Why do we love watching Korean dramas? It must be because of how we see people of a different culture live ordinary lives with laidback storytelling techniques and elements of hope, friendship, family, and pursuing one’s dreams.
I’ve composed a list of 7 must-watch K-dramas that will change your life. They give lessons on modern dating, family, career, dreams, and interpersonal relationships while making us laugh and cry along with them.
Reply 1988
A 2015 drama, Reply 1988 has a special place in all of the K-dramas I’ve ever watched. I recommend this show to anyone who is feeling sad or is experiencing their first love. To anyone who is irritated with their nagging parents or has annoying siblings.
Duk Seon is a middle child who is often ignored by her parents unconsciously. She is about to turn 18 and has a naive, happy-go-lucky personality. She is growing up in a neighborhood that is like a big family. Helping out each other in times of need, cheering for their children, and sharing happiness together. Starring Lee Hye-ri, Park Bo-gum, and Ryu Jun-yeol.
Bo-Ra! Deborah
Bo-Ra! Deborah is a 2022 K-drama that is focused around Bora, who is a dating life coach. She hosts a radio show where she helps people resolve their relationship problems. But it all comes crumbling down when she finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her.
The show starring Yoo In-na and Hyun-min Yoon, has a comical undertone but doesn’t hesitate to show how relationships turn sour. When a closed one knows us enough to know our weaknesses. And how easy it is to sit in an office and give statements on other people’s relationships but when it’s your turn, it breaks you down. The show showed Bora going through all the five stages of grief and growing through this process.
18 Again
18 Again is a 2020 K-drama about a family and how it’s crumbling down. Hong Dae-young suddenly finds himself losing his family and wishes to go back in time to fix everything by starting anew. A miracle occurs and he changes back into his 18-year-old self.
This drama starring Lee Do-hyun and Hwang In-yeop, will make you laugh and cry. A father’s love is a profound thing, unable to be seen on the surface. 18 Again has messages on cherishing the time when you are young, mending your relationship with your parents, and sitting down and getting to know your children.
Fight For My Way
Fight For My Way, is a story focused around four friends who when in school dreamed of achieving great things but didn’t quite achieve them later. Choi Ae Ra wants to be an announcer but is stuck being a receptionist. Ko Dong Man used to be a taekwondo champion but now works in pest control.
The K-drama starring Kim Ji-won and Park Seo-joon, focuses on their resilience in not giving up their dreams even after years and still working towards it. Facing rejections and suffering injuries, they don’t give up which struck a chord with me.
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo is a drama that revolves around National-level sports players who are trying to make it in the sports world. Life inside a sports academy is not easy, what with aggressive training, a competitive environment, and the pressure of being good every minute.
Kim Bok Joo is a weightlifting champion, who spends her day training, eating, and hanging out with her friends. She has her own struggles being a weightlifter and falls in love with the first person who acknowledges her as a girl. She is innocent in her pursuit of love but soon this distraction costs her.
Starring Lee Sung Kyung and Nam Joo-hyuk, this drama is a story of hard work, friendship, and love.
Twenty Five Twenty One
Twenty Five- Twenty One is one of the best K-dramas that will change your life. Set in a time of IMF crisis, two people come across each other while each trying to reach a dream or rebuild their life anew.
Starring Nam Joo-hyuk and Kim Tae Ri, the story of Twenty Five Twenty One tells that not everyone has the privilege to pursue a dream. Some people have to work hard in less than favorable conditions or give up on their dreams.
