favorite dramas

favorite watch of 2023, tbh. this was so good, i enjoyed every second of it, never wanted to fast forward (and that's saying a lot coming from me, it takes a lot to hold my full attention), just lived in the vibes. and it was a great journey, the music was good, the characters were good, the relationships were good, everything was good and the cast's talents made it fantastic especially ryeoun. ((sidenote what even happened to chunga's mom tho like why was she taken away and that witch put in there to teach her???? doesn't matter i guess but)) wow what a great show, wish we had a bit more time with the new 2023 lives just to be there yknow. also this show got me into 80s/90s kmusic.

the friendship, the romance, the bromance, the family relationships, the nostalgia, the music, the humor, EVERYTHING was spot on. i discovered a new type of laugh that can escape me because of this drama. the episode length and number of episodes  is higher than the average drama i watch and yet by the end it still left me wishing the drama was twice as long. you get to know the characters so well and grow to love them so you can't help but want to see more of them. you laugh with them and cry with them and celebrate with them. the characters are well rounded. there are no antagonists or cartoon villains, just real human characters with real human personalities and traits and flaws. there are growing pains of love and loss and life but everything is surrounded so tightly with unconditional love that it has you yearning to return to your own youth. there are realistic family and friend squabbles and arguments and fights, but you never doubt how much the characters love and care for each other through everything. no friendship was sacrificed regardless of the love outcome. and the romance was just one of the many types of love showcased here. you feel so full when you finish it that you can't help but want to go back and do it all over again. i started watching this show 4 years ago and put it on hold KNOWING i would eventually get back to it. it took me a while but i came back around and i'm SO glad i did. twinkling watermelon got me bit by the 80s/90s kmusic bug and this drama caused an all-out infection. i'm not even mad.

the magic, the relationships, the characters, the HUMOR (they did the humor PERFECTLY here, the plot has intense moments and perfect comedic timing to balance it all) amazing show loved it

hidden gem, dark humor, its a lot more fun when you just don't take it seriously or try to judge it on realism, keeps you guessing, re-watch value is through the roof

beautiful, cried, endless love and yearning, wish it was longer but also it was the perfect length for the plot, star by colde was the PERFECT song for this, feelings that transcend time, ugh yes amazing, why i ever even hesitated watching this is beyond me

Honestly I absolutely loved every moment of this drama, I enjoyed how dynamic the characters were (even side characters) especially the female lead, I loved the friendship between the leads how it was them being genuinely best friends, the bromance was great to see when the ml's best friend was like "it's just us so tell me what the hell is going on talk to me it's ok", I loved that neither of them gave up their dreams for the sake of the relationship and it was healthy, they worked together, both leads had flaws but those flaws were understandable it didn't make them dumb or less loveable it just made them dynamic. This drama is the definition of slow burn but I loved every second of it!!

i know some reviewers give this one a hard time but, honestly, something about this drama scratched an itch i didn't know i've had for a while now. despite some darker themes (ahem, trauma and abuse), its still a feel-good drama, i think it has a good mix. each and every character has their struggles and learns (one way or another, for better or worse) and develops. not a single character comes out of this the same and i love that. i also love the way they handled the antagonists. the romance kind of takes a back seat and the bromance takes the lead here, and i kinda wish the drama was a bit longer to spend more time developing the romance. there are toxic behaviors, even from protagonists, but (as i said before) they learn and develop.

i am not above openly admitting this drama gave me brain rot to an intensity with which i have never experienced before in my 6 years of watching dramas. gang au meets the parent trap (if you take out the parent romance plotline and just keep the split-twins aspect and crank the shitty parent dial up to 12) meets political activist vigilantism meets gay enemies to lovers. it takes most of the common bl tropes and promptly ignores them in favor of social injustice commentary, one of the (multiple) injustices called out being gay rights in thailand!!! if you have any medical knowledge, just kinda leave it behind for the few medical bits though. i could word vom about this for days, don't tempt me. also, the MUSIC!!!!!! SO GOOD!!! the drama is def one of my absolute favs and if it's not perfect, it's pretty damn close. also i loved the fact you could see some real human PORES on their skin??

the music (proud to say i was a fan of wetter before this drama) the vibes the CINEMATOGRAPHY  everything was fantastic, have rewatched it at least 3 times so far and i will rewatch it many more times in the future mark my words

main lead relationship was just adorable

THE CHEMISTRY OF THE LEADS, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT DON'T GET ME STARTED

the relationship between the characters is honestly my favorite i love the friendship and how everyone interacts

This drama is.. complicated.. and hard to put into words but I loved every second of it tbh

I loved everything about this, I loved that there were bisexual characters for once!!!, I loved that one of the friend group was straight! I found that all the characters were so realistically written I could see them all being real people, and because of that I held them to higher standards and had more realistic expectations of them, everyone had character development especially Khai and I loved how Third found his footing and his voice, the cinematography and music was out of this world and I really felt how much work was put into the show, a masterpiece

hidden gem queen of ring deserves more recognition.. tbh i could re-watch it dozens of times it's just a feel good web drama okay please watch it

very soft love story

they actually had character development in a mini drama it was cute

i have some strong opinions about the male lead but the general concept and plot of the drama gives me black mirror vibes in a good way and it did make me write a spontaneous 1 page-long single spaced document rant after i finished it.. excited to see where they take the concept for season 2

like my id is gangnam beauty but also it isn't, hwang inyeop carried and got the recognition he deserved here

Light hearted and just a good time tbh.. ml is great I loved him here

Very light-hearted and soft with good depth and development of characters. It's Kuanlin's first drama and he did great though I found myself growing a bit frustrated with his character near the end tbh if it went on any longer I would've been pushed away from the ml, I didn't get sls which made me a bit disappointed ?? lol and I liked the fl's personality and work ethic. We can talk circles about certain flawed beauty standards brought up but for just general enjoyment I really liked this drama.. almost already in the mood to rewatch it

Light-hearted and I loved the bromance here

story is a lot better than it seems at first glance, and that just goes to show how much better a show gets when you have actors that understand their character and are appropriately expressive!!! some parts of the worldbuilding got a little muddled in the final quarter or so, but tbh that's kinda expected considering this drama on the "shorter" side from what i'm used to seeing from china (in both episode quantity and length) and it would be hard to fit in organically without straying from the main plot anyways so i consider that forgivable. give it a try! it's cute and fun!