This Rec League comes from Juhi. Thanks, Juhi!
I have found my way to c-dramas, and I need some recommendations!
I started with a Perfect Match which is good, then found Love Like A Galaxy which I LOVE (and still have to watch all of, except I already saw the ending becauseI had to!) and then followed Wu Lei to Amidst A Snowstorm of Love which is hitting ALL MY SWEET SPOTS. I thought I loved Love Like A Galaxy but I really, really love AASOL (amidst a snowstorm of love).
Part of the reason is the main lead actor, Leo Wu/Wu Lei—his face—ooof. He is infinitely gorgeous to look at AND he uses his fact to emote all these feelings that make me want to fan myself like a miss in the regency times! But just that wouldn’t have been enough. There is a quiet buildup of the romantic tension in the show which is absolutely swoonworthy (for me). There are feelings being conveyed through eyes, through a brush of the hand, through everything that is not said that is totally addictive. It reminded me why I fell in love with romances in the first place. I also the slow, quiet pace of AASOL’s storytelling. It just speaks to me where I am right now.
SO! I wanted to hit the bitchery first for a) recommendations! I adore Amidst A Snowstorm of Love. I am 11 episodes in and I would recommendations which capture the same things like this show. b) I wish SBTB would discuss some of these shows!! Or point me somewhere where they are discussed with the same thoughtful nuance and playfulness that is the hallmark of SBTB?
UPDATE: I have now finished the whole show, and the second half actually picks up a little more pace which I kind of loved too! Apart from everything that I said previously, here’s a few more reasons why I enjoyed this show so very much and am going to rewatch it, just wanted to share in case you want to add it to the note when it goes live! (also ok if this is not included, I still wanted to share!)
There is an aspect of caring/being cared for in this show that is super appealing. (talking specifically of the male lead doing stuff for the female lead–and while that can be problematic too, mostly the balance is towards caring and not being creepy, at least for me!)
Both the protagonists are super competent in their chosen fields, and that of course is always such a turn on!
Thinking about it, the show has a slice-of-life feel to it, and that has always been one of my favorite categories of stories.
Amanda: Big thanks to Juhi for such a thorough breakdown of what they’re looking for! They also note that they’re interested in learning Mandarin, if anyone has some language learning recommendations.
Susan: I am Taking Notes, because all of the c-dramas I’ve watched have been intensely tragic.
Claudia: Hmm I can only think of The Untamed but it was so heavily censored…
Tara: We had a lot of fun watching The Untamed, although it’s 50 episodes and I had edibles with probably a solid third of those, which I do not recommend doing. There are a lot of characters and a LOT happens, so I want to go back and rewatch it. It’s very “oh sure, they’re definitely not gay” except they’re SO GAY.
I also really enjoyed Guardian, which is a sci fi drama with time travel. When I checked in with a friend for the title of that one, she recommended Till the End of the Moon, which she said is beautiful and fun.
Susan: Guardian I imagine would be improved by edibles.
Like I love it, but the protagonists and the opening song are carrying a LOT of that show.
Untamed, Guardian, and Nirvana in Fire are all very good but full of sadness.
Amanda: Shana and I discussed Asian dramas, but that was a few years ago!
Do you have any recommendations for Chinese dramas? Please drop them in the comments!
Love like the Galaxy is one of my favorite cdramas! There’s an online translation of the novel which I enjoyed reading.
Cdramas I’d recommend:
Love between fairy and devil – this one takes a few episodes to get into (the fantasy setting and the FL’s voice) but is worth it – the visuals are amazing, the characters are very well done, and the romance is great.
The day of becoming you – modern body swap cdrama about a journalist and idol. The two leads really make this one!!
Reset – modern time loop drama — much shorter than most cdramas and very well plotted.
Nirvana in Fire — best cdrama of all time, but no romance and it’s a little dated visually. However, baby Wu Lei is in it as a supporting role.
Others to check out: Are you the one, Fake it till you make it, The Double, Story of Kunning Palace, Princess Royal, First Frost.
If you haven’t already found Viki that’s my fave place to watch cdramas, though Netflix has a decent selection (their subtitles aren’t as good). There’s also WeTV/Tencent, Youku, and iQiyi. The Cdrama Reddit has good recs if you want to dig any deeper.
*cracks knuckles*
Historical or Historical Fantasy
– Nirvana in Fire – as stated above, truly the best. A great, gripping revenge drama sometimes compared to the Count of Monte Cristo
– The Double – another great revenge drama with a woman getting revenge
– Guardians of the Dafeng – a very funny, action-heavy portal fantasy
– The Untamed – wonderfully acted historical fantasy. The middle gets pretty heavy, but the end is worth it. Highly recommended. Tons of characters to keep tracks of, but the wikipedia is a good help. Watch on Viki for better subtitles
– Imperial coroner – young woman coroner teams up with a prince/amateur detective for some sherlock-y vibes.
Modern romantic dramas and rom coms
– You are my glory – sweet romantic drama about a movie star and an engineer who went to school together falling in love. Highly recommended.
– Falling into your smile – a e-sports rom com about the first woman joining the league. I don’t care about esports (you can ffd through the live play stuff), but this is my favourite.
– My unicorn girl – woman can’t get into the figure skating university program she wants to, so she joins the men’s hockey and classic rom com ensues.
– Once we get married – a totally bonkers and pretty contrived rom com about an aspiring designer and hot CEO who have to get married for business reasons…
– The Fox’s summer – a more bonkers and more contrived rom com about an aspiring designer and a CEO who have to live together. Enemies to lovers, and back half gets bogged down with everyone’s drama, but it’s so ridiculous and funny and I love the lead actress.
– Dating in the kitchen – age gap romance about a chef and a ceo. First half is great rom com, but it also gets bogged down in the drama (a problem with most c and k drama romances tbh)
Those are my faves, and I second checking out the c-drama reddit for other recs. My drama list is also a good place to look, there are great watch-alike recs too.
I had just written up this list for someone else this morning, but here are my contemporary recs:
– Everybody Loves Me (they know each other online and in person but don’t realize that, she likes him in person, he likes her online, he turns her down in real life then has to get back into her good graces once he realizes who she is)
– Falling Into Your Smile (she is the first girl in an esports league, he is the team captain, and the whole team lives in a house together, I would zone out during most of the video game play, but I enjoy the rest),
– Here We Meet Again (they fall for each other in high school and college but his dad ruins it both times, and now they are meeting as adults),
– You Are My Lover Friend (slow burn romance they have been best friends for 10 years and slowly fall for each other),
– Only For Love (kind of bonkers set up, she is a reporter trying to do a story on him, and wants to get revenge on his niece for being the girl her boyfriend cheated on her with, but then they actually fall for each other),
– You Are My Secret (high school classmates meet again 8 years later and get married {sort of} instantly, but then he gets promoted to being her department had at work and they have to hide their relationship at work).
– Love Me, Love My Voice (They both fall for each other’s voices online, before meeting in person, very slow burn, I love that he tries to make her more comfortable by organizing group dates since he knows she is shy)
– First Frost (Trigger warnings on this one for SA twice, This one is about a couple that is maturing and healing enough to be good partners for each other)
Highly recommend last year’s sleeper hit, Blossom (with Meng Ziyi and Li Yunrui). It’s got a rebirth/revenge thing going on, with a lot of political intrigue and family drama. But the relationship between the main characters and their discovery of each other in their new reborn life, their slowly growing respect and trust for each other, is just… *chef’s kiss*. Really well-paced. The Double was also interesting, but wasn’t as consistent to me in terms of pacing and plot revelations. It was an enjoyable watch nonetheless. Another MUCH older recommendation would be Eternal Love: Ten Miles of Peachblossom. It’s a xianxia drama, adapted from a novel. The main characters span several lives/incarnations, and meet each other in several forms over the course of 58 episodes. There is a translation of the novel available on Amazon, for those interested in that (titled “To The Sky Kingdom”, written by Tang Qi, translated by Poppy Toland).
I also absolutely have to chime in for Nirvana in Fire. It’s not romance, and yes it’s also a revenge drama (can you sense a trend here?), but it’s just so stunningly put together. One of my all time favorites.
This request was well outside of my house of wheels, and I knew y’all would come through with superb recommendations. Thank you.
In Love Me, Love My Voice, I forgot to mention how much he flirts with her through food. He doesn’t know how to flirt, so he flirts by telling her how to prepare different dishes, and she swoons, and then he cooks the dishes for her, too. Like 50% of their relationship is food and enjoying listening to the other’s voice, as they both figure out how to be in a relationship for the first time, and it was the lovely, soothing show I needed this spring.
you all are amazing!!! ni have been waiting with baited breath for this to come online!! thank you!!
I watched all of these on their official channels on YouTube. Basically, I typed the titles and they came up.
My fave drama of late has been <emBlossom. It’s a rebirth story in which the MCs become a POWER COUPLE. The story has a fantastic balance of romance and court intrigue. 40 eps total
Historical dramas
A Familiar Stranger – this one is from the same director who dis Blossom. Features a face swap (through dark magic). It’s very short (around 3 hrs )
Meet You at the Blossom – Adapted BL about a guy falling for his (until then fianceé) who turns out to be a guy. Pretty sweet. Only 12 episodes.
Under the Moonlight – A female detective teams up with an unofficial constable to solve crimes in different cities. **Please note that this one has less…whimsy than other dramas I list. Also, the female detective escaped from a bad situation. 32 eps total.
A Dream of Splendor – A teashop owner and the 2nd in command of an elite force that only answers to the emperor have a MEET UGLY. Shortly after, though, HE needs HER help. The head to the Eastern Capital for different reasons. The romance is really good for the first half. What kept me watching was the way the drama had female friendships front and center. There was something special about this drama…and then I found out that both the scriptwriter and director are both women in their late 40s. There are 40 eps total.
A Dream Within A Dream – okay, this one is BONKERS: a woman realizes that she has the power to REWRITE her life. So she does. And then…she starts thinking that maybe the villain is worth falling for? It’s only 12 episodes.
Contemporary Dramas
Be Your Own Light – A career woman who seems to have it all finds out her life is a lie after her husband leaves her. She has a meet ugly with a slightly younger guy who was financially left hanging by the FMC’s husband. The premise might seem depressing, but it’s deffo more uplifting. Added bonus of emphasis on female friendships. 40 episodes total.
Filter – A young woman is given a tech bracelet that can change her appearance (this is one of the BEST parts of the story.) The male lead falls for her even though he doesn’t recognize the FMC’s face… I got the sense that a lot of the commentary was about inner beauty vs. society’s expectations. A smidgen heavy-handed, but worth watching. 32 eps total.
Ah, finally one I can comment on…
Flipping through my Viki history…
The Brightest Star in the Sky – somewhat silly idol drama
Meet me at the Blossom – what happens when the cute girl you’re crushing on turns out to be a guy?
Lighter and Princess – false accusations, revenge and love.
Meteor Garden – the Chinese version of Boys over Flowers
Under the Skin – Art professor/detective match up, one of my favorites.
If you are willing to include Taiwan in your C-Drama list there are some other great shows. And as the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage there are many a gay romance as well.
Lost Romance – seems especially of interest to my fellow bitches as it is based on romance novels.
Oh no! Here comes trouble – calligraphy based supernatural powers?
First Note of Love – meet your idol, he’s a jerk but yet you fall in love anyway.
I have loads of cdrama recommendations after over a decade of watching! Though, fair warning, I lean towards the period dramas:
Story of Ming Lan – historical period drama at its best! this one is very, very good – great dialogue, costumes, acting, character ARCs… I think it was the same team as Nirvana in Fire
Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, and its sequel, Pillow Book – historical fantasy romance, love across 3 lifetimes
Ashes of Love – historical epic fantasy romance, straight out of any angel vs. demon forbidden romance books
Lost Your Forever (2 seasons, season 1 is the better one) – historical fantasy romance, but low on fantasy, orphaned girl searching for her roots
Prisoner of Beauty – just finished airing, historical romance, marriage of convenience between two enemy kingdoms
Once Upon a Time in Ling Jian Mountain – historical fantasy romance, and absolutely hilarious, set in fantasy academia
The Double – marvelous revenge storyline, historical romance
I’m glad I caught this post!
The Untamed was my gateway drug, it is suuuuper gay even with censorship (but read the book if you want the real stuff besides just yearning glances.)
For another fantasy romance I second Love Between Fairy & Devil, it took me a bit to get into it but I ended up really loving it. And the male lead kept bugging me in an i know who this is but who IS he way, turns out he was in Meteor Garden.
Contemporary: My Fated Boy is an age gap romance where a woman is pursued by her very persistent childhood neighbor
Lost Romance is Taiwanese and here’s where I admit I don’t know if its actually in Mandarin or a dialect. But its about a woman working in publishing who wakes up in the book she’s editing. I thought the premise was kind of silly but I really enjoyed it by the end.
Thank you for all the recs. I will slowly but surely make my way through them! All my reading for now has been subsumed by the watching of these dramas!
For anyone following this thread, I also wanted to recommend another show that I finished and loved: Will Love in Spring. (Contemporary)This one has more bittersweetness, and yearning than AASOL. There is more focus on the other relationships that the protagonists have as well. It is in a way more thoughtful… meatier than AASOL—it would have to be given that the male lead is a … huh, I don’t know his job title but essentially he readies the body of those who have died for burial.
Also, the OST by Jingfei Shin—my goodness. I don’t understand a word but all the songs by her have this bittersweetness which is still girded by this sense of light joy which has me listening to her tracks for this show on repeat!!
Will love in spring too has a slice of life feel to it.
There is another on my radar that I will watch later and that I feel I am going to love as well: Meet Yourself.