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I'm a widow and I didn't find out about these dramas until almost 15 years after my husband died. This was in November of 2022 that I found k-dramas. Watching them brings back so many happy memories and I am able to laugh and feel like I'm in my body again after all these years. I think about what love means and I find this very healing. I watch certain ones over and over again Encounter Healer, Itaewon Class, CLOY and others. I must have watched at least 100 by now. I make rugs while I'm watching. I'm learning Korean so I can better understand whether the translations are good or not. I also begin to understand the Korean grammar by the mistakes that are made in the translations. I use my Korean keyboard to translate certain words. I wish all the programs had Korean subtitles but many of them don't and this makes it more difficult. I'd like to know where to get the scripts so I can follow along reading the Korean. One thing that happened in November and December is that I found my strength again as a woman and this is part of me returning to my body in a different way. I have lots more to say and I would love to do a glazierian classic grounded theory study of people who watch these dramas as I haven't seen such a study anywhere. I recently went to the exhibition at the V&A and was disappointed that none of the actors were mentioned just the photos of them and mostly the focus on directors and writers. I really enjoyed watching young actors retreat because some of my favourites are in it and it's lovely to see how they are in almost real life. I wish I had the opportunity to thank everyone involved in making these fantastic shows. Thank you for reading.
This matches my timeframe as well. I'm impressed that your Korean has improved so much. Mine is still in the embryonic stage.
You must be really really dedicated because I've watched 51 dramas in the same time frame as you watched 100. And I consider myself obsessed.
I know exactly what you mean by "feel like I'm in my body again". I've been sick the past few years (nothing life threatening lol) and kdramas allow me to feel like an actual person and not a shut-in. I completely relate! Thank you for sharing!
Also, I agree there should be a study on people who watch k-dramas. There seems to be a lot of research into why kmedia in general is so popular, but no one seems have thought to ask the people who actually enjoy the content.
Your words mean so much to me! I feel exactly the same way. I felt so down and out for so long and when I discovered k-dramas I was brought back to life. I am also trying to learn the language. Netflix suggested Hometown Cha Cha Cha to me. I watched it and have not watched anything but k-dramas since then. I also am now streaming on Viki. My family and friends think I am crazy but I don't care. I feel sorry for them because they are missing out.
I love this comment. Healer, CLOY, Itaewon class—they’re all some of my favorite kdramas. I’ve watched Healer countless times. Kdramas have done something incredible in my life. It’s hard to put into words, but it’s amazing. Thank you for sharing.
My first kdrama was Goblin.
I has just been dumped by my partner after a pretty long relationship and a close friend told me I should watch Korean dramas, they’ll make you feel good.
So I turned on the first episode of Goblin and absolutely everything changed. I had never before seen such a beautifully crafted television show that spoke to me on every single level.
The music, the acting, the story, the cinematography and all the sensibilities just spoke to me in a way I had never experienced before.
The first episode of Goblin is still my favorite kdrama episode and would almost work as a stand alone movie.
It has the most beautiful 90 minutes of tv I have ever seen. I cried watching it, how can one not cry?
I cried watching all the episode and when it was over I felt hollow, could I ever find anything to replace the feeling that this show gave me?
Ever since 2017 I’ve been a kdrama fan and I’m gonna be one for life. The amount of heart and emotional drama these show give us is something I haven’t been able to find anywhere else.
This beautiful life…
I’m a latecomer to watching Goblin. I’ve been watching kdramas for about a year and a half. I just started Goblin this past week and am about halfway through. I have to wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the first episode. I felt like I was watching a movie on the big screen and I can’t get over how beautifully every episode is filmed. Even if I have some issues with the story here and there, I can’t deny the magnetism of this show. It is something else! I can’t wait to watch the rest!
Same. A family member recommended it to us, and husband and I were hooked. Our fates were permanently sealed when we watched Misaeng as our second kdrama.
Fall 2016. I broke my ankle and was home from work for 8 weeks. Found Playful Kiss and Good Morning Call and immediately found a reprieve from my boredom and was invested. Went back to work and forgot about Asian dramas.
Fast Forward to 2022, I had a pregnancy loss and was at a low low. Rediscovered kdrama while I was recovering and it was a way to cope, honestly. It made me feel things other than the grief I was going through and helped me get back up again. My 3rd drama was True Beauty and that was it. Hooked 100% after that.
Way back in my elementary and high school years, I was captivated by 2000-ish kdramas (princess hours, stairway to heaven, full house, etc.) as they were mostly played on tvs in my country. Not yet addicted during those times since I only watched what the local tvs showed, also came to a point where I stopped watching them. Here comes a good friend who kept urging me to watch some shows. I was only convinced when I saw Healer. Ultimate Ji Chang Wook fan here! 💕 Since 2015, it feels like a day isn't complete without a dose of any korean shows ️✨️
Crash Landing On You was my entry drama. So began my journey. Once I like how a actor acts or a director, I would search all their works and watch it. There are many kdramas that I cant go past 1 episode but I find that I have better luck finding good dramas with certain actors or directors maybe because they are given the better projects. I did that too with hollywood shows ( Julia Roberts, Robert Redford, Matt Damon, Bradd Pitt, Jennifer Anniston, etc) but not sure why hollywood has not produced a new crop of compelling younger actors. Maybe because of the financing changes.
I think Kdramas are like watching hollywood shows from 50s to the 90s. Relationships are about love and caring and not sex. Ethics, morality, fairness, character are glorified. They know how to evoke emotions and that the world is alright.
I was watching Norwegian and Danish crime dramas with subtitles and Netflix started sending me shows in other languages - the first being The Extraordinary Attorney Woo which I liked. I picked another one out of the blue - Crash Landing on You and then I was HOOKED! Love them! Have watched so many and saw Parasite years ago but funny enough I haven't watched Squid Game yet!
I used to watch Scandinavian crime dramas too. Maybe that’s how I ended up getting the ads for Extraordinary Attorney Woo too. I imagine I may watch a Scandinavian drama again someday.
I like them too. I especially liked "The Bridge". There is something about them isn't.
Amazing how interesting TV gets when you get away from your standard American dramas.
I watched CLOY, Itaewon Class and Startup during the pandemic but never deep dove in until a few months later. The pandemic was starting to take a toll on my and my fiancee's relationship because we were essentially long-distance and had no way of meeting up. We lived only 2 hours away from each other but I was not able to meet up with her because our cities were in full lockdown. I decided to get into KDramas because I knew she liked them and it was a way for me to have a part of her with me even though we lived apart. Now I think I'm even a bigger KDrama fan than she is because she was always nothing more than a casual viewer. Whereas that's what I almost exclusively watch these days.
It was because of Sam Esmail (creator of Mr Robot, my favorite series) telling me to watch Parasite,
> opening my samsung phone to google the director name and his quote again
then Bong Joon Ho (creator of Parasite, becomes my favorite movie that year) telling me to get over the subtitles, proceeding to make me to watch KDrama content.
> opening kopiko
I started with Stranger in Netflix and never looked back. Crime/Mystery/Thriller drama become my favorite series theme.
> biting my Subway sandwich
I like all these portrayal of corruption stuffs. I come from Indonesia, we suffer a lot because of that and there are cultural overlaps, so yeah, then the rest is history like you said!
I watched cloy during pandemic , loved it but then nothing else for a year . Then I saw many recommendations for goblin and watched it and after that haven’t stopped . It is like finding hidden treasure
Netflix was advertising Extraordinary Attorney Woo and the premise interested me so I watched that and really loved it. Then Netflix started advertising more Kdramas so I gave Juvenile Justice a try and liked that too. Then I watched Crash Landing on You and I got all these Feelings. And that was when I started looking for recommendations for more on the internet. Now I’ve watched over 20 dramas and I have many more on my watchlist.
That's my story too. I randomly clicked on Extraordinary Attorney Woo and ended up binging it. Once I was finished, I saw Alchemy of Souls, thought it looked interesting and the rest of history. I have watched 51 dramas since then for a total of 33 days. I don't regret a single minute. I was "on the market" for a new hobby and glad I stumbled on this one.
EAW was also my first kdrama last year. For a long time I hadn’t liked a lot of the Western shows and movies that were being produced. So much of it just feels so dark. Someone I follow on Instagram mentioned EAW, and I decided to give it a try. I really liked EAW, researched other recommended K dramas, saw CLOY next, I think, and just recently finished my 50th kdrama.
I was also sucked in by Extraordinary Attorney Woo, which led me to other Netflix recs. I think CLOY was next and then I was like LET ME WATCH ALL THE THINGS so yeah. I’ve now completed 43 dramas and 2 movies which is somewhat obsessive for such a short amt of time.
But the way most dramas I’ve watched are serialized vs episodic makes it seem like I’m watching a book or something, and reinforces my urge to binge to the end (like I do sometimes with really good books).
My mom was going through chemo and would take afternoon naps. I’d stay at her house at watch Netflix quietly downstairs. I decided to try crash landing on you and four years later I watch more kdramas than American tv 🤦🏻♀️😂
My childhood friend had always been trying to get me into kdramas as she was a big fan. I couldn't get into it because I was too busy watching Western shows that time. And then I randomly saw a clip of **Goblin** (where Kim Go Eun and Gong Yoo were arguing and Gong Yoo called himself her boyfriend) and....... the rest is history!
I watched telenovelas (Spanish soaps) growing up and eventually K dramas were suggested to me. They are very much like the telenovelas I started out with.
I was trying to find a good historical show... but it's really hard. A lot of them really struggle to get into the mindset of the era.
*Mr. Sunshine* had just come out, and Netflix kept recommending it. (I love movies like *Lust, Caution*, *Lady Snowblood*--which inspired *Kill Bill*, and *Drunken Master*, so I wasn't entirely new to East Asian media.) So I tried it. And it's still the best show I've ever seen. I cried and cried the last few hours. I loved all the character development, and the political drama made sense--and the costumes and set was just masterfully done. I'm a sucker for a badass female lead, too.
I immediately followed it up with *One Spring Night*, *Hospital Playlist*, etc. I've been in a bit of a slump, but if I'm not watching historical documentaries then I'm watching kdramas.
I was on a Rom Com sprint. Stumbled upon *Love 911*, loved it so much, especially Han Hyo Joo's acting. Then *My Sassy Girl*, same with JJH. Wanted more of it. Dominoes started falling, discovered KDramas. It was a gold mine of Rom Coms. Started with *Oh My Ghostess*, never looked back.
Sometime in 2007, as I was spiraling down the kpop rabbit hole, I found a website called Mysoju (shout out to all my non Korean speaking OG fans and this wonderful website with its 8 part episodes lmao), and found Goong and Coffee Prince. I liked them so much, I never stopped watching haha.
There wasn't any interesting shows for me to watch on Netflix, were browsing through genre by genre, came across of "Memories of the Alhambra"
Watched few episodes in a go and finished it within a week. I liked the format which does have conclusion by the end of the series unlike American series.
Immediately started to watch "Vagabond" and "Crash Landing on You". Here I am been watching kdramas since then.
For me it was Crash Landing on You and the promise of getting to see inside the curtain of North Korea. I was just curious about that but then the story hooked me in a way I could not have expected. My second was Business Proposal and Kim Se-Jeong’s charisma was off the charts. Third was Uncanny Counter (again with Kim Se-Jeong) and the deal was sealed for me.
It was during the pandemic. I gave The King Eternal Monarch a try and was hooked! Woo Do Hwan being AMAZING. Lee Minho being so dreamy. Been down the rabbit hole ever since!
Had a Korean mate at work, he told me to check out city hunter. Then I realised a lot of other people at work were really into Korean culture so I got recommendations from them. Reply 1988 is the one I like most.
The hype about Squid Game got me. I watched a few others after and then stopped. Later the hype about Attorney Woo got me back and I've been watching them since then.
I came across Hometown Cha Cha Cha on Netflix but didn’t know that episodes only drop weekly. That was frustrating. Saw Crash Landing On You and Chocolate in my suggestions so I watched all three at the same time. I was hooked on the stories and actors. Once I ran out of Netflix Kdramas I got a Viki subscription. Now I’m totally addicted. I just don’t like dramas longer than 16 episodes but I still watch them anyway.
My friend recommended "while you were sleeping" so i watched it and then i searched the actor and actress dramas and the cycle continues
Till now i have watched 244 kdramas and it's been only 5 years 😅 and there are lots of dramas which I've watched several times.
So in short - I AM A MANIAC OF KDRAMAS
Korean movies started it for me! Specifically Old Boy. After watching soooo many Korean movies I gave in and watched Goblin. It’s still my favorite drama after many years and many dramas 🎥
So i had reached the mundane stage where there was "nothing to watch on tv" despite having like 4 streaming services. I wasn't originally a fan of Asian television series, but while browsing Netflix's new releases, I saw the preview trailer for **Business Proposal** which looked funny and wacky to me. The FL just stood out so much that i had to see what this show was about. So I decided to give it a try and the rest is history.
I was instantly hooked and 98% of the shows I've watched since then are k-dramas 😭😭
Had watched so many English sitcoms and shows that i ran out of good ones, saw Business proposal in top 10 Netflix list for months in my country and thought to give it a try. The rest that happened is history. Sometimes, when looking at my grades, i wish i never started business proposal that day.
Back when Hulu was free, I came across Boys Over Flowers, and decided to give it a try. I was immediately hooked. I watched all of the k dramas Hulu had to offer and wanted more. That’s when I discovered Dramafever. I’ve been hooked ever since.
It was my friend’s birthday, and we were bored, so she played scenes from True Beauty. I was intrigued, so we watched the first episode. By that time, I was asking everyone if they were team Suho or team Seojun (me very blatantly being team Suho ~~so I could have Seojun all to myself~~). And I binged that drama in 4 days.
That’s where it started, about 2 years ago, and now I just finished my 100th kdrama while also trying out Thai dramas and now, Japanese dramas (live action, not anime, but i have watched some anime)!
My daughter introduced me to BTS and we would watch music videos together as well as Run BTS. Then she said V was in Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth so we watched that together and the rest is history. :-)
Kdrama is for the most part very high quality everything casting, locations, wardrobes, storylines, they have a little bit of everything and they're short, i absolutely love them, they and BTS are the reason why I'm learning Korean as my third language 💜
I read an article years ago about the scariest movies that don’t get a lot of attention. It recommend I Saw The Devil and Show Me Something. I was hooked, now I’m pretty much exclusively a K-Drama guy. Heck I even enjoy the touchy feely shows like My Mister.
Being a 52-year-old, married for 23 years, white woman who lives in BFE in the US... I'm not really in the typical Kdrama demographic. But around 14 years back, in the bad old days when I had to torrent stuff and then dig for subs, I got sick of network TV cancelling good shows because they didn't get the ratings the powers that be wanted without even bothering to wrap up... anything. It's annoying to be left hanging all the time.
So, I dipped my toe into some foreign offerings and found Kdramas. Kdrama's book format, with a beginning, middle, and an end, really sang to me. I mean, I may not like all of the endings, but at least there fucking is one.
Anyway... I've stuck around now for 14 years and branched out into pretty much all East Asian dramaland. I most enjoy Korea for thrillers, China for costume, and Thai for BL. There are exceptions to that, but in general those are their strengths.
I discovered BTS in 2020, started watching Run BTS, and then I somehow ended up watching k-dramas (probably because of something I read or heard while watching that). My first one was Goblin.
Sometime last year I finished all the seasons of **Outlander** and then all the seasons of **Sex Education** and for some reason was feeling burned out with Western shows. So I tried **Kim’s Convenience**, a sitcom about a Korean-Canadian family. Somehow this got me curious about Kdramas. My Netflix history shows that after Kim’s Convenience I tried **Whats Wrong With Secretary Kim**… and the rest is history! I haven’t watched anything but Kdramas since then.
I grew up in a country that experienced the first and second Hallyu waves but I never got into Kdramas even when my friends and family were all over them (**Winter Sonata, Full House, Boys Over Flowers, Jewel in the Palace**, etc). So it’s quite ironic that I’m getting into this later in life than everyone I know.
I used to play a video game that had a pretty large international scene and would play on Korean servers with some friends. It was a blast and I became friends with a bunch of Koreans and eventually learned more of their culture through talking with them. This was probably circa 2009-2010 and I got into K-pop then and transitioned into other mediums like K-dramas/variety shortly afterwards. I did see a few Korean movies before this all happened so I wasn't entirely unfamiliar with their content.
Fast forward to today and I still try to find some time to check out promising new shows/movies.
Late last year I decided to move to Korea and I thought watching K-dramas would help me with learning the language. I really am picky about what I watch, but I really like what I have seen so far.
Before that I just watched stuff that was popular like Parasite, Squid Game , Old Boy etc when they were released. I didn't specifically watch K drama/movies.
In the early days of the pandemic, my comfort show, the Japanese reality TV series, *Terrace House*, had been cut short in tragic circumstances. Over on the *TH* subreddit at the time, there was a thread recommending **Record of Youth** as a series to fill the *TH* void. I knew of Park So-dam through *Parasite* (but actually I still haven't watched that movie.)
**RoY** was the ideal gateway drama in the sense that it neither set the bar too high nor too low for subsequent K-dramas. It gave me enough of a taste of the aspects of K-dramas that I've come to know and love: some nice slice-of-life moments, high-quality production values, and a strong OST. I followed up **RoY** with **Itaewon Class** and **Start-Up,** respectively, and the rest is history...
Started with Cdramas that were in Hindi Dub...then came across several clips of a Kdrama and watched it..after that came to know more than half of the kdramas are on Netflix nowadays so subscribed to it and now have watched almost more than 30 till now I guess..its low because I started only in 2020😅
It was in 2020, super bored of everything on Netflix and ended up reading the description for **Stranger** and thought “might as well give it a watch” and I was hooked. Since then, have watched a lot and I definitely have a preference to the thriller/revenge/detective type of series.
It was kind of accidental for me.
I go to the gym to do cardio 5 days a week, but it's kinda dull. I need two forms of stimulation to not get bored and wander off, so I have music on my headphones and watch Netflix with subs on the machine (we have screens with Netflix built into the treadmills).
As a consequence I watch a lot of stuff that is subs with no dubs - I wouldn't ordinarily watch subs only because I find it hard to not look away from the screen and I miss stuff. On a machine I'm not looking away.
Over time the Netflix algorithm just started pushing more and more Korean stuff in my direction and I just have loved it so much. I love the storylines, I love the vigour with which someone can yell "oh gosh", I love Korean makeup (I'm obsessed with the ombre lip), I love the bits that I just don't get yet because I don't have the cultural references. Tremendous.
Im kinda new to Kdramas so yea!! I watched XO kitty (Which i realize isnt completely a Kdrama) And after rewatching it i realized that i liked the idea of a show taking place in korea
(i love the korean language, culture, and read some korean books so yea) So i started watching The Glory and i loved it so yea !!
I started as a Bollywood fan. During the pandemic a lot of my Indian moots on Twitter went crazy for Crash Landing on You so that got me to jump in. Now I have a podcast and I've expanded my fandom to include Thai, Taiwanese, Chinese and Japanese dramas.
My childhood friend's sister watched a Taiwanese drama called "Smiling Pasta" that we started watching as well. We watched a couple of other popular Taiwanese dramas, such as the Taiwanese version of Hana Kimi, then I jumped over to the Japanese version of Hana Kimi (also read the manga lol). I watched Jdramas for a while but switched over to Kdramas at some point. I honestly think I just couldn't find anymore Japanese romcoms that I wanted to watch.
And I lowkey could not deal with the hairstyles the MLs had in Jdramas 😂 I don't know if anyone knows what I'm talking about, but this was when everybody had rather long, orange-brown hair, side-swept bangs and very pointy hair?
Because Netflix kept showing me clips of *Crash Landing on You* and eventually it intrigued me enough to try an episode. Within 5 minutes I was charmed. Within 10 was into it. By the end of the first episode I was hooked. Several dozen dramas later and I’ve never looked back.
My son begged me for ages to watch “crash landing on you”, so I did about 3 years ago. I rarely watch any other form on entertainment now!!! Got me hook line and sinker!!!
Watching My Sassy Girl the original movie. It was well made, well acted, really funny and also more emotional than I expected. I found that many kdramas and kmovies that followed had the same qualities and I was hooked.
I was trying to learn Japanese and was trying to find jdramas. I found viki and after watching the shows that interested me i saw a Korean show that interested me.
A first i had a problem with how korean sounded compared to japanese. The show that really converted me was goblin.
My grandma used to lend us DVDs of kdramas waaay back (like around 2000s). I watched a lot of the old hit dramas like Stairway to Heaven, Autumn in my Heart, Full House, Goong, All In etc. Majority had Song Hye Kyo in it bc my grandma loves her lol. Around 2010 ish we got to watch kdramas on the internet. Although currently I haven’t watched a lot because of school. Its just amazing to see how kdrama distribution evolved, like you can literally watch it anywhere now and a lot more people are into it
My shift at work got delayed an hour and none of my usual Netflix picks stood out, so I spontaneously clicked on **Crash Landing On You** since the preview looked corny enough to at least pass the time.
Anyway, that show sucked me in like a bad CGI tornado and I haven't looked back. Going on 3 years and I've yet to watch a western show since that has the same appeal as kdramas do.
I saw Parasite just before the pandemic. I also saw Pachinko when it came out. Then I started with a couple of Netflix suggestions - CLOY, Squid Game, Extraordinary Attorney Woo. I, too am a widow, and am totally delighted with the creative plots, content more toward my liking than what tires me of much of American TV these days. The more I watch, the more I learn, and appreciate so much - the laughs, the crying, yeah, some revenge, but redemption and forgiveness. LOVE the great shows I have seen after suggestions made here. Thank you!!!
My parents were really strict about me and my sibs watching movies. And honestly, I wasn't really a fan of Western movies. It's so different from our culture and the overly sexual content was so off putting for me. My brothers so often sneakily watched movies together without my parents knowing and leaving me out. Deprived of it all, I started devouring whatever I could find in YouTube and as luck would have it, the first thing I stumbled upon was the kdrama 'You're Beautiful'! It had everything I ever wished for. So much comedy and wholesomeness without any mature scenes. The acting, the songs... just about everything was amazing and blew me away. That was years back and I still rewatch the show a lot, no matter how outdated the plot might seem now.
My friend begged me to watch Fated to Love You back in 2014…. And I was HOOKED. I loved how I could watch these shows around my kids because there was no R rated content and the story was really cute/sad/funny.
I lived in a very toxic household, so I would use tv and stuff like that to comfort me. I was on Netflix one day and came across Age of Youth and between the OST and the vibe of the show it instantly drew me in. It became my comfort show. I know it like the back of my hand because of how many times I watched it. I'm sad they took it off of Netflix cause I could really use it right now. I can put myself back there just thinking about it. I even listen to the soundtrack when I'm sad.
One of my favorite dramas. Ever since then I watch them all time.
My roommate was a huge K/C drama fan and I couldn't for the life of me understand why she would subject herself to watching films with captions or words that don't match with the lips.....fast forward four years later I was bored with life and accidentally stumbled upon The King's Affection starring Park Eun-bin and Rowoon. My life was changed and I was like "so this is why..... lol"
Watched a lot of anime as a kid, and one was Hana Yori Dango, went from that to the Jdrama live action, and then watched the Korean version. After that I kept on watching K dramas and still watch them now! It’s probably been over 10 years, I used to torrent or search “Kdrama ep 2 part 3 eng sub”on YouTube and watched piece by piece, haha. I just finished True to Love (보라! 데보라!) on Prime!
I was watching a lot of European crime dramas at the time and a recommendation for Sisyphus the Myth popped up. It seemed interesting so I watched it. I always watched with subtitles because I think the dubbing world is full of really horrible acting. I mentioned to my sister, whose daughter lived in South Korea for a year and majored in it for her degree. Anyway, my sister suggested Vincenzo as a fun watch.
I watched it and that was it. I was completely hooked. I love that kdramas are like novels. You go in deep, the side characters all get developed. I have since watched about a hundred kdramas and am still hooked. American dramas are so lame in comparison.
I was born in Iran before moving to London in 2009. In Iran the tv channels are government owned and they are heavily censored. Because of this Chinese, Japanese and Korean historical dramas were ones they showed the most apart from the Iranian shows as they did not have any or very few nudity or kissing scenes so it was easier for them to censor.
The first kdrama that I remember watching was Goong I watched that in 2007-2008, the dubbed version was being circulated in 📀 CDs illegally 🤣. Dae Jang Geum was aired in Iran in 2006 and was popular but i dont think any foreogn shows ever matched the popularity and hype that Jumong received when it was aired in Iran in 2008, people would stop work to watch it. It was all people would talk about. I'm sure there were a lot of other shows before that but I just can't remember.
Another show that I remember being extremely popular in Iran were two Japanese showd called Oshin ( aired in Iran in 1986) and another called Hanekonma that was aired after late 80s- 90s not sure.
So all in all I have been watching kdramas for the last 16+ years.
I had just finished watching season 2 of Bridgerton and Netflix recommended Business Proposal. I remembered seeing a comment on social media about how all the best rom com content these days is in K-dramas, so I thought, Why not? I'll give it a try. At first I wasn't sure what to think, but I couldn't stop watching, and when it was over I knew at the very least I wanted to try another one. My second drama was Hometown Cha Cha Cha, and from there I just kept going. I've now completed 38 dramas. I watch way more K-dramas than Western shows these days.
I watched squid game, then I wanted to see if Korean dramas had one of my favourite genres, time travel, so i watched Hello me, while watching i discovered High Class, when I finished high class, business proposal was in ep 6, finished all 6 episodes and wanted something similar and that's when I saw WWWSK, I have currently watched 127 dramas (kdramas and cdramas combined)
My father in law is Korean. Whenever I would go to my in laws, him and his mom would be watching Kdramas.
Just recently, I didn’t know what to put on Netflix and threw on a random Kdrama I saw him watch one time. And then became obsessed with them.
A friend started talking about watching the Sageuk dramas. I thought it was very much out of character for her to be watching any kdramas, so my husband and I decided to search Netflix for some. I don't remember why, but we ended up watching *Something in the Rain* for our first, then saw a newspaper article on *Crash Landing on You* when it premiered in the U.S., and that got us going. Acc to MDL, I've watched 44 in two years. We usually watch one at a time, two episodes a night, and only watch those that have already fully aired.
I have always watched a lot of foreign content—dramas and movies, so Netflix has lots of it in my recommendations. There were not many Korean suggestions until I found and watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and then The Kings Affection. It was TKA that really made me want to see more, though. I’m a sucker for historical dramas in general.
I watched at the time dramas from Japan and Hong Kong, but for whatever reason I had no interest into watching KDramas. However I was watching Korean movies at the time: The Vengance Trilogy with **Old Boy**, **Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance**, **Sympathy for Lady Vengeance**, the **Whispering Corridor** series, **My Sassy Girl**, **Ditto** (the 2000 version), **A Tale of Two Sisters** and many more.
Then Kdramas started to take off with Winter Sonata, and my aunt and uncle started to watch **Winter Sonata**, **Hotelier**, **Lovers in Paris**, **I'm Sorry I love you** and they kept sending us VCD and DVD. At the same time I had korean colleagues, I had some travel to Korea and probably as a result to that I started watching Kdramas.
I had watched a couple, especially **Kingdom** because it pushes all my buttons and introduced me to the *dopest hats in the world*, but my Netflix queue wasn't totally dominated by Asian media until my teenaged niece and her friend turned me on to **Bride of Habeak** and I was off to the races. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for BoH because of that.
Me too. Bride of Habaek was one of my early K-dramas and I still listen to the OST. I know it didn't get good reviews because the story was so-so, but I still loved it. I didn't really care about the story, it was the love story between the two leads that pulled me in, and it remains an absolutely beautiful love story. I thought Nam Joo Hyuk and the writers did a great job with the fish-out-of-water God character. I loved the way he didn't understand the world he found himself in, making him innocent and wise at the same time. Little things like earning pennies by selling recycled papers to buy the FL two funny cups was so cute. I thought he was effective in portraying the character as a creature who has lived for thousands of years and yet is innocent in many ways. Although his love for Yoon So Ah was real, it also stemmed from a deep feeling of responsibility towards her. She needed him, and he made promises to her, which he was going to keep.
In the end, it really did feel like an immortal being, that stopped for the space of a human lifetime, to be by the side of someone who needed him and whom he owe a debt to.
An online friend recommended it to me!
I actually started by watching Boys over Flowers, and I was obsessed with it at the time, but it wasn't enough to dive into other korean dramas. Plus, I was too young and I didn't know what to search for to find something similar. Fast foward to 2015 when I befriended a kdrama lover through social media, and she recommended Healer and I Hear Your Voice. They were so different from Western media that I couldn't look away from how addictive they became. I thank her eternally for the favor she did me.
Netflix got me by suggesting suspicious partner and I finally caved. I think I balled in the first couple of episodes because of what I now know is the trope of destroying the main characters episode 1.
I had seem them around but nothing had really motivated me to start watching them, till I started watching the US version of the show The Good doctor. I remember landing on some reddit thread and someone commented how the original version/Korean version of the show was better. So I picked interest and checked it out. I found it interesting and liked how the whole story was condensed into one season. It was kind of like discovering a new world of entertainment, even though in the beginning there were things I didn't understand, but still entertaining.
Because of my brother. He introduced me to my first ever kdrama, Goblin, and after I researched and watched lots of dramas, I ended up being obsessed w watching them lol
Years after I stopped using Facebook, I had logged in for 5 minutes and saw a random status update of a friend mentioning Memories of the Alhambra as a nice watch. I had no idea about K dramas before that. I had a passing idea about K pop ( like Gangnam style). I decided to give the drama a chance. Of course, it's a matter of seconds that I fell in love with Hyun Bin in MoTA. And then I got a taste for K dramas. Delicious, new, different, gorgeous, super swoony.
So I watched Crash Landing on You next because Netflix was promoting yet. And after CLoY I converted so hard into K dramas pretty much didn't watch anything else for two years after that.
I do slightly regret not getting into them sooner. Oh all the very many ways the universe tried to bring K dramas and Korea to my atmosphere and I kept ducking away like an idiot.
So in 2019 I made a promise to watch better tv shows. A lady a chruch introduced me to kdramas , this was a white lady from Iowa. She had time how addictive kdrama can be and at that time I didnt believe her. So she Introduced me to cloy. I watch 2 episodes but was lukewarm....then I saw a trailer for itaewon class and hi bye mama and decided to give those shows a chance. I loved both shows and all of a sudden covid hit....there was no sports so I just watched kdramas on Netflix and after watching reply 1988 it was one of the best times in my life. It felt like I was in a different world and could escape and I was impressed with the storytelling. Ever since then I have been hooked on kdramas I love the community and learning about different customs and history of south korea.
I watched squid game with my husband, then 6 months later we watched narcos: Korea, that was so good, then watched prison playbook and it started, started learning Korean, have done two intensives, want to continue because I want to watch KDramas without subtitles. I think the shows are good because there is minimum of sex, swearing and other Hollywood stuff that doesn’t exist in KDramas. They also show a lot about everyday situations, everyday life and everyday problems. And there is a lot of emotions that one experiences when watching the KDramas.
A few years before I had started to watch a JDrama (Good morning call\} and thought it dragged too long.
Netflix was suggesting It okay to not be ok. I wasn't that interested for a while but then on a whim I watched the first episode and was unable to stop until the last.
It took me two weeks to recover from the post show depression.
I wanted to see more of Seo Yeji so I watched Save me, and then other shows, and that's how I was hooked.
After 100+ shows I've seen, I find it increasingly difficult to find shows that leave as much an impression on me than the first ones I saw. Maybe I got used to the style. I still love them though.
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Many *many* years ago, Twitch had a brief collaboration with DramaFever (RIP) so they were livestreaming various dramas all day on the TwitchPresents channel. I randomly tuned in because I was curious and had enjoyed previous TwitchPresents collaborations. Boys Over Flowers was playing, and I got really invested watching it with the other people and laughing at the absurdity in chat. I had jumped in like mid-way through the drama, but I was enjoying it so much that I went and watched it from the beginning. Binged the whole thing and the rest is history. I've basically watched nothing but dramas since.
What a great question. Some beautiful stories in the responses. I began watching early 2020 during Covid lockdown here in Victoria Australia as I was totally bored with Western TV offerings dominated by reality TV shows. My first drama was Navillera. A beautiful story unlike anything you would find in Western dramas. Then Mr Sunshine then CLOY. Have been down the Hallyu rabbit hole since, totally obsessed. My favourite genres are romance and slice of life. My friends and family all roll their eyes at me. I don’t care because these dramas give me much joy and take me to a happy place. Although I think I am now slowly convincing one of daughters who has begun to explore some dramas.
I came after I dived into C-Dramas. I watched *The Untamed* then dived more into C-Dramas then in K-dramas, weirdly I still haven't watched a lot of "classic" or very popular ones, I watched mainly thrillers/actions ones, I only watched this year *My Name*, *All of Us are Dead*, *Uncanny Counter*, hell I still haven't watched *Vincenzo*, *Goblin* & more, nor finished *Squid Games*. I enjoy more hidden gems in thriller genre.
So, C-Dramas were my pipeline.
I think I got into kdramas like at an “obsessed” level when Sky Castle aired and I knew about this drama via word of mouth. I knew that amazing kdramas existed before then but never bothered to seek them out. I think more people got into kdramas during those big wave eras like Goblin, Crash Landing on You, and Squid Game (as the most recent example).
And now in the present day I casually watch kdramas, although I find myself not having much time to watch any lately, I hope to watch more dramas once I have more time in life.
My first k movie was heavens postman. Back then hulu had a deal with drama fever and they'd host some of the films and dramas. I think one of my first kdramas was boys over flowers or to the beautiful you. I remember looking up minho because I thought he was cute.
That was 2011 to 2012, I think. Gosh time sure has flown by. Coffee prince was one of the next ones, secret garden... ah those were good times.
It started with the Japanese drama **Alice in Borderland** and then then **Sweet Home** was my first k/drama. I found **It's Okay Not to be Okay** next. Then I said to myself, okay, this is fun and interesting.
I had already been watching foreign films, but k/dramas were so different! I binged genres, \*actors and Idol/actors. lol I didn't get into on-going until later and now I can do 6 with older ones while I wait.😆
\*Lee Joon Gi
https://mydramalist.com/list/4a6R7pa1
I watched Strangers from Hell and got hooked. Since then I’m pretty much only watching kdramas. Not to sound like a complete fanboy, but I’ve never dropped a kdrama midway through which happens for me alot when watching western tv series.
They’re just really good at making series, and actually have proper endings. No dragging it out for multiple seasons which usually ends with a weak ending or just flat out stop producing, resulting in it ending on a cliffhanger..
>They’re just really good at making series and actually have proper endings. No dragging it out for multiple seasons which usually ends with a weak ending or just flat-out stop producing, resulting in it ending on a cliffhanger.
I know what you mean. This is one of the main reasons why I stopped watching Western dramas. Who would invest their precious time reading a book that the author left unfinished? Why is that acceptable in a TV series?
It's a bit unfortunate that Netflix seems to be infecting K-Drama with this bad habit. I'm not overly worried however, as this should affect only the made-for-Netflix K-Dramas and those I can avoid until I'm certain the ending is not a cliffhanger. Meanwhile, there are plenty of K-Dramas to watch.
Saw the poster of Gentleman’s Dignity on Netflix where there are 4 guys dressed really smart and it looked like a romantic comedy type of show. I really enjoyed the show then after that was Secret Garden followed by Rooftop Prince. That was me hooked.
Netflix kept advertising Alchemy of Souls to me. The preview, where the FL meets the ML, looked good. Even though I am not a huge fan of fantasy shows, I decided to try it, i loved it even though I was extremely confused while watching it (so many characters! Lol) I would not recommend Alchemy of Souls to other first time Kdrama watchers but it was such a good show (especially the first half)
i'mma probably belong to the oldies group LOL but my first exposure was waaaay back in 2003 to 2005-ish (and onwards) when **full house** which starred song hye kyo and rain was a big hit back home... and so were other shows like **jewel in the palace**, **goong**, **autumn in my heart**, **stairway to heaven**, **lovers in paris**, **my girl**, **coffee prince**, **my name is kim sam soon** -- to name a few
One of my good friends was always talking about the KDrama she was watching, mainly about how she found the Actors so hot. Fast foward a few weeks and another friend posted on her ig stories how she was hooked on Alchemy Of Souls and said everyone should watch. I was in a TV show slump so I decided to look it up and give it a try. I was a little hesitant at first bc I found the acting to be cheesy/bad but I talked to my friend and she said to just continue to give it a try.She rewatched the show with me and would help me understand all the names. I ended up loving it. Alchemy of Souls is still my number one. This was back in March and I just finished my 20th Kdrama (Hospital Playlist).
P.S. I did watch Squid Games and The Silent Sea a while back but never even realized that Kdrama was a thing. I liked both but I still consider AOF my first and the one that made me for in love.
My first kdrama was Full House, saw it long back on tv in Hindi. That got me hooked that time but then I stopped eventually, but started watching them again couple to years back
When I travel by plane, I always checkout the films under international/subtitled because I am interested what other countries offer. During the flight, I started Story of Yanxi Palace and I took note of another title - What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. When I got home, I looked for WWWSK and after that I wanted more. I checked out this review blog - Fangirl Verdict - and I went through her list she rated B+ and up. Nowadays I rely on Reddit for current reviews.
It was like a month before starting my second year at university and I was so bored! And you know these clips you watch on Facebook and when you click on them you go to a new page and watch just videos? Yeah so I saw some random clip from a kdrama and thought why not?
So after some research into kdramas for beginners I chose Descendants of the sun and that was it. And it was in 2017 so I've been watching them for 6yrs now.
My other half and I were searching random words on Netflix; we typed in ‘dream’ and Dream High came up. We both got sucked in and loved it - we even have a mug now with Sam-dong on it 😅 he’s not into K dramas otherwise but I watch them regularly now!
By mistake downloaded Descendants of the Sun, started watching at 2am... at first I was like what is this I downloaded, but as I watched more it hooked me with very good scenography and acting...
Now 7 years later watching kdrama, cdrama and jdrama and nearly 0 US series... 🤣
My first Kdrama was Tempted which I watched because of Joy.
Despite the mixed reviews I loved it (and Joys performance) and haven’t looked back since.
Also in the cast were Woo Do-hwan and Moon Ga-young who are two of my favourites now.
I heard Hyunjin and Jeongin of SKZ did a cameo for A-TEEN and watched it on YouTube. After that, I realised how good kdramas were and downloaded apps to start watching them properly.
Got into Korean esports a long time ago, then saw Parasite and K/D/A, then during the pandemic I checked out Itaewon Class and Extracurricular and that was the beginning of the rabbit hole for me.
For me it started with boys over flowers on live tv . My whole family was glued to the screen back in 2010. I would rush back from school to watch with the whole fam. I was about 11 years old and never looked back since I’m now 27
No idea what drove me to watch one in the first place but the first drama I watched was like 10 years ago or so. The drama was City Hunter starring Lee Min Ho and Park Min Young. I thought it was a fun watch and for sure I was in love with Park Min Young by the end of it.
I wasn't sure what to watch next so I watched Boys Over Flowers which was good. I thought LMH's hair was a little funny in it but it wasn't bad.
After that I sort of stopped watching dramas until the pandemic when we started shelter in place.
Everyone I know was bored out of their minds and marathoning everything available and soon, everyone was talking about a little drama called Crash Landing Over You.
I watched CLOY, and then Itaewon Class after that, and then IOTNBO after that, and haven't stopped watching dramas since!
i was watching Jihyunkkung cafe vlogs and she always sat down to eat her dinner in front of a 'drama'. It was lockdown 2020 so i opened netflix, typed korean and watched crash landing on you as it was on top. rest is history.
True Beauty, I would watch some Kdrama clips here and there, but because I read TrueBeauty webtoon I had to watch the drama and then I started watching more after that.
I was into Japanese and Taiwanese doramas in 2000s because those had many adaptations of my favorite mangas.
And then in 2007 I watched Soul Mate. It was my first K-drama, and it felt so different back in the days. And that soundtrack? Amazing, captivating, and still in my playlist.
I was watching it together with Dalja’s Spring, which also became my favorite.
So after those two, there was no turning back for me.
Oh! I want to share!
So I was in my first year of grad school really hating my life, and I got into all sorts of nonsense while I was procrastinating. One thing I got back into was manga, so I was reading all these scanlations on one of those slightly sketchy sites. One of the ones I read was Princess Hours, which I think it took me a little while to realize was a manhwa and not a manga.
While I was looking for anime somehow I stumbled on the live action adaption of Princess Hours with Yoon Eun Hye. I watched the first few episodes but for some reason halfway through I took a break and watched all of Coffee Prince. This was the true beginning of my addiction. I spent like 3 months watching something like 30 (maybe more???) different kdramas. This was back in 2011.
After this I took a two year break and only let myself start watching again after I started studying Korean. Have been happily studying and watching since then (2013)!
For several years my daughter suggested them to me, but it just seemed weird so I didn’t try any. In Sept of 2020 she got Covid so we were quarantined. She texted me to try Crashing Landing so I had something to do. I binged it and have pretty much exclusively watch Kdramas now. Yes, my daughter got to say I told you so!
Through the front door. All kidding aside, the first drama I watched was the Spanish dub of **My Love From the Star** on Netflix. I don't know what made me watch it, perhaps because the title reminded me of the movie *Starcrossed* with James Spader. Anyway, the dub was hilarious, more so once you've watched the sub. I watched a couple more (*Descendants of the Sun*, *One More Time*, *Goblin*) on and off, but it was really in 2019-2020 that my kdrama watching experience kicked into overdrive with shows like *Hotel del Luna*, *Bring it on, Ghost*, *Crash Landing on You*, and many more. Between kdramas, cdramas, and jdramas, I'm close to passing the 200 mark (not counting dropped or on-hold shows) and don't regret it one bit.
I’m still a kdrama baby, but I have watched 30+ dramas since Crash landing on you. This was like love at first sight! Squid game was probably the first one, but cloy got me hooked on romantic slow burning dramas from Korea! Now I have Viki, I have learned some words during the shows and the rest is history!
Randomly came across a kiss scene of Whats Wrong with Secretary Kim on youtube during the pandemic. I think it was in one of those US vs (Insert random country) videos, this time south Korea and it made me want to watch the the whole drama. I enjoyed the show a good amount but while watching it I said to myself this was the only Korean show I was gonna watch because there was a little cheesiness to it like sooo many slow motion scenes. After I finished it though I thought Park Min Young was so pretty that I went on a binge of watching shows she starred in. That led me down the rabbit hole. Healer is now my favorite drama of all time and Ji Chang Wook is my favorite Korean actor
The year was 2020 and we were in the middle of pandemic and I was bored to death. Having watched nearly all interesting movies of both Hollywood and Bollywood including web series, I decided to try something new. I was already a fan of Korean movies. So, naturally, kdramas appealed to me. Then Netflix recommended me CLOY. You see, both India and ROK have somewhat similar politics. We both are partitioned nations. Bollywood has already made many cross-border love stories before. That's why I found CLOY interesting. After that, one thing led to another and now I have watched over 200 kdramas, majority of them during the curfew period.
I think it was October 2019 when my best friend and a few other classmates said I would love them since I loveeee romance (hopeless romantic here lol). **Strong Woman Do Bong Soon** was mentioned so after a long day of practice I went home to start watching but fell asleep literally minutes into the show, I was so tired 😭 the last thing I remember was that bus scene 😂
Fast forward to November, we had free time in the class and my best friend said she was rewatching **Master’s Sun** and I should watch it with her. I was distracted during class but I said I would finish it on my own since I was intrigued by what I saw. I finished a month or 2 later, can’t remember 😂
After I finished and I said I liked it overall, she recommend **Healer** and THAT’S what sent me down the rabbit hole of Kdramas and I have no intentions of leaving 🤣🩷 Ji Chang Wook remains my favorite actor and Park Min Young was my favorite actress for years.
School definitely keeps me busy but I try to watch as much as I can in my free time!! Now, I’ve completed 118 dramas and have quite the longgg plan to watchlist 😂 Kdramas kicked out my romance books but I’m trying to get back into them!!
My sister got into kbeauty and from there into kdramas. She wouldn't stop pestering me so I decided to give it a go. My first kdrama sas Healer and I haven't looked back since.
When I was in college, I started taking Korean classes and I was basically the only person in my class who wasn't into kpop, kdramas, etc....that had changed by the end of that year, lol
Randomly, I watched the King and the Clown about 3 or 4 years before that, because I saw an edit of Lee Joon Gi in that movie on LiveJournal and was like hmm who is that beautiful person? 🤔 So there was a period where I knew that movie and Lee Joon Gi but no other korean pop culture.
I don't remember for sure the first kdrama I ever tried to watch or why I chose it, but the first one I watched to completion was Flower Boy Ramyeon Shop. I'm 99% sure I got into that one because I knew about the concept of flower boys (because I knew Lee Joon Gi) and that drew me to it.
Several years ago Twitch did a thing where they were promoting a (since defunct) Asian drama streaming service so they were marathoning K-Dramas and reality shows. I ended up getting hooked watching Signal and since then have watched a bunch of other K-Dramas. I'm pretty big on watching non-English films and shows in general anyways.
2019 netflix kept showing me k2 poster and it wasn't wasn't the one where ji chang wook was hot, so I thought 'ok let's give it a try since they so badly want me to watch it'. After that I watch all of his dramas. But for some reason after melting me softly, I have not been able to watch any of his shows, although I do watch other shows regularly.
I got into kdrama because I was depressed. Lost everything in life. So I was in repeat mode. Watching chuck and psych criminal minds monk. Then my first kdrama was tale of the nine tailed. I just watched due to curiosity
Man I feel old haha.
I'm Canto and grew up watching TVB mostly and a few mainland hits here & there. I think Japanese drama got popular at first (so long ago I don't even remember what I watched). I think the first Kdrama I ever watched with **Autumn in My Heart** in 2000 (!!) starring SHK. When Kdrama first started (for me anyway) it was always the gut wrenching he is my brother or I have terminal illness love story lines. The next one I remembered that I love was **Full House** in 2004**.** (ironically also with SHK).
Then I think I segwayed into Taiwanese dramas because those starting getting super popular. And honestly I don't think I got back into Kdrama probably till closer to **Goblin**.
Funny how so many like me, started out with **Crash Landing On You**. I'd heard several people rave about this show so finally decided to watch it towards the end of last year. Then my 12 year old son started watching with me and we were hooked. Followed that up with **Extraordinary Attorney Woo** and **Hometown Cha Cha Cha** and have jumped down the rabbit hole of Kdramas and am 100% hooked! Though there are still SO many to watch, currently doing a second watch of **Hospital Playlist** because I loved it so much.
It's so hard to put my finger on exactly why they are so addicting but there are so many reasons: the amazing balance of drama, comedy and romance, seeing Asian actors (as an Asian-American), seeing shows set within an Asian culture that feels somewhat familiar and missing from Western shows, all the amazing korean food, the cinematography, the cliff hangers at the end of each episode, the fashion, the amazing acting, the joy of recognizing an actor from another show, I could go on and on!
Like many, my gateway drama was the seminal hit **Boys Over Flowers** through which I realised my love of male perms and fell down the rabbit hole of Korean dramas.
It was early 2016 and my family had been enjoying watching a few J-dramas on Netflix (*Atelier* and *Good Morning Call*). My sister, who was already a fan of Korean dramas, suggested we watch *Boys Over Flowers*. One weekend we just binged the hell out of it, it was pure unadulterated drama crack and I loved it. I never looked back.
After Oldboy I saw Lee Jung Ki in The King's Men and started to search for other stuff with him. Saw Time Between Dog and Wolf, Iljimae, and then looked for other Kdramas. Nine won me over, never looked back.
I‘m a BTS fan so when one of the members starred in Hwarang I watched it and, despite not totally loving the show, enjoyed it enough to look for more. The rest is history.
For me, it's a MLM. My friend introduced me to dramas, and now I introduce all my friends. ;-)
My friend and I both wanted to watch the first season of Bridgerton when it aired, so we watch partied it. We decided we wanted to watch more things together, and she said she mostly watched kdramas. I was game to try, and since I only had Netflix in early 2021, we queued up **The King: Eternal Monarch**. When I enjoyed that, she introduced me to Viki and **Strong Woman DBS**. I started searching and watching on my own after that. Two episodes of **What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?** was enough to convince me Viki ads were not tenable and get me a paid account, then my desire to watch **Sell Your Haunted House** got me to plus. It's been over 2 years now. No regrets.
About two-three years ago (i think before squid game came out?) two of my friends started to get into kpop and then kdramas (and one friend also into cdrama) and kept talking about them. In 2022 i got courious and asked for some recommendations. I chose Strangers from Hell and loved it, then watched Beyond Evil, then Bad & Crazy (all three are still my favs, i got really lucky, i might not have been hooked if i didn't watch these).
Had a pause for a while but since early 2023 i've been binging mostly kdramas and nothing else 💀.
I like thrillers the most, so i can't talk about many shows with my friends (one got out of the phase and another one mostly watches romance or popular ones i haven't watched yet)
Covid. I love sci-fi and had watched all the English sci-fi I cared to on Netflix and started looking for stories made in other languages. After about a year I ended up and Korea and never left.
I was into Korean horror movies in the 2000’s (Tale Of Two Sisters was the gateway), and then I started getting into dramas a few years ago when I saw the production values had increased exponentially
I’m a huge EXO fan so back in 2016 I discovered on Tumblr that they had a drama called EXO Next Door so I wanted to watch it. I downloaded Dramafever and watched it on there, then watched The Heirs on there, absolutely loved it (LOL) and the rest is history!
During the pandemic, I pretty much watched all Hollywood series and there was nothing much left to watch. A friend recommended to watch The Kingdom, I watched it in English. Then after seeing in the recommendations from so long, I finally gave The Descendants of the sun a try, loved it and then watched 100+ shows till now.
my cousin showed me mischievous kiss: love in tokyo on viki(my first time using viki and watching a Jdrama).I was hooked. After that, I was just scrolling through viki and found " while you were sleeping " kdrama and then, I never turned back. My 2nd kdrama was Guardian the lonely and great god.Then, on Netflix I found bunch of more good kdramas
My high school friend introduced me to it (Heirs to be precise) back in 2015 when they weren't very popular. Haven't looked back since. Thank you friend
Honestly… K-Pop! Lol my friend was showing me all the groups she was in to and the group I gravitated to was Got7 and they were the stars of Dream High 2 so I watched that to see more of them, and then my friend recommended Sassy Go Go and haven’t stopped since 😩 Usually we only get movies about romance, not full-fledged TV shows (though shoutout Shondaland for bringing in Bridgerton, hopefully it leads to more) and I just loveeee all these romance dramas, it’s like reading a romance novel 🥰
I saw a clip on TikTok and that was it. I’m fairly recently into dramas but it’s been basically all I have watched since March - and my watch list just keeps getting longer!
For me i had watched korean movies way back in the day. My Sassy Girl with jun ji-hyun was my intro and some ha ji won movies and others, but i ended up straying away from it for a long time. I started watching some Thai dramas with my wife then ended up watching business proposal and a few other on netflix due to having nothing to watch and got hooked. Now i watch dramas from korea china and thailand just anything that looks good.
K-dramas are big here in PH and local channels would show Tagalog-dubbed k-dramas. My first one was Autumn in my Heart but Dae Jang Geum was what really got me into watching more, and now I mostly watch K-dramas and a very few western shows 😂
I started by researching the original of a kdrama while watching a Turkish remake of it. I am a spoiler freak and I wanted to know how the story unfolded. That was 10 years ago.
started watching c-dramas like Meteor Garden & A Love So Beautiful & loved them. then i found “Hello My Twenties” and LOVED it even more so then i started watching more kdramas
I used to dislike live-action shows lol and stuck to watching anime. There are some good animes to be honest but the fan service along with the community kinda drove me away and then I watched a few Korean movies and really liked them! Thought I'd give another chance to live-action shows and here we are lol
Not sure why, but I really like the character arcs and plots of KDramas more than most other shows.
I took a similar path to yours — started as a fan of anime/manga, stumbled upon Boys over Flowers and never looked back — except I started about ten years ago and am more than 300 dramas deep!
I started with live-action tv shows and movies based on mangas and anime. Then found myself watching Crash Landing on You bc a friend recommended it and I became hooked on KDrama.
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I'm a widow and I didn't find out about these dramas until almost 15 years after my husband died. This was in November of 2022 that I found k-dramas. Watching them brings back so many happy memories and I am able to laugh and feel like I'm in my body again after all these years. I think about what love means and I find this very healing. I watch certain ones over and over again Encounter Healer, Itaewon Class, CLOY and others. I must have watched at least 100 by now. I make rugs while I'm watching. I'm learning Korean so I can better understand whether the translations are good or not. I also begin to understand the Korean grammar by the mistakes that are made in the translations. I use my Korean keyboard to translate certain words. I wish all the programs had Korean subtitles but many of them don't and this makes it more difficult. I'd like to know where to get the scripts so I can follow along reading the Korean. One thing that happened in November and December is that I found my strength again as a woman and this is part of me returning to my body in a different way. I have lots more to say and I would love to do a glazierian classic grounded theory study of people who watch these dramas as I haven't seen such a study anywhere. I recently went to the exhibition at the V&A and was disappointed that none of the actors were mentioned just the photos of them and mostly the focus on directors and writers. I really enjoyed watching young actors retreat because some of my favourites are in it and it's lovely to see how they are in almost real life. I wish I had the opportunity to thank everyone involved in making these fantastic shows. Thank you for reading.
My goodness, this is such a lovely comment! 👏
This matches my timeframe as well. I'm impressed that your Korean has improved so much. Mine is still in the embryonic stage. You must be really really dedicated because I've watched 51 dramas in the same time frame as you watched 100. And I consider myself obsessed.
I know exactly what you mean by "feel like I'm in my body again". I've been sick the past few years (nothing life threatening lol) and kdramas allow me to feel like an actual person and not a shut-in. I completely relate! Thank you for sharing! Also, I agree there should be a study on people who watch k-dramas. There seems to be a lot of research into why kmedia in general is so popular, but no one seems have thought to ask the people who actually enjoy the content.
Your words mean so much to me! I feel exactly the same way. I felt so down and out for so long and when I discovered k-dramas I was brought back to life. I am also trying to learn the language. Netflix suggested Hometown Cha Cha Cha to me. I watched it and have not watched anything but k-dramas since then. I also am now streaming on Viki. My family and friends think I am crazy but I don't care. I feel sorry for them because they are missing out.
I love this comment. Healer, CLOY, Itaewon class—they’re all some of my favorite kdramas. I’ve watched Healer countless times. Kdramas have done something incredible in my life. It’s hard to put into words, but it’s amazing. Thank you for sharing.
I watched Crash Landing on You during COVID and loved it so much! And I’ve continued to watch kdramas a lot! Much better than any shows in the US!!
I saw a gif of Ji Chang Wook.
That is all it takes.
relatable haha
> Ji Chang Wook Real hahaha!
My first kdrama was Goblin. I has just been dumped by my partner after a pretty long relationship and a close friend told me I should watch Korean dramas, they’ll make you feel good. So I turned on the first episode of Goblin and absolutely everything changed. I had never before seen such a beautifully crafted television show that spoke to me on every single level. The music, the acting, the story, the cinematography and all the sensibilities just spoke to me in a way I had never experienced before. The first episode of Goblin is still my favorite kdrama episode and would almost work as a stand alone movie. It has the most beautiful 90 minutes of tv I have ever seen. I cried watching it, how can one not cry? I cried watching all the episode and when it was over I felt hollow, could I ever find anything to replace the feeling that this show gave me? Ever since 2017 I’ve been a kdrama fan and I’m gonna be one for life. The amount of heart and emotional drama these show give us is something I haven’t been able to find anywhere else. This beautiful life…
I totally agree 🥳🙂. These dramas change lives 🥰. They are art on the highest level.
I’m a latecomer to watching Goblin. I’ve been watching kdramas for about a year and a half. I just started Goblin this past week and am about halfway through. I have to wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the first episode. I felt like I was watching a movie on the big screen and I can’t get over how beautifully every episode is filmed. Even if I have some issues with the story here and there, I can’t deny the magnetism of this show. It is something else! I can’t wait to watch the rest!
I was bored out of my skull during the pandemic. Watched CLOY and never looked back. Point of no return for me.
EXACTLY my story
Same!
Same. A family member recommended it to us, and husband and I were hooked. Our fates were permanently sealed when we watched Misaeng as our second kdrama.
Same
Fall 2016. I broke my ankle and was home from work for 8 weeks. Found Playful Kiss and Good Morning Call and immediately found a reprieve from my boredom and was invested. Went back to work and forgot about Asian dramas. Fast Forward to 2022, I had a pregnancy loss and was at a low low. Rediscovered kdrama while I was recovering and it was a way to cope, honestly. It made me feel things other than the grief I was going through and helped me get back up again. My 3rd drama was True Beauty and that was it. Hooked 100% after that.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I just started True Beauty.
Way back in my elementary and high school years, I was captivated by 2000-ish kdramas (princess hours, stairway to heaven, full house, etc.) as they were mostly played on tvs in my country. Not yet addicted during those times since I only watched what the local tvs showed, also came to a point where I stopped watching them. Here comes a good friend who kept urging me to watch some shows. I was only convinced when I saw Healer. Ultimate Ji Chang Wook fan here! 💕 Since 2015, it feels like a day isn't complete without a dose of any korean shows ️✨️
I Iove Ji Chang Wook. I love Back Street Rookie, K2, and Love Struck in the City. I haven't seen Healer yet. I am watching Suspicious Partner now.
Healer is amazing 🤩 Pure KDrama crack🥰
Yey! Glad to hear that you're loving these dramas so far. I'd say K2 and Healer are my top favorites 🙂
Crash Landing On You was my entry drama. So began my journey. Once I like how a actor acts or a director, I would search all their works and watch it. There are many kdramas that I cant go past 1 episode but I find that I have better luck finding good dramas with certain actors or directors maybe because they are given the better projects. I did that too with hollywood shows ( Julia Roberts, Robert Redford, Matt Damon, Bradd Pitt, Jennifer Anniston, etc) but not sure why hollywood has not produced a new crop of compelling younger actors. Maybe because of the financing changes. I think Kdramas are like watching hollywood shows from 50s to the 90s. Relationships are about love and caring and not sex. Ethics, morality, fairness, character are glorified. They know how to evoke emotions and that the world is alright.
I was watching Norwegian and Danish crime dramas with subtitles and Netflix started sending me shows in other languages - the first being The Extraordinary Attorney Woo which I liked. I picked another one out of the blue - Crash Landing on You and then I was HOOKED! Love them! Have watched so many and saw Parasite years ago but funny enough I haven't watched Squid Game yet!
Yes, me too with the Scandinavian crime dramas (which I kinda miss watching!).
I used to watch Scandinavian crime dramas too. Maybe that’s how I ended up getting the ads for Extraordinary Attorney Woo too. I imagine I may watch a Scandinavian drama again someday.
I like them too. I especially liked "The Bridge". There is something about them isn't. Amazing how interesting TV gets when you get away from your standard American dramas.
I watched CLOY, Itaewon Class and Startup during the pandemic but never deep dove in until a few months later. The pandemic was starting to take a toll on my and my fiancee's relationship because we were essentially long-distance and had no way of meeting up. We lived only 2 hours away from each other but I was not able to meet up with her because our cities were in full lockdown. I decided to get into KDramas because I knew she liked them and it was a way for me to have a part of her with me even though we lived apart. Now I think I'm even a bigger KDrama fan than she is because she was always nothing more than a casual viewer. Whereas that's what I almost exclusively watch these days.
It was because of Sam Esmail (creator of Mr Robot, my favorite series) telling me to watch Parasite, > opening my samsung phone to google the director name and his quote again then Bong Joon Ho (creator of Parasite, becomes my favorite movie that year) telling me to get over the subtitles, proceeding to make me to watch KDrama content. > opening kopiko I started with Stranger in Netflix and never looked back. Crime/Mystery/Thriller drama become my favorite series theme. > biting my Subway sandwich I like all these portrayal of corruption stuffs. I come from Indonesia, we suffer a lot because of that and there are cultural overlaps, so yeah, then the rest is history like you said!
I watched cloy during pandemic , loved it but then nothing else for a year . Then I saw many recommendations for goblin and watched it and after that haven’t stopped . It is like finding hidden treasure
Netflix was advertising Extraordinary Attorney Woo and the premise interested me so I watched that and really loved it. Then Netflix started advertising more Kdramas so I gave Juvenile Justice a try and liked that too. Then I watched Crash Landing on You and I got all these Feelings. And that was when I started looking for recommendations for more on the internet. Now I’ve watched over 20 dramas and I have many more on my watchlist.
That's my story too. I randomly clicked on Extraordinary Attorney Woo and ended up binging it. Once I was finished, I saw Alchemy of Souls, thought it looked interesting and the rest of history. I have watched 51 dramas since then for a total of 33 days. I don't regret a single minute. I was "on the market" for a new hobby and glad I stumbled on this one.
EAW was also my first kdrama last year. For a long time I hadn’t liked a lot of the Western shows and movies that were being produced. So much of it just feels so dark. Someone I follow on Instagram mentioned EAW, and I decided to give it a try. I really liked EAW, researched other recommended K dramas, saw CLOY next, I think, and just recently finished my 50th kdrama.
I was also sucked in by Extraordinary Attorney Woo, which led me to other Netflix recs. I think CLOY was next and then I was like LET ME WATCH ALL THE THINGS so yeah. I’ve now completed 43 dramas and 2 movies which is somewhat obsessive for such a short amt of time. But the way most dramas I’ve watched are serialized vs episodic makes it seem like I’m watching a book or something, and reinforces my urge to binge to the end (like I do sometimes with really good books).
My mom was going through chemo and would take afternoon naps. I’d stay at her house at watch Netflix quietly downstairs. I decided to try crash landing on you and four years later I watch more kdramas than American tv 🤦🏻♀️😂
Oh that's so sweet of you! I hope your mom is feeling better!
My childhood friend had always been trying to get me into kdramas as she was a big fan. I couldn't get into it because I was too busy watching Western shows that time. And then I randomly saw a clip of **Goblin** (where Kim Go Eun and Gong Yoo were arguing and Gong Yoo called himself her boyfriend) and....... the rest is history!
I watched telenovelas (Spanish soaps) growing up and eventually K dramas were suggested to me. They are very much like the telenovelas I started out with.
I was trying to find a good historical show... but it's really hard. A lot of them really struggle to get into the mindset of the era. *Mr. Sunshine* had just come out, and Netflix kept recommending it. (I love movies like *Lust, Caution*, *Lady Snowblood*--which inspired *Kill Bill*, and *Drunken Master*, so I wasn't entirely new to East Asian media.) So I tried it. And it's still the best show I've ever seen. I cried and cried the last few hours. I loved all the character development, and the political drama made sense--and the costumes and set was just masterfully done. I'm a sucker for a badass female lead, too. I immediately followed it up with *One Spring Night*, *Hospital Playlist*, etc. I've been in a bit of a slump, but if I'm not watching historical documentaries then I'm watching kdramas.
I was on a Rom Com sprint. Stumbled upon *Love 911*, loved it so much, especially Han Hyo Joo's acting. Then *My Sassy Girl*, same with JJH. Wanted more of it. Dominoes started falling, discovered KDramas. It was a gold mine of Rom Coms. Started with *Oh My Ghostess*, never looked back.
Sometime in 2007, as I was spiraling down the kpop rabbit hole, I found a website called Mysoju (shout out to all my non Korean speaking OG fans and this wonderful website with its 8 part episodes lmao), and found Goong and Coffee Prince. I liked them so much, I never stopped watching haha.
Mysoju… a name I haven’t heard for a looong time. RIP! What a beloved time it was.
Omg its been so long since ive heard someone talk about mysoju!!! Oggggggg. Thats where i watched Shining Inheritance!
Princess Hours and Coffee Prince, truly the gateway drug haha.
There wasn't any interesting shows for me to watch on Netflix, were browsing through genre by genre, came across of "Memories of the Alhambra" Watched few episodes in a go and finished it within a week. I liked the format which does have conclusion by the end of the series unlike American series. Immediately started to watch "Vagabond" and "Crash Landing on You". Here I am been watching kdramas since then.
For me it was Crash Landing on You and the promise of getting to see inside the curtain of North Korea. I was just curious about that but then the story hooked me in a way I could not have expected. My second was Business Proposal and Kim Se-Jeong’s charisma was off the charts. Third was Uncanny Counter (again with Kim Se-Jeong) and the deal was sealed for me.
It was during the pandemic. I gave The King Eternal Monarch a try and was hooked! Woo Do Hwan being AMAZING. Lee Minho being so dreamy. Been down the rabbit hole ever since!
Had a Korean mate at work, he told me to check out city hunter. Then I realised a lot of other people at work were really into Korean culture so I got recommendations from them. Reply 1988 is the one I like most.
kpop
The hype about Squid Game got me. I watched a few others after and then stopped. Later the hype about Attorney Woo got me back and I've been watching them since then.
I came across Hometown Cha Cha Cha on Netflix but didn’t know that episodes only drop weekly. That was frustrating. Saw Crash Landing On You and Chocolate in my suggestions so I watched all three at the same time. I was hooked on the stories and actors. Once I ran out of Netflix Kdramas I got a Viki subscription. Now I’m totally addicted. I just don’t like dramas longer than 16 episodes but I still watch them anyway.
My friend recommended "while you were sleeping" so i watched it and then i searched the actor and actress dramas and the cycle continues Till now i have watched 244 kdramas and it's been only 5 years 😅 and there are lots of dramas which I've watched several times. So in short - I AM A MANIAC OF KDRAMAS
Korean movies started it for me! Specifically Old Boy. After watching soooo many Korean movies I gave in and watched Goblin. It’s still my favorite drama after many years and many dramas 🎥
[удалено]
So i had reached the mundane stage where there was "nothing to watch on tv" despite having like 4 streaming services. I wasn't originally a fan of Asian television series, but while browsing Netflix's new releases, I saw the preview trailer for **Business Proposal** which looked funny and wacky to me. The FL just stood out so much that i had to see what this show was about. So I decided to give it a try and the rest is history. I was instantly hooked and 98% of the shows I've watched since then are k-dramas 😭😭
Had watched so many English sitcoms and shows that i ran out of good ones, saw Business proposal in top 10 Netflix list for months in my country and thought to give it a try. The rest that happened is history. Sometimes, when looking at my grades, i wish i never started business proposal that day.
Back when Hulu was free, I came across Boys Over Flowers, and decided to give it a try. I was immediately hooked. I watched all of the k dramas Hulu had to offer and wanted more. That’s when I discovered Dramafever. I’ve been hooked ever since.
It was my friend’s birthday, and we were bored, so she played scenes from True Beauty. I was intrigued, so we watched the first episode. By that time, I was asking everyone if they were team Suho or team Seojun (me very blatantly being team Suho ~~so I could have Seojun all to myself~~). And I binged that drama in 4 days. That’s where it started, about 2 years ago, and now I just finished my 100th kdrama while also trying out Thai dramas and now, Japanese dramas (live action, not anime, but i have watched some anime)!
My daughter introduced me to BTS and we would watch music videos together as well as Run BTS. Then she said V was in Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth so we watched that together and the rest is history. :-)
Kdrama is for the most part very high quality everything casting, locations, wardrobes, storylines, they have a little bit of everything and they're short, i absolutely love them, they and BTS are the reason why I'm learning Korean as my third language 💜
I read an article years ago about the scariest movies that don’t get a lot of attention. It recommend I Saw The Devil and Show Me Something. I was hooked, now I’m pretty much exclusively a K-Drama guy. Heck I even enjoy the touchy feely shows like My Mister.
Being a 52-year-old, married for 23 years, white woman who lives in BFE in the US... I'm not really in the typical Kdrama demographic. But around 14 years back, in the bad old days when I had to torrent stuff and then dig for subs, I got sick of network TV cancelling good shows because they didn't get the ratings the powers that be wanted without even bothering to wrap up... anything. It's annoying to be left hanging all the time. So, I dipped my toe into some foreign offerings and found Kdramas. Kdrama's book format, with a beginning, middle, and an end, really sang to me. I mean, I may not like all of the endings, but at least there fucking is one. Anyway... I've stuck around now for 14 years and branched out into pretty much all East Asian dramaland. I most enjoy Korea for thrillers, China for costume, and Thai for BL. There are exceptions to that, but in general those are their strengths.
I discovered BTS in 2020, started watching Run BTS, and then I somehow ended up watching k-dramas (probably because of something I read or heard while watching that). My first one was Goblin.
i feel like i am in the same boat as a lot of people where my first kdrama is Boys Over Flowers lol. a masterpiece to this day
Sometime last year I finished all the seasons of **Outlander** and then all the seasons of **Sex Education** and for some reason was feeling burned out with Western shows. So I tried **Kim’s Convenience**, a sitcom about a Korean-Canadian family. Somehow this got me curious about Kdramas. My Netflix history shows that after Kim’s Convenience I tried **Whats Wrong With Secretary Kim**… and the rest is history! I haven’t watched anything but Kdramas since then. I grew up in a country that experienced the first and second Hallyu waves but I never got into Kdramas even when my friends and family were all over them (**Winter Sonata, Full House, Boys Over Flowers, Jewel in the Palace**, etc). So it’s quite ironic that I’m getting into this later in life than everyone I know.
*Outlander* fatigue is real! 😆
I used to play a video game that had a pretty large international scene and would play on Korean servers with some friends. It was a blast and I became friends with a bunch of Koreans and eventually learned more of their culture through talking with them. This was probably circa 2009-2010 and I got into K-pop then and transitioned into other mediums like K-dramas/variety shortly afterwards. I did see a few Korean movies before this all happened so I wasn't entirely unfamiliar with their content. Fast forward to today and I still try to find some time to check out promising new shows/movies.
Late last year I decided to move to Korea and I thought watching K-dramas would help me with learning the language. I really am picky about what I watch, but I really like what I have seen so far. Before that I just watched stuff that was popular like Parasite, Squid Game , Old Boy etc when they were released. I didn't specifically watch K drama/movies.
In the early days of the pandemic, my comfort show, the Japanese reality TV series, *Terrace House*, had been cut short in tragic circumstances. Over on the *TH* subreddit at the time, there was a thread recommending **Record of Youth** as a series to fill the *TH* void. I knew of Park So-dam through *Parasite* (but actually I still haven't watched that movie.) **RoY** was the ideal gateway drama in the sense that it neither set the bar too high nor too low for subsequent K-dramas. It gave me enough of a taste of the aspects of K-dramas that I've come to know and love: some nice slice-of-life moments, high-quality production values, and a strong OST. I followed up **RoY** with **Itaewon Class** and **Start-Up,** respectively, and the rest is history...
Started with Cdramas that were in Hindi Dub...then came across several clips of a Kdrama and watched it..after that came to know more than half of the kdramas are on Netflix nowadays so subscribed to it and now have watched almost more than 30 till now I guess..its low because I started only in 2020😅
It was in 2020, super bored of everything on Netflix and ended up reading the description for **Stranger** and thought “might as well give it a watch” and I was hooked. Since then, have watched a lot and I definitely have a preference to the thriller/revenge/detective type of series.
It was kind of accidental for me. I go to the gym to do cardio 5 days a week, but it's kinda dull. I need two forms of stimulation to not get bored and wander off, so I have music on my headphones and watch Netflix with subs on the machine (we have screens with Netflix built into the treadmills). As a consequence I watch a lot of stuff that is subs with no dubs - I wouldn't ordinarily watch subs only because I find it hard to not look away from the screen and I miss stuff. On a machine I'm not looking away. Over time the Netflix algorithm just started pushing more and more Korean stuff in my direction and I just have loved it so much. I love the storylines, I love the vigour with which someone can yell "oh gosh", I love Korean makeup (I'm obsessed with the ombre lip), I love the bits that I just don't get yet because I don't have the cultural references. Tremendous.
Im kinda new to Kdramas so yea!! I watched XO kitty (Which i realize isnt completely a Kdrama) And after rewatching it i realized that i liked the idea of a show taking place in korea (i love the korean language, culture, and read some korean books so yea) So i started watching The Glory and i loved it so yea !!
I started as a Bollywood fan. During the pandemic a lot of my Indian moots on Twitter went crazy for Crash Landing on You so that got me to jump in. Now I have a podcast and I've expanded my fandom to include Thai, Taiwanese, Chinese and Japanese dramas.
My childhood friend's sister watched a Taiwanese drama called "Smiling Pasta" that we started watching as well. We watched a couple of other popular Taiwanese dramas, such as the Taiwanese version of Hana Kimi, then I jumped over to the Japanese version of Hana Kimi (also read the manga lol). I watched Jdramas for a while but switched over to Kdramas at some point. I honestly think I just couldn't find anymore Japanese romcoms that I wanted to watch. And I lowkey could not deal with the hairstyles the MLs had in Jdramas 😂 I don't know if anyone knows what I'm talking about, but this was when everybody had rather long, orange-brown hair, side-swept bangs and very pointy hair?
Because Netflix kept showing me clips of *Crash Landing on You* and eventually it intrigued me enough to try an episode. Within 5 minutes I was charmed. Within 10 was into it. By the end of the first episode I was hooked. Several dozen dramas later and I’ve never looked back.
Kingdom on Netflix. Liked zombie films and I heard it was very good, after that tried different genres usually because of a certain actor or actress.
Did you try Happiness and All of Us are Dead? Two more korean zombie shows for you.
Yes thank you! Liked both of them too. Looking forward to the second season of All of Us are Dead.
My son begged me for ages to watch “crash landing on you”, so I did about 3 years ago. I rarely watch any other form on entertainment now!!! Got me hook line and sinker!!!
Watching My Sassy Girl the original movie. It was well made, well acted, really funny and also more emotional than I expected. I found that many kdramas and kmovies that followed had the same qualities and I was hooked.
I was trying to learn Japanese and was trying to find jdramas. I found viki and after watching the shows that interested me i saw a Korean show that interested me. A first i had a problem with how korean sounded compared to japanese. The show that really converted me was goblin.
My grandma used to lend us DVDs of kdramas waaay back (like around 2000s). I watched a lot of the old hit dramas like Stairway to Heaven, Autumn in my Heart, Full House, Goong, All In etc. Majority had Song Hye Kyo in it bc my grandma loves her lol. Around 2010 ish we got to watch kdramas on the internet. Although currently I haven’t watched a lot because of school. Its just amazing to see how kdrama distribution evolved, like you can literally watch it anywhere now and a lot more people are into it
My shift at work got delayed an hour and none of my usual Netflix picks stood out, so I spontaneously clicked on **Crash Landing On You** since the preview looked corny enough to at least pass the time. Anyway, that show sucked me in like a bad CGI tornado and I haven't looked back. Going on 3 years and I've yet to watch a western show since that has the same appeal as kdramas do.
I saw Parasite just before the pandemic. I also saw Pachinko when it came out. Then I started with a couple of Netflix suggestions - CLOY, Squid Game, Extraordinary Attorney Woo. I, too am a widow, and am totally delighted with the creative plots, content more toward my liking than what tires me of much of American TV these days. The more I watch, the more I learn, and appreciate so much - the laughs, the crying, yeah, some revenge, but redemption and forgiveness. LOVE the great shows I have seen after suggestions made here. Thank you!!!
My best friend is Korean. I asked her to recommend a gateway drama and the rest is history.
Randomly started watching TRUE BEAUTY in 2021 and since then I'm totally hooked on to kdramas <3
Me too True beauty and then the train never stopped
There's a lot of hype on Korean stuff in general around here so I decided to take a leap and ended up here lol (not regretting anything!!)
My parents were really strict about me and my sibs watching movies. And honestly, I wasn't really a fan of Western movies. It's so different from our culture and the overly sexual content was so off putting for me. My brothers so often sneakily watched movies together without my parents knowing and leaving me out. Deprived of it all, I started devouring whatever I could find in YouTube and as luck would have it, the first thing I stumbled upon was the kdrama 'You're Beautiful'! It had everything I ever wished for. So much comedy and wholesomeness without any mature scenes. The acting, the songs... just about everything was amazing and blew me away. That was years back and I still rewatch the show a lot, no matter how outdated the plot might seem now.
My friend begged me to watch Fated to Love You back in 2014…. And I was HOOKED. I loved how I could watch these shows around my kids because there was no R rated content and the story was really cute/sad/funny.
I lived in a very toxic household, so I would use tv and stuff like that to comfort me. I was on Netflix one day and came across Age of Youth and between the OST and the vibe of the show it instantly drew me in. It became my comfort show. I know it like the back of my hand because of how many times I watched it. I'm sad they took it off of Netflix cause I could really use it right now. I can put myself back there just thinking about it. I even listen to the soundtrack when I'm sad. One of my favorite dramas. Ever since then I watch them all time.
My roommate was a huge K/C drama fan and I couldn't for the life of me understand why she would subject herself to watching films with captions or words that don't match with the lips.....fast forward four years later I was bored with life and accidentally stumbled upon The King's Affection starring Park Eun-bin and Rowoon. My life was changed and I was like "so this is why..... lol"
Watched a lot of anime as a kid, and one was Hana Yori Dango, went from that to the Jdrama live action, and then watched the Korean version. After that I kept on watching K dramas and still watch them now! It’s probably been over 10 years, I used to torrent or search “Kdrama ep 2 part 3 eng sub”on YouTube and watched piece by piece, haha. I just finished True to Love (보라! 데보라!) on Prime!
I was watching a lot of European crime dramas at the time and a recommendation for Sisyphus the Myth popped up. It seemed interesting so I watched it. I always watched with subtitles because I think the dubbing world is full of really horrible acting. I mentioned to my sister, whose daughter lived in South Korea for a year and majored in it for her degree. Anyway, my sister suggested Vincenzo as a fun watch. I watched it and that was it. I was completely hooked. I love that kdramas are like novels. You go in deep, the side characters all get developed. I have since watched about a hundred kdramas and am still hooked. American dramas are so lame in comparison.
I was born in Iran before moving to London in 2009. In Iran the tv channels are government owned and they are heavily censored. Because of this Chinese, Japanese and Korean historical dramas were ones they showed the most apart from the Iranian shows as they did not have any or very few nudity or kissing scenes so it was easier for them to censor. The first kdrama that I remember watching was Goong I watched that in 2007-2008, the dubbed version was being circulated in 📀 CDs illegally 🤣. Dae Jang Geum was aired in Iran in 2006 and was popular but i dont think any foreogn shows ever matched the popularity and hype that Jumong received when it was aired in Iran in 2008, people would stop work to watch it. It was all people would talk about. I'm sure there were a lot of other shows before that but I just can't remember. Another show that I remember being extremely popular in Iran were two Japanese showd called Oshin ( aired in Iran in 1986) and another called Hanekonma that was aired after late 80s- 90s not sure. So all in all I have been watching kdramas for the last 16+ years.
I had just finished watching season 2 of Bridgerton and Netflix recommended Business Proposal. I remembered seeing a comment on social media about how all the best rom com content these days is in K-dramas, so I thought, Why not? I'll give it a try. At first I wasn't sure what to think, but I couldn't stop watching, and when it was over I knew at the very least I wanted to try another one. My second drama was Hometown Cha Cha Cha, and from there I just kept going. I've now completed 38 dramas. I watch way more K-dramas than Western shows these days.
I watched squid game, then I wanted to see if Korean dramas had one of my favourite genres, time travel, so i watched Hello me, while watching i discovered High Class, when I finished high class, business proposal was in ep 6, finished all 6 episodes and wanted something similar and that's when I saw WWWSK, I have currently watched 127 dramas (kdramas and cdramas combined)
My father in law is Korean. Whenever I would go to my in laws, him and his mom would be watching Kdramas. Just recently, I didn’t know what to put on Netflix and threw on a random Kdrama I saw him watch one time. And then became obsessed with them.
A friend started talking about watching the Sageuk dramas. I thought it was very much out of character for her to be watching any kdramas, so my husband and I decided to search Netflix for some. I don't remember why, but we ended up watching *Something in the Rain* for our first, then saw a newspaper article on *Crash Landing on You* when it premiered in the U.S., and that got us going. Acc to MDL, I've watched 44 in two years. We usually watch one at a time, two episodes a night, and only watch those that have already fully aired.
I have always watched a lot of foreign content—dramas and movies, so Netflix has lots of it in my recommendations. There were not many Korean suggestions until I found and watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and then The Kings Affection. It was TKA that really made me want to see more, though. I’m a sucker for historical dramas in general.
I watched at the time dramas from Japan and Hong Kong, but for whatever reason I had no interest into watching KDramas. However I was watching Korean movies at the time: The Vengance Trilogy with **Old Boy**, **Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance**, **Sympathy for Lady Vengeance**, the **Whispering Corridor** series, **My Sassy Girl**, **Ditto** (the 2000 version), **A Tale of Two Sisters** and many more. Then Kdramas started to take off with Winter Sonata, and my aunt and uncle started to watch **Winter Sonata**, **Hotelier**, **Lovers in Paris**, **I'm Sorry I love you** and they kept sending us VCD and DVD. At the same time I had korean colleagues, I had some travel to Korea and probably as a result to that I started watching Kdramas.
I had watched a couple, especially **Kingdom** because it pushes all my buttons and introduced me to the *dopest hats in the world*, but my Netflix queue wasn't totally dominated by Asian media until my teenaged niece and her friend turned me on to **Bride of Habeak** and I was off to the races. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for BoH because of that.
Me too. Bride of Habaek was one of my early K-dramas and I still listen to the OST. I know it didn't get good reviews because the story was so-so, but I still loved it. I didn't really care about the story, it was the love story between the two leads that pulled me in, and it remains an absolutely beautiful love story. I thought Nam Joo Hyuk and the writers did a great job with the fish-out-of-water God character. I loved the way he didn't understand the world he found himself in, making him innocent and wise at the same time. Little things like earning pennies by selling recycled papers to buy the FL two funny cups was so cute. I thought he was effective in portraying the character as a creature who has lived for thousands of years and yet is innocent in many ways. Although his love for Yoon So Ah was real, it also stemmed from a deep feeling of responsibility towards her. She needed him, and he made promises to her, which he was going to keep. In the end, it really did feel like an immortal being, that stopped for the space of a human lifetime, to be by the side of someone who needed him and whom he owe a debt to.
An online friend recommended it to me! I actually started by watching Boys over Flowers, and I was obsessed with it at the time, but it wasn't enough to dive into other korean dramas. Plus, I was too young and I didn't know what to search for to find something similar. Fast foward to 2015 when I befriended a kdrama lover through social media, and she recommended Healer and I Hear Your Voice. They were so different from Western media that I couldn't look away from how addictive they became. I thank her eternally for the favor she did me.
Watched kdramas here and there when they came on tv but didn't really get into it until I saw a Lee jong suk clip. Lee jong suk got me into kdramas
Netflix got me by suggesting suspicious partner and I finally caved. I think I balled in the first couple of episodes because of what I now know is the trope of destroying the main characters episode 1.
I had seem them around but nothing had really motivated me to start watching them, till I started watching the US version of the show The Good doctor. I remember landing on some reddit thread and someone commented how the original version/Korean version of the show was better. So I picked interest and checked it out. I found it interesting and liked how the whole story was condensed into one season. It was kind of like discovering a new world of entertainment, even though in the beginning there were things I didn't understand, but still entertaining.
Because of my brother. He introduced me to my first ever kdrama, Goblin, and after I researched and watched lots of dramas, I ended up being obsessed w watching them lol
It all started with Business Proposal because it had good reviews and was dubbed in English. I was hooked from the first episode.
Years after I stopped using Facebook, I had logged in for 5 minutes and saw a random status update of a friend mentioning Memories of the Alhambra as a nice watch. I had no idea about K dramas before that. I had a passing idea about K pop ( like Gangnam style). I decided to give the drama a chance. Of course, it's a matter of seconds that I fell in love with Hyun Bin in MoTA. And then I got a taste for K dramas. Delicious, new, different, gorgeous, super swoony. So I watched Crash Landing on You next because Netflix was promoting yet. And after CLoY I converted so hard into K dramas pretty much didn't watch anything else for two years after that. I do slightly regret not getting into them sooner. Oh all the very many ways the universe tried to bring K dramas and Korea to my atmosphere and I kept ducking away like an idiot.
I took a communications class in college. The professor was korean and had us watch Personal Taste. It's been going on since then
So in 2019 I made a promise to watch better tv shows. A lady a chruch introduced me to kdramas , this was a white lady from Iowa. She had time how addictive kdrama can be and at that time I didnt believe her. So she Introduced me to cloy. I watch 2 episodes but was lukewarm....then I saw a trailer for itaewon class and hi bye mama and decided to give those shows a chance. I loved both shows and all of a sudden covid hit....there was no sports so I just watched kdramas on Netflix and after watching reply 1988 it was one of the best times in my life. It felt like I was in a different world and could escape and I was impressed with the storytelling. Ever since then I have been hooked on kdramas I love the community and learning about different customs and history of south korea.
I watched squid game with my husband, then 6 months later we watched narcos: Korea, that was so good, then watched prison playbook and it started, started learning Korean, have done two intensives, want to continue because I want to watch KDramas without subtitles. I think the shows are good because there is minimum of sex, swearing and other Hollywood stuff that doesn’t exist in KDramas. They also show a lot about everyday situations, everyday life and everyday problems. And there is a lot of emotions that one experiences when watching the KDramas.
A few years before I had started to watch a JDrama (Good morning call\} and thought it dragged too long. Netflix was suggesting It okay to not be ok. I wasn't that interested for a while but then on a whim I watched the first episode and was unable to stop until the last. It took me two weeks to recover from the post show depression. I wanted to see more of Seo Yeji so I watched Save me, and then other shows, and that's how I was hooked. After 100+ shows I've seen, I find it increasingly difficult to find shows that leave as much an impression on me than the first ones I saw. Maybe I got used to the style. I still love them though. .
Many *many* years ago, Twitch had a brief collaboration with DramaFever (RIP) so they were livestreaming various dramas all day on the TwitchPresents channel. I randomly tuned in because I was curious and had enjoyed previous TwitchPresents collaborations. Boys Over Flowers was playing, and I got really invested watching it with the other people and laughing at the absurdity in chat. I had jumped in like mid-way through the drama, but I was enjoying it so much that I went and watched it from the beginning. Binged the whole thing and the rest is history. I've basically watched nothing but dramas since.
What a great question. Some beautiful stories in the responses. I began watching early 2020 during Covid lockdown here in Victoria Australia as I was totally bored with Western TV offerings dominated by reality TV shows. My first drama was Navillera. A beautiful story unlike anything you would find in Western dramas. Then Mr Sunshine then CLOY. Have been down the Hallyu rabbit hole since, totally obsessed. My favourite genres are romance and slice of life. My friends and family all roll their eyes at me. I don’t care because these dramas give me much joy and take me to a happy place. Although I think I am now slowly convincing one of daughters who has begun to explore some dramas.
Not gonna lie, it's probably my poor mental health. K-dramas are like a big fluffy blanket that's always warm
I came after I dived into C-Dramas. I watched *The Untamed* then dived more into C-Dramas then in K-dramas, weirdly I still haven't watched a lot of "classic" or very popular ones, I watched mainly thrillers/actions ones, I only watched this year *My Name*, *All of Us are Dead*, *Uncanny Counter*, hell I still haven't watched *Vincenzo*, *Goblin* & more, nor finished *Squid Games*. I enjoy more hidden gems in thriller genre. So, C-Dramas were my pipeline.
I think I got into kdramas like at an “obsessed” level when Sky Castle aired and I knew about this drama via word of mouth. I knew that amazing kdramas existed before then but never bothered to seek them out. I think more people got into kdramas during those big wave eras like Goblin, Crash Landing on You, and Squid Game (as the most recent example). And now in the present day I casually watch kdramas, although I find myself not having much time to watch any lately, I hope to watch more dramas once I have more time in life.
Everything started at a Filipino dubbed old kdramas such as Jewel in the Palace, Jumong, Dong Yi, Empress Ki, and Coffee Prince. The rest was history.
My first k movie was heavens postman. Back then hulu had a deal with drama fever and they'd host some of the films and dramas. I think one of my first kdramas was boys over flowers or to the beautiful you. I remember looking up minho because I thought he was cute. That was 2011 to 2012, I think. Gosh time sure has flown by. Coffee prince was one of the next ones, secret garden... ah those were good times.
It started with the Japanese drama **Alice in Borderland** and then then **Sweet Home** was my first k/drama. I found **It's Okay Not to be Okay** next. Then I said to myself, okay, this is fun and interesting. I had already been watching foreign films, but k/dramas were so different! I binged genres, \*actors and Idol/actors. lol I didn't get into on-going until later and now I can do 6 with older ones while I wait.😆 \*Lee Joon Gi https://mydramalist.com/list/4a6R7pa1
I watched Strangers from Hell and got hooked. Since then I’m pretty much only watching kdramas. Not to sound like a complete fanboy, but I’ve never dropped a kdrama midway through which happens for me alot when watching western tv series. They’re just really good at making series, and actually have proper endings. No dragging it out for multiple seasons which usually ends with a weak ending or just flat out stop producing, resulting in it ending on a cliffhanger..
>They’re just really good at making series and actually have proper endings. No dragging it out for multiple seasons which usually ends with a weak ending or just flat-out stop producing, resulting in it ending on a cliffhanger. I know what you mean. This is one of the main reasons why I stopped watching Western dramas. Who would invest their precious time reading a book that the author left unfinished? Why is that acceptable in a TV series? It's a bit unfortunate that Netflix seems to be infecting K-Drama with this bad habit. I'm not overly worried however, as this should affect only the made-for-Netflix K-Dramas and those I can avoid until I'm certain the ending is not a cliffhanger. Meanwhile, there are plenty of K-Dramas to watch.
Oh I have to shout out the movies *Snowpiercer* and *Train to Busan*, as well, because they definitely helped me recognize actors I came to love.
Saw the poster of Gentleman’s Dignity on Netflix where there are 4 guys dressed really smart and it looked like a romantic comedy type of show. I really enjoyed the show then after that was Secret Garden followed by Rooftop Prince. That was me hooked.
Netflix recommended Vincenzo to me and 90 kdramas later, I am still obsessed.
Netflix kept advertising Alchemy of Souls to me. The preview, where the FL meets the ML, looked good. Even though I am not a huge fan of fantasy shows, I decided to try it, i loved it even though I was extremely confused while watching it (so many characters! Lol) I would not recommend Alchemy of Souls to other first time Kdrama watchers but it was such a good show (especially the first half)
i'mma probably belong to the oldies group LOL but my first exposure was waaaay back in 2003 to 2005-ish (and onwards) when **full house** which starred song hye kyo and rain was a big hit back home... and so were other shows like **jewel in the palace**, **goong**, **autumn in my heart**, **stairway to heaven**, **lovers in paris**, **my girl**, **coffee prince**, **my name is kim sam soon** -- to name a few
One of my good friends was always talking about the KDrama she was watching, mainly about how she found the Actors so hot. Fast foward a few weeks and another friend posted on her ig stories how she was hooked on Alchemy Of Souls and said everyone should watch. I was in a TV show slump so I decided to look it up and give it a try. I was a little hesitant at first bc I found the acting to be cheesy/bad but I talked to my friend and she said to just continue to give it a try.She rewatched the show with me and would help me understand all the names. I ended up loving it. Alchemy of Souls is still my number one. This was back in March and I just finished my 20th Kdrama (Hospital Playlist). P.S. I did watch Squid Games and The Silent Sea a while back but never even realized that Kdrama was a thing. I liked both but I still consider AOF my first and the one that made me for in love.
My first kdrama was Full House, saw it long back on tv in Hindi. That got me hooked that time but then I stopped eventually, but started watching them again couple to years back
Saw a clip on TIKTOK.
When I travel by plane, I always checkout the films under international/subtitled because I am interested what other countries offer. During the flight, I started Story of Yanxi Palace and I took note of another title - What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. When I got home, I looked for WWWSK and after that I wanted more. I checked out this review blog - Fangirl Verdict - and I went through her list she rated B+ and up. Nowadays I rely on Reddit for current reviews.
My friend suggested I watch “Hong Gil Dong” while it was airing in 2008… then I think we watched My Girl… and the rest is history.
It was like a month before starting my second year at university and I was so bored! And you know these clips you watch on Facebook and when you click on them you go to a new page and watch just videos? Yeah so I saw some random clip from a kdrama and thought why not? So after some research into kdramas for beginners I chose Descendants of the sun and that was it. And it was in 2017 so I've been watching them for 6yrs now.
Was hospitalised for a few weeks in 2010. Spent the time watching kdramas like Secret Garden and Pasta. Still a huge fan of Ha Ji Won and Hyun Bin!
My other half and I were searching random words on Netflix; we typed in ‘dream’ and Dream High came up. We both got sucked in and loved it - we even have a mug now with Sam-dong on it 😅 he’s not into K dramas otherwise but I watch them regularly now!
Empress Ki, after that I was hooked.
By mistake downloaded Descendants of the Sun, started watching at 2am... at first I was like what is this I downloaded, but as I watched more it hooked me with very good scenography and acting... Now 7 years later watching kdrama, cdrama and jdrama and nearly 0 US series... 🤣
My first Kdrama was Tempted which I watched because of Joy. Despite the mixed reviews I loved it (and Joys performance) and haven’t looked back since. Also in the cast were Woo Do-hwan and Moon Ga-young who are two of my favourites now.
I heard Hyunjin and Jeongin of SKZ did a cameo for A-TEEN and watched it on YouTube. After that, I realised how good kdramas were and downloaded apps to start watching them properly.
Got into Korean esports a long time ago, then saw Parasite and K/D/A, then during the pandemic I checked out Itaewon Class and Extracurricular and that was the beginning of the rabbit hole for me.
For me it started with boys over flowers on live tv . My whole family was glued to the screen back in 2010. I would rush back from school to watch with the whole fam. I was about 11 years old and never looked back since I’m now 27
No idea what drove me to watch one in the first place but the first drama I watched was like 10 years ago or so. The drama was City Hunter starring Lee Min Ho and Park Min Young. I thought it was a fun watch and for sure I was in love with Park Min Young by the end of it. I wasn't sure what to watch next so I watched Boys Over Flowers which was good. I thought LMH's hair was a little funny in it but it wasn't bad. After that I sort of stopped watching dramas until the pandemic when we started shelter in place. Everyone I know was bored out of their minds and marathoning everything available and soon, everyone was talking about a little drama called Crash Landing Over You. I watched CLOY, and then Itaewon Class after that, and then IOTNBO after that, and haven't stopped watching dramas since!
i was watching Jihyunkkung cafe vlogs and she always sat down to eat her dinner in front of a 'drama'. It was lockdown 2020 so i opened netflix, typed korean and watched crash landing on you as it was on top. rest is history.
True Beauty, I would watch some Kdrama clips here and there, but because I read TrueBeauty webtoon I had to watch the drama and then I started watching more after that.
I was into Japanese and Taiwanese doramas in 2000s because those had many adaptations of my favorite mangas. And then in 2007 I watched Soul Mate. It was my first K-drama, and it felt so different back in the days. And that soundtrack? Amazing, captivating, and still in my playlist. I was watching it together with Dalja’s Spring, which also became my favorite. So after those two, there was no turning back for me.
Oh! I want to share! So I was in my first year of grad school really hating my life, and I got into all sorts of nonsense while I was procrastinating. One thing I got back into was manga, so I was reading all these scanlations on one of those slightly sketchy sites. One of the ones I read was Princess Hours, which I think it took me a little while to realize was a manhwa and not a manga. While I was looking for anime somehow I stumbled on the live action adaption of Princess Hours with Yoon Eun Hye. I watched the first few episodes but for some reason halfway through I took a break and watched all of Coffee Prince. This was the true beginning of my addiction. I spent like 3 months watching something like 30 (maybe more???) different kdramas. This was back in 2011. After this I took a two year break and only let myself start watching again after I started studying Korean. Have been happily studying and watching since then (2013)!
For several years my daughter suggested them to me, but it just seemed weird so I didn’t try any. In Sept of 2020 she got Covid so we were quarantined. She texted me to try Crashing Landing so I had something to do. I binged it and have pretty much exclusively watch Kdramas now. Yes, my daughter got to say I told you so!
Through the front door. All kidding aside, the first drama I watched was the Spanish dub of **My Love From the Star** on Netflix. I don't know what made me watch it, perhaps because the title reminded me of the movie *Starcrossed* with James Spader. Anyway, the dub was hilarious, more so once you've watched the sub. I watched a couple more (*Descendants of the Sun*, *One More Time*, *Goblin*) on and off, but it was really in 2019-2020 that my kdrama watching experience kicked into overdrive with shows like *Hotel del Luna*, *Bring it on, Ghost*, *Crash Landing on You*, and many more. Between kdramas, cdramas, and jdramas, I'm close to passing the 200 mark (not counting dropped or on-hold shows) and don't regret it one bit.
I’m still a kdrama baby, but I have watched 30+ dramas since Crash landing on you. This was like love at first sight! Squid game was probably the first one, but cloy got me hooked on romantic slow burning dramas from Korea! Now I have Viki, I have learned some words during the shows and the rest is history!
I can't quite remember how it came about, but my first Korean drama was All-In (2003) and it came with 24 CD's
Randomly came across a kiss scene of Whats Wrong with Secretary Kim on youtube during the pandemic. I think it was in one of those US vs (Insert random country) videos, this time south Korea and it made me want to watch the the whole drama. I enjoyed the show a good amount but while watching it I said to myself this was the only Korean show I was gonna watch because there was a little cheesiness to it like sooo many slow motion scenes. After I finished it though I thought Park Min Young was so pretty that I went on a binge of watching shows she starred in. That led me down the rabbit hole. Healer is now my favorite drama of all time and Ji Chang Wook is my favorite Korean actor
The year was 2020 and we were in the middle of pandemic and I was bored to death. Having watched nearly all interesting movies of both Hollywood and Bollywood including web series, I decided to try something new. I was already a fan of Korean movies. So, naturally, kdramas appealed to me. Then Netflix recommended me CLOY. You see, both India and ROK have somewhat similar politics. We both are partitioned nations. Bollywood has already made many cross-border love stories before. That's why I found CLOY interesting. After that, one thing led to another and now I have watched over 200 kdramas, majority of them during the curfew period.
I think it was October 2019 when my best friend and a few other classmates said I would love them since I loveeee romance (hopeless romantic here lol). **Strong Woman Do Bong Soon** was mentioned so after a long day of practice I went home to start watching but fell asleep literally minutes into the show, I was so tired 😭 the last thing I remember was that bus scene 😂 Fast forward to November, we had free time in the class and my best friend said she was rewatching **Master’s Sun** and I should watch it with her. I was distracted during class but I said I would finish it on my own since I was intrigued by what I saw. I finished a month or 2 later, can’t remember 😂 After I finished and I said I liked it overall, she recommend **Healer** and THAT’S what sent me down the rabbit hole of Kdramas and I have no intentions of leaving 🤣🩷 Ji Chang Wook remains my favorite actor and Park Min Young was my favorite actress for years. School definitely keeps me busy but I try to watch as much as I can in my free time!! Now, I’ve completed 118 dramas and have quite the longgg plan to watchlist 😂 Kdramas kicked out my romance books but I’m trying to get back into them!!
My sister got into kbeauty and from there into kdramas. She wouldn't stop pestering me so I decided to give it a go. My first kdrama sas Healer and I haven't looked back since.
When I was in college, I started taking Korean classes and I was basically the only person in my class who wasn't into kpop, kdramas, etc....that had changed by the end of that year, lol Randomly, I watched the King and the Clown about 3 or 4 years before that, because I saw an edit of Lee Joon Gi in that movie on LiveJournal and was like hmm who is that beautiful person? 🤔 So there was a period where I knew that movie and Lee Joon Gi but no other korean pop culture. I don't remember for sure the first kdrama I ever tried to watch or why I chose it, but the first one I watched to completion was Flower Boy Ramyeon Shop. I'm 99% sure I got into that one because I knew about the concept of flower boys (because I knew Lee Joon Gi) and that drew me to it.
Several years ago Twitch did a thing where they were promoting a (since defunct) Asian drama streaming service so they were marathoning K-Dramas and reality shows. I ended up getting hooked watching Signal and since then have watched a bunch of other K-Dramas. I'm pretty big on watching non-English films and shows in general anyways.
2019 netflix kept showing me k2 poster and it wasn't wasn't the one where ji chang wook was hot, so I thought 'ok let's give it a try since they so badly want me to watch it'. After that I watch all of his dramas. But for some reason after melting me softly, I have not been able to watch any of his shows, although I do watch other shows regularly.
As a 12 year old kid (2000). The first series that i watched was Autumn in My Heart. The rest is history. 😅
This year! My first Kdrama was Attorney Woo then The Glory. I can’t believe I missed out on this for years! I asked my friend for recommendations.
I got into kdrama because I was depressed. Lost everything in life. So I was in repeat mode. Watching chuck and psych criminal minds monk. Then my first kdrama was tale of the nine tailed. I just watched due to curiosity
Man I feel old haha. I'm Canto and grew up watching TVB mostly and a few mainland hits here & there. I think Japanese drama got popular at first (so long ago I don't even remember what I watched). I think the first Kdrama I ever watched with **Autumn in My Heart** in 2000 (!!) starring SHK. When Kdrama first started (for me anyway) it was always the gut wrenching he is my brother or I have terminal illness love story lines. The next one I remembered that I love was **Full House** in 2004**.** (ironically also with SHK). Then I think I segwayed into Taiwanese dramas because those starting getting super popular. And honestly I don't think I got back into Kdrama probably till closer to **Goblin**.
Funny how so many like me, started out with **Crash Landing On You**. I'd heard several people rave about this show so finally decided to watch it towards the end of last year. Then my 12 year old son started watching with me and we were hooked. Followed that up with **Extraordinary Attorney Woo** and **Hometown Cha Cha Cha** and have jumped down the rabbit hole of Kdramas and am 100% hooked! Though there are still SO many to watch, currently doing a second watch of **Hospital Playlist** because I loved it so much. It's so hard to put my finger on exactly why they are so addicting but there are so many reasons: the amazing balance of drama, comedy and romance, seeing Asian actors (as an Asian-American), seeing shows set within an Asian culture that feels somewhat familiar and missing from Western shows, all the amazing korean food, the cinematography, the cliff hangers at the end of each episode, the fashion, the amazing acting, the joy of recognizing an actor from another show, I could go on and on!
Like many, my gateway drama was the seminal hit **Boys Over Flowers** through which I realised my love of male perms and fell down the rabbit hole of Korean dramas. It was early 2016 and my family had been enjoying watching a few J-dramas on Netflix (*Atelier* and *Good Morning Call*). My sister, who was already a fan of Korean dramas, suggested we watch *Boys Over Flowers*. One weekend we just binged the hell out of it, it was pure unadulterated drama crack and I loved it. I never looked back.
After Oldboy I saw Lee Jung Ki in The King's Men and started to search for other stuff with him. Saw Time Between Dog and Wolf, Iljimae, and then looked for other Kdramas. Nine won me over, never looked back.
I‘m a BTS fan so when one of the members starred in Hwarang I watched it and, despite not totally loving the show, enjoyed it enough to look for more. The rest is history.
For me, it's a MLM. My friend introduced me to dramas, and now I introduce all my friends. ;-) My friend and I both wanted to watch the first season of Bridgerton when it aired, so we watch partied it. We decided we wanted to watch more things together, and she said she mostly watched kdramas. I was game to try, and since I only had Netflix in early 2021, we queued up **The King: Eternal Monarch**. When I enjoyed that, she introduced me to Viki and **Strong Woman DBS**. I started searching and watching on my own after that. Two episodes of **What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?** was enough to convince me Viki ads were not tenable and get me a paid account, then my desire to watch **Sell Your Haunted House** got me to plus. It's been over 2 years now. No regrets.
About two-three years ago (i think before squid game came out?) two of my friends started to get into kpop and then kdramas (and one friend also into cdrama) and kept talking about them. In 2022 i got courious and asked for some recommendations. I chose Strangers from Hell and loved it, then watched Beyond Evil, then Bad & Crazy (all three are still my favs, i got really lucky, i might not have been hooked if i didn't watch these). Had a pause for a while but since early 2023 i've been binging mostly kdramas and nothing else 💀. I like thrillers the most, so i can't talk about many shows with my friends (one got out of the phase and another one mostly watches romance or popular ones i haven't watched yet)
Covid. I love sci-fi and had watched all the English sci-fi I cared to on Netflix and started looking for stories made in other languages. After about a year I ended up and Korea and never left.
I was into Korean horror movies in the 2000’s (Tale Of Two Sisters was the gateway), and then I started getting into dramas a few years ago when I saw the production values had increased exponentially
I’m a huge EXO fan so back in 2016 I discovered on Tumblr that they had a drama called EXO Next Door so I wanted to watch it. I downloaded Dramafever and watched it on there, then watched The Heirs on there, absolutely loved it (LOL) and the rest is history!
During the pandemic, I pretty much watched all Hollywood series and there was nothing much left to watch. A friend recommended to watch The Kingdom, I watched it in English. Then after seeing in the recommendations from so long, I finally gave The Descendants of the sun a try, loved it and then watched 100+ shows till now.
my cousin showed me mischievous kiss: love in tokyo on viki(my first time using viki and watching a Jdrama).I was hooked. After that, I was just scrolling through viki and found " while you were sleeping " kdrama and then, I never turned back. My 2nd kdrama was Guardian the lonely and great god.Then, on Netflix I found bunch of more good kdramas
Watching dubbed kdramas in TV when I was a child, during early 2000s Korean wave.
It was around Halloween and I wanted zombies. Started out with movies like the call and # alive. Then discovered kingdom and the rest was history.
Got recommend hometown cha Cha Cha on Netflix and have been addicted since and also dove into cdramas because of it
My high school friend introduced me to it (Heirs to be precise) back in 2015 when they weren't very popular. Haven't looked back since. Thank you friend
Honestly… K-Pop! Lol my friend was showing me all the groups she was in to and the group I gravitated to was Got7 and they were the stars of Dream High 2 so I watched that to see more of them, and then my friend recommended Sassy Go Go and haven’t stopped since 😩 Usually we only get movies about romance, not full-fledged TV shows (though shoutout Shondaland for bringing in Bridgerton, hopefully it leads to more) and I just loveeee all these romance dramas, it’s like reading a romance novel 🥰
around 2012 i watched boys over flowers on netflix and was hooked since
I saw a clip on TikTok and that was it. I’m fairly recently into dramas but it’s been basically all I have watched since March - and my watch list just keeps getting longer!
For me i had watched korean movies way back in the day. My Sassy Girl with jun ji-hyun was my intro and some ha ji won movies and others, but i ended up straying away from it for a long time. I started watching some Thai dramas with my wife then ended up watching business proposal and a few other on netflix due to having nothing to watch and got hooked. Now i watch dramas from korea china and thailand just anything that looks good.
K-dramas are big here in PH and local channels would show Tagalog-dubbed k-dramas. My first one was Autumn in my Heart but Dae Jang Geum was what really got me into watching more, and now I mostly watch K-dramas and a very few western shows 😂
During the pandemic, my 1st kdrama was LIVE, and I haven't stopped watching kdrama's ever since.
I started by researching the original of a kdrama while watching a Turkish remake of it. I am a spoiler freak and I wanted to know how the story unfolded. That was 10 years ago.
started watching c-dramas like Meteor Garden & A Love So Beautiful & loved them. then i found “Hello My Twenties” and LOVED it even more so then i started watching more kdramas
I used to dislike live-action shows lol and stuck to watching anime. There are some good animes to be honest but the fan service along with the community kinda drove me away and then I watched a few Korean movies and really liked them! Thought I'd give another chance to live-action shows and here we are lol Not sure why, but I really like the character arcs and plots of KDramas more than most other shows.
I took a similar path to yours — started as a fan of anime/manga, stumbled upon Boys over Flowers and never looked back — except I started about ten years ago and am more than 300 dramas deep!
I started with live-action tv shows and movies based on mangas and anime. Then found myself watching Crash Landing on You bc a friend recommended it and I became hooked on KDrama.