A fun little prompt

I came across this old subreddit while on my quest for new drama recommendations, fans shared their favourite K-drama under different genre prompts. There are also fun curated lists and drama battles by fans, which I found interesting to look through, some expected classic fan favourites and I discovered some quite a few I haven't yet seen which have been added to my watchlist.

Everything is romance

Luckily, there are resources I can use to recall my past watch history, as well as relying on memory, I scrolled through my Viki account reviews and also checked my old journals where I use to rate dramas. Sadly, no way to see my reviewed dramas collectively on Netflix but looking through Google results under each genre was helpful.

It turns out a lot of K-dramas I've watched can be applied to multiple genres, with romance being a dominating cross genre in a lot of them. I particularly love how romance is written in Slice of Life genres, they are usually a slow burn, often built gradually through everyday interactions; such is the love story from My Libernation Notes between with Mr Gu and Mi-Jeong. I love watching their affection deepen in their shared daily struggles from the monotonous routines of adulthood. The couples in Hospital Playlist are another example, Seok Hyeong and Min Ah, Song Hwa and Ik Jun would easily be contenders for best romance in a "non-romance" genre. Another example, is the heart-wrenching tale of love and loss between Jang Ju-won and Hwang Ji-hee in Moving; a "superhero" fantasy with deep background story of a middle-aged romance. Their relationship is depicted as simple yet profound romance, characterized by the character's shared vulnerability.

Here is my own version of the subreddit list with some new added genres, and although some of the dramas below could arguably go under Romance, I've outlined briefly why it personally feels more relevant to place it under it's distinctive genre below.

My Favourite

[Updated August 2025]

• Romantic - Something in the Rain
• Comedy - Work Later, Drink Now (Han Sunhwa's crazy pretty girl steals the show)
• Horror - Kingdom (sinister dark setting and terrifying zombies)
• Thriller - A Killer Paradox (serial killer cat n mouse chase)
• Medical - Hospital Playlist
• Psychological - The Frog (dark suspense, dark aspect of human nature)
• Fantasy - Moving (super human abilities and human connection)
• Sci-fi - TBA
• Action - TBA
• Slice of Life
  • Reply 1988
  • My Liberation Notes
  • Like Flowers in the Sand
• Historical - Kingdom
• No romance
  • Move to Heaven
  • Prison Playbook
• [new] Police - Live
• [new] School - Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
• [new] Revenge - Mine (betrayal, revenge and corruption plot twists of the rich)