2023 was the year of my K-Drama renaissance. I started watching around 2020/2011 and watched a lot of dramas in the beginning. For the past few years this came down to maybe one or two dramas a year.

But somehow while watching King of the Land I can as suddenly all in again and since then I have been in a KDrama binge and I love it. I am looking forward to watch Perfect Marriage revenge and some others once they are finished.

December 🤭🤭🤭. It is that time of the year...🙃🙃🙃. I look forward to reading and hearing about your perceptions and reflections.
I don't think I have something to write about this year though cause displeasure is a focal thing I have for kdramas this year.

I could've, but 90% of what I TRULY think about this year's dramas won't pass DB filter... and the remaining 10% will likely break the words cap. Maybe next time lol)))

My biggest issue is the schedule. The week and the week-ends are so unbalanced now.

This year I will end with around 15 k-dramas watched, 2 weekender lurks, and several drops. There was also 2 old series I watched as I followed Jo Yeo Jeong's career path. But the biggest change was Korean movie watch - - - 11 so far from various years (with two seen in Seoul).

Year 2023 is when K-dramas are beginning to look more and more like fast fashion. The plot starts off well and then fizzles out (Netflix's ones especially!). Have yet to come across dramas that I remember the plot after watching like Descendents of the Sun (2016); It's Okay to be Not Okay (2020); Crash Landing on You (2020); Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022); Hotel Del Luna (2019); Youth of May (2021); even Liar Game (2014). Watched a number mainly because of the male and female leads.... the closest to my fave would be The Glory (2023)...

The shows that did get me hooked instead were reality shows The Devil's Plan (2023) and Physical 100 (2023).... mainly because of how the game was set up. The interactions between the contestants. And the amazing set! Waiting for Singles Inferno for visual-fix.

Hope we do better in 2024!

Started promising. Started floundering midway. Upswing the last bit. My grip is it is getting so hard to FIND the ones you want to watch. There are just too many networks trying to put their hands in the pie and having restrictions like only in certain regions or have to subscribe to watch etc. that it is frustrating to actually be able to watch the dramas you want to. BUT, will I stop watching? NO! I will trudge on and try my best to find and watch them. Hey, its tradition now! Its a part of my life I am not ready to give up, if ever. +_+

2023 had some huge hits, but only a few hit the mark for me. At the top of my list stands Call it Love. I loved everything about it--the slow pace, the stillness of every scene, the yearning of the ML for this unusual woman who came into in life in such a strange way, and the depiction of the impact of divorce on a family, even years later.

It sucked, lol.

I've been watching kdramas for a couple of years now, but this is the first year I allowed myself to really binge them with no restrictions without feeling guilty. This allowed me to catch up on many of the more popular shows I missed from previous years that everyone else had already seen as well as some of this year's new releases.

One of my methods of choosing my shows this year was to focus on working my way through the filmography of actors/actresses I really enjoy. This led me to lose interest in some and upped my admiration even further for those I already liked.

I also finally found some Chinese dramas worth watching and was thrilled about that since my past experiences weren't all that encouraging. And I also got more comfortable with DNF'ing shows I just couldn't get into.
So overall, I'm pretty happy with my drama watching experiences of 2023!

I've only discovered kdramas this January, so for me it's been a wild ride! I have seen over 40 shows (I'm keeping track), some multiple times, some I've dropped in the middle, and quite a few I saw 1 or 2 eps and didn't continue.

I've even started my own *Oscars/Grand Bell* list with categories such as: best & worst villain; best soundtrack; biggest plot hole; WTF show; cringiest show/characters/moments; cutest kids; best platonic chemistry; best non-human characters; worst ending; characters I hate; slowest show; most anxiety-inducing show. Plus the usual more technical categories, such as soundtrack and special FX. With a spreadsheet and everything LOL I want to post it on my wall but there's a 200-char limit, so boo.

Besides this, there's the fact that kdramas made me start learning Korean (I'm obsessed with the language!), I've tried K food, K skin care, and pretty much renounced Hollywood etc.

I don’t keep lists so I went back and looked at all of the WWW for the past year and cobbled what is probably an iffy list.😂
I finished a lot of iffy dramas 😂
There were dramas were I said I watched 4-5 eps, yet I don’t recall them at all 😵‍💫
C dramas, J dramas and older dramas took up a good amount of time . I think the C dramas beat out the K dramas*,

*The current crop of shows are finishing strong for team K drama

I started watching k-dramas two years ago. 2022 was the year of discovering everything: actors, directors, writers, OSTs, language, food, history... and even my first and only Korean crush.

2023 has been as "2022 part two", because I have been binge-watching as crazy lots of older shows and quite a few new dramas too. Btw, In January 2023 I watched Prison Playbook, my favorite k-drama so far.

2023 has been the year of getting to know C-dramas too. I had watched Love Between Fairy and Devil in 2022, but this year I have watched Butterflied Lover, Le coup de foudre, Meteor Garden, My love enlighten me, Go Ahead, Meet Yourself, New Life Begins, Reset, Fake it till you make it and the Taiwanese drama Someday or One Day.

Maybe in 2024 I won't consider myself a rookie k-drama watcher anymore :)

Without a list of last year’s shows, not many come to mind, so forgettable were they. Netflix failed to rise to the level of previous year offerings like “My Liberation Notes” and “Our Blues, and the only show that even came close was “Dr Cha.” On Viki, the one standout was Lee Na young in the 8-part gem, “One Day Off.” With the well running dry, I found myself turning to older long-form romcoms like “Father is Strange,” “What’s Wrong With this Family,” and the wonderful “Five Enough.” Will 2023 be an outlier year for drama, then back to the good stuff? I sure hope so.

For me this was the year of the drop…King the Land, Moon in the Day, Heartbeat, A Lovely Liar, Strong Girl Namsoon, She Would Never Know, Doom at your Service, Flower Crew, Fight For My Way and Crash Course in Romance…

The absolute standout was Alchemy of Souls. This reminded me of the magic of shows like Crash Landing on You, Vincenzo, My Mister, Human Disqualification, Mr. Queen, Kingdom and It’s Okay not to be Okay.

Isn't the consensus that every year is worse than the year before? 😅

I feel like almost every kdrama year has been good for me. I never found myself without anything to watch, especially nowadays when you can pick up a drama from last year or 10 years ago. The currently airing list is also getting longer every year. Given the increasing number of platforms, we get a lot more kdramas.

It's got its pros and cons. More diversity of storylines and themes. There will be at least one or two things on air that I will like. I love seeing the burgeoning number of opportunities across genres for actors to really flex their acting muscles, especially older actors. However, this also means running into a lot of things that ultimately don't appeal to me (which is cool; hope they get lots of love from other watchers) and feeling a bit sad when thinking about all the things I didn't get around to watching.

I'm impressed some dramas took risks like Alchemy of Souls, doing the korean spin on the fantasy wuxia drama. And then, there's Heavenly Idol. What did i even watch? LOL. Happy they tried, though.

There is overall, just a lot of content everywhere. More than ever. So I think this year is about the feels. Maybe as I get older and the details of older memories seem to fade away, I rely more on feel too.

Between korean dramas and chinese dramas and watching so many at a time and simultaneously on top of the US tv shows that I watch but don't mention here, I can't remember a lot of the plot points. I mostly just reflect back to my feelings. Did I feel impressed? Did my heart feel an emotional tightness? Horrified? Numb?

This year can be described as a sampling year for me. I have watched the beginnings of many dramas but failed to pass the first couple of episodes. Perhaps I am reaching saturation as not many shows have original plotlines, stories, and unique approaches. I am a bit bored with similar stories and often in the midway I am not curious anymore. There were a few I finished and they were pretty decent: The kidnapping day, Black dogs, Moving, Twinkling Watermelon..
Not that great but finished regardless: Doctor Cha, Behind your touch, Not others, Oasis, My perfect stranger, The killing vote..
There used to be a hate-watch category, but this year I just could not be bothered.

I've set up my computer background wallpaper to loop through movie posters of my favorite movies and Kdramas.
Though I liked some dramas from 2023 ( to name 3: Black Night, See You in My 19th Life, D.P.) — no 2023 drama made it to my looping Wall of Fame.

My Dearest is a strong contender for my drama of the year. Certainly in my top three with Oasis and See You in My 19th Life.

In 2023 I broke my personal record for number of dramas watched due to downtime from two surgeries. I completed more than 75 dramas plus several Kmovies in 2023. I focused on watching older dramas while trying to catch the best of the new releases in 2023.

-"Classics" included Sandglass and Bridal Mask

-"Oldies but goodies" included The Good Doctor, Signal, Padam Padam, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and Fated to Love You.

-"New to me" was the long (50+ episodes) or weekend drama format, including: A Jewel in the Palace, My Father is Strange and Love Like the Galaxy (C-drama).

-2023 Also "new to me," was "Doramas" or J-dramas (not a priority for me) included First Love (2023).

-2023 Highlights: My Dearest, Dr Romantic 3, Twinkling Watermelon, The Good Bad Mother, D.P.2 and King the Land--yes, I'm a Junho fan

-2023 Disappointments: See You in My 19th Life, Doona!, Dream (movie)

-2023 Yet to come, looking forward to: Gyeongseong Creature

-2023 topping my "to wach" list: Castaway Diva, Welcome to Samdalri, My Perfect Stranger, Tale of the Nine-tailed 1938

-2023 DB highlight: promotion from "Noble Idiot" to "Eunuch in Drag"

Similar to the past few years, I continue to find c-dramas more interesting and enjoyable than k-dramas. Several very good c-dramas aired this year, including When I Fly Towards You, Hidden Love, Here We Meet Again, The Starry Love and Fireworks of my Heart. I did love Part 2 of the k-drama Alchemy of Souls which finished airing in 2023.

In total, I watched 43 dramas in 2023 (13 of which were k-dramas), with the remainder being c-dramas. I am in process of watching my first Hong Kong drama, a remake of A Business Proposal.

2023 K-dramas for me were dominated by the little series 'One Day Off'. The sort of series where you watch an episode then go back and immediately watch it again. Everything else, even the dramas I genuinely loved, come in second.

The standout K-drama feature for me this year was the 'satisfying ending'. I can retroactively forgive a LOT if the series ends well. The best part of a few series this year were their pitch-perfect finales. The worst part of a LOT of high profile series this year were their fumbled endings.

I'm about four years into my k-drama journey, with 150+ under my belt. I've recently gotten pickier, better at pulling the plug on a show I'm not really enjoying. I'm no longer willing to suffer through long stretches of emotional manipulation, and certain types of story lines are just not worth it.

I've also become more protective of my spare time, as I recently paid for a subscription to a good Korean course. I started dabbling a couple of years ago but have decided I want to become fluent and read novels in Korean. (I've previously learned English and French, so I'm aware of the magnitude of learning a new language.)

This year I've completed 6 Korean movies and 26 k-dramas (from 2023 or before), and dropped an additional dozen or so. Another 10 are half-finished, and some of these I may not finish.

Series I liked quite a bit or a lot:
The Glory, Hospital Playlist 1 and 2, Call it Love, When the Weather is Fine, King the Land, Mr Queen, Revenant, Moving, Castaway Diva, Perfect Marriage Revenge. I enjoyed the first half of My Dearest, but am stuck on episode 15. I'm quite enjoying My Demon.