Drama Year 2023

Wah, it’s already the end of 2023?! Where has the time gone again? I certainly haven’t got much to show for it, especially when it comes to blogging. Unfortunately nothing has changed in that aspect from how it was at the end of 2022. Still no time nor energy to dedicate for this blog. 😢 It’s a minor miracle I manged to put out even the few posts I did. There is some light at the end of the tunnel though. I’m retiring next autumn and with that I just might be able to call my life my own again. We’ll see, I guess. 🙂

This year has been quite lacklustre when it comes to kdramas. I keep dropping them after a few episodes or reading about the premise just makes me go “naaah”. So many have also taken a proper nosedive at the end, so I’ve been quite glad to have dodged the bullet. Of those I did manage to watch all the way through I only truly liked Under the Queen’s Umbrella, Alchemy of Souls and Missing: The Other Side. Divorce Attorney Shin was just so-so, though it had it’s moments. I also haven’t come across a jdrama to stick to, though there are couple of contenders, only I keep picking something else over them, ha. As in many of the past few years I’ve had way more luck with cdramas. Yes, some of them weren’t much to write home about either but at least they were entertaining. 😉 Of course I picked a few duds as well but that’s only to be expected. I’m just happy to have found couple of real gems.

I have also watched a metric ton of donghuas (Chinese animated series) and recently I’ve been pondering about writing a post about them, mmmm…

My favorite drama was definitely Warm on a Cold Night. I love everything about it – the story, the characters, the OTP, the overall look and the OST. It was a proper feelgood drama for me and just thinking about it still gives me the warm fuzzies and makes me smile. It almost feels like a hiddeng gem as it’s not really mentioned much around the internets. Not flashy or “epic” enough, I guess. There were other cdramas I enjoyed to a varying degree but I just couldn’t get into a proper headspace to write about them, sigh. The other one to get it’s own proper post is Mysterious Lotus Casebook, which I also liked a lot.

The Razzie this year goes to A Journey to Love. It had so much going for it and I really, really enjoyed it… up to a point. I was about half way through and already my attention was wandering as I was starting to get bored with all the OTP lovey dovey. Then I read how the whole thing ended and I lost the last bit of interest in the drama. I never expected everyone to be alive at the end, I was even wondering if the OTP would survive, but to have ALL of The Team perish was just total overkill. I’ve never much cared for a “rocks fall and everyone dies” endings, as to me that’s mostly just fishing for extra tears. Especially when it’s not really necessary plotwise.

I’m currently watching Meet Yourself. I think it’s a perfect drama to watch after a mentally exhausting day at work… and I have a lot of those – unfortunately.

So, here’s that list again – what I watched in 2023. More dramas than I initially thought. 😀

Korea
Alchemy of Souls S1+S2 (I actually liked S2 more than S1), Delivery Man, Divorce Attorney Shin, Missing: The other Side S2, The Heavenly Idol, Under the Queen’s Umbrella (2022 – the only sageuk in years I’ve liked enough to finish it, ha)

China
I Am Nobody, Lost You Forever S1, Miss Chun is a Litigator (what a stupid ending), My Decoy Bride (a rather cute mini drama), My Journey to You (the ending sucks, seriously), Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Parallell World, Scent of Time (another stupid ending), Story of Kunning Palace, The Blood of Youth S1 (2022), The Legend of Zuohua, The Starry Love, Tiger and Crane, Warm on A Cold Night

Taiwan
Oh No! Here Comes Trouble (this is a gem)