2019 was very busy for us Fangirls, which led to many of us not being able to watch all the dramas that Korea had to offer. What amazing performances did we all miss out on? What dramas are we still dying to see? Most importantly, what gem did you watch whose brilliance we might have been blind to? 

Karie the Maknae

I had to scale back a LOT this year, and then I got hooked on fluffy Chinese romances. Made for a very interesting drama-watching experience!

Though I was late to the game on Romance is a Bonus Book, I ended up binge-watching a few months after it finished and loved it. I think binge watching will be my new method of drama-consumption — it works very well for me.

I still intend to finish WATCHER, Moment at Eighteen, When the Devil Calls Your Name, and Catch the Ghost. Plus everything that’s airing now. Hoo boy — I’m going to be busy in January!

Drama Geek

If you take a gander at my list on My Drama List you will see that as the years go by, I get more and more ruthless with what dramas I keep watching. One thing that happened this year though is that I did go back and watch ones that I thought I wanted to drop, and in one case, it ended up being my favorite drama of the year. So instead of dropping things, I’ve started to put them On Hold and then go back and skim through the list when I find I am light on currently airing dramas.

One such drama is the SMASH hit The Untamed. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s not Korean, but it was huge and all over my Twitter feed and I have to go back and watch it. I’m about 10 episodes in, and I think the hype is what is making me not press play. I do think I need some zither and flute fighting in my life, so maybe for New Years I will binge a bunch of episodes.

Another drama that I started and have almost gone back to several times is Doctor John. I love the actress to pieces and I heard she delivered a wonderful performance. I also love when Ji Sung is paired with a decent costar.

I watched Lee Dong Wook‘s talk show and it really made me want to see him in a drama. I dropped Touch Your Heart pretty early but I’m thinking that I might need to fit it into my schedule soon.

Cat posts from Junho are nice to help me get through his enlistment but I think tracking down Confession again (where was it subbed????) so I can actually see if his face is in order.

And to round out my list. I will continue to slowly make my way through the heartbreak of Beautiful World. I watch a few episodes and then need a break and forget I’m watching it. Maybe I’ll commit to watching 1 per week.

Kmuse

There was a ton of buzz about The Secret Life of My Secretary on social media and I think that is what I’m going to try and check out still. I also am still trying to complete Love and Destiny. I love this drama but due to real life it is just taking longer then I would like to complete it.

MiataMama

I found myself sucked down the Kpop rabbit-hole in the latter half of the year. (Watching idol groups be goofy off stage or on vacation is highly entertaining – who knew?!) So, that means I’ve not watched nearly as many dramas in 2019 as in years past. There are a few shows that got shuffled over to my hold list that I would like to finish.

Spring Turns to Spring was lots of fun and had great female leads, but just got overshadowed by a bunch of other shows airing at the same time. I look forward to binging the second half.

I’m SO close to finishing My Absolute Boyfriend. There seemed to be split views on the ending, and maybe I know I’m going to cry over the outcome and that’s why I didn’t quite finish. But, I need resolution after investing so much time in that drama.

Justice started while I was on vacation so I didn’t get very far in before I felt like I was falling behind, so I set it aside to binge-watch at a later date. It’s a bit dark, so I’ve been waiting for the right mood too. But I found the directing very intriguing and want to get back to it.

And while I’m not usually a fan of historicals, My Country: The New Age is one that I was VERY impressed with. I still need to watch the second half, but it’s an intense drama, so I had to take a break.

And even though this drama aired in 2018, due to the demise of DramaFever I was never able to finish it. Now that 100 Days My Prince is recently back with subs on Viki, I will finally be able to finish that drama as well!!

Finally, these are the 2019 dramas that aired, that are still on my plan-to-watch list: My First First Love, Beautiful World, Confession and (since it’s finally available and subbed on Netflix) Suits! (The Maknae: OH YEAH! SUITS! *runs to add it to her list*)

Clkytta

I dropped an extraordinary number of dramas this year! One drama that I fully intend on getting back to is My First First Love. I was all prepped and ready to watch this one when I heard that it wasn’t complete, so I’ve been waiting for Netflix to have both parts.

I’m also waiting to finish 100 Days My Prince. I’m going to have to start at the beginning and watch it all over since it’s been so long since it aired. I’m still bitter about the demise of Dramafever and all the half-finished dramas that I was watching. To make things even worse, I didn’t use any kind of a tracking system until then, so I can’t remember half of what I watched or didn’t finish. Sigh.

Like Drama Geek, I have also picked The Untamed back up. I didn’t intentionally drop it, but I have made my way back to it. Hello, Manes of Glory and Bromance!

The only other drama I’ve considered trying again would be Romance is a Bonus Book. I feel like I should like it, but I’ve tried it twice and I just don’t like the way the female character is written. I may give it one more try.

Kdrama Jen

I watched a lot of dramas this past year, but due to some travel and work-related craziness, I did not finish everything I was watching. So, I plan to wrap up a few such as Secret Boutique and Extraordinary You. They are not dramas I missed, but I just never finished! I also plan to get back to The Untamed. I have a few that were on my list to watch, but I just didn’t have time. I just saw there are a large number of Chinese dramas about to be released on Netflix, so I have to clear my watch list to make room! I am peeking back at the ones my fellow Fangirls have mentioned, and thanks to a couple of binge-fest weekends, I have finished most of the ones on their lists. One I definitely want to watch, though, is Designated Survivor. Drama Geek and Kmuse talked about it a lot, so I want to make sure to watch it!

Wow! So many dramas we still need to watch. A drama fan’s work is never done. What shows do you still want to watch that you just didn’t have time to complete? Let us know in the comments and be sure to join us as we start 2020 with a lot more drama.

The Fangirls

Dramas With a Side of Kimchi