Prettiest Cdramas of 2025
I was only able to make it through five of the 50+ Cdramas I tried watching in 2025 but I still have Opinions about which ones had the prettiest—and most importantly meaningful—cinematography and production design. In comparison to my top picks from 2024, I think this year's dramas leaned more cinematic, making for some truly gorgeous visual storytelling.
All Around Best: Legend of the Magnate
When I started compiling this list, I decided to create a new category just for this drama because honestly it could win any. From the location scouting to the production design to the cinematography, this show is stunning. But what sticks out most to me is the haptic quality and confident restraint of the camera work. The imagery is naturalistic and immersive with no shot wasted or distracting.
Favorite Use of Color: Secrets Happened on the Litchi Island
This drama can be described in two words: lush and atmospheric.
A cross between a Liu Kuanghui and Luca Guadagnino production, SHOTLI is a lovingly crafted, queer coming-of-age story, its vibrant colors capturing the heady rush of first love and sexual awakenings.
Runner-up: Love on the Turquoise Land
It's rare to see a Cdrama lean so hard into complementary color schemes like red/green or teal/orange but the visual tension that results from it efficiently communicates the show's sci-fi genre.
Favorite Use of Camera Language: Man's Inhumanity to Man / Germ Warfare Units
Before I started this drama, I was curious about how it would (visually) represent its difficult subject matter. The show centers around Unit 731, a secret research facility operated by the Imperial Japanese Army in Manchuria between 1936 and 1945. During this time, the facility conducted lethal biological and chemical warfare research, including large-scale human experimentation on the local population. However, what's interesting about the cinematography of this drama is what is NOT shown. Rather than graphically portraying these atrocities on camera, the show instead uses striking symbolic details to express the surreal cruelty of living under occupation. It's grim verging on horror but never exploitative.
Runner-up #1: Such a Good Love
Artistic and eclectic, this drama cleverly uses the camera as a way to reflect on the narratives we spin about our past selves in our memories.
Runner-up #2: Twelve Letters
I wonder if the director of this show used to be a photographer because so many shots pack an entire lifetime of stories in one composition, a stylistic choice that feels fitting for a story about time travel.
Favorite Production Design: Flourished Peony
Between its painting-like compositions and meticulously crafted sets, props, and costumes, this drama is a tableau of Tang Dynasty art and culture. Every frame is crammed with beautiful details that are not only a feast for the eyes but also great research rabbit holes.
Favorite Use of Light: A Love Never Lost
Like Legend of the Magnate, this drama is all around beautiful but I was especially taken by its commitment to using such dramatic motivated lighting. It's moody but the story still feels believably lived-in, the malaise of its political setting coming through clearly.
Favorite Random Scene: The Glory
I dropped The Glory pretty early on but I still think about this one scene because of how much the lighting and composition reminds me of a Dutch Masters painting. The soft light gives the subject, the show's FL who is currently being interrogated, an elegant almost ethereal quality, a perfect mask for what we later learn is her feral desire for revenge.
Bonus: Story of Yanxi Palace
This year I had more time to go through my pre-2020 backlog, including this gem from 2018. If you haven't seen Yanxi yet, this is your sign. Beautiful production design and the cinematography understands how to use blocking and scale to enhance its social commentary on gender, class, and power.
And that's a wrap! What were your favorite visuals of 2025?
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