Your Next Obsession: Korean Dramas

While I was in college, I stumbled upon a new genre of shows after completing a good amount of American television shows. That genre happened to be Korean dramas (K-Dramas) and they have become one of my favorite new genres of television to watch. They are filled with over-the-top drama, lots of outrageous situations, and love stories that never get old. Here are my top five picks that got me sucked into this new genre.

1. 'Strong Woman Do Bong Soon'

I recently completed this series and it was incredible. The premise of the story was fantastic and I loved watching the romance unfold between the main three characters. Do Bong-soon is not your average young woman. She has super human strength that is passed down to all the females in her family for generations. She hopes to become the woman of her crush, Guk-doo's dreams by being elegant and sweet. Thanks to her superhuman strength, she is able to land a job at her dream company, Ainsoft, a video game company she hopes to design games for. Unfortunately, she is only working as a bodyguard for the CEO, Ahn Min-hyuk.

While working as a bodyguard, doing strange requests for Ahn Min-hyuk, a series of kidnappings starts occurring in Do Bong-soon's neighborhood and she becomes determined to catch the culprit, no matter how dangerous it may be.

2. 'You're Beautiful'

This one I discovered on Netflix (seems to be the place I find all of my favorite K-Dramas). It follows the story of Go Mi Nyeo, a junior nun who hopes to fulfill her dreams of becoming a nun. After her twin brother, Go Mi Nam who recently got accepted to join the popular music band A. N. Jell, has to go to the United States to fix a plastic surgery issue, he asks his twin sister to take his place until he gets back. Go Mi Nyeo is hesitant at first to take his place, but realizes it may be a great way to locate their mother, as they grew up in an orphanage without ever knowing their parents. Thus ensues her trying to keep her gender and identity a secret, while trying to be accepted as the new member of this very popular music band.

3. 'Fated to Love You'

This has to be my favorite K-Drama of all time. It also happens to be the first K-Drama I ever watched as well, so it definitely left a lasting impression with me.

The story revolves around Kim Mi Young and Lee Gun who happen to cross paths when they otherwise would have never met. Lee Gun is the successor to a large company that his family owns. Kim Mi Young is your average looking secretary who can't seem to say no to anyone. An unfortunate (a bit more comedic) turn of events take place where they drunkenly stumble into the same room and end up sleeping together! It doesn't stop there where Kim Mi Young finds out she is pregnant!

4. 'While You Were Sleeping'

Hong-joo is haunted every night in her dreams as she is able to see the future deaths of others while she sleeps. Unsure on when these future deaths may occur, she tries to stop them as best as she can. Then we have Jae-chan, a rookie prosecutor also starts to have dreams of future deaths involving Hong-joo, only when he happens to move in as her next door neighbor. They then begin to work together to stop these unfortunate premonitions from occurring.

This is definitely one of the darker Korean dramas I have watched, but it was incredibly done and I couldn't stop watching.

5. 'Boys Over Flowers'

I actually read the Japanese manga for this before I had watched the K-Drama. Honestly I preferred the manga over the show, but it was still a fun watch.

The story centers around Geum Jan-di, a poor high school student who just happened to receive a full scholarship to attend the prestigious Shinhwa High School. She doesn't like her classmates as they tend to flaunt their wealth, especially the F4, the best-looking and most powerful guys in the school. Gu Jun-pyo happens to be the ring leader of the F4 and he decides to make Geum Jan-di their new target for bullying. Not like their other victims, Geum Jan-di stands up to the F4. This causes Gu Jun-pyo to fall head over heels in love with her, but what he doesn't know is that she already has feelings for another member of the F4.

All of these Korean dramas are just amazing and they are very fun to watch. None of them get too serious besides a few and they all have fun romances to follow along with throughout the course of each show. If it's your first time starting a K-Drama, these are great shows to start with!