First up in alphabetic order are my honorable mentions which once again are dramas that I watched this year but aired in previous years!
Graceful Family
This show was actually a surprise to me cause as you know I didn't exactly watch it when it first aired. I struggle with shows about rich chaebols and the nonsense they go through cause I'm really not a fan of all that especially since most of the time it's nothing but cheating and divorces but I low key fell in love with Lee Jang Woo after Homemade Love Story and I did see a few clips of Im Soo Hyung being a boss and decided to check it out. Fortunately I did cause this show was a blast. Yes it had all the nonsense I usually dislike in chaebol shows but I actually ended up liking it here mostly cause Soo Hyung wasn't playing a naive moron and she gave back just as much as she got so it was fun to watch a revenge story with the trope of a couple against the world. The romance was great and I loved the ending so I'd say that if you like revenge stories or badass female leads who don't care about how others see her check this one out.
Second Love
Look okay jdramas half of the time are hot messes or have such out-of-the-box plots that you're left scratching your head over who in the hell gave the show a green light and this poster really doesn't help that image but seriously if you give this show a shot you'll be surprised. It's oddly deeper than you would expect and my god the chemistry between our leads almost made my screen explode more times that you could count. I thought it was fascinating that our main couple got together so early on and when they were both hitting rock bottom so they became a bit codependent only to fall apart when they realized they had to exit their fantasy world. Surprisingly I loved watching them drift as much as I liked watching them come together which made the ending when they came back together after they had both found themselves separately again make their relationship much less toxic and much more stable!
The Good Detective
So it's no secret that I love police dramas but this one surprised me to my core with how good it was! Not only were all the characters smart and fun to watch but the writing of the mystery was so solid. So many times we have a show with a great murder mystery or serial killer or whatever only to have it fall apart as the show goes on but here the mystery only got better as it went. I loved that both our leads were competent and neither was depicted as overconfident for no reason in order to make the other look better and that they didn't spend too much time hating one another cause they were fundamentally good people who wanted to do good. I also loved that the female lead played an actual part in this show with her reporting and though she wasn't a physical badass like the men were, she held her own in most situations. The slight romance between her and the detective was great too and I really hope that she also returns when the second season comes around.
When The Camellia Blooms
This is another show that I ended up judging before I had even watched back when it came out cause though I liked so much of the cast I wasn't all that pulled in by the synopsis or the fact that Kim Ji Suk was the second lead but then two things changed. First I just finished watching Monthly Magazine Home in which I low key despised Kim Ji Suk's character so I figured that I would no longer have SLS given that I wasn't all that obsessed with him now. Secondly I heard that this show was similar in vibe to Hometown Cha Cha Cha a show which I liked the vibe of but couldn't connect to emotionally cause I hated the male lead. In the end I'm so so so glad I checked this show out and I want to lament the fact that no one highlighted what this show actually was! It was basically a murder mystery show in which we hunted down a serial killer mixed with a romance that had the sweetest soft male lead that I've seen in a while! I adored how quickly he fell in love and how unapologetic he was about proclaiming his love to all. The setting was heartwarming and I actually ended up loving the small town people and the small town vibes.
It's funny that I've got two jdramas on this list starring Kamenashi Kazuya but I actually watched this jdrama before Second Love and it's the reason I fell in love with him! It's also a live action adaptation of a classic anime and manga series which I saw about half of, stopping for no particular reason at the time. I was a little hesitant cause sometimes I find that anime adaptation shows don't always work cause a lot of anime characters are too over-the-top to be depicted realistically in live action but maybe because I had no stake in the original I wasn't bothered here. I actually thought the show was totally cute and had a great message about learning to love who you were and that the most important thing is your personality and not your appearance. The romance between our leads was the thing that kept me around the most but I also liked the comedy and the other characters in the show including the second couple!
Now let's get into my Top 10 list ranked from 10 to 1 with number 1 being my favorite drama of the year!
Taxi Driver
Coming in at number 10 is Taxi Driver! This show fits into so many different genres in a sense cause we're following a group of antiheroes who act as revenge seekers for any of those who need it and crazily I think I enjoyed it so much cause it reminded me of a darker version of Leverage. I loved the episodic cases we got and how extensive their revenge plots were. The only reason it's so low on this list is cause I didn't like the way this show very clearly shifted when the original writer was replaced and how the show started to focus on the prosecutor and the fact that our crew were clearly criminals cause duh of course they were but at the same time this show was a revenge fantasy one that needed no realism!
D.P.
At number 9 is D.P. So if you're like me and you've got a low key thing for men in uniform whether that's detectives or firefighter os soldiers then you probably went into this show knowing as much I as I did. I'm not entirely sure what I expected this show to be but maybe I was thinking closer to OCN's Search than Descendants Of The Sun but instead we got one of the darkest things I've seen not only all year but maybe in a while. I was honestly shocked by how dark it got cause I always felt a show like this would never pass censors in South Asian countries cause what it did was rip apart the military and the culture around the military in a way that I was left shook. Everything was so bleak and twisted and there was no sign that things would get better and I was fascinated. I could not look away from the screen if I tried and I'm pumped to see more.
Dali And The Cocky Prince
Coming in at number 8 is Dali And The Cocky Prince! It's kinda ironic to follow two dark shows with something as lighthearted as this but what can I say? I'm a sucker for rom coms! The funny thing about this show is that it started out catching my attention but I slowly lost interest only to pulled back in! I was in love with Da Li as a character but the show kept trying to convince she was this boss when in fact she was just naive and a bit of a damsel that needed help from the men in her life which there's nothing wrong with other than the fact this contradicted what the show said she was. Moo Hak on the other hand was so the opposite of my type so I couldn't find him swoon worthy enough to be the male lead. Now all that sounds super negative so what changed you might ask? Well not only was the charm of the main actors enough to sway me into believing what they said as the show went on but I kinda fell in love with the mystery of Da Li's dad's death and the fact that our main leads started to stop hiding things from each other and made plans together which you know I'm all about! The romance became cavity inducing sweet due to the chemistry between our leads and I started to find that the humor worked too!
So I Married An Anti-Fan
At number 7 is So I Married An Anti-Fan! Like Dali, this show was one that I started out thinking was a complete hot mess and felt super old in it's tropes only to find out that it actually was filmed years ago and delayed until now so I was able to let all that go though I did still struggle to like Joon since he was such a complete fake and asshole. I managed to stick by it just cause I adored Choi Soo Young herself after Run On and as the show went on I found it cuter and cuter especially as the romance was dialed up. Sometimes there are couples on screen that have chemistry from their first scene and others like the main couple here take until actual romance is taking place but both work for me! I loved that once the two got together they were so solid and adorable and truly it's worth sticking around with just to see what a complete cinnamon roll Joon turns into when he's in love!
Coming in at number 6 is My Name! I was super hesitant to check this drama out originally cause I despised Han So Hee's character in Nevertheless and I was a bit worried over two things: that it was her acting that made me dislike Nevertheless so much or that she was a good actor but I would transfer my hatred of her from Nevertheless to this like I did with Kim Seon Ho after Start Up. Fortunately for me I really didn't have a problem with Han So Hee in this mostly in part due to the fact that her character is so different here than there but also cause it was clear that it was the writing of Nevertheless that rubbed me so wrong. My Name is such a dark and twisted revenge show that ends with nothing but tragedy and I lived for it. Poor Ji Woo is put through the damn wringer and just when she thinks she finds a slice of happiness it's taken away from her. I loved the way the show tells us one thing only for us to later find out it's a whole different thing and sometimes it's too late to fix things!
Uncanny Counter
At number 5 is Uncanny Counter! This is kinda hilarious cause I almost truly forgot this show aired this year cause it came out so early in 2021 and I almost forgot how much I loved it until I thought back on it. I think my favorite genre of TV in general is fantasy but I do have a soft spot for detective/mystery so the fact that this show gave me both was everything. I loved every character in this show and the way they all became such a close found family. I loved how soft and sweet and genuinely good our male lead was. I loved the mystery of his parent's death and the fantasy element of being Grim Reapers. The villain was totally terrifying and though it was a bit unbelievable just how overpowered he was compared to our heroes it was still worth it to see how they overcame him. I also don't think I remember feeling much of a disconnect from when one writer left and another one came in which I always think is a positive as well!
Move To Heaven
Coming in at number 4 is Move To Heaven! Alright so look guys you probs already know how perfect this show is just based on the fact that you can see how high up it is on my list given that you should know by now that I usually prefer softer more romantic shows but once in a while a show hits me in the feels harder than it should and that was this one! I mean the premise itself should tell you everything alone and yet I was still shook by how hard the feels hit me. I loved watching Sang Gu go from this thug who didn't care about anyone or anything on the surface to becoming basically like another father to Geu Ru after learning that everything he knew about his past wasn't the whole story. I loved how Geu Ru was depicted as being autistic without being reduced to a caricature and that he felt so real. Even the slight hints of romance between Sang Gu and U Rim were fantastic!
Douluo Continent
At number 3 is Douluo Continent! So this show is actually a live action adaptation of a Chinese anime but I didn't know that until after I watched this whole season! It was everything I'm into with Chinese fantasy shows and as time has gone on I've realized that this show fits into the Xuanhuan category of genre qualification which after doing some research holds a lot of my favorite Chinese fantasy dramas showing me that I really should snap to attention whenever a new drama in this genre pops up. I loved our main characters and the world they lived in! I loved the romance between the two and how they felt like they made a family with one another but also their other friends who became complete badasses themselves. I loved that we followed a group of kids as they went to a magic academy and learned how to use and grow their powers and how they slowly went from somewhat powerful to some of the most powerful people in the world! I loved that there was no straight and clear villain in the show as of this moment so we got to see smaller arcs like an anime has and part of me thinks that I ought to watch the anime in order to find out the rest of the story cause I'm not all that sure they'll make a live action sequel!
Mad For Each Other
Coming in at number 2 is Mad For Each Other! This is another drama that when it first started airing I wasn't sure if I was into cause I connected almost immediately with Min Kyung so the way that she was treated by Hwi Oh rubbed me the wrong way even if he was somewhat justified to treat her poorly based on his little knowledge of what she went through and the things she put him through. I was also a bit worried that this show would depict mental illness poorly once again like a lot of other dramas out there but to my pleasure almost around week 2 all my problems with this show almost completely dissolved. This show took such a gentle approach to mental illness and it never once depicted our heroes as jokes. It gave us the time to watch our heroes grow past their traumas only to regress like you do in real life and just when we think so they show us that they are stronger than we thought. The romance between our leads is perfect as well cause they do become so soft around each other and I lived for how ready to fight the world Hwi Oh was whenever Min Kyung was hurt even the slightest. The ending was a bit of a mess but not enough to ruin the perfection of this show!
You Are My Glory
And finally last but not least, my number 1 Asian Drama of 2021 is You Are My Glory! I absolutely fell head over heels in love with this one when I watched it you guys! Like almost ten seconds in I knew this would be the one for me. I'm not entirely sure what clicked so hard for me other than maybe the fact that I loved the chemistry between our leads and I think Dilraba's bread and butter is when she's playing the soft warm hearted excited to be here type of female lead. I loved that the love story here was so simple and realistic in that the two slowly went from friends to lovers and that they had a history but it was framed as his fault for not seeing her good sides rather than it being about her not being as book smart as he was. The obstacles in their way weren't external like evil mother in laws or CEOs or evil exes but internal. Yu Tu angsted over whether he was good enough for her and once he got past that and they got together it was smooth sailing from then on!
And with that we come to the end of my Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2021! I hope you have a wonderful New Year and I'll see you all tomorrow for my Fall 2021 Anime Awards!
xoxo Allie
