✧ most memorable friendships

Completed: May 2022

Why?  This drama follows the life of five doctors in their 40s, who have been inseparable since their medical school years. Their unique bond extends beyond their work, as they share a deep love for music and play together in a band. This connection added a unique charm to their relationship, as it shows how true friends can become more than family, when we offer unconditional love and support to each other. With such genuine interactions and heartwarming moments, it was easy to fall in love with them and their friendship.

Completed: May 2024

Why?  The story explores the unlikely bond between Lee Ji An, a struggling young woman in her 20s and Park Dong Hoon, a middle-aged man in his 40s facing his own hardships. Although not a typical friendship due, their bond grows into a deep connection where they find comfort and strength in each other. Additionally, the story explores friendship between Park Dong Hoon and his two brothers, who, despite their frequent arguments and differing perspectives, share an unwavering bond rooted in shared childhood hardships and a deep understanding of each other's pain. This drama's realistic portrayal of friendships reminds the viewers that, while friendships are often messy or silent, they also have the power to make life significantly better.

Completed: February 2024

Why?  This drama beautifully captures the bond between three women navigating their 30s together, while living together and offering unwavering support through life's ups and downs. When one of them is struggling, the others show up without hesitation, ready to help. Their unwavering support, good humour and honesty, beautifully illustrated how friends can become a chosen family, that offers comfort, encouragement, and lots of laughs along the way.

Completed: December 2023

Why?  This story is focused on Je Hyuk, a star baseball player who ends up in prison, and reconnects with his lifelong friend Joon Ho, a former baseball player, who is now a prison guard. Despite his challenging circumstances, they maintain a strong and enduring friendship. Alongside this, the drama showcases how a group of inmates, all serving different sentences, form deep and genuine connections, illustrating how friendships can blossom even between the most unlikely people in the most unexpected places. The unwavering support they offer each other during though times, highlights the true power of good companionship.

Completed: August 2024

Why?  This drama focuses on the friendship of three women in their late 20s, who were once close friends but drifted apart due to a misunderstanding. Different life challenges, lead them to live together and to hire a house helper in his mid-30s . With his help, they not only clean their home, but also declutter their emotional lives. As they navigated their individual struggles, their form a stronger bond, not only among themselves, but also with their house helper and the people that helped them along the way.  In the end, this drama highlights the value of both offering and accepting unconditional support within a friendship and romance.

—  Recommended by Sian & LcLou

Completed: February 2024

Why?  The time travel concept gives this friendship a unique twist. After a conflict with their respective parents, two of the main leads magically travel back to the 90s when their parents are 18, like them. This rare opportunity allows both characters to bond with their parents over a shared love for music, they gain insight into their parents' past, and understand how their past experiences shaped who they are today. All their interactions were filled with youthful energy and growing empathy for their parents, which helped them build a deeper and more understanding relationship in the present.

Completed: July 2023

Why?  A heartwarming portrayal of friendship among six teenagers in their 16s, who play together on a rural badminton team and form strong bonds as they navigate competitions and teenage life. This drama captures the true essence of teamwork and camaraderie, showing that true friendship is all about supporting each other, sharing every moment, and growing together both on and off the court. Making this drama a touching and inspiring representation of youth.

Completed: January 2024

Review: Unlike other sports dramas, the sports aspect was integral to this story, showcasing the various stages of an athlete's journey, their relentless perseverance, the impact of untreated injuries in an athlete’s life and how they balance their romantic lives with a career within a national team. For a k-drama, the romance in this story felt refreshing, with both couples being honest about their feelings quickly, and a secondary female lead who unapologetically pursues her love interest. The growing friendships among team members were beautiful to watch, I loved how they overcome initial misunderstandings to care deeply for each other. Overall, despite some frustrating character behaviors and a shift in tone midway, this drama remained deeply engaging. It wasn’t a visual masterpiece, but it had a touching and inspirational story, with an uplifting OST. 

Completed: January 2024

Review: I loved everything about this drama. It was a peaceful, heart-warming slice of life with a dash of crime story that didn’t overshadow the main plot. The writing was beautiful, with no unnecessary additions, and it perfectly incorporated three of my favorite tropes: a charming small-town setting, an amazing group of friends helping each other, and an inspirational story of perseverance highlighting the protagonist's struggles and triumphs. The ssireum scenes were mesmerizing and educational. The characters were well-developed, and the actors' performances were outstanding and genuine. The pacing was perfect, blending emotional moments with light-hearted comedy, and the finale was satisfying and consistent. The heart-warming story and characters, specially Kim Baek Do, will stay with me for a long time. 

Completed: October 2023

Review: This drama shows a realistic view of dating in today's society through the eyes of three young couples, while they face realistic problems in their professional lives and the housing crisis. It feels so relatable, because these young adults are part of the 1988 generations, the first generation in Korea where they were promised a good future, but society failed them and they can hardly afford a decent life. It's relatable because years later, we can still see young adults facing the same struggles, like not being able to afford to buy a house, get married, raise a kid and even simple dating expenses. While I don't agree with some of the characters decisions, I respect them and their own story, after all this is their first life and this life already screwed them enough.

Completed: May 2024

Review: An unlikely group of three women and a teenage boy gets together to get revenge on the men that abused, lied and mistreated them. What makes this story stand out is that for once in a kdrama, women won't stay quiet for appearances and they joined forces to bring down the bastards that abused them. And even though the plot is centered around getting revenge, it's well blended with amazing comedic moments and beautiful friendship between the leads. Surprisingly, the OST is almost non-existence, instead it relies a lot on instrumentals to amplify the scenes, they even added an instrumental of the "Bella Ciao".

—  Recommended by Sian

Completed: March 2024

Review: This drama perfectly captured the essence of friendships and love in your adult life. The story resonated with me as it depicted four friends who maintained their bond from teens to adulthood, making me reflect on those close friendships that I built when I was young and I have kept for the past 20 years, because like them we really have been through a lot and at times we are really in different stages of life. The romance between the leads was also heartwarming, it showed a relationship built on trust and respect which I loved to see. What I didn’t like, was how some character arcs were lacking, like the storyline of the FL sister or the storyline of each mother. 

—  Recommended by Sian

Completed: June 2024

Review: I finally finished both seasons and they both explore the complex friendship and the personal growth of five female roommates, that have nothing similar between them, besides being college students. While I found some of their stories to be realistic portrayals of young adults, other stories I found them to be too unrealistic and even immature for their age. Additionally, I also felt like the large number of lead characters and the very limited number of episodes led to some character plots to feel rushed and underdeveloped. This was even more visible in season 2, where not all characters had equal screen time and some characters even had abrupt personality changes that were never explained, besides being a constant joke because they changed the actress. This season also lacked the consistent editing style of season 1, especially notable in the epilogues and the fourth-wall breaks, where ended up noticing 3 different styles, I later confirmed that this season had 2 directors while season 1 had only one director, it feels like their different styles might have clashed with each other. Despite these flaws, I always appreciate dramas that highlight beautiful friendships and give female characters the spotlight and both seasons perfectly achieved that. I also loved the catchy opening song by Sidney York, it always made me sing.

Completed: March 2023

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Completed: April 2024

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Completed: May 2022

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Completed: May 2022

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Completed: May 2023

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Completed: July 2023

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