Robin's Random Rambles

Over the last year,  I've often seen clickbait listicles with headlines like " I've watched a hundred K-Dramas and these are the ten I recommend " They make me smile because I'd watched a hundred K-Dramas by 2014. So in honour of these  clickbait listicles, and to celebrate having just completed 350 K-Dramas, here's MY top 10% — for  K-drama cognoscenti, the  post title will make sense. These are all K-Dramas that really left an impression on me. I'm presenting them in the order in which I watched them (the year I watched in brackets) to show how my tastes and preferences have shifted over the last 13 or so years, with links to their mydramalist page and brief comments about each.   COFFEE PRINCE   (2013) — I don't care if you're an alien, if you haven't watched this yet, do! A foundational K-Drama romcom, so much a part of the fabric of K-Drama that watching it does seem obligatory. Also, it's GREAT.   QUEEN IN-HYUN'S MAN (2013)  — S...

  I've written before about my preference for Japanese dramas. Overall they click with me more than Korean or Chinese dramas do. Thanks to the recommendation of the awesome Alisa@DaebakPodcast  a bluesky mutual and serious East Asian Drama expert,  I have had that reality confirmed twice more.   LONG VACATION                                    The 1996 J-Drama Long Vacation has two strikes against it for many people: First it's from 1996, and second it's from Japan. I hope that people can overcome those barriers and give this drama a try. The strength of this drama is in the believability of its characters. Romantic couplings, decouplings, potential re-couplings all play a prominent part in the story and yet it did not feel like romance was central. Character growth and music were central to the story. As shown above, the drama opens with the female lead running in...

Spring in my town is gorgeous thanks to all the blossoms, so it's apt that my Spring viewing highlights were mostly from the land of the sakura.   SEPTEMBER This Thriving Land (2025) 8.75/10 This was the first C-Drama of its type I've watched: An historical Drama set in relatively modern times (starting in 1926) and providing a more or less straightforward historical retelling of the history of the period. It was a CCTV Drama and the subject matter was inspired. I say that because the story of China's emergence from the chaos and brutality of the warlord era and through into the savagery of the Japanese invasion meant that the ever-present propaganda had the virtue of being largely factual. There was no need for heavy-handed out of place insertions ad nauseam of "China is great, the CCP doubly so" (I'm looking at YOU, Go Go Squid ) because the actual, real history makes it hard to argue against the assertion that what China became was bet...

 We baked through the hottest mid-late Spring on record here, so it's fitting that this final installment is full of sizzle of various sorts   OCTOBER She and Her Perfect Husband (2022) 9/10  Another C-Drama jia-didi romance with way more right than wrong. I started this one after loving the very unglamorous dirt-poor and dirt covered Yang Mi in T his Thriving Land , after several SNS mutuals praised her very different appearance and role in this earlier Drama.  They were not wrong. The most important element of a noona-dongsaeng (old habit) romance is the chemistry. Do th couple work? Do they sell the relationship? In this case, the answer to both questions was an emphatic "Yes!"  Yang Mi's VERY glamorous and successful business woman character her was parsecs from her poor peasant in This Thriving Land , but she was just as convincing. That she also looked AMAZING did not have a negati...