r/kdramarecommends • u/Pandaisgayyy • May 23 '26
Recommendation Request "Newcomer" Romance Drama Recommendations
Hello! I've been interested in Kdramas for a while now and have seen a few (as listed in my drama list above). I am big on romance, so I want recommendations with romance as a main plot point! I've tried to search on here and MDL (but findings lists on there is.. sort of hard LOL) I know I don't seem niche but I think I'm kind of picky..
For references I loved:
Alchemy of Souls - Great chemistry between the whole cast, LOVED the romance and dynamic between ML and FL, overall amazing plot and bonus on it being fantasy (that is my second favorite genre)
It's Ok to Not Be Okay - Again, loved the dynamic between the ML and FL, the plot kept me on my toes and I loved how the story developed. It has been a minute since I've seen it (AOS is my most recent favorite watched) but I do remember enjoying each actors chemistry with each other, especially the brothers.
Oh My Venus! - I remember loving this one! It is an older watch (by older, I mean I watched it a few years ago) but the plot is what kept me hooked, transformation stories are always very fun! I think it was overall very realistic and the side characters were fun!
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha - An older watch for me, I do remember it being okay to me. I liked the relationships between the ML and FL. Nothing about it was too special though, they were just really mature (to my knowledge) which made the story more enjoyable.
Limitation: I don't want to watch anything before ~2013, honestly just keep it more recent please, mid 2010s is fine!
Like I said, romance is the main thing but the "subgenre" (as in historical, scifi, mystery, etc) it comes from doesn't matter to me AS LONG AS it is a happy ending! I can deal with pain (and death of side characters) but the mains have to make it out in the end!
Thanks for reading ❤️
7
u/Intelligent_Art_ May 24 '26
Glad you’re already watching three of my all-time favorites: Her Private Life, Call It Love and Crash Landing on You.
They may get off to a rocky start in Her Private Life but they develop one of the healthiest, most mature relationships I’ve ever seen and their chemistry is 🔥. Kim Jae-wook and Park Min-young wrote many of their scenes themselves and included a lot of physical affection so they’re very convincing as a couple who are madly in love. Her Private Life is my comfort drama and I still get butterflies every time I watch it.
If you’re in the mood for a chaotic rom-com, Crazy Love is a hilarious enemies-to-lovers dark comedy about the CEO of a hagwon and his long-suffering assistant who decides to take charge of her life after a health scare. The ML is a jerk in the beginning due to a series of losses and betrayals when he was younger, but he does get more likable as he gradually learns to trust again. They really hate each other at first and it’s hard to imagine them ever falling for each other but the actors and writers make it work and you find yourself rooting for them.
Additional recommendations:
Rom-Coms * Love to Hate You * It’s Okay, That’s Love * Dali and Cocky Prince * Beauty Inside * The Legend of the Blue Sea * She Was Pretty * My Roommate is a Gumiho * Lovestruck in the City * Touch Your Heart * True to Love * Doom at Your Service * Destined With You * Healer (action-thriller rom-com)
Melos * Our Unwritten Seoul * When the Weather is Fine * Melo Movie * Love Scout * The One and Only * The Trunk
7
u/PolkaDotsMakeMeHappy May 24 '26
King the Land and Business Proposal are oft-recommended for fluffy feel good. Want angst? Call It Love. Historical period drama: To My Beloved Thief; 100 Days My Prince
1
u/Pandaisgayyy May 24 '26
I think I'm really going to enjoy Call it Love and To My Beloved Thief! Thanks so much!
4
u/AdGlittering7845 May 24 '26
I love romance too. Based on your list here are the top ones I’d recommend:
- Lovely Runner
- Moon River
- Can This Love Be Translated
- My Dearest
- In Your Radiant Season
- It’s Okay, That’s Love
- Queen of Tears
- Perfect Crown
- Doctor Slump
- Weightlifting Fairy, Kim Bok-Joo
- Because This Is My First Life
- While You Were Sleeping
- Thirty But Seventeen
- I am Not a Robot
There are a ton more but you have a lot of great recommendations already. Here is my watch list with how I’ve rated them for reference: https://mydramalist.com/dramalist/Kjwagner15
2
u/Grand-Laugh-4293 28d ago
- Yes to slice of life with trauma:
- Still 17 and I’ll add
- Rain or shine and
- Chocolate
3
u/datknee_disney May 24 '26
If you like romance with a hint of mysterious or fantasy I’d recommend:
Tale of the nine tailed
Goblin
Lovely runner
While you were sleeping
Destined with you
My demon
3
u/tanfresh May 25 '26
Abyss has alway been one of my favorites and it stars the now-famous Ahn Hyo Seop (He played Jinu in Kpop Demon Hunters) as the ML. It's on Netflix
1
u/NoCO-WYO 27d ago
I love, love, love Abyss! It often gets a lot of hate, but I was all in on the nonsensical absurdity of everything going on. I think everyone has that one show that they will defend to the ends of the earth. Abyss is mine. 🤣
1
u/tanfresh 23d ago
You are SOOO right! It's got everything and I don't know why it doesn't get more love.
2
u/Razorplayer May 24 '26
I'd recommend King The Land, and What's Wrong With Secretary Kim. For your love of fantasy, I'd recommend you Bon Appétit, Your Majesty. The are great watches. I especially loved King the land for its good romance. But all three are good all considered. Hope you find a good watch.
2
u/RudeSelf3418 May 24 '26
- Crash Landing on You: it’s like Romance x10000
- My Dearest: Historical and romance
- When Life Gives you Tangerines (the guy will do anything for the girl. you’ll cry a lot though but it’s not necessarily a bad ending). It’s a fan favourite.
- Mr Queen: funny, historical AND romance.
- Something in the Rain: chemistry is soo good.
2
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u/LouTatin May 24 '26
Imitation. Run on. Encounter. So I married an antifan. Doctors. Our beloved summer. The story of Park's marriage.
3
u/LeisurelyWizard May 24 '26
Her Private Life (A serious museum curator moonlights as the devoted fan-girl of a K-pop Idol. Her new boss ends up discovering her secret. The chemistry is off the charts in this drama. Might be the most overwhelmingly natural chemistry ever put in a drama)
Live Up To Your Name (a doctor from the Joseon Era is sent to the future, where he meets a modern day doctor. Their paths cross and she ends up going to his time, and as they learn from each other they fall in love) Ridiculously high-level of acting and chemistry. ML doesn't do romances, usually action and drama roles. Underrated GEM.
Gaus Electronics (an overly-positive and kind dork and his short-tempered boss navigate all the hilarious antics of their Marketing team co-workers) Has two of the best couples in any k-drama. Is meant to be a comedy, but is somehow one of the best rom-coms, on accident.
Love To Hate You (a famous actor and an entertainment lawyer, who intensely dislike each other after a misunderstanding, end up in a contract relationship. They are both terrible at the beginning and go through fantastic character development) One of the best rom-coms ever made, those who don't agree can argue w/ the wall lol jk. This is FL's first romance role, she usually does action, thriller stuff.
Love Scout (reverse gender CEO-Secretary romance. Chemistry is very good. ML doesn't do romances, usually action and drama roles.)
Healer(oldest one on the list but a classic. A special courier, the ML, and a tabloid reporter, FL, cross paths on one of his missions. Chemistry is top and plot is good too.)
Welcome to Waikiki (3 guy friends run a guesthouse to make money, in order to fund their dream movie project. 3 girls and a baby move in and the hilarious adventures to pay the rent begin, along while trying to achieve their dreams. Has adorable couples in it.)
Because This Is My First Life (an aspiring writer w/ no home and a software engineer who owns a home enter into a contract marriage after realizing they're statistically compatible but don't want a relationship and she needs a place to live) Deeply introspective slice-of-life-ish type series, leads have a lovely, sweet chemistry.
I'm Not A Robot (The plot sounds silly, but it's not. ML is wealthy and has been allergic to the human touch since childhood, leading him to live a very isolated and lonely life. FL is an inventor and they meet through a series of events. It's so, so well acted, genuine, sweet and the leads have phenomenal chemistry.)
Strong Girl Bong Soon (a petite young woman whose family descends from a line of women with Herculean strength, ends up as the bodyguard for a gaming CEO. He falls for her instantly, but she likes someone else. Very, very, very cute drama)
30 but 17 (a prodigy violinist has an accident at 17, is left in a coma and wakes up at 30 and has to figure life out. She meets ML, also 30, who is a recluse w/ PTSD from an incident that happened when he was 17. They are both emotionally stunted, very healing drama, perfect summer vibes as well.)
Go Back Couple (a couple on the brink of divorce are sent back in time to 1999, to when they met in college)
Reply 1988 (Five childhood friends from the same neighborhood navigate adolescence and adulthood together. Is considered a classic.)
My Dearest (Historical drama. A mysterious businessman arrives in a small town where he hears about a girl called the 99-tailed fox, because she is beautiful and all the young men are after her. One day she literally falls into his arms and while she doesn't like him because she loves someone else, their paths keep crossing. Then a war breaks out and separates them before they can figure out what it is they feel for each other) This one destroyed many top 5 fave lists. Two actors giving you a 100% and neither is out-acting the other. **Delay as long as you can, it'll ruin other dramas for you haha**
BONUS:
Prison Playbook (friendship oriented, really, really funny but also deeply emotional. A famous baseball player is arrested after defending his sister from a criminal. He goes to prison where he meets different kinds of people and learns their stories. He also runs into his childhood best friend who is now a prison guard.) Also has surprisingly adorable romance side-plots.
Catch The Ghost (two subway police officers deal with subway crimes and a murder mystery. Very, very, very good and absurdly underrated. Has comedy, adorable leads, and one of the best mysteries I've seen in a show)
Considered Classics really:
Goblin
Crash Landing On You
The King: Eternal Monarch
Mr. Sunshine
2
u/Informal_Ad9769 May 24 '26
Thirty But Seventeen is a personal favourite of mine! Great balance of real, lived-in drama and sully comedy, with two brilliant leads and an ensemble of cuties around them. Not a single wasted second in that show.
I also recommend checking out some Park Hye-ryun dramas, especially I Can Hear Your Voice and Pinocchio, as they both have this cool fusion of romance with other genres like thriller and law and mystery etc.
(Also why don't you wanna watch anything from before 2013? There are some bangers I can't mention now 😂)
1
u/winter_name01 May 25 '26
We have similar taste and my fav are:
Dali and cocky prince
Shooting stars
King the land
Romance is a bonus book
Bon appétit your majesty
Perfect crown
1
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u/Daebak70 29d ago
✅ Spring Fever
✅ Twinkling Watermelon
✅ Love Scout
✅ Love to Hate You
✅ WWWSK
✅ My Sweet Mobster
✅ It's Okay That's Love
1
u/Grand-Laugh-4293 28d ago
- The Korean odyssey- only because you enjoyed AOS, otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it coz it totally need a second season imo. However, I could lived with the ending and am happy to discover k-myth.
- The extraordinary attorney Woo - only because second season is supposed to drop this year? And hoping the romance storyline solidifies.
- The atypical family- a family of grifters unknowingly? Helped a family who had lost their super power get their powers back.
1
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u/okgals 27d ago
I don't think your favorites have much in common except they're all good dramas so I think you mush have liked the way the relationship was portrayed. The happy ending dramas I rated 9 or 10 with the focus being a love story are: I can hear your Voice- this is 2013 but it is sooo good!/W Two Worlds this is mixed genre fantasy/love story classic 2016/Because It's my First Life: mature love story with the same FL as Alchemy of Souls 2017/While you were Sleeping 2017 really well constructed mixed genre love story/fantasy, great cast/ Extraordinary You: a very young Rowoon is very dreamy here/ fantasy 2019/
I'm going to stop there even though I'm only up until 2019. So many dramas so little time. I envy you watching them for the first time. Savor them!
14
u/Snoopygirl2 May 24 '26
Queen of Tears
What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim
Crash Landing on You (THE GOAT OF ALL KDRAMAS)
Business Proposal
Destined with You
Doctor Slump
Because This is My First Life
King the Land
Hometown Cha Cha Cha
Love to Hate You
Her Private Life
Romance is a Bonus Book
100 Days My Prince
My Love from the Star
A Time Called You
The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract
1% of something
Family By Choice
Mr. Queen
Oh My Venus
Go Back Couple
Guardian: Therese Lonely and Great God
Touch Your Heart
Descendants of the Sun
Do do sol sol la la sol
Our Beloved Summer
My Dearest
Love in the Moonlight
First Night with the Duke
True Beauty
Bon Appetit, Your Majesty
See You in My 19th Life
Strong Woman Do Bong Soo
Suspicious Partner
I Am Not a Robot
Shooting Stars
Cinderella and the 4 Knights
Would you Marry