Hello Me! I love it so much.

While there are several great Noona romances, and Witch's Romance is high on my list, I will always go with Secret Love Affair, for all the reasons mentioned by @quirkycase, and because it was the very first drama I ever watched. I remember being blown away: that musical score and the sense of foreboding in practically every scene, yet I could not look away. What's strange is that I normally don't like shows that leave me with a knot in my stomach, or that attempt to justify adultery, but this was an exception. And Yoo Ah In's performance as Lee Sun Jae was mesmerizing.

I'm with DaebakGrits here, Romance is a Bonus Book. Not only for the OTP, but the whole ensemble. Wi Ha-Joon was particularly adorable. And let us not forget the most important thing: Lee Actual Jong-Suk described IU as his Dan-Yi!

Secret Love Affair and Alchemy of Souls!

I loved 'Secret Love Affair' to bits, that I watched it back to back and till to date I listen to the sound track.
But somehow I never considered to call it a Noona romance!!
It's probably one of the best written, directed, acted drama I have ever watched. And where I fell in love with YAI!

If I were to pick a 'lighter' drama for noona romance, I would go with Dalja's Spring (yes, inspite of the FL's hair!!)

I liked the noona romance in Hello, Me! Kim Young-kwang was very bubbly with Choi Kang-hee.

The noona romance I liked the most in all my kdrama history will be Lee Jae-won (Lee Kyu-han) and Chae Ji-seung (Wang Bit-na). It was perfect, just for me. For me, its the best part out of everything I watched in She Would Never Know.

Hum, there are a lot of good ones :
My Lovely Sam Soon, Dal Ja's Spring, I Hear Your Voice, Let's Eat, Witch's Romance, What's Up, Fox? So many noona romances!

But I will choose the one everybody hates, Something in the Rain. It's the only one I rewatched (by FF her family's scenes). I loved the direction and the music. There were so many lovely, cute, funny and sexy couple scenes! The PD did really well to portray intimacy in a couple like the scene at the hospital.

What's up, Fox...... my first NR was the noona romance to end all noona romances, in no small part because it dealt with some of the difficulties surrounding age in a 'mixed' relationship

I realize the conventional definition of a noona romance is physical age (the pairing of an older female and younger male) but with the caveat in some viewer's minds of the actors' real ages vs. the characters' stated ages.

But what about the characters mental or emotional age? SOMETHING IN THE RAIN is classified as a noona romance but the OTP's immaturity and emotional age had them both at infatuated teenagers.

Or a difference in life experience. IN WOK OF LOVE, the young chef has a more mature outlook based on his life experiences than the spoiled rich family princess who had her silver spoon lifestyle. Does that cancel out their age difference when they both hit rock bottom?

Dalja's Spring with Witch's Romance coming in second.

Dalja is a surprisingly modern drama for its time and Dalja is one of my favorite FLs. Witch's Romance has amazing chemistry but a truly annoying 2ML, so it's behind Dalja in the standings.

WWW Search. Hon Mention, Something in the Rain

The best part about noona romances for me is when it is NOT the main point of the story. Even better if FL being older is only mentioned briefly and it has little to no impact on OTP's relationship. Prime examples: Hyena, Happiness. There's more, but it was so subtle that I actually forgot some titles, I'm afraid lol.

Search: WWW, which makes me the biggest hypocrite because I abhor huge age gaps and am the first to complain about casting young'uns with older actors, but I squeed so hard over Lee Da-hee and Lee Jae-wook's noona romance, who is 13 years older than him IRL, but is still the most chemistry he has had out of all his romances.

Witches Romance -- for Park Seo Joon, of course!!! their chemistry was palpable and sizzling...

but WAIT --- i forgot Dalja's Spring!!! oh dear, i have two favs! i can't only pick ONE.......

Secret Love Affair was a masterpiece and a masterclass in acting. My God that drama was just well done. The music was a character all on its own.

Search WWW was a close 2nd. Mostly because the lead couple were not as interesting as the 2nd lead couple.

I should not be commenting on this topic, because of all romance formats, the noona romance is by far my least favorite. I say this even after having read and considered yet another of @missvictrix excellent essays, https://www.dramabeans.com/2019/01/behind-the-noona-romance/ She makes the strong argument that the woman’s dithering and self-doubt that are always part of these romances are a rare moment in kdramas where romance is depicted as a conscious choice rather than a struck by lightning moment, and the anxiety the noona feels allows an exploration of woman’s deeper feelings, doubts and insecurities that is rare even in female-centered kdramas.

These are thoughtful points, but the older I get, the more I observe (and strongly believe) that the usual woman-older-by-10 years that is represented as an enormous barrier to romance in kdramas is totally insignificant. In fact, only if the younger guy and older woman think biological children are the only way to go is the age gap important in any way. Women live longer than men. The best recipe for the longest lived relationship is to have the woman older!

Real life aside, what especially irritates me is when the heroine’s doubts include what is best for the man—at worst, whether she can “keep the younger man happy.” Its not that I don’t appreciate that insecurity could be a factor in noona thinking. its just that there is also an element of noble idiocy and womanly sacrifice, often bordering on sexism, that is my least favorite part of all kdrama romances when it appears. If the male character is totally smitten, as they always are, why sacrifice your romantic interests for his, especially if the guys are also good looking, charming and sincere? Now, the noonas are also usually extremely attractive and accomplished, so I guess you could say they have their pick of men, why choose one that has the irremediable flaw of youth? I think Witch's Romance has a little bit of that thinking, in addition to self-doubt. But, all things considered, total devotion goes a long way in sustaining a romantic relationship, in my book.

And speaking of books, I guess if I had to choose one, it would be Romance is a Bonus Book, because both characters at least shared a devotion to books and literature. Otherwise, the romance was totally flat and what would in real life actually be an important issue of the relationship, requiring significant discussion, the female lead’s daughter, was scarcely ever mentioned! I could express similar type reservations about every show mentioned here: the romance is usually way too dominated by unjustified female insecurity. Even Hello Me, which is a charming show with a great message about overcoming insecurities, shows affection and support between the FL and ML, but the ending scene mostly portrays her ambivalence.

Anyway that’s enough from me, as a big fan of noonas, and an anti-fan of noona romances!

By the specific definition that age difference has to be the central topic and point of the story I can't think of any drama that I have absolutely loved...
In Bottom of the 9th With 2 Outs I loved Su Ae's infatuation with the cute shy basketball player, played by a squishy baby Lee Tae Sung before he discovered villain roles. But as I was firmly team Lee Jung Jin I wasn't sad they were forced to break up.
I loved Romance is a Bonus Book too, although for other reasons.

Love that this post even exists, every drama chosen by the staff is so good! (I'm assuming that Camellia is good based on how much people love it. lol)

Also love that this exists because it's a place to appreciate this trope, and it's very common to see casual prejudice against women on display any time "noona romance" is mentioned. I don't know how many times I've seen "I don't like noona romances" when I've almost never seen compaints about the much more common older-man, younger-woman pairings. And really all you're saying when you say you don't like "noona romances" is you think there's something inherently negative about older women seeking younger partners that does not old for older men doing the same.

There's not even a name for older-man, younger-woman--that's how common it is! Imagine calling a drama an "oppa romance." Try saying, "What's Wrong With Secretary Kim? is an oppa romance," and watch people look at you like you have two heads.

I generally dislike noona romances to be honest. Not because of the age gap, but because too often the female lead's maturity doesn't seem to reflect her life experience, while the male lead acts like a teenager despite being in his twenties just to give the characters contrast. So I prefer noona romances where the age gap isn't a major focus. Anyway...

When the Camellia Blooms: One of my absolute favorite dramas - the rare romcom/serial killer genre mix that actually works. Her being a single mother and social outcast was the bigger hurdle, and I found it a more realistic take on why age-gap relationships can be challenging.

2nd would be WWW Search - but for the secondary couple (the primary pairing was boring and I thought they should've broken up). Featuring an adorably young Lee Jae Wook and Lee Da Hee as a gorgeous badass.

Let's see....noona romances I've watched....

Kdrama: Witch's Romance; Flower Boy Ramen Shop; I Hear Your Voice; What's Up Fox; The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry; 9 Ends 2 Outs; Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy; Dalja's Spring; I Do, I Do; My Name is Kim Sam Soon; Romance is a Bonus Book; When the Camellia Blooms; Queen of Reversals.

Jdrama: Anego; Kimi wa Petto

TW &Cdrama: My Queen; Drama Go Go Go

Absolute top favorite is Kimi wa Petto, the original version with Matsumoto Jun. For just Kdramas, my fav is The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry because I adored Kim Bum in that role.

Always and forever, Kim Sam Soon 🥰

Pretty close second, Witches Romance.

Are currently airing romances in competition? Because if so CRASH COURSE IN ROMANCE would be my choice. In real life ages (of the leads) certainly CCIR would qualify with Jeon Do-yeon (50, just turned) and Jung Kyung-ho (39). In the drama JKH’s character is younger, not sure how much. JDY’s character in the police station refers to JKH’s character if memory serves as ‘that young man’. All that being said for me in CCIR it is not noticeable perhaps because her character is in better shape than his lol.

Most Noona romances don’t feel like Noona romances to me? Especially if they are only five years older or so because if I we switch it the other way where the ML is five or so years older than the FL it would not be considered an Oppa romance but rather a ‘regular’ romance.

I guess my pick would be When the Camellia Blooms. I’m not sure if they mentioned the age gap tho? And I can never tell Kang Ha-neul’s age, he looks both young and old at the same time. Maybe he’s just that good at acting? I feel similarly about Ryoo Joon-yeol, dude is like 36 but can still manage to pull off a college age student in the film Taxi Driver.

Same with Yoo Yeon-seok as well, he is nearing his 40s but somehow manages to pull off chemistry with Moon Ga-young who is still in her 20s and is 12 years younger than him. They are both incredible actors that visually I can actually believe they might be similar in age. Which is so odd to me because actor Jung Ga-ram who is also in the drama and older than Moon Ga-young by 3 years still looks as if he is a teenager?

I seriously can’t tell age.

My Love From Another Star isn’t a Noona romance because the ML is hundreds of years older than the FL and Lee Min-ho looks older than Jeon Ji-hyun so even if her character was older I couldn’t tell in The Legend of The Blue Sea. Also her fish out of water character (pun intended) made her seem younger too.

I think the Visual & Acting component are where I can or cannot determine the age gap in a drama. In Crash Course In Romance, I can’t even tell the real age gap, they look the same age to me and both the leads are incredible actors.

Whereas I could definitely tell Forecasting Love & Weather was a Noona romance. Because ML acted more immature than the FL and visually I could see the age difference for once.

In Life, Lee Dong-wook & Won Jin-A looked the same age to me even tho there is a ten year gap between them. It helps that Lee Dong-wook looks very youthful but he is only 1 year younger than Cho Seung-woo, which completely dumbfounded me when I found that out!

Then we have our queen Kim Tae-ri who does not look like a teenager at all but can easily pass as someone in her 20s. And yet with her acting prowess she completely embodied Hee-do’s youthful mannerisms and I wholeheartedly believed she was a naive hopeful young adolescent!

*Plays Lee Seung Gi's noona song*

Reply 88' of course.
Bo Ra and Seon Woo are one of my favorite couples ever! And Bo Ra is one of my favorite unnies!

I think Deok Seon was Taek's noona too. So I got a 2x1 pick here. 😏😎

Noonan nae yeojanikka~! -88-

I am going with a few older shows as my top choices:

First, a permanent favorite of mine, which I originally saw in my pre-streaming days on DVDs borrowed from my local library: OH! MY LADY.

Then, one of the first shows which I viewed on Dramafever: MY LOVELY SAM SOON.

Another favorite of mine: WHAT'S UP FOX.

The utterly classic SECRET LOVE AFFAIR is definitely a noona romance- and definitely not a comedy- but unquestionably a masterpiece.

If you have not seen any of these, you are missing out.

I want to mention one of my all time favourite rewatch drama which is OH MY LADY! I swear I did not expect to like this drama at first , but this was such a good romcom. And the most adorable little kid was in this show. I loved the cheesy lines, cliché scenes, and the chemistry between the Siwon and Chae Rim was quite good.

Other favourite mentions would be Romance is a Bonus Book and I Hear Your Voice. Lee Jong Suk really can romance Noona characters so well and surprisingly it doesnt feel odd also.

2016, the series 'Madam Antoine' there was a romance between two supporting characters that had a significant age difference (the actors are 34 years apart). That moves the story from a noona romance to an ajumma romance.

This is one of those kdrama things that's always been weird to me, that this is a genre with a label, considering that a several hundred year old goblin can get interested in a girl still in her high school uniform and no one bats an eye (so I guess I Hear Your Voice is fair play). That said, I respect the ones that treat the age difference issue respectably, like What's Up Fox, Dalja's Spring, and the Kim Sun-a collection (Kim Sam-Soon, I Do I Do, and if I remember correctly, Scent of a Woman?). Although ideally, it wouldn't be an issue at all.

Flower Boy Ramyun Shop. Jung Il-woo is my personal noona-killer. He had such a great arc in High Kick too.

Oldies like Kim Sam-soon, What's Up Fox, Dalja's Spring are the greats of this genre.

so you thought my week had not been hard enough and had to do this.
hey.
hello.
you want to kill me till I dead.
okay.

A Witch’s Romance is just awesome. The chemistry between the leads and their acting is brilliant. I thought I loved Park Seo Joon’s character in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim but he really shines in AWR. Another reason why l enjoyed this drama is its more realistic portrayal of adult romantic relationships. While I don’t want to be beaten over the head with gratuitous sex scenes, this jumping every time a male comes near the FL routine that some more modern dramas portray is beyond cringe.

Thank you for the Witch’s Romance recommendation! I can’t believe I didn’t know about a Park seo-joon early classic. The first drama I saw him in was She was Pretty, and that was not the best intro to a favorite actor. Now I’ll just decide in my mind this is the first introduction I had to him!
I watched the first episode and it was one of the best first episodes I’ve ever seen! It was so funny and sexy and poignant.

I chose Secret Love Affair as my pick for this category, I replied to comments above.

I wanted to add a note on my very close second place noona drama, Romance is a Bonus Book. This one was right up my alley, romance + books!! There was so much I loved about this drama. There was no noble idiocy, no time skip/separations, no trucks of doom. The childhood backstory made sense because they stayed close so it wasn't one of those they met once and coincidentally met again tropes.

I loved the setting in a publishing company! I love to read and appreciated how the characters valued books and worked so passionately to get the stories they enjoyed published well. The storybook themes were wonderful too, like the scene at the movies. And the scene where Dan-i tries to explain her changing feelings for Eun-Ho by comparing this to re-reading a familiar book but finding the meaning has changed.

There were so many beautiful lines and book quotes too. @dramadillo mentioned one, the seasons comparison to falling in love, and there were many others, like Eun-Ho using a line from a poem about the moon being beautiful that actually meant I love you.

And finally, it felt to me like Dan-i was more hesitant to begin a change in relationship with Eun-Ho because of always having considered him a close friend than because he was younger. She was worried about losing this very important, special friendship should their romantic relationship not work out for them. A very good reason! Romance is a Bonus Book is in my top 5 favorite Kdramas list along with SLA, and is another that I've watched more than once.

Another vote here for Secret Love Affair. It’s such a thoughtful, layered, and adult look at complicated relationships. I love that it doesn’t try to wrap everything up in a neat little package.

Does it count as a noona romance when the man in the relationship wakes up one day in the body of a teenager, à la 18 Again?

The ickiest noona romance is without a doubt Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol. 🤮

I Hear Your Voice will always be my Noona Romance and that when I start felling in love with Lee Jong Suk

High School King of Savvy, hands down. You can't watch Seo In Guk in that role and not adore him. And contrary to every single other person on the planet, I LOVE SOO YOUNG! Give me awkward, mousy female leads opposite cutie patooties all day, every day.