10 Korean Romance Dramas That Reminisce Heart-fluttering First Love

For our special feature this love month, we bring you some of the sweetest and memorable Korean romance dramas with first or fated love story themes

South Korean TV dramas’ bread and butter plot arguably points to the direction of chronicles about love. It may be heartbreaking or happy ending. It could be strokes of reality or mind blowing fantasy. Unrequited devotion easily hooks the viewers because everyone has fond memories of their first love or their one great love. It has even established itself as an inside joke for avid watchers of how immense power a “first love” character draws in a K-Drama narrative. It defies non-sense conflict resolution for the sake of achieving the blissful ever after of Korean romance dramas. We got a combination of recent and iconic K-Drama chronicles that celebrate love in the most blissful way for this selection. Whether you have watched the stories in this list or not, we hope you take time to bask in the wondrous feeling of love through these Korean romance dramas.

1. I’m not a Robot (2018)

photo credit: MBC

Shunned from human interaction because of his extreme allergy, a rich man feels love for the first time with whom he thought to be an android woman. I’m not a Robot adorably captures familiar romantic elements, which audience can surely relate to. It communicates how the heart believes what the situation tries to conceal. It affirms how reciprocated love is felt even if it is not vocally declared.

2. Legend of the Blue Sea (2016)

photo credit: SBS

Time-transcending romance sweetened this mermaid-conman love story. The base fairy tale approach that seems to be familiar to anyone is most likely the key ingredient to The Legend of the Blue Sea‘s delightful run. It utilizes the melancholia of the back story to complement the quirky flow of the present timeline. It modernized the reincarnation plot, by playing the resident drama fix of how love overcomes anything and beyond everything.

3. She Was Pretty (2015)

photo credit: MBC

The love tale of childhood friends turned sweethearts who lost contact for a long while and met again at different expectations and fears is tailored to make you feel giddy and warm. She Was Pretty gives life lessons on how much we have to give ourselves limitless opportunities and love that fate won’t give us right away.

4. My Love From The Star (2013)

photo credit: SBS

Fate, chance encounters and brave i-love-you-right-now claims, have never been so perfectly achieved until My Love From The Star graced K-drama screens. The love progress moves to a pace where the love couple’s connection is sensitive to the story they are into. The alien and top actress love ride requires centuries of finding each other at the right lifetime to fulfill their destined love.

5. My Love Eun Dong (2015)

photo credit: jTBC

My Love Eun Dong narrates a love story so blissful and agonizing like it came straight from a classic love novel. The enduring commitment of a top actor to love only one woman all his life leaves an affecting impression. Two people love each other the best way they can and not how the people around them understand it. It makes you reminisce the casualties of failed relationships and the bliss of fighting for the love that is rightfully yours.

6. Discovery of Love (2014)

photo credit: KBS

This KBS rom-com hit goes the unconventional path of presenting the love story between an estranged couple and how they are able to realize that their love remains true years after they broke up. It provides that painful reminiscing of how after losing a love we greatly cherished, it would make us discern on how someone will always remind us that beautiful things change painfully in a moment, and there would be no help books to help us prepare. Discovery of Love digs on the root of love problems in a coherent world – the strength to let go of a half-baked love and the choice to be in a not so perfect but true love.

7. Reply 1997 (2012)

photo credit: tvN

Reply 1997 sprints all the way to the viewers’ hearts with its vibrant characters, fan girl foolish escapades, friendship memories and of course the crazy first love. The first installment of the Reply series franchise established the trademark setting for the succeeding two dramas which raked in an impressive cult following. It proves how the familiar feeling of first love, if given another chance could become someone’s “fated love”.

8. I Need Romance (2011)

photo credit: tvN

Leaning on the sassy vibe, this pragmatic romantic comedy delves on the tendencies of a long-standing relationship to succumb in temptations no matter how true the love could be for the couple. It provides lessons on how the unfaithful party could never turn back the time to make up for his mistakes, but he still has his lifetime to love the person even more than he did before. Not all love begins as if it is meant to be, at the end of the day people tend to go to a love that has been happening.

9. Mischievous Kiss (2010)

photo credit: MBC

Derived from a popular shoju manga, Mischievous Kiss tells the story of a high school girl who perseveres in claiming her first love through her heartfelt intentions. The not so quick-witted heroine harbors deep admiration towards the school campus crush. When their house crashes, she ends up living with his family when they learn how their parents are old friends.

10. Boys Over Flowers (2009)

photo credit: KBS

Another iconic first love tale from a Japanese manga. The Korean adaptation pushed Lee Min Ho to mainstream popularity by playing the role of the rich son who has done everything for the sake of the first woman who made his heart beat wild. Being sprinkled with flower boy bromance and their side love stories cemented a victorious run for this youth drama.