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Recommendations of Historical Dramas

JulyMoon VIP

Hey everyone, 

I struggle to find a good historical drama to watch. Maybe I got too cautious after starting some dramas that looked promising and ended up dropping them because they were lacking. So I hope you have something you can recommend. :)

My preferences: 

  • Korean/Chinese Drama (since I'm going to start learning Korean next month, Korean drama would be great)
  • around 16-30 episodes (Chinese drama can be longer if it's not dragging, but I'd prefer shorter ones)
  • Friendship/Romance with happy ending (My poor heart can't take melodrama/tragedy and deaths of lead characters ^^) 
  • not too much of political stuff or scheming
  • actually something more on the lighthearted side 

Please recommend what you enjoyed watching and add some short explanation why you liked it. If you see something on my Plan To Watch List you either recommend or wouldn't recommend go ahead and let me know. :)

These are some dramas I have on a pending list, means I'm not sure if I should watch them. If you have an opinion on them share it with me please. 

Korean: 

Chinese: 

Thank you very much for any help. ^.^

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eira

Oops, none of these are short but here's my recs~ :)

  • Princess Pearl (1998) - like a rom-com; love FLs because one is super kind and smart while the other is hilarious and always causes trouble. The story is unrealistic but the relationships (friendships, romance, etc.) are very touching. One of my all time favorite classics! The sequel (1999) is also very good but less on the comedy and more on the romance. The third in the series is a waste of time, I wouldn't recommend.

  • Oh My General - light rom-com; don't really remember the plot but I remember enjoying it

  • Incisive Great Teacher - another rom-com; talks more about a teacher (ML) teaching his students morals and ethics (what's okay to do, why people do things, etc.) through real life examples when students make trouble or plot against someone else. Wasn't a popular hit drama back then but I think people watched it for ML/FL because of Scarlet Heart. I liked the plot even though it was simple though - good moral of the story

  • Ashes of Love and Eternal Love - must watch imo; both have similar stories in that they're about Gods/Deities and their three(?) lives. Lots of sweet scenes between ML/FL, but of course there were lots of heartbreaking scenes as well

For your plan to watch list...

  • Memory Lost 1 & 2 (I didn't watch 3) - good but not great when compared to same-genre dramas like Love Me If You Dare and When A Snail Falls In Love. I think it wasn't as gorey though. If the latter two dramas are around 8.5 to 9/10, then Memory Lost is around 7/10. Still an interesting watch but the story and film quality just isn't as good as the other two

  • The Legend of Dugu - I watched this before Queen Dugu and liked it a lot more. I wanted to love Queen Dugu because of Chen Qiao En (FL) but I couldn't get myself to continue the drama for some reason (don't remember why I dropped it). Maybe the acting and story was just more interesting in The Legend of Dugu than Queen of Dugu. It focuses on the three Dugu sisters and their fight for power because of a prophecy; acting was great. You get to see character development (for better or worse) and the touching relationships between various characters

If you want recs for periodical/historical dramas that aren't necessarily light but are pretty good, I can throw some more your way (I didn't really rec any of those here) ^^

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Knavery

I second Oh My General but it's pretty long

Go Princess Go is more of a comedy than anything serious. A man travels back in time to become a princess. It's a bit shorter at ~25-30 minutes an episode.

Shine or Go Crazy is a Korean drama and a bit longer (24 episodes if I recall right). It's not a comedy. It's about a prince and the head of a travelling merchant company and their love story at a time when there's a struggle for the crown of Korea (Goryeo or whatever it was at the time).

Time Slip Dr. Jin - a modern doctor travels back in time and it's all about him treating diseases using modern techniques (with improvised equipment and medicine he creates himself). 

I would say they're all worth giving a shot to but if you don't like the first couple of episodes I wouldn't stick with them the whole way. Go Princess Go can be really hit or miss but the people who like it like it alot.

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Czakhareina
  • Sungkyungkwan scandal - fun and easy to watch kdrama, with FL crossdressing and the usual arrogant ML , and 1 mysterious guy and flirtatiijs guy. And  they are all (i mena 3 of them with interloper) assigned into one room as roommates in the academy
  • Go princess go - one of the silliest and funniest cdrama ever. With time travelling and hilarious guy from present sent to the past as a concubine/consort of a prince plot.
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JulyMoon VIP

@eira Thanks for taking the time and writing such a detailed recommendation. I truly appreciate it. 

Princess Pearl does sound interesting and I'll check it out. 24 episodes is not too long. :) Will most likely watch Oh My General then, if you say you enjoyed it. It does sound nice. ^^

Queen of Dugu will be skipped though as I already have The Legend of Dugu on my Plan To Watch List. 

I'm not sure about Ashes of Love though. First it looked really interesting but then I saw the length and comments saying it's going downhill at the end. 

Eternal Love....Something about this drama keeps pulling and pushing me. I had it in my Plan To Watch List, then removed it, but since you say it's a must watch, I feel intrigued to give it a try. 

Thank you for your helpful post and please do keep suggestions/recommendations coming, even if they are not light! 


@Knavery 

Thank you a lot for your post. I'll take a closer look to your recommendations. I watched Time Slip Dr. Jin (as well as the Japanese original) and enjoyed it so I think we might have a similar taste here. :) Usually I do watch a few episodes and then decide wether I'll continue or not but thanks for the information. There are some dramas were people tend to be either 100% positive or completely negative about it. 


@Czakhareina Thanks for your post. Will check them out. ^^

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DramaDrama

Young Blood --- 42 episodes, but definitely not draggy. This general theme/ direction of the drama is very common -> a group of youngsters serving their country as spies. However, the way the writer put the plots together is very clever and unusual.  I never get bored watching this, because there are surprises in every episode.  Friendships and romance plots are well executed in this. Chemistry between the leads are superb too. Not heavy on politics and scheming. More on the lighthearted side but at the same time, the message behind the story or dialogues are worth thinking about.

Your Highness --- 20 episode. This is mainly about an adventure of the leads who accidentally entered the game that they are playing. A very funny and lighthearted drama. 

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mengosteen

The Dark Lord

Generally lighthearted but spoiler: it gets slightly bloody towards the end + there's an open ending with a cliffhanger, second season supposedly in the making

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JulyMoon VIP
 DramaDrama:

Young Blood --- 42 episodes, but definitely not draggy. This general theme/ direction of the drama is very common -> a group of youngsters serving their country as spies. However, the way the writer put the plots together is very clever and unusual.  I never get bored watching this, because there are surprises in every episode.  Friendships and romance plots are well executed in this. Chemistry between the leads are superb too. Not heavy on politics and scheming. More on the lighthearted side but at the same time, the message behind the story or dialogues are worth thinking about.

Your Highness --- 20 episode. This is mainly about an adventure of the leads who accidentally entered the game that they are playing. A very funny and lighthearted drama. 

Thanks. I'll definitely watch Young Blood. I only need to wait until it's subbed. :) I'll check Your Highness out. ^^

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JulyMoon VIP
 mengosteen:

The Dark Lord

Generally lighthearted but spoiler: it gets slightly bloody towards the end + there's an open ending with a cliffhanger, second season supposedly in the making

Thanks. That shouldn't be a problem as I also watch medical dramas so I'm used to it. :) 

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