Nevertheless initially make me think about CIIT because side character Yoon Sol from Nevertheless is very similar to main character Hong Soel in CIIT. Not only do they have the same name:
- their hair color is similar
- the actress playing them have similar facial features.
- they both have a tomboy style of dressing
- they are focused/hardworking/top of their class
- reserved about personal things, more introspective and perceptive attitudes
- loyal to friends, sincere and value proper communication with significant others

So yeah, basically the same person and both very endearing characters to me. Aside from that, other similarities in both dramas:
- College atmosphere that give attention to stressful academic life
- Lighthearted moments but overall melo/angsty vibe
- Focuses on psychologic/sociologic interactions between people/society
- Well-written support characters that have their own struggles
- Nontraditional, complicated male lead with questionable behavior and female lead that thinks a lot
- Main leads have problems beyond misunderstanding or not communicating

Although these two seem very different, they actually have the same title with the title referencing the same thing: the mistiness/fogginess/obscurity of human emotions and interactions. Over all, Misty is better written and produced, but here are some other similarities:

- Not fluffy, more melo/dark.
- Complex female lead with layers who seems like she has it all but is actually struggling quite hard, both against the world and herself
- Complex male lead who is very in-love with female lead but strained relationship
- Couple that is essentially married in name and goes through relationship development
- Complicated political/workplace/societal environment with focus on the darkness behind the glamourous life of upper class

Both are mysteries surrounding two sisters: older one who was the mistress of a wealthy, married man and the younger sister trying to figure out what happened to her while uncovering all the skeletons in the closet of a seemingly perfect, high-society family. Both also well-done and engaging. KMSR is more comedic and has more romance however.

Supernatural, spunky female lead (ghost in Arang, mermaid in Legend) with a male lead that starts off indifferent but changes because of the female. Both males have to protect the females throughout the drama. Both males are also looking for their mothers. Both have fantasy, mystery, comedy, drama and romance, and both are based off Korean folktales.

Both dramas deal with the female lead growing into herself/finding herself. Also, in both, the female leads have to deal with a hostile working/school atmosphere, are faced with being older than everyone else and have family that doesn't support her dream.
The male leads in both are sweet and funny, not like the usual jerk leads. Finally, both dramas are light and funny, with a lot of heartwarming moments.

Ok, these are clearly nothing alike. But after watching SHR, I wanted something with a questionably crazy male lead. Yoo Jung reminded me of Wang So because neither are the typical "jerks," but they are not really nice guys either and they both make me wonder if either is really sane lol. And they kind of treat the girl the same way.
And both have the same combination of romance with a bit of suspence and an open ending.

Both deal with smart (as in, really, really smart), capable females that start out as slaves and rise in power, winning the king's/emperor's love along the way. Both also deal with palace politics and power play. In general, EK is more intense and has more fight scenes, but I thought the pace was good in both (little to no filler) for longish dramas.

Different plots on the whole, but I feel like both sort of tell the story of a person that was backed into a corner and how she tries to fight her way out. Also, both dramas deal with both very evil characters and those with shades of gray. Both are on the darker side (AM is Def darkerr) with specks of humor. Finally, both have story that really sucks you in.