it out. It turned out to be better than what I thought of it to be. Although it does have it's flaws, but overall it was a pleasant watch. 

Things I loved:

• The cinematography. I especially enjoyed the Joseon part, the scenes with the sea, and the aquarium scene.
• Jun Ji Hyun. She is incredible in both her looks and acting. She is so classy, she looks gorgeous even if she wears clothing from trash. And her acting was too good. Only an actress like her can play Shim Chung without annoying you, and making you love her instead. 
• The comedy. I really found the comedic scenes funny.
• Those little previews at the end are not to be missed. I wished I got to see them in later half
• OST was really good. I especially loved the song 'hidden story'.
• One of the first Korean drama to show past life connection, and it did really well at it. 

Things I disliked:

• At times, ML was way too possessive for my taste. Telling her not to wear short clothes and putting a curfew on her did not sit right with me. But I must say, he was very loving and never misunderstood her.
• The inheritance and evil stepmother story. It was very old school. I was glad they kept minimal focus on it in the first half tho.

Good enough parody of all kinds of period Chinese dramas. Very creative show. It was very funny at certain parts and not so funny at few other parts. Overall, recommended this to people who have watched tons of period Chinese shows. 

It was a good drama and I really enjoyed watching it, but from episode 19 I started to fast forward and skip. I might probably rewatch the entertaining parts of this show again someday. This was actually a good romcom that should have ended by episode 18, if note episode 16. If only the makers did not drag this show, I would have given this a 8.5/10 rating. 

This drama had all elements that annoy me in Korean shows, but I ended up enjoying it. The rude ML didn't annoy me for the first time. The screaming didn't bother me. This was messy. Very messy. However, this mess was the most entertaining mess ever. However, due to the dragging of the show to 24 episodes instead of 16, the mess became less entertaining and more annoying. After they started to date, ML started to behave in a manner I did not like much. However, I shipped PNR with him only. 

The comedy in this is what I loved the most. I laughed a lot while watching this. I also discovered that 1994 song 'Wrongful Encounter' through this. 

On Hold 11/24

Watching this for the old drama vibes. Unlike Taiwanese & Japanese old yet timeless dramas, Korean old shows (most of them, with few exceptions) aged very badly. But what I like about them is the vibe they give off through their old style cinematography and mind-blowing music. One thing old Kdramas did better than new ones were in the music department. Now, many kdramas have forgettable and average OSTs.  

I feel that the FL YEH is a fit for her cutsey role like Ariel Lin in ISWAK, and very much unlike Jung So Min in the terrible Playful Kiss. The cinematography is well done in this. It will be fun to see YEH in Coffee Prince afterwards as her character in that is complete opposite from that of her character here.

As for the ML, I want to kill him. He is a horrible a**hole. At least he can act unlike the ML of Playful Kiss. 

On Hold 13/32

Ok, so after it jumped to present the magic starts to fade away a bit for me. The teenage actors were both so good in their respective roles. However, as I am watching the adult version of both leads, they don't really give the same feeling as their teenage self. The FL still seems a bit like her teenage self, but the ML. THE MALE LEAD's ACTING IS TERRIBLE. Oh my god. I have never seen Jang Ki Yong before and this is my first show with him, but his acting leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

People might say that it is what his character is like, but I would counter that point by asking: "then what about the teenage actor for the ML? How did he portray the same character a 1000 times better?" He acted the personality of his character so well. He also played a nice, calm, and reclusive character so well. And whenever he had adoration for FL, you can feel it through his expressions. 

JKY however is so bad at portraying the character that his nice and righteous self appears to be so caricature like. He just appears to repeat all the righteous lines with no emotions, making him look like some sort of a robot. He speaks all the lines with a blank expression on his face, and all the actions that he does gives off 'I am the ML'. 

Also, the reporters. Damn the reporters. Is life so makjang-ish in Korea? Because that is what it felt like from what I saw. This is supposed to be a healing and realistic show. Give me the harsh reality, not over dramatized reality.  Whenever any reporter appears on screen, it feels like the genre is suddenly switched to makjang. I know that reporters use very dirty tricks and I hate them for that too, but a reporter openly helping a psychopath killer publish an autobiography of his life and sending a copy to each of his victims is so over the top.  

Started out good enough, became average in the middle and had to watch on 2x towards the end. It became boring real quick. 3 beautiful females but I only liked NJH towards the end, despite the loath worthy things she did at the beginning. FL was a little too naive and bubbly, SFL was fiery hot and her entry was cool and all, but she quickly became pathetic and made me lose interest. I found lead chemistry averagish in the beginning, but they became so boring towards the end that I skipped their slow mo scenes and even their kisses! Both of the actors have better characters in their other dramas. All in all, this was BORING.

Dropped 11/35

Zhou Yu Tong is pretty much the only reason why I was watching this. I can understand why this show fascinated so many people when it released back then. I was one of the people who was also happy to see an overbearing female CEO for once. And Zhou Yu Tong acted her role so well. Also, her fashion here is just sooo good. ZYT was carrying this show alone. If not for her, I would have not even started watching it. 

I care next to nothing about anyone apart from her in this show. Yeah, occasionally ML says respectful things and is nice to her, which I like. But his acting and role is not really impressive. He is a surgeon with so much free time. I can let go of this while watching rom-coms because I don't care about unrealistic profession portrayals in romcoms when they serve. This one does not serve. 

And while I am not that fond of ML, he is still okay when compared to the other characters in the show. Simon guy is irritating and super unnecessary, and Cai Si Yu girl is a total turn off in the show. It was as if the show makers couldn't resist the temptation of adding a stupid, childish, poorly dressed, quirky, warm, poor, and clumsy 'everyday girl' stereotypical FL that is 'different from other girls' into the show and hence made her the SFL. Worse of it all, she is paired with the Simon guy, who is like every other idol modern drama ML: overbearing, rich, and cold. These 2 form the 2nd couple, which is too similar to the usual cheap idol dramas favourite 'Overbearing CEO & Cinderella' trope. 

Then that TPP. She was supposed to be a frenemy of FL, but why is she this screechy and annoying. Her pouting and childish speaking & childish actions are ANNOYING TO THE MAX. I think they will make her and FL friends later on, but I can't bear the journey which finally leads them there. 

Dropped 8/20

I thought I would love this due to a smart and capable female and a soft and nice guy and would be able to ignore the bad parts, but the historical inaccuracies are getting too much and it is irritating me. On top of that, it got boring.

I can't shake off the fact that how much 21st century like this show is. It really is a cosplay show than a historical. Especially annoying is when they keep switching from behaving like how they should in Joseon to behaving like 21st century people. Too inconsistent. Females drink and willingly do hazing rituals with their superiors that are all male, and their families have no problem. Then all of a sudden the women are bullied by court women for being female historians and labeling them as 'women of the king' since all women in the palace are just that. The drama cannot decide whether it wants to be a cosplay show or a proper historical. It is mostly a cosplay show tho. And the show takes itself seriously rather than being aware of their inaccuracies and making it more fun by doing absurd or campy stuff, which would have honestly been very fun. 

Every new and successful method of medicine is being credited to Western Europe or England; when in reality the English and West had only recently discovered these method through their expeditions and these practices had existed long before in Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and the Islamic Medicine. I did a little research on the methods they were talking about and can say it with confidence that the English DID NOT invent these methods. Nothing irritates me more than the West getting credited for things they discovered very late when the rest of the world had long invented and practiced these things. Looking back at it, the show portrayed FL's smarts by showing how she mostly read Western European literature and looked up to their lifestyle. Truly pathetic in my opinion. 

Dropped 6/16

Cannot believe that it has the same screenwriter who wrote one of my absolute favourite 'WFKBJ'. This drama is so much different than WFKBJ. I can sense no chemistry between leads. Honestly, I can't see why anyone will see any chemistry between these 2. The ML loves another girl (who, again as seen commonly in Kdramas from 2015 and earlier, was a much better of a female character than the FL. She is amazing till the much I saw of her.) And when he seems to get over her, he barely gets to interact with the actual FL. Most of the interactions are with the ghost, yet the show tries so hard to push the fact that he likes the actual FL. Which is unbelievable because of how much annoyed he was by her in ep.1. Without the ghost, he would have not even given her another look. 

And coming to the FL, she is such a poor representation of an introvert. As an introvert myself, I hated her character the most. She was bland as a cardboard. She apologizes endlessly for EVERY. SINGLE. THING. Even for breathing. Her character could have worked for a psychological friendship drama, or even with an understanding, kind, and warmhearted guy. But the ML here with this rude personality is the worst pairing for her. 

Overall, I'd recommend that you avoid this one.   

Dropped 15/30

HOW THE HECK DID THIS GET SO POPULAR AND WELL RATED? I saw comments where people said they rewatched this 4-5 times. I can only wonder about the taste of those people because this is SO BORING!!! I started FFWing and skipping since 3rd ep. Finally at ep 15, I decided I cannot take it anymore.

The acting is so bad. Both ZS & YY are bad actors. I remember there was this scene where her facial expressions were being shown as she pooped in early episodes. That scene was so horrendous it made me laugh. What exactly was the actress even doing? And the ML, all that he does is speak slowly and stare into nothingness as camera focuses on showing how handsome he is.

The characters are so bad. They promise you a smart FL, but that is all a trap. WW is the worst and weakest FL I have seen. Her inner thoughts are all about how great the ML is. Some of her worst thoughts include her thinking she has to work hard to be capable of being called MLs girlfriend. Also, FL is shown as a great gamer, but not greater than ML and 4 other male players. Because FL can be smart, but not smarter than the ML. And our ML, who is barely shown working is the smartest person on this planet who can hack any site within seconds.

Healthy relationship my a**. He stalks her before meeting her in person, even going as far as to hacking her laptop. I read comments on YT and was horrified at how the audience was fangirling at his stalking. The way he talks with FL is so condescending. FL behaves as if she is his maid.

The female portrayal was so bad. This is a huge misogynic & sexist show, because every other female except for FL & her friends is a b*tch for no apparent reason. Every other female plays the game to act cute and pitiful to score boyfriends and date in real life.

The filters are so bad. WW looks like a ghost due to those filters.

There are 100s of better modern cdramas to watch than this trash.

Dropped 3/20

I did not think this would have been this bad. But it was awful. As awful as Boys Over Flowers (Korean). I want my 3 hours back. This was that bad. 

The FL was one of those FLs that was strong in name only. Her intro was cool, but then soon we see her pathetic self. She tells the ML that she is not a pushover, but she is the biggest pushover ever, uttering 'sorry' for even breathing. She told all the rookie stunt doubles that this is a respected profession and we should have self respect as their coach, but she herself behaves like such a huge pushover it annoyed me. She apologized when it was not her fault, she apologized when there was no apology needed. Her sorrys were too much to bear. 

Add on to that the ML, who is rude and annoying. He falls in love with her, for which FL bears no responsibility. Yet he had the audacity to lash out at her that why can't she dress up and why is she so dirt poor and why is she messing with his heart, yada yada. He told her why can't she have little conscience and acknowledge his feelings, when he himself never confessed to her, and even if he did; she has no responsibility to accept his trashy a**. It was at this scene that I could bear no more and dropped this hot piece of sh*t right away. 

Will start watching after 'Reply 1994' Will rank once I start watching.

Will start watching after completing 'DAYS'. Will rank it once I start watching.

Will start watching after completing 'Come And Hug Me'. Will rank it once I start watching.

Will start watching after completing 'Rookie Agent Rouge'. Will rank it once I start watching.

Will start in the rainy season. It seems perfect for that time.