Premiere Reminder: So Not Worth It
There’s no denying it – Kdramas can be really long. Not necessarily the number of episodes, but the length of the episodes, with some reaching feature film length for a single episode! (I’m looking at you, Vincenzo and Hospital Playlist).
But what if you want just a casual Kdrama you can start and finish in just a single sitting? Well, here are five Kdramas that you can watch in less than five hours.
Color Rush (2020)
Duration: 8 episodes x 15 minutes each (2 hours total)
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| Yoo Jun as Choi Yeon Woo | Heo Hyun Jun as Go Yoo Han |
“White, snowy white, silver gray, silver, moonlit gray, cement gray, gray, mouse gray, charcoal gray, black.”
Choi Yeon Woo is a high school student who suffers from monochromatic vision, a neurological condition that means his brain is unable to decipher colours that aren’t grayscale.
But when he arrives at his new school, he discovers Go Yoo Han, his "probe", the person whose face allows him to see colour. But as reports of “mono’s” kidnapping their probes continue to come out and Yeon Woo becomes increasingly obsessed with Yoo Han and seeing colour, what will become of them, and can Yeon Woo keep sane despite it all?
Convenience Store Fling (2021)
Duration: 6 episodes x 12 minutes each (1 hour, 12 minutes total)
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| Choi Ji Su as Yeo Joo Ah | AB6IX's Kim Dong Hyun as Kim Dong Hyun | Golden Child's Bong Jae Hyun as Bong Jae Hyun | VICTON's Jung Su Bin as Jung Su Bin | PENTAGON's Jung Woo Seok as Jung Woo Seok |
This interactive short drama features Joo Ah going to work at a convenience store, where she meets and has the potential to fall in love with one of four other characters:
- The first potential love interest is Dong Hyun, her boss at the convenience store, played by AB6IX’s Kim Dong Hyun.
- The second potential love interest is Jae Hyun, a charming boy with a puppy-dog face, played by Golden Child’s Bong Jae Hyun.
- The third potential love interest is Su Bin, her angry-faced coworker at the convenience store, played by VICTON’s Jung Su Bin.
- And the fourth potential love interest is Woo Seok, a customer who loves mint choc chip milk drinks, played by PENTAGON’s Jung Woo Seok.
The drama was interactive as, when it was originally airing on YouTube, fans had the opportunity to vote for which of the four potential love interests the main character Joo Ah could end up with.
The series features six episodes of just twelve minutes in length, and are featured on Dingo Kdrama’s YouTube channel. At a total of seventy-two minutes in length, the series can easily be watched like a single episode of a Kdrama.
EXO Next Door (2015)
Duration: 16 episodes x 15 minutes each (4 hours total)
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| Moon Ga Young as Ji Yeon Hee | EXO's Park Chan Yeol as Himself | EXO's Do Kyung Soo as Himself | EXO's Oh Se Hun as Himself | EXO's Byun Baek Hyun as Himself |
EXO Next Door is one of the most popular web series in Korean history, with more than 50 million views, leading to CJ E&M re-editing it into a film version.
The story follows the shy and introverted Ji Yeon Hee, who has zero dating experience and is hired to clean the house next door, which has just been occupied by Chanyeol, D.O., Baekhyun, and Sehun, four members of her favourite boyband EXO. Yeon Hee finds out that Chanyeol is her long-lost childhood friend and crush, and ends up in a love triangle with him and D.O.
Part-Time Idol (2017)
Duration: 5 episodes x 30 minutes each (2 hours, 30 minutes total)
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| Kim Min Kyo as Jung Tae Kyung | JBJ's Viini as Kwon Hyun Bin | Hwang Seung Eon as Soo Ah |
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| Kim Hee Jung as Kim Hee Jung | AKMU's Lee Soo Hyun as Lee Soo Hyun | Kwon Young Deuk as Kwon Young Deuk |
Part-Time Idol is a short five-episode drama about a former super-producer who returns after eight years to make a brand new co-ed Kpop group from the fictional ZG Entertainment’s most unlikely trainees.
Kwon Hyun Bin is a self-absorbed trainee who is addicted to social media and his following. Soo Ah has stage fright that causes her to freeze on stage and be unable to perform in front of people. Kim Hee Jung has anger management issues and doesn’t get along with others all the time. Lee Soo Hyun is the quietest member of the group and struggles to hit high notes. Kwon Young Deuk was originally meant to be the group’s choreographer, but was given a second chance at becoming an idol.
The Boy Next Door (2017)
Duration: 15 episodes x 6 minutes each (1 hour, 30 minutes total)
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| Choi Woo Shik as Park Kyu Tae | Jang Ki Yong as Sung Ji Jae |
The Boy Next Door is a fun and comedic short drama about two neighbours, college students Park Kyu Tae and Sung Ji Jae, who dislike each other, but are forced to move in together following an accident. Both boys are friends with Kim Min Ah, who, following walking into a series of awkward situations between the two, comes to believe that they are gay.
The series features fifteen episodes of just six minutes in length, which are featured in an omnibus video on Dingo K-Drama’s YouTube channel. At a total of ninety minutes in length, the series can easily be watched like a single movie.
Enjoy!
Edited by: devitto (1st editor)
