And now last but not least, here's the Top 10 Asian Dramas list! Again, this list is based on my personal opinions and may contain spoilers. If you'd like to see more, make sure to check out my Weekly Drama Reviews, Favorite YouTube Videos and My Asian OTPs & Ships as well as checking out my Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2018, Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2019, Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2020, Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2021, and Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2022 lists!
Coming in at number 10 is Bo Ra! Deborah!! This show was honestly cuter than it had any right to be. The beginning was a bit rough cause I'm a little over most enemies to lovers tropes but I think it was as soon as episode 3 that it started to settle in and become so cute. I'm honestly a sucker for a good soft male lead and though our male lead here started out feeling like he was going to be a cold one, he quickly showed us his soft underbelly and that's where I fell in love. I loved the idea of a dating expert realizing that all the advice she gave to the world was nothing if she couldn't focus on her own love life and that we focused so hard on the idea of what to do after a breakup and the different routes we could take.
At number 9 is My Lovely Liar!! Unique show concepts are so totally my jam so the fact that this show chose to focus on a woman who could detect lies and a guy who almost never told a lie was so fun. The chemistry between our main leads of course was the reason that I stuck around with this show but I also really did love the story. Okay yes I really didn't need the murder mystery cause for some reason kdramas are obsessed with adding a murder to rom coms which is hella weird tbh but everything else about this show was perfect.
Coming in at number 8 is Crash Course In Romance!! This show was a surprise to be about how much I ended up liking it. The show started out feeling like it was going to be a typical slaphappy comedy where I prefer more subtle comedy but then somehow around halfway through this show after when the male lead realized he was in love with the female lead and freaking out over the fact that he thought she was married, I realized I was looking forward to new episodes every week. I am a sucker for forbidden love tropes so I soaked in all the angsty goodness. The stalked plot twist was a bit unneeded in my opinion but I guess it gave the show something to do in the later episodes of the season after our leads got together and were happy.
At number 7 is Tale Of The Nine Tailed 1938!! Another surprise hit joining my list cause I really didn't enjoy the original season of Tale Of The Nine Tailed and I'm not sure if it was because of the main romance not hitting for me or the fact that since this was taking place in the past all the characters were chiller than they would be and especially Yeon could relax and be funny rather than stressed about the end of the world or whatever. The new cast were all interesting to watch as was the setting and the costuming but of course the relationship between the two brothers being such a focus made this show stand out.
Coming in at number 6 is Pending Train: 8:23, Ashita Kimi to!! As the only jdrama to make it onto my list this year, you have to know this is a good one! I love stranded somewhere stories and this one I felt had an interesting slow burn pace that most of these survival shows don't have. The main trio were all fun to watch and the romance between our leads was very cute. I also really loved the fact that the story didn't end when our stranded heroes returned but actually it followed the idea of how victims continue on with their lives after a big event. How can they return to normal if everyone around them has changed including themselves?
At number 5 is Nothing But You!! This is a noona romance that stole my heart from the first episode that I watched. I don't usually love noona romances cause those kinds of shows always put such a focus on the age gap and shaming the female lead when there are literal shows in which the male leads are twice the age of the female leads and yet no one says anything. From my memory though there wasn't too much of that nonsense in this show which is why I loved it. I loved that our main leads started out as friends and slowly evolved into something more and I loved the focus on sports. Leo is always a star in everything he does and I'm obsessed.
Coming in at number 4 is Celebrity!! This is the year in which I decided I'm totally in love with Netflix kdramas cause they feel so large and different than most kdramas. They are so beautiful to look at and they always seem to avoid all the usual kdrama pitfalls and tropes that annoy me. This show follows social media influencers but also focuses on the 1% and bullying and I adored every moment. The plot was so dark and twisty and I loved seeing our female lead kick butt. The romance in this show did feel a bit underdeveloped despite the intense chemistry our leads had cause though he was clearly head over heels from day 1, she seemed to go from hating him to loving him in the course of one episode. The ending was strange but not unwelcome.
At number 3 is Hidden Love!! This is hands down the best cdrama that aired this year in my opinion which is definitely saying something cause usually I'm a fan of modern day kdramas and historical cdramas but ironically between this and Nothing But You, it was the modern cdramas that had a chokehold on my heart this time around. This show is at it's core a rom com with no hidden bells and whistles but sometimes that's exactly what you need. A good old fashioned romance isn't that popular to do anymore cause the show needs to have well written characters and a well written romance since there's nothing else in the show to distract the audience. This show did all that and more. I loved every single moment of this show and how warm the tone was.
Coming in at number 2 is Hate To Love You!! I was obsessed with this kdrama the first time I watched it cause I don't think I've ever seen a show with such a concept before! Our leads feel so American more than Korean with their thoughts about romance. It was funny in a subtle way which means no physical comedy as is my jam and the romance between our leads was so intensely good. I was a bit hesitant going into the drama cause the description for this show was so terrible but honestly if you are curious at all about this show I'd definitely recommend checking it out! The whole manhater/womanhater thing was definitely much less of a plot point than it seemed to be and both the main leads acted like adults so there wasn't a lot of misunderstandings that dragged out.
And finally my number 1 favorite drama of 2023 is The Glory!! I mean really could it have been anything else when this show was one of the more hyped up shows this year to the degree that people who don't even watch kdramas were talking about this show! I didn't watch the first season when it first came out cause I think I thought rather than a revenge story this was more rich people drama like Penthouse but I eventually was bored enough to check it out and I was sucked in. I loved that this show didn't hype up the idea that a good person always forgives like in a lot of other dramas and that we actually saw our female lead make a revenge plan and follow it through to the end. She was leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else and it was so much fun to see her put these horrible monsters in their places. And let's not forget the romance which shined like a bright light amongst all the dark. I loved that not only weren't they so cute together but that it also gave her a reason to want something at the end of her revenge tunnel and see that there could be more to her life. If you haven't seen this show yet you have to have to check it out!
And with that we come to the end of my Top 10 Asian Dramas Of 2023! I hope you have a wonderful New Year!!
xoxo Allie
