I'm curious to know which cdramas you'd recommend/are your favourite? I've watched a few over the years but I'd like to watch more of them so I thought your recommendations would be a good place to start 😊
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i only just started watching them a couple years ago so i don't know much about them in general, but here are my favs and why:
a dream of splendor - a historical romance featuring a female lead who's a member of an underclass because her father did something to offend the emperor/nobility and so she got sold into what i think was a kind of slavery. what i enjoyed was how gorgeous crystal liu was, and how mature the romance was--it really felt like something between two adults. like most historicals, the guy is some kind of cop, but he's got an empathetic past and i really enjoyed the actor's performance. also in general it's just a great looking drama, and there's lots of women being the closest of friends and supporting each other through thick and thin. there's a silly and frustrating break up in the last quarter, but over all a strong romance in my book.
blossoms in adversity - this is my most recent binge watch, and i'm definitely gonna go back and watch it at a slower pace, maybe this summer. the romance is just okay for me (mostly because the actor for the male lead cannot act), but i really appreciated seeing the female lead, hua zhi, choose to save and protect her family full of women after all the men are banished because her grandpa defied the emperor. she's smart and resourceful (most of the cdramas i'm attracted to are competence pron for women), but this drama's a bit different from the others like it in that it shows us that hua zhi *is* very young and in some cases naive. hua zhi learned all she knows from her grandpa, but over the course of the drama she grows closer to her grandmother, and i loved seeing that relationship develop. as for the romance, while the male lead actor was kind of a bore, the dynamics of the romance were compelling: yan xi's the only person hua zhi really confides in and finds reliable, and her rival for him isn't another woman but the emperor himself. also the second leads' romance in this is soooooo cute and fun.
the double - watched this live. incredible experience. you wanna watch something where a woman outsmarts every single person and gets revenge against her vile husband who framed her for infidelity and then buried her alive, all while saving her family and getting with a rich ass guy who matches her in intelligence, pettiness, and vengeance but never steals her spotlight? then watch this. also this may just be me, but her vile husband is played by a hot actor who is really good at acting and like...well that worked for me.
falling into your smile - totally ridiculous idol romance fun
the legends - this was made on like a 3 dollar budget. but it's a great intro to what i think are called wuxia dramas (?). anyway my fav part is bai lu saving xu kai and him then being devoted to her forever.
my journey to you - gorgeous costumes and i really loved the main romance, though 98% of the audience liked the second leads way more. i admit i watched this cause zhang ling he could ask me for my bank account information and i'd hand it over to him, but the story is truly gripping, until about the last quarter when it logically kind of just falls apart. the fight scenes are really good, though.
new life begins - my favorite cdrama. so much so i don't yet have the words to explain why. but i'll try: you know makjang kdramas? well, melodrama historical/palace cdramas have certain tropes--scheming, malicious women; unfeeling, cruel men; death, suicide, murder; one crazy ass thing happening after another. new life begins is a romantic comedy set against that background in that it takes everything you (or rather i) expect(ed) about a palace drama and just did the opposite. women loving each other all over the place. bonds of friendship so deep they overcome every obstacle. it's just very cute and deeply sincere, and also has a satisfying romance.
nothing but you - age gap sports romance with an older woman and younger man where youan leaves her job and starts a new career as the manager of a tennis club, and recruits san chuan (who she at one point she calls "the embodiment of love" !!!!! oh my god) who just quit being a badminton player to become a tennis player. not too much angst here, even with san chuan's issues with his mom, just a whole lot of sweetness and exercising montages (and some office work stuff). this whole show was basically made with me in mind.
you are my hero - this is straight up military propaganda. however. the romance is so, so sweet, mi ka (the female lead) is so, so sweet and cute and smart and fun, and the secondary romance is between the main guy's older sister and her past flame who's mi ka's mentor, and i liked them a lot too.
now all of these are things i just enjoy cause i like romance and hot people, but for actual recommendations, i'd say check out new life begins and my journey to you.
