I am a huge fan of enemies of lovers tropes in chinese dramas or even just real yearning, passion and chemistry between male and female leads such as First Frost, Lighter and Princess Rain-kissed Fate and Forever Love. I would love some K-DRAMA recommendations with similar trope if anyone has any? Bonus if its company related too, like you know exes working together in the same company and competing?
The only k-drama I've watched so far is Perfect Crown. Some people have recommended I watched Business Proposal, My Demon and Reborn Rookie. Are those good and any other recommendations?
My Demon is really good so deffo check it out. Business Proposal is not really enemies to lovers imo (more like forced coworkers but it is a really complicated dynamic). The Judge from Hell is enemy-ish to lovers (but she is a demon and a judge and he is a police officer/detective but they are kind off working together on some cases), Siren's Kiss is very good and I would say it's like a deep dislike and distrust to lovers (and they are forced to work together because of some murders that took place in the past), Sold Out on You is also deep dislike to lovers (they are working together on a big project), Sh**ting Stars is kind off enemies to lovers (he is an actor and she is working as a head of his PR team), Doctor Slump is about old-rivals-enemies while they were in highschool and lovers now when they are proper adults (they are both doctors and they are neighbours), Genie, make a wish is also kind off enemies to lovers (FL is a psychopath and she beats the crap out of ML who is a genie).
So to summarise everything. I would reccomend them in this order:
My Demon -> kind off enemies to lovers, forced proximity, very good in general
The Judge from Hell -> kind off enemies to lovers, very good chemistry but there is some light gore
Siren's Kiss -> very very deep trust issues, good chemistry, you can literally see how ML is falling for FL
Sh**ting Stars -> they dislike eachother but at the same time they trust eachother sm, it's a fun dynamic, and they are working together so it has a lot of forced proximity
Sold out on you -> forced proximity, they dislike eachother but they kind off have to work together on a big project
Genie, make a wish -> psychopath x genie, forced proximity, our FL is a top dawg here
Business proposal -> very complicated dynamic (i cannot say much more because i would spoil too much), I do think that the first episode was the best one and i wasn't the biggest fan of FL "real" personality
Doctor Slump -> they were rivals but they are cutie patooties rn
BONUS: The royal nemesis (ML is THE yearner but I wouldn't call it enemies to lovers because he falls for her pretty quickly and I do think that the show would be much better if ML and FL were bad guys in the story as it was expected because of the choices in the cast- both ML and FL played amazingly bad characters in other dramas)
That's all. If you have any reccomendations for those tropes in chinese dramas please share them with meee. I'm dying for some good chinese non-costume dramas. <3
To each their own, please consider me as a fault-finding critic (because I always be). And maybe you won't even like my choice, please check the synopsis or trailer.
For me, My Demon got boring halfway, I dropped it on episode 9. Can't force myself to watch more episode. My cousin told me she forced herself to finish it because she already halfway. Wow, I rather let that 9 hours wasted than to waste another 7 hours.
Business Proposal was half comedy half romance, but the comedic elements took larger part. The plot was a bit thin.
Didn't watch Reborn Rookie, just know that it's a romance drama.
For enemies to lovers troupe, I think:
Drama Special Season 14: Love Attack 1 episode only, rivals to lovers with some counter deception in between.
Feast of the Gods if you don't mind it having 32 eps and it's old drama, enemies to lovers troupe with ML secretly having feeling towards FL and using hidden identity to help her like a superhero.
Fight for My Way not really enemies, just close friends who bickers at every chance but... they care a lot for the others even before entering their dating era.
Princess Hours was old but gold. Started from unwillingly marrying each other because of their grandfathers' oath to love-hate relationship before getting their happy ending.
Shining Inheritance was another old but gold with enemies to lovers with childish ML changing himself because of FL's guidance.
Yumi's Cells Season 3 you can skip the previous two seasons and just go for the third season. It's super cute with enemies to lovers troupe with age gap romance (FL older by ehm 6 or 8 years iirc).
“Didn't watch Reborn Rookie, just know that it's a romance drama.”—Maybe you misworded it or just didn’t know from not watching, but Reborn Rookie is not a romance but a sort of redemption drama—no way there’d be romance since almost the entire show the one in the young ML’s body working with the FL is her father. 😉 I loved the drama, though, and it has plenty of enemies!
It’s a bit old, but Secret Love remains one of my favorite true enemies to lovers stories! It has a lot of revenge at its forefront, real enemies because of someone’s death.
Love to Hate You is one of the most classic style enemies to lovers stories and a lot of fun!
Another Miss Oh is another classic enemies to lovers story, one where it isn’t immediately clear they are enemies. I love their chemistry and the support characters surrounding the ML are hilarious (I also liked the profession they gave him and his perfectionism in it). She is initially annoying but gets better.
Mad for Each Other is not quite enemies but neighbors who don’t get along, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Both have painful pasts and subsequent mental/behavioral health issues.
Older so it isn’t quite so popular now, but one of my favorites from before 2010 (granted it’s been 17 years since I watched) is City Hall. It is set in a small town’s political sphere with a hardworking and young new female mayor butting heads with an ambitious bureaucrat, a deputy mayor in a bigger city, who is excellent at his job but gets reassigned there for some reason. Lots of bickering at the start. The political issues are not so bad since they are small town ones, more relatable than Presidential or assembly/parliament kinds of officials.
If body swaps work for you, Mr. Queen has a man from modern times switch places with a queen in Joseon when both fell in the water-and he happens to get along realllly well with concubines in that era while in her body…😅 The king notices his queen much more with this sudden personality change.
Call It Love and The Smile Has Left Your Eyes are both more somber, broody melodramas than romcoms but fit the trope well and are well made, just not as cheerful.
Live Up to Your Name is an occupation-driven mix of time slip and enemies to lovers with a Joseon era acupuncturist (who is, to modern ones, famous for it) and modern era one a generation older than him living together and working together; the enemy of both is the daughter of the modern era aging one, a modern medicine physician. She resents her father and in turn the entire profession because he couldn’t save her mother. It mixes healing and character growth with romance.
Falling for Innocence is a bit older and requires a bit of suspension of disbelief since it involves someone changing significantly after a heart transplant, but it goes from a sociopath who became that way from a family related trauma to someone who falls in love with someone he is hostile to as he is taking over her company. There is another enemy who creates a twisted love triangle with the others, too.
Thank you so much everyone these are ones I will definitely check out, but based on the recommendations I'm definitely down for some of them.
As for the ones I started, heres my update:
For My Demon, I did reach episode 9 and got bored afterwards (im hopeless I know) but I do love the ML and FL so much, they are so suitable for each other but I have soo many other dramas (chinese included) I havent even finished such as...
Fascination - 5 episodes in and got bored
Just to Meet You - 3 episodes in and got bored
Whats wrong with Secretary Kim? - overall a bit slow but very comedic
Never Ending Summer -I'm on the 2nd last episode and somehow forgot about it it was really good though.
Deep Affectionate Eyes - good but then I got bored, ml is quite a drag.
First Frost - Im watching this for the second time now cause I love Sang Yan and Wen Yifan but the sbow is kinda just sitting there rn
I also just started Dream To You and I'm hooked, cant wait until monday <3
Also tried something different while I'm waiting for Dream To You and am now watching Idol I for its mystery and cause I love the male lead.
