Wrap up of all the dramas I remember watching this year, roughly in order of when I watched them and how much I liked them - totally subjective and not based on quality or anything else. There were LOTS of dramas I meant to watch (Hikaru no Go, Bad kids, Romance of Tiger and Rose) but didn’t get to. This list includes Cdramas, Kdramas and KO One (Zhongji) series which is kinda it’s own thing. Last time I just listed them but this time I’m indulging in a little commentary - titles in bold i might even watch again.
TOTAL HOURS WASTED: 442.5 = 18+ days
Full list after the cut but I’ll give you my
fave cdrama from 2020: Love is Sweet (really? who wrote this? it’s not wuxia?? I hate rom-coms!! wth???) ok, ok, tied with Ancient Detective (phew, that’s more like it.)
fave cdrama I watched this year: Nirvana in Fire (2015)
Ever night (2018) why did no one tell me to watch this before? holy crap real wuxia. the plot, world-building, setting, characters, production were all fabulous. tbh the weakest part was the end (a common lament of mine). secondary characters were all my faves, next to the scenery. cfy was ok, but not amazing so ....that’s how I feel about that.
Nirvana in Fire (2015) glad I didn’t watch this until now because basically all i can think of when I watch a drama is...why the f* can’t this be even half as good as NiF? seriously, now that I know they can make good dramas, it makes the bad ones seem even worse. A classic, you don’t need my recommendation on this one.
The Ghost Bride (2020) based on a YA novel. Super good (tho I didn’t read the novel). I even recommended it to non-drama watching friends because it’s short and on Netflix.
Ancient Detective (2020) I just really really enjoyed this, ok? best friends squad with a little romance. plot rips off English country house mystery format but then has a twist at the end. bonus himbo. sad it likely won’t get a S2 because it ended on a cliffhanger.
Mystic pop-up bar (2020) I laughed, I cried. Fav kdrama this year tho I didn’t watch many, including most ppls’ favorites.
Love is sweet (2020) brainless, tooth-rotting fluff. exactly what i needed in this nuclear tire fire of a year. silly. bai lu and gao hanyu were great. lyx is my emotional support actor (but you knew that already.)
Joy of Life (2019) finished it in January I’m allowing myself to stick it on the 2020 list because it’s so good.
KO One (2005) and KO One Re-act (2013): KO One is my comfort food show now - watched it for the third time due to Reasons. Silly, stupid humor with heart.The theme song is my ring tone. Re-act has been the most enjoyable of the Zhongji series sequels for me. (Fun fact: lyx acted in one of the Zhongji series “Ultimate Ranger.” I WISH I could find a place to watch it.)
Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty (2020) - enjoyable. found family is my jam. great food pr0n, needless killing off of a certain character I will not name
Kingdom S2 (2020): cromulent sequel, annoyingly short season
Wu Xin the monster killer (2015) - a sleeper. I really enjoyed this, looking forward to watching the sequels. Elvis Han and Ian Wang were great, but all the actors were good, plot moved briskly, had lots of humor and action, music was less annoying than most dramas (for me)
Fighter of the Destiny (2017) - not done with this yet but this is the kind of fluffy xianxia I like - again, best friends squad with less emphasis on the sappy romance. Gao Hanyu is adorable. Lu Han is...pretty good?? (downside: Janice Wu’s character is kinda annoying)
Handsome Siblings (2020) - they...did not look at all alike. was that supposed to be funny? supporting characters were A+
The Uncanny Counter (on air) (2020) - amount of emotional gut punches per episode borders on viewer abuse. blatant tearjerker.
Legend of Fei (2020) - so far not compelling (up to ep 12) but i’ll eventually finish it because wyb’s character is fun and i like the supporting characters
Tale of the nine-tailed (2020) - though it seemed up my alley I forced myself to watch it. secondary characters were way better than the leads
The Devil Punisher (on air) (2020) cheap and cheesy, but more fun than Uncanny Counter. Don’t @ me
KO One Re-member (2016) No Jiro, but at least we got Wes back - too bad his character was nowhere near as fun as Huang Zhong in KO 3guo.
KO One Re-turn (2012) Dragged a lot.
And the Winner is Love (2020) - you know how much I love lyx but this is on the bottom of the list because after watching the whole thing I got really really depressed. like really. depressed. it wasn’t just that the drama was a complete let down (it was) idk. i’m always going to associate it with losing that last little bit of my will to give a crap about anything.
Winter Begonia (2020) - abandoned after 3 eps. I just wasn’t in the mood for this, though I like jing ju. may try again another time
The Wolf (2020) - abandoned after 3 eps. if you’ve read this far down I’ll let you in on a secret - Darren Wang looks terrible in a wig.
My roommate is a detective (2020) - abandoned after 2 eps. for some reason this did not hit me.
You might be wondering why the KO One main cast are in one video and the subtitle talks of "history strongest highschooler" and "Wang Ya Se's friend" and "KO ranked two". Omg this is such a treasure.
Calvin Chen is participating in a boxing reality show (like we've seen a great boxer he is in Recall) and these thre peng you men friends are sending their mesages to him for next match. Can the KO 3 with 9000 battle points win his next tournament? Wohooo!
