I gave 5 beans in the beanie count in 2021 to Run on, Vincenzo and D.P., but I’m fully aware Vincenzo is an imperfect drama and Run On is not objectively the best drama, even if I love it so much I’m enjoying my rewatch even more than my first watch.

So I will stay with D.P. because acting, directing, and writing was solid. It has funny moments and terrifying ones. The balance was perfect, the anger, the hope, the fear.

I don’t know if a second season will be as good as the original drama, but I will be there to watch.

That was the easiest question!

My best 2021 Kdrama goes to...

drumrolls

Vincenzo!!!

This Kdrama can't stop laughing at this show since it was only a hilarious black comedy! I still totally missed our couple Vincenzo-Chayoung and even the lighter PPL too! That Italian settings was brilliantly fantastic with the beautiful, colorful places!

Honorable mention: Squid Game

Human Disqualification.period!!!

For 2021, my vote goes to Move to Heaven and Beyond Evil.

For me, I think it was actually Yumi's Cells (and this is coming from someone that doesn't even care for animated things). The drama was a simple slice-of-life story, but the storytelling layer provided by Yumi's cells was able to turn it all into magic and give a new perspective. It's so easy to get pulled into the details and troubles of life that sometimes we might not see the big picture — and watching Yumi's cells reacting to the moments in her life, and weaving her life's story, was just positively fabulous. For once I'm glad there's a season 2 coming.

Others have repped Vincenzo already, so I'm here to represent Mr. Queen. A sageuk that kicks ass forwards and backwards, has fantastic music (2NE1, Blackpink, Norazo!), and a stellar performance from everyone but especially Shin Hye-sun. What more do you need??

So hard to decide! I went back to have a look at my Bean count, and the dramas I gave the most Beans to were: DP, Yumi's Cells, Human Disqualification, Bossam, Hellbound and Move to Heaven.
I can't pick only one, I can only narrow it down to two dramas: DP and Yumi's Cells, because they were the most consistent and well paced throughout their whole run (it helps that both of them are shorter)

My best drama goes to Hospital Playlist 2. It scores itself into the series I could never stop watching despite my drama slump in that month period. It was sort of a life documentary, living a life through the characters lens. Plus the couple that had me making hearts at my screen, ChuChu-Seokhyung.

Honorable mentions goes to Reflection of You, for a particular scene in Ep 1 which was propellant that kept me watching, then episode 12's loving yet on the verge of insanity confession + confrontation and; Monthly Magazine Home, for balancing the angst other dramas airing in that period brought. It was also, a must watch each week.

On The Verge Of Insanity and Mr. Queen.
The Red Sleeve was great and did great for MBC but OTVOI deserved MBC Best drama 2021 in my opinion.
There was no dull moment until the last scene of the final episode.
Great script, cast and acting.

Surely Vinenzo, but in terms of talking about the danger of vigilante justice, which is this year's theme, Law School is a very close second, and Inspector Koo is a very very close third.

I almost forget any other drama (even Squid Game) this year, thanks to Our Beloved Summer (If the question includes dramas not finished in 2021, this one will be my best; it may even get into the three greatest drama I watched so far on my list, beating Mr. Sunshine--only if it has a great ending).

Don't know if it was "the best" but my favorite was Inspector Koo. It was very unusual, in a good way!

I'm torn between D.P, Move to Heaven, and Happiness. The first two were very hard to watch for me in contrast to Happiness. Nonetheless i enjoy all three

Human Disqualification and Made in Heaven were the two I equally loved. Each made me think, question, ache, reflect, laugh, regret, rejoice in my precious relationships and weep over those that I have lost or let go. Each also drew me into the world of its protagonists and kept me there despite acute pain and sorrow at times. Each imbued its worldview with its unique empathy and humanism. I cherish both and will do for a long time.

The best drama of 2021? Hum...

Objectively, I choose D.P. It was short but very impactful : the story, the actors (main and supporting), the direction.

Subjectively, I'm the kind to rewatch dramas (wholly or small parts), so the one I rewatched the most in 2021 was definitely She Would Never Know. It was a great typical Kdrama : romance, great chemistry, good actors, nice places, great outfits (turtlenecks 😍), beautiful ost, good balance between seriousness and humor, some usual tropes but well used, no genius.

Bossam, Sell your haunted house and Imitation were truest to the story they wanted to tell. Navillera could have given a bit more than posture. well, there are limits to a senior actor, I understand but I kind of wanted him to do just a little more.

I kind of went to the cinema so much I had no more time for dramas. I think I saw around 90 movies last year in the cinema

Vincenzo, Mr. Queen, Taxi Driver, Move to Heaven

RUN ON RUNON RUNON....
Anyway, objectively speaking I don't know. In my head, it's between Mr Queen, Yumi's Cells and Red Sleeve (minus the court lady cult plotline execution) and I haven't watched Mad for Each Other, On the Verge of Insanity and Move to Heaven.
Also, Koi Desu: Yankee-kun to Hakujou Garu, the jdrama I accidentally stumbled upon. It was the sunshine I didn't know I need. Definitely carrying it forward with me along with Run On.

As a lover of films, especially those that allow me to experience another culture, I have a time-honored test of movies I call great. If a little snippet of a scene or line of dialogue pops into my head, days months or years later, that's my winner.
This year in Kdrama, the two I revisit mentally are Bossam and Run On . Neither are perfect but both have wormed their way into my brainscape as solid, true depictions of women trying to make their way through life with dignity.

Oooh my favourites would have to be Human Disqualification, Move to Heaven, Run-On and D.P.

Honorable Mentions: Mad for Each Other, Yumi Cells, Vincenzo and Navillera :)

While I enjoyed a decent number of dramas, nothing made me want to go back and rewatch except RACKET BOYS. I don't think it was that anticipated and also the cast was mostly kids, most of whom I've never seen before. The only reason I started watching it was because it was readily available and I'm so glad that I did. It was such a blast to watch those kids bond together and become a team. All the kids were just too good. And Tang joon sang was a revelation! Loved loved loved it!!!! It's become my comfort show and I still rewatch it whenever I can. It was so refreshing to see a sports based show in school with very little politics and backstabbing or manipulative rivals. The focus was on badminton and the gang's friendship andand the show nailed it.

I choose On the Verge of Insanity because it had it all: Tight writing, no pacing issues, good acting and directing.

Every other drama I could nitpick in some area. Move to Heaven and D.P. were very strong, but I thought Lee Je-hoon's acting and storyline was the weakest part of Move to Heaven and it was like D.P. switched genres in the last two episodes, losing a lot of the realism as characters just walked away from car crashes and violent altercations.

Admittedly, I didn't watch a lot of the most critically acclaimed dramas of 2021 because they were heavy in traumatic feels and my real life already had enough of those, thank you very much. So, when I saw this question my first reaction answer was Vincenzo because it was a fun vigilante ride that understood you can't always redeem a vigilante just because he's charming and good looking, but you also don't need to kill him off. But you know what, I just finished Hello, Me! last week, and I think this one has my vote. Kudos to a drama that understood the real love story in this tale was FL's love for herself. And not only her, but everyone around her had a reckoning of their own with themselves and with their families, and it was just good. There were many points where the narrative could have easily slipped into the usual love triangle and/or corporate boringness tropefest, but it never let those shenanigans take over the main.

I started and wandered away from a lot of dramas in 2021, but I'm glad I turned back to Hello, Me!

The dramas that I consider perfect purely for how they made me feel:

My Roomate is a Gumiho - Perfection; this drama took me to kdrama basics and reminded me of why I fell in love with them.
Run On - Perfection; This one warms my ❤ and how I wish to have a relationship like our OTP
Taxi Driver - Perfect; I have a crush on LJH and he did not disappoint.
Mr Queen - Nearly Perfect - I could do without the last 30 or so mins of the drama's ending, other than that, it has some of my best LOL moments.

I am another one voting for ON THE VERGE OF INSANITY. It was so original, with so much subtle humour and the greatest douchebag of all times, played by Lee sang-Yeob. He deserved his award. There were other outstanding dramas, so the choice was not that easy, such as DP, Red Sleeve Cuff, Move to Heaven, Beyond Evil. I hope 2022 is going to be as good as 2021 in dramas.

Move To Heaven, Navillera, Youth Of May. Honorable mention: Bossam, Beyond Evil.

Wow. "Best" is... best in what way?

Best in a serious way, like best kdrama equivalent of "literature", might be D.P. or Youth of May. I liked both of those a lot, but...

Best entertainment (for me) was Vincenzo, with Inspector Koo a very close 2nd and the early parts of Mr. Queen and Zombie Detective also in the mix. Your mileage may vary.

Best performance Shin Hye-sun in Mr. Queen. Lee Re in Hello Me! was too good not to mention.

Best money-maker was probably Squid Games (?)

I also think Squid Game was quite good and deserved the fame (but I'm yet to complete it)
Mr. Queen for acting, dialogue, concept and comedy!
Surprisingly good/ underrated gem- Secret Royal Inspector

2021 was really a year of dramas I didn’t finish watching so my options are limited here. Vincenzo didn’t grab me and I haven’t finished it despite a couple of attempts. Maybe it’s just that Song Joong ki doesn’t do it for me? He looks like a mouse.

Speaking of mice (look at my expert segue lol) - I’m going to give best drama to Mouse. It was long (20 episodes + 2 spin-off episodes) but well plotted and kept your attention. There were some ridiculous elements 😅 but it was dished up to you in a way that made it seem feasible; for the most part the acting was great. It’s not for everyone for sure, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Honourable mentions to Run On, which I loved, and Mad For Each Other which was so nearly completely awesome but for the weird all over the place-ness of the end.

The only drama I looked forward to with total joy was Dali and Gamjatang. The couple sizzled, the clothes were fantastic and the humor kept me laughing. My runners up are Run On and Vincenzo. Run On had a female second lead that rivaled Veronica Park (please send more drama land). Vincenzo was a morally corrupt fast paced adventure from beginning to end and cemented gold lighters as the new Subway.

I can't possibly choose only one.

Best ensemble: Vincenzo
Best couple: Run on
Best direction: Red Sleeve Cuff
And the drama that's most memorable to me is Hospital Playlist 2.

I can’t name the best drama for me for last year tbh. It was a bleak year, and I don’t remember falling in love with any one of them. But these shows are among the faves.

- Dali and Gamjatang
- Nevertheless
- Sell Your Haunted House
- Nevillera
- Hospital Playlist 2

I didn’t like Run On at first. My panic mode sometimes kicked in when the ML was told to be “annoying” by the ones around him. I felt connected to him somehow. Anyway, the strange thing is that I felt like rewatching it so I started my rewatch yesterday. So far I’m enjoying it so much more than the first time watching. I guess everything is about timing and your mood.