Yearly Drama Recap 2023
Count for this year:
Cdrama: 13 Jdrama: 13 Kdrama: 5 Short dramas/movies: japanese: 5 chinese: 2 korean: 1
Currently watching/waiting for sub:
K-drama: 2 J-drama: 2
Meet Yourself and When I Fly Towards you are probably the Chinese drama standouts that will stay with me for a long time. Even their OSTs were my 1st and 3rd most listened to songs this year according to youtube music 😅 but it's a bit sad because they're not really dramas that I can convince my friends to watch and talk about so I ended up just crying by myself.
I don't know if I consider Animals a "healing" drama but I felt so touched by the first episode I remember calling my sister crying my eyes out. The playful chemistry and care that everyone in the show had for each other really got me and I hope this drama gets a ton of love now that it's on Netflix (in asia only so far). Thinking about it more, I think this drama really got the couple dynamic right compared to similar dramas and they were so sweet and comfy.
My Second Aoharu falls into that "younger successful guy + woman in a rough spot" bucket too but I think rather than the romance what it did right was the feeling of living with your friends and classmates that you really only experience in college. I still don't understand why there are so few college dramas out there (maybe because the experience is less universal?) but every single one that I've found holds such a special place in my heart. Please drama gods give me more college dramas :pray: :pray: I'm tired of getting my fix from crappy youtube dramas.
I think Love Me Love My Voice is, like many have said, barely a drama but it was so peaceful and relaxing. I love the cast's chemistry and it was so nice to wake up in the morning and have something to look forward to. It brought me a lot of joy in December. :)
I went back and read my post from last year where I said that "maybe Silent would save 2022 jdramas for me" and I think I liked it but I watched it right after I watched Animals which I think was a hurdle impossible to pass.
I didn't finish a single "full length" Korean drama this year which I think is understandable given the trends from the past couple years. Why does every romantic story need cheating or murder? Where are my actual romcoms? Didn't Netflix see how well Business Proposal did?? We'll see if My Demon pushes through but I don't have high hopes for finishing "A Good Day to be a Dog". The closest one to full length that I finished was Perfect Marriage Revenge which was a fun 12 episode ride. I think if it went any longer I might have given up so I'm very thankful to the team who decided to keep it at 12 episodes.