I’ll start with:

Bridal Mask (2012)

https://kisskh.at/3394-the-bridal-mask

This is one of the most brilliant kdramas I’ve ever watched.

It’s set in Korea during the Japanese occupation (the 1930s) and tells a story of the struggle for freedom, tragic love, a double identity, betrayal, a friendship put to the test, and a profound transformation of the protagonist.

This story evoked such extreme emotions in me! It’s one of those kdramas that doesn’t have a single (not a single!) boring episode – the action keeps the viewer engrossed from start to finish. It’s also quite a brutal and tragic story – the ending is bitter but realistic, just like many of the sad scenes in the story (this isn’t a cheerful kdrama). Despite all that, there are also plenty of truly satisfying scenes (fans of ‘Vincenzo’ will be delighted, haha). As for the romantic plot, it’s present but not the main focus – though it’s precisely this unrequited love that leads one of the characters down a path of violence...

The male leads gave phenomenal performances (especially PKW); the female lead was okay, but she didn’t make quite as big an impression on me as those two.

In any case, I highly recommend it and find it a shame that almost no one knows this story 😭