Romantic Dramas you will binge from start to finish

My favorite drama as of right now!

"Warm Up This Love" Starring Tomoya Nakamura & Nana Mori

This is a fairly new one which aired through (Oct-Dec 2020) and warmed its way into my heart

• Kdrama lovers would like this one because the male lead is an acting CEO.
• AMAZING chemistry between the leads
  • 14 year age gap between the leads (12 year age gap in drama)
• my mom looked forward to this one weekly while it was airing (that says something)
  • she's not a fan of Jdramas (she claims they don't make good romance dramas)
• Tomoya Nakamura has been around for a while, you should recognize him in an instant  if you're an avid Jdrama fan. He's so good-looking, I can't stop staring. Especially with the glasses.
• Nana Mori is a fairly new actress, this is her first starring role, and she made me fall in love with her already. (Likeable female lead)

Starring Satomi Ishihara and Shun Oguri

• can you pick a better pairing than these two? I don't think so.
• their chemistry and acting was by far one of the best.
• love, dreams, work, heartache.

• one of my favorites
• main leads had great chemistry
• binged it and followed the drama weekly as it was airing.

Starring Honoka Yahagi & Yuki Furukawa

• one of my favorites
• my mom loves this one too (that says a lot because she's not a fan of JDramas)
  • she loves laughing, you will laugh a lot while watching this.
• if you are just getting into Jdramas, this one is a must!
• great chemistry between leads
  • 10 year age gap in real life
• personal note: adapted from a 90s manga, and 00's Anime
• Ita✩Kiss adaptations (It Started With a Kiss, Playful Kiss)

• one of the best Chinese dramas I've seen in a long time
• on Netflix, I believe.

Starring Lee JoonKi & IU

After watching this, my eyes were so red and puffy from the crying. 

• one of the best out there
• great cast line up (seriously)
• I rewatch it every now and then, but my eyes suffer the consequences right after.
  • YOU WILL CRY. There's no sugarcoating it. Still romantic.

if you've see Itazura Na Kiss (Love in Tokyo), well this is the 2nd drama they made in 2005.

• I believe it was because of this one that Japan decided to make it into a drama.
  • the Korean remake was mediocre, but this one was great.
  • the first one was a Japanese Drama in 1996.
  •  still has rewatching potential

continuation of the first season of Ita✩Kiss

as usual this is on the romantic dramas list, how can it not be?

• however China has done this drama to death, 
  • the first one was the Japanese movie (1996)
  • the second one was Taiwanese (2003-2005)
  • third one was the Japanese drama Hana Yori Dango (2005) & Hana Yori Dango 2.
  • Boys Over/Before Flowers came out in 2009, I watched it then too.

Starring Haruka Ayase & Kazuya Kamenashi

• one of the best Japanese romance dramas
• filming set in Yokohama/2008
• great cast lineup (Ayase, Kamenashi, Erika Toda)
• you'll fall in love, you'll cry, you'll rewatch it.

• feel good drama about those college days (2001)
• romance, friendship, heartbreak, life
• Hiroki Narumiya plays the bad boy player.
  • he has great chemistry with the second female lead (best friend of the female lead).

Starring Yui Aragaki and Ryuhei Matsuda

• saw this one recently, although it aired in 2018.
• binged it one night, I didn't sleep.
• the main leads have great chemistry.
  
• originally I didn't watch this because I heard Ryuhei Matsuda was the lead.
  • but after seeing the first episode, I got hooked. His acting here is superb. 
  • he acts like a bad guy you shouldn't fall in love with, but can't help but do. 
  • he's so sexy in this drama, I don't know why.

• one of my favorites
• one of the first Taiwanese dramas I got into (2007)
• I still rewatch this (I think it's still on Netflix now too)
• quite angsty, you will fall in love and cry here and there.
• male lead is a F4 member (Taiwanese remake).

• loved this drama at first, like LOVED IT. LIKE WATCH IT.
• the male lead was so good-looking and tall.
• the main leads had electrifying chemistry.
  • at least a 12 year age gap for their characters and in real life.
    • why do 10 age gaps do so well when it's young girl/older guy?
• available on Netflix (otherwise I wouldn't have watched it.)

Recently saw this one.

I'm ashamed to call myself a Jdrama lover, because up until now I hadn't even known it existed.

This drama deserves so much more recognition.

• 10 year age gap between characters
• you will fall in love, and cry a bit
• this was filmed in 1995 or 1996

I prefer this version over the other two. 

• the chemistry here was electrifying.

starring Aya Ueno & Naohito Fujiki 

• watched recently
• teacher-student trope (I don't why it's just so sexy, please don't give me that look)
  • 10-15 year age gap between leads.
• Naohito was in his mid-20s here, and OMG, he was so sexy.
• not a fan of Aya, I haven't seen her acting in almost a decade, but I liked her here.

Starring Song Joongki and Moon Chaewon

• one of my favorites
• romance, lust, revenge, first love, heartache

Starring Yui Aragaki & Ryo Nishikido

• super cute, and heartwarming
• great chemistry
• I've rewatched it numerous amount of times.

Starring Satomi Ishihara and Yamapi

• pretty cute and super funny
• I enjoyed watching it weekly when it was being aired
• has rewatching potential

starring Yoona and Jang Geun Suk

• was considered a gem when it was airing, but then became pretty soap opera-esque.
• I liked it a lot, but then my mom fell for Jang Geun Suk, and life for me changed.
  • she ended up making me watch this drama so many times, that I couldn't watch it anymore.

Starring Yui Aragaki & Gen Hoshino

• very cute, and funny
• has rewatching potential
• they recently made a special for it (I loved it).

Starring Jun Matsumoto & Satomi Ishihara

• this drama had a great OST 
• JUN LOOKED SO DAMN FINE HERE.
• I didn't like Satomi's character at all.
• Kiko Mizuhara also acts here (I had no idea she was that young when she was filming those scenes with MatsuJun.)
• Kasumi Arimura plays here too as Jun's little sister.

Starring Kasumi Arimura & Kento Hayashi (I love him, sorry)

• fairly new, aired in Oct-Dec 2020.
• romantic, sweet, heartfelt
  • good chemistry between main leads
• pretty funny and uplifting
• touches upon 2020 pandemic

Starring YamaPi and Keiko Kitagawa

• aired in 2009 and was pretty popular back then
• try it out

Starring Jun Matsumoto, Mao Inoue & Shun Oguri

• the wardrobe compared the Korean remake was a bit sad, but this was filmed in 2005, and no one thought the South Korean remake would go that far in terms of budget costs.
• Still MatsuJun and Shun were heartthrobs because of this drama.
• don't hate me I was more attracted to Shun's Rui, same with HyunJoong's Jiho.
  • as I got older I understood Makino's and Domyouji's relationship.

Starring Mayu Matsuoka & Kenta Kiritani

• I still rewatch this
• minor love here and there, but there's romance for sure.
• great chemistry between the leads
  • 10 year age gap between leads

one most are familiar with

• freaking hilarious 
• fairly new (2018?)

this drama delivered alright, each day there was a new episode, and I couldn't help waiting to watch each one.

• great chemistry between all three
• life, family, coming-of-age, romance

• funny and very cute
• good looking main leads with great chemistry
• male lead acts like a tsundere at first.
• great fashion

Starring Yui Aragaki & Gou Ayano

• I watched this while it was airing, and I still go back and rewatch it every now and then.
• touched upon a certain Japanese disaster 
• Gou and Yui had great chemistry

fairly recently aired

• The main couple is awful, look towards the second couple.
• 20ish mins eps each

aired back in 2003, I think.

• I watched it because I was a fan of the manga and anime, but they didn't finish it all the way. I remember liking it.
• The leads and second leads had great chemistry
• the main lead is a F4 member (Taiwanese remake).

Starring Uee

• I can't stress the number of times I've rewatched this.
  • I loved it.
• great chemistry between main leads.
• about 50 eps

starring Satomi Ishihara & Nao Matsushita (they play sisters)

• Takanori Iwata is also in this drama, he plays Satomi's best friend.
• pretty heart-warming drama

• main leads have great chemistry
• lots of politics and action

starring Reina Treindl & Dori Sakurada

• very sexy
• I love rewatching this
• full of romance, lust, revenge, etc.

continuation season of Hana Yori Dango.

Taiwanese Remake of Hana Yori Dango/Boys Before Flowers 

• one of the first dramas I've seen (I had seen Hana Yori Dango first though.)
• for 2001, it was pretty good
• this adaptation is the closest to the manga (there are some triggers if you've read the manga.)

• Stumbled upon this by chance on YouTube like 8 years ago, and I ended up bingeing it.
• romantic, beautiful scenery, heartbreak (intense), trauma, etc.
• If I'm right, the director or screenwriter of Love Rain also wrote this drama.

one of my favorite high school dramas

• great cast lineup (Keiko Kitagawa, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Yusuke Yamamoto, Masaki Okada, Mitsuki Tanimura, Aya Omasa, Atsuko Maeda, Kaku Kento, Shiori Kutsuna)
• they're all stars now
• life lessons, romance, crushes, learning to adjust to adulthood, angst.

I only watched season 4 because of Kim Saeron

• pretty startling first episode
• you'll get what I mean when you see it.
• VERY romantic.

• main leads had great chemistry
• there were funny moments too
• has rewatching potential

• I only kept watching this because of Kubota Masataka. He's one of my favorite actors.
• The soundtrack is pretty good

Starring Yamapi, Karina, Erika Toda, Kubota Masataka, & Katsuji Ryo

• great lineup
• full of familiar faces (now...)
  • many of the recurring cast members were still starting out when this was airing.
• I didn't feel a thing for the main pairing. No hate for Yamapi (in fact I love him), but Karina looked so awkward with him.
• As for the side pairing, I had so many feels for Kubota Masataka and Erika Toda.
  • Erika is one of my favorite actresses since I saw her act in the Death Note movies, and Kubota is one of my favorite actors.
• Great drama for summer love, fun, vacation, and pretty funny moments here and there.

binged it within 8 hours 

• 2nd season let me down though
• I hate second lead syndrome.
• on Netflix

I liked this one too.

Eunji did a great job too

Starring Kento Yamazaki, Yuko Araki, & MacKenyu

• great cast line up
• lots of kissing scenes

Starring Mirei Kiritani, Kento Yamazaki, Shohei Miura, and Shumei Nomura

• it was cute at first, but began to lag a bit (or maybe I'm remembering it wrong).
• anyways Mirei and Shohei actually got married in real life, and their chemistry on screen kinda outshined her's and Kento's chemistry.

starring Kim SoHyun

• supposedly there's a 2nd season, don't know when it's planning on coming out though.
• it's pretty cute at first
• great chemistry between main leads
• on Netflix 

Starring Chinen Yuri and Jesse Lewis 

• First of all, this drama's cast lineup was composed of Johnny's Juniors.
• all of them (besides Chinen) were Johnny's Juniors when filming this. 
• I remember watching this when it first came out.
• friendship, love at first sight, teenagers, angst, coming-of-age drama

Starring Krystal & Rain (featuring L (Kim Myungsoo)

• I know this drama didn't do very well. But it holds a special place in my heart, because I was one of the first people who started shipping Krystal and L together, back in 2010.
• Then they were casted in a drama together (where L's character falls in love with Krystal's, so you can't blame me for being addicted to it.)
• L's acting needs work here, but you can't deny that he and Krystal have AMAZING CHEMISTRY.
• age gap between main leads, no chemistry between Rain and Krystal whatsoever. 

• has mystery
• great cast lineup
•  Kubota Masataka stars in it ^_^

• great chemistry, like electrifying.
• main leads acted in Meteor Garden (Boys Before Flowers Taiwanese Remake)
  • She played Makino/JanDi & he played Rui/Jihoo.
  • I guess the chemistry was so strong, they were casted to act in this adaptation of Mars (manga).
• The story is short sadly, the manga wasn't finished in time.

• once I saw it, I got hooked.
• Kamio Fuju stars in it.
• romance is part of it, but its more about teenagers and changing hormones, as well as trauma issues. 
• the main actress (Sayu Kubota) has been appearing some places, she's pretty good (kinda of reminds me of Emi Takei).