These are some of my all-time Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese favorites in terms of writing, directing, acting, swoon-worthiness and/or my level of addiction.

Ultimate Drama Favorites

Dal Po's real name is Ha Myung. When he was about to drown at 14, Gong Pil saved and adopted him, giving him a new name. Gong Pil believes Dal Po is his son who was lost in the sea in the past. And Dal Po tries to erase his past to live as Gong Pil's son. He even pretends to be bad at his studies even though he is brilliant and intentionally wears shabby clothes to hide his good looks. He gives up going to college due to financial difficulty at home. Still, he succeeds in becoming a reporter with unique talents thanks to the intelligence and experience he acquired by driving a taxi. Meanwhile, he has a niece who is the same age as him. She has Pinocchio syndrome, so she can't choose a job that requires some amount of lying. She decides to be a reporter, whose job is to seek the truth at all times.

Pinocchio

The Can't Lie Team

The politics we have learned from books about social studies in school or from more difficult professional books in college should be the same as what we learned. But now, what does politics look like in reality? Are there no more dreams or hopes? Here, there is a mayor. The mayor is with a lot of affection. She always corrects her mistakes and starts anew. Whenever she has a chance, she carries a shopping cart. She says the gas price is too high when using the official car, so she uses a bicycle instead. She has boldly shaken off the tricks of conspiracy and party strategy. We dream that the cynicism and ignorance of the people who look at politics will be replaced with expectations and hopes through the success story of the erratic and pleasant mayor of a small town, City Hall.

City Hall

When the captain of a Korean special forces unit, Yoo Shi Jin (Song Joong Ki), catches a thief on his day off alongside his friend and fellow soldier Seo Dae Young (Jin Goo), he has a chance encounter with a hospital trauma surgeon, Kang Mo Yeon (Song Hye Kyo).
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Although he immediately falls for her, Mo Yeon mistakenly believes Shi Jin is a part of the thief’s criminal gang, but after he proves the truth, they begin an unlikely relationship. Yet it doesn’t take long for the couple to realize they have conflicting views on human life – with Shi Jin having to kill to protect lives while Mo Yeon does everything she can to save them.
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After they decide that these philosophical differences are too much to overcome, they decide to end their relationship and Shi Jin is deployed to the fictional war-torn country of Uruk. Some months later, Mo Yeon is put in the awkward position of rebuffing her hospital director’s advances.
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As revenge, she is assigned to a team of medical volunteers who travel to Uruk, setting up a reunion with Shi Jin where they bond over their differences and discover how powerful love can be.

Descendants of the Sun

The Sunshine Team

Beijing TV, Dragon TV

Ancient China is being torn apart by a bitter feudal that pits the Northern Wei dynasty against the Southern Liang. With help from the Liang general and his formidable 19-year-old son Lin Shu (Hu Ge), the Liang secure a famous victory over the Wei. But treachery – rather than rewards – await the Lin family. A treacherous plot undermines the family, and many members are ruthlessly massacred.

Lin Shu escapes, but is poisoned. With his life in danger, a healer gives him an antidote that radically reduces his strength and robs him of his fighting powers. The antidote also leaves him looking very different. He assumes the name Mei Chang Su and begins on the long path to revenge. The journey brings him into contact with the Emperor’s son and unfavored Prince Jing (Wang Kai), whose brothers are locked in a vicious battle for the Imperial throne. He is also reunited with Mu Ni Huang (Liu Tao), a fearsome female general who does not want to be married off to a controlling husband. Will Lin Shu get what he is after? And will the truth of his identity ever come to light?

“Nirvana in Fire” is a 2015 Chinese drama series that was directed by Kong Sheng and Li Xue.

Nirvana in Fire

Lang Ya Bang

KBS02

Hye Mi, who dreams of becoming the second Jo Su Mi, has recently been a princess in a wealthy family, but all her dreams are shattered when her father goes bankrupt. Due to her father, who went into hiding, a debt collector constantly pursues Hye Mi and threatens her to pay her father's debt. Through student auditions and many incidents in this school, she becomes mature and learns what friendship and love mean. This is about the story we face every day. Through this touching story in this school, we also understand the importance of putting things in perspective.

Dream High

The world we are to inherit is damaged. Youths who live disregarding politics and society have met. And fallen in love. And then the truths buried in the past begin to come to light. While fighting against the reality they\u2019ll inherit from their parents, their cheeky, passionate romance gratifyingly heals both themselves and the world.

Healer

The Time Healers

Min Joon fell from outer space to the land of Joseon in 1609. He remains young and beautiful, just as he first came to the earth. Moreover, he can move surprisingly fast with keen eyesight and hearing. He can also foresee the future but never uses his powers, planning to live a quiet life without others bothering him. He takes a cynical stance on love, thinking it's merely lust and greed. However, this completely changes for him when he meets Song Yi. He learns to love through her, which leads him to be in danger of being exposed to the world.

My Love From the Star

Go Go Alien and Hallyu Star

After being found in 918, the kingdom of Goryeo faced a critical existential crisis when the powerful Yuan dynasty tried to subjugate them. In the fictional setting of this drama, a warrior living in the timeline of Goryeo meets a plastic surgeon living in the present day. The plastic surgeon gets kidnapped by the warrior who got an order from the king to find a doctor who can cure the fatally injured queen. The two individuals who were not meant to coexist are brought together to fight their way through the ordeals on the land of Goryeo. The warrior makes a promise that he will return her to her world, but a scheming royal advisor persuades the king to force the surgeon to stay as she can be useful to him. There, the surgeon falls in love with the warrior who is the leader of the royal guard. In this era of change and chaos, love that transcends time and space blooms.

The Great Doctor

The Faith Team

Tae Gong Sil used to be a bright girl called \u201CSun.\u201D But after an accident where she barely managed to escape death, she starts to see strange things that no one can see. Going through lonely times, struggling to hold out in a horrifying world, she encounters Joo Joong Won, a greedy penny pincher and the owner of a huge shopping mall. Ever since Joong Won met Gong Sil, it seems like his life has become dark, but as they get close, they become special to each other. The two listen to sad and pitiful stories of spirits and help them out. Will they be able to find the light at the end of this spooky road?

Master's Sun

I See Dead People Team 

KBS, KOCOWA

In Greek mythology, Venus was the goddess of love and symbolized beauty. However, we are now living in a world that is materialistic. The definition of beauty in the 21st century has changed and is now portraying being skinny as beautiful. In this drama, the female lead character named Jueun who used to be popular for her beauty in high school has gained a lot of weight and gets dumped by her boyfriend. Then she decides to lose weight with the help of John Kim who is a famous personal trainer to Hollywood stars. By showing the struggles of Jueun and John Kim, 'Oh My Venus' is trying to tell us that physical beauty isn\u2019t everything.

Oh My Venus

Minion's Rising Team

A doctor bumps into an award-winning writer in a talk show, which leads them to a heated debate on an upcoming book about goodness. A man who comes from a family with a murder case, Jae Yeol, but doesn't know his guilt from what happened to his childhood. A woman from a debt family faces her anxieties even as a psychiatrist who slowly falls in love with him. Through thick and thin, the couple faces the problems of psychological disorders, with the hopes of having their love prevail amidst their considerable differences in lifestyles and beliefs. They are accompanied by senior psychologist Dong Min, a problematic Soo Gwang, high school student So Nyeo, and his friend Gang Woo.

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