ZhangLiaoFan02's Drama Ranking

My top favorite drama overall, this is my first drama that I have watched and in my opinion after the rewatch through Gentleman of the Han subs (Which you can find online), it still holds up very well. The positives that I have with this drama are a very solid take on the overall 3K story (Honestly, it is the best at that in my opinion), memorable moments throughout the show especially from the first 77 episodes (YTR to Zhuge Liang's northern campaign), iconic cast, and it holds up visually especially if watching through subs where it is in more higher quality compared to older subs that was done a long time ago. Highly recommended especially for anyone who wants to check out what the legendary Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel was like in drama form.

Sources to watch: Gentleman of the Han website (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

For the top spot amongst the taiga dramas that I’ve watched, I’ll give it to Hideyoshi from 1996. It had the most enjoyable take on the Nobunaga era in my opinion with the dynamic between the trio of Hideyoshi (Favorite version of him here), Nobunaga, and Mitsuhide being the main highlight, that was very enjoyable to watch it unfold overall. As it hits into the Hideyoshi era, it was pretty enjoyable overall as well and it did have a couple things that not many have gone for such as the stuff with Goemon for example, though compared to how the Hideyoshi era would be done in future taigas such as Toshiie and Matsu and Gunshi Kanbei, I wouldn’t say it was the strongest of the bunch by any means but it is pretty enjoyable especially for its time back in 1996 where it didn’t have those future taigas that go on to expand on Hideyoshi’s decline while also having other very interesting stuff going on that future taigas do provide. Overall, very enjoyable show in my opinion and does come recommended as it did well in covering the Nobunaga-Hideyoshi era in its own right.

Sources to watch: JP-Films, Nyaa (Raw videos), d-addicts (Subs), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

My second favorite taiga easily (It’s also my favorite amongst the 80s taigas), what it did really well was the overall Takeda story that happened throughout Shingen’s lifetime (Definitely helps that Shingen is one of my personal favorites from the Sengoku Jidai), other major clans that the Takeda had connections to are given a good amount of prominence (Uesugi, Hojo, Imagawa, Oda, Tokugawa) which is very nice to see and leads to very interesting stuff going on across the board, the darker feel that would later be replicated in Nobunaga: King of Zipangu (First taiga I’ve watched in full so that’s a plus for me), and it had easily one of my personal favorite battles that I’ve watched in the taigas in the 4th Battle of Kawanakajima in 1561 (Honestly, on par with the Battle of Sekigahara in Aoi Tokugawa Sandai 12 years later), very enjoyable action across the board. Overall, this show had a lot going for it in my opinion and it does come highly recommended especially if you’re into the Takeda during Shingen’s time.

Sources to watch: JP-Films (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

I was pleasantly surprised with how well this show was especially as the show progressed, so much so that it ended up in the top 3 for the taigas overall for me (And top favorite of the 2000s taigas). The Nobunaga era was enjoyable in its own right, maybe not the greatest by any means but I had a blast watching through with it and it had enough differences to stand out on its own, plus, it had my personal favorite Honnoji in terms of the action at least (I’d give it to the Hideyoshi taiga for the build) so not a whole lot of complaints there. Then, it gets to in my opinion, the most enjoyable part of the show which turns out to be the Hideyoshi era. I was pleasantly surprised with the way the show handled the Hideyoshi era overall, there is a lot of great stuff going on there, the way that the Kiyosu Conference was handled, the part where it builds towards the war against Narimasa during the conflict between Hideyoshi and Ieyasu in 1584 (And eventual peace between the two sides), Toshiie’s later years being as enjoyable as it was in my opinion, lots of very enjoyable stuff overall especially around the second half and for that, it is definitely worthy of top 3 for the taigas in my opinion. Highly recommend it.

Sources to watch: JP-Films (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

My first taiga drama that I have watched so it has a soft spot in my heart, though I only watched parts of it a long time ago before giving it a full on rewatch in late 2024 after Nobunaga: King of Zipangu and Hideyoshi. This show centered on the first three Tokugawa shoguns of Ieyasu, Hidetada, and Iemitsu which would last from Sekigahara in 1600 to the birth of Iemitsu’s son that would eventually become the 4th shogun in Ietsuna in 1641. For the last classic Sengoku Jidai taiga of the era from the 80s up until 2000, it went out on a high note in my opinion, Sekigahara to Siege of Osaka in the first 30 episdoes was by far the main highlight of the drama, though I do enjoy the following 13 episodes (Up until the episode centered on the death of Hidetada's wife, Ogou) a good amount as well. Towards the end is where it did start to fizzle out in my opinion but it did end on a decent enough note so I don't have much complaints to say about this drama, one of my personal favorite taigas and one that I enjoyed going back to a lot. It does come recommended if you’re interested in trying out one that goes over the formation of the Tokugawa shogunate and how well it did in its early phase of the first three Tokugawa shoguns.

Sources to watch: JP-Films, Nyaa (Raw videos), d-addicts (Subs), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

My first Korean drama and it is easily one of my top favorites of the ones I've watched. The positives for me are the overall story based on the Later 3K era of Korea (Really solid story all around involving the characters of the time and also getting to see what the notable factions of the time are up to, plus some really solid battles throughout and some of the most enjoyable action that I've seen since CCTV's Romance of the Three Kingdoms in 1994) and it is the closest to what the Chinese and Japanese/Taiga dramas provided of the time from the mid-80s to 2000 which clicks really well with me. If you are into one or both of those things, this drama is highly recommended.

Sources to watch: Dailymotion (Most recommended), KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show centered around Sima Yi and for this one, it does involve a lot of creative liberties as the coverage in this one goes from 200 all the way to the early 220s, for most of that span, Sima Yi’s career isn’t exactly that well known and plus, Cao Cao had plenty of other advisors especially at the time when the show started where Guo Jia and Xun Yu (It provided a really good balance between these two here which is nice to see as these two are definitely the most prominent that Cao Cao had in advisors) are around. The main thing of the first half was the rivalry between him and Yang Xiu over various things including the succession issue where Sima Yi supports Cao Pi while Yang Xiu supports Cao Zhi. The second half once Cao Pi does become heir to Cao Cao and eventual successor to him (Though with its own twist where Cao Zhi and Cao Zhang did openly protest against him that ended relatively fast) would become more of an internal conflict between Cao Pi and Sima Yi over matters which comes to blows by the time it gets to Zhenji’s death in 221 and that would lead to Sima Yi pretty much disappear from the political scene for a few years, concluding this show. I do quite enjoyed this show a lot myself and it was my first watching this kind of show where it was centered around a group of people which definitely helped warm me up to the way taiga dramas are generally handled when I got around to them not long after wrapping up Advisors Alliance. It is my personal favorite Chinese drama since the 94 ROTK show as it did well in a lot of things and helps that it takes place during a time where I was definitely interested in the story, do recommend giving a try and if you want to see one beyond the early 220s up until Sima Yi’s death in 251 which I recommend going with after this show, the sequel that came along later into 2017 in Growling Tiger Roaring Dragon does provide it.

Sources to watch: YouTube, Viki, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

The last Sengoku Jidai taiga of the 90s and it went out on a very high note in my opinion. The main positive for me was the main storyline where it was between the Mori, the Ouchi, and the Amago over the lands of Chugoku that occurred throughout Motonari's lifetime, one of my favorite story arcs amongst the taigas that I've watched and this show is highly recommended for this reason, also, if you watched Hana no Ran before this, it'll show off how the Ashikaga are doing after the 1490s have passed so there's that to note as well especially for anyone wanting to check out the taigas chronologically.

Sources to watch: JP-Films, Archive.org (Raw videos and subs), Nyaa (Raw videos), d-addicts (Subs), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

My first taiga drama that I have watched in full and as a whole, I really do enjoy it. The main positives for me are the main storyline of Nobunaga (Including my personal favorite Nobunaga to date though there's some taigas where I'd say it was close enough like 1983 Ieyasu and also Hideyoshi 4 years after this taiga), it gives the lesser known Oda retainers like Tsuneoki and Hayashi to be in prominent roles compared to how they usually are in other dramas covering the Nobunaga era, it is one of the more darker taigas which is about the same kind of feeling that Takeda Shingen from 4 years prior had, and the battles are very solid, especially at Anegawa and Nagashino where it had the most definitive versions for both of those battles to date in my opinion. The main downside to it in my opinion was the Christian missionaries, for the most part when they were prominently featured, there's not a whole lot of interesting stuff going on with them. There could be other downsides that you might feel such as the way they went about with Zuiten's character overall from this show where he would progressively get more insane after starting out as a plain fortune teller or the way that Mitsuhide's reasoning to betray Nobunaga was handled here where he was fatigued from work which Nobunaga grants him to rest only to get Mitsuhide to do more work, but honestly, I don't mind those things overall so not a whole lot of complaints there and the Mitsuhide part to me was amusing. For the first taiga that I have watched overall, it was not a bad one to start out with and can recommend it for anyone wanting to check out one centered around Nobunaga.

Sources to watch: JP-Films, Nyaa (Raw videos), d-addicts (Subs), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

My personal favorite of the more modern taigas. Like Toshiie and Matsu back in 2002 and Komyo ga Tsuji 4 years after, it is pretty much the familiar Nobunaga-Hideyoshi era but with a different flavor as it is more on Kuroda Kanbei and his rise of prominence during his time under the Kodera and later Hideyoshi both during the Nobunaga era and the Hideyoshi era once the famous Incident of Honnoji has passed. The way it was handled here was very well done in my opinion, for the Nobunaga era, it goes over how he would end up with the Oda then it has the part where he was confined for well over a year by Murashige before was eventually found for Nobunaga to see that he never meant to betray the Oda after all, it also had the most enjoyable take on the Chugoku campaign between Hideyoshi and the Mori in my opinion. The Hideyoshi era was one of the best that I've seen as it goes over how Hideyoshi was in rapid decline and it was done really well here, plus, it helps that his actor here was the man who was Hideyoshi back in 1996 which I really enjoyed his work as Hideyoshi then and in Gunshi Kanbei, it is about as good performance wise in my opinion. The main notable thing that happened after Hideyoshi's death was Kanbei's conquest over in Kyushu while the famous battle at Sekigahara was occurring between Ieyasu and Mitsunari in Mino and it was very enjoyable, with all of these overall, very enjoyable show to watch in my opinion and my personal favorite of the more modern taigas, it comes highly recommended.

Sources to watch: Nyaa (Raw videos) (Most recommended), d-addicts (Subs), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

The third taiga centered on Ieyasu after the 1983 Tokugawa Ieyasu taiga and Aoi Tokugawa Sandai in 2000. Comparing to the 1983 Ieyasu taiga, I personally do enjoy this one more as I enjoyed seeing the Tokugawa retainers gaining more spotlight than they were back in 1983, it had the best representation of the Takeda (And Imagawa) not named Takeda Shingen or Furin Kazan, and the major battles that are covered in this show were solid overall (Strong ones include Mikatagahara, Nagashino, Komaki-Nagakute, Sekigahara, and the Siege of Osaka). The only knock that I do have with this one was Sena as an overall character, not high on the more kind hearted personality compared to the 1983 Ieyasu taiga where she does give Ieyasu a hard time especially after Okehazama that led to the matter involving her and Nobuyasu, it did hurt its placing on the ranking for a bit but as time progressed, it does die down a bit in my opinion when it was referenced. Otherwise, very enjoyable Ieyasu centered taiga and does come recommended.

Sources to watch: Nyaa (Raw videos), d-addicts (Subs), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, MyDramaCool

Of the two Sanada-centered shows that I’ve watched, I do quite enjoyed Sanada Maru most, there’s definitely a lot that I do enjoyed about this such as the early portion where it was Masayuki, Ieyasu, Ujimasa, and Kagekatsu competing over lands in Shinano (And eventual meeting after the siege of Odawara had wrapped up), Yukimura’s time in Osaka which I do quite enjoyed the way it was done in Sanada Maru than in Sanada Taiheiki, and it had my top favorite for the Siege of Osaka overall and a worthy contender to compete against Aoi Tokugawa Sandai’s Battle of Sekigahara and Takeda Shingen’s 4th Battle of Kawanakajima for the top spot in my opinion. I do recommend giving this show a shot, not amongst my top favorites but still very enjoyable to watch in my opinion.

Sources to watch: JP-Films, Archive.org (Raw videos and subs), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show centered on Yamamoto Kansuke, the military strategist under Takeda Shingen. Very enjoyable show overall though if you ask me which one of the Takeda centered taigas that I enjoyed watching more, that would be Takeda Shingen from nearly 20 years prior for me personally. That being said, there are a couple aspects from this show that I enjoyed more such as Kansuke overall and Lady Suwa (Yuu)'s journey to becoming Shingen's concubine. For anyone who would check out both of them, one thing is for certain is that both of them are very different in terms of overall style that they're going with story wise, Takeda Shingen is more in line with the Sengoku Jidai taigas from 1983 to 2000 and this one is more in line with the Sengoku Jidai taigas after 2000 so it'll depend on which kind of style that you prefer overall. This show is highly recommended in its own right as a Takeda centered taiga.

Sources to watch: JP-Films, Archive.org (Raw videos and subs)

This show centered on Masamune, daimyo of the Date clan over in Oshu during the latter part of the Sengoku Jidai into the early part of the Edo period. It starts with how the political marriage between Terumune and Yoshi came about between the Date and the Mogami that would lead to Masamune’s birth a few years after the marriage then it progresses from there from losing his eye at a young age, rising in prominence and eventually become the daimyo of the Date where he had ambitious thoughts that didn’t come to realization due to the Toyotomi and later the Tokugawa’s reign of dominance over in Japan once he had grown up so he would be supportive ultimately to the Tokugawa in the 1600s despite displaying some suspicious actions throughout. Not amongst my top favorites but it is a very solid show overall and does come recommended especially if you’re interested in one centered on Masamune.

Sources to watch: JP-Films, Nyaa (Raw videos), d-addicts (Subs), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

Very enjoyable show centered around the Sanada Clan as a whole from its formation pretty much around the time where the Takeda Clan is extinguished by the Oda to when Nobuyuki is relocated away from Ueda in the early 1620s where he would spend his remaining years in peaceful retirement. What it did well more so than Sanada Maru was the emphasis on the ninjas, giving Nobuyuki and associates more prominence, and going past the Siege of Osaka to see how Nobuyuki is handling the Sanada before being relocated in the early 1620s. Does come recommended for these reasons and also if you don’t mind watching older shows, this is the earliest that I’ll have no issue returning to as there’s a lot that I can say that I do enjoy about it even as the years have passed since it aired.

Sources to watch: JP-Films, Nyaa, OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

The last of the CCTV adaptations of the classical four Chinese novels (Unless you’re counting the 1986 sequel to Journey to the West in 2000, 2 years after this show) and it went out on a high note. It is Water Margin at its finest and I honestly would say that of the non-3K era Chinese dramas, this is easily my favorite of the bunch. If you want one that is close enough to the 94 ROTK show in terms of the overall feel but with aspects that makes Water Margin stands out, I highly recommend giving this one a go.

Sources to watch: YouTube, Archive.org, OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show is based on the Shinsengumi during the dying days of the Tokugawa Shogunate and into the Meiji Restoration, very enjoyable show to watch overall and it does come highly recommended if you want to check out a taiga from this time period.

Sources to watch: Archive.org (Raw Videos), d-addicts (Subs), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show centered around Genghis Khan's lifetime and it does come recommended as it did well in covering his rise to power in Mongolia before giving the last 1/3rd of the show to his world conquest that he did before he died.

Sources to watch: YouTube (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show centered around the Han emperor during the dying days of the Han Dynasty where they are under the confines of Cao Cao. It is a highly fictional drama as it does have a lot of things that you don't normally expect but it is very enjoyable to watch in my opinion and it does come recommended. Top 3 of the 3K dramas (Above it are the 1994 ROTK show and Advisors Alliance the year prior to this show) in my opinion.

Sources to watch: YouTube (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show is based on the Northern and Southern Dynasties era but like Water Margin (Song Dynasty), it is pretty much creative liberties across the board within the era that it was based around on. It is primarily political heavy though it has some fun action sprinkled onto it. It’s one of the best of the modern Chinese shows in my opinion (A fan favorite from what I’ve seen) and I highly recommend giving this show a shot if you haven’t done so already.

Sources to watch: YouTube (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool 

This show covers Sakuma Ryoma from his younger days to where he did help lead the changes within the government of Japan hence being able to get the Tokugawa shogunate replaced into the more modern Meiji government to his demise in 1867. Very enjoyable show and if you’re interested in trying out one based on this era with one of the major figures there, this show comes highly recommended.

Sources to watch: Archive.org (Raw videos), Nyaa (Raw videos), d-addicts (Subs)

This show centered on Musashi and how he became a well known swordsman in Japan. It primarily covers the in between period of Sekigahara to the Siege of Osaka where it was peaceful albeit the game of politics between the Tokugawa and the Toyotomi during that 14 years stretch of peace, meanwhile Musashi is on a island of his own where he would strive to be the well known swordsman in Japan. Do highly recommend checking it out if you want one centered around Musashi and if you wanted to see what it was like during that in between period primarily away from what the Tokugawa and the Toyotomi are up to.

Sources to watch: JP-Films (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show is based around the couple of Yamauchi Kazutoyo and Chiyo, it is an interesting hybrid of the first two Sengoku Jidai taigas of the 2000s, Aoi Tokugawa Sandai as it has a good amount of familiar faces from that show and reused some assets from it (Scenery and sound effects) if you have seen it before checking out this one while Toshiie and Matsu for the fact that it is based on the married couple that was around during the Nobunaga-Hideyoshi era. While I wouldn’t say it was as strong as others have with the Nobunaga-Hideyoshi era but it is enjoyable in its own right and once it goes past the Hideyoshi era, it goes over Sekigahara and the aftermath where Kazutoyo handles the chaos that is Shikoku after Chosokabe Morichika was removed from power in favor of Kazutoyo who participated for the eastern army at Sekigahara with some contributions to his credit before finally managing to get it settled within a year and goes over his remaining years before his death in 1605 then it goes into Chiyo for her remaining years up until the aftermath of the Siege of Osaka a decade later. This show does come recommended as it did well in its own flavor of the familiar Nobunaga-Hideyoshi era and it did have the part involving Shikoku which is very interesting.

Sources to watch: Nyaa (功名が辻), DramaFull.co, OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show pretty much expands on what the original 1986 show provided and in my opinion, I personally found it to be even more enjoyable compared to the original though I will say to give the original 1986 show first as that is more of a complete package for Journey to the West and if you want more of this, absolutely check out this sequel from 2000.

Sources to watch: YouTube (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

The first of the CCTV adaptations of the four classical novels and it was highly entertaining overall, I highly recommend giving this show a shot especially as this is an complete package of this Journey to the West adaptation by CCTV in terms of the coverage based on the novel of the same name.

Sources to watch: YouTube (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show covers the rise of the Ashikaga shogunate under the rule of Takauji, it started in 1285 (One year after the death of Hojo Tokimune which you can watch it after the 2001 taiga centered around Tokimune) where the incident involving the Adachi occurred which leads to internal problems within the Hojo then it would eventually lead to Takauji to eliminate the Hojo and would build the foundation that is the Ashikaga shogunate with some obstacles along the way. This one comes highly recommended especially if you want to see how the Ashikaga rose to prominence before they would hit their decline around the time of the Onin War and the Sengoku Jidai.

Sources to watch: JP-Films, Archive.org (Raw videos and subs), Nyaa (Raw videos), d-addicts (Subs)

This show covers the lead up to Tokimune’s birth with the arranged marriage between Tokiyori and Akirako (Which these two would have a not so great relationship after an incident that occurred) then it would eventually lead to the war against the Mongols which they were able to drive them away from Japan and it was accomplished not long before Tokimune would pass on at a young age. The Mongol Invasions was by far the main highlight of this drama (The Mongols in general to be honest) and it is worth checking out if you haven’t done so already, one of the finest non-Sengoku Jidai taigas that I have watched.

Sources to watch: Archive.org (Raw videos and subs)

This is the second of the three taigas spanning from 1993 to 1994 (Ryukyu no Kaze in the first half of 1993 and Hana no Ran for most of 1994 after this show). This taiga would go on from the second half of 1993 to the first quarter of 1994. It is also goes over in three different parts. The first part covers the Early Nine Years War from the 1050s to the early 1060s which did lead to the temporary demise of the Fujiwara (The main clan in this drama) after siding with the Abe against the Miyamoto in Oshu when conflict arose between these two. It would then transition over to the second part where it did start with the aftermath of the Early Nine Years War in the 1060s then it gets into another major conflict that would be called the Later Three Years War in the mid 1080s that would ultimately led to the restoration of the Fujiwara. Time had passed peacefully for the Fujiwara then it would lead to the third part which goes over its own take on the Genpei War from the perspective of the Fujiwara. They were primarily on an island of their own until the Miyamoto has decided to target them and they would give it up easily against them in the end. The first two parts are very enjoyable and highly recommended, the third part isn’t the best representation of the Genpei War (Which is something that would be better represented in future taigas) but for what it was, I enjoyed it well enough. Overall, I do quite enjoyed this show a lot and one of my personal favorites of the non-Sengoku Jidai taigas.

Sources to watch: Archive.org (Raw videos and subs) (Most recommended), Nyaa (Raw videos), d-addict (Subs)

The third of the three taigas from 1993 to 1994 and it covers for most of 1994 as Homura Tatsu would wrap up in early 94 with the third part which is the Genpei War. This covers Hino Tomiko’s life and her work under the Ashikaga shogunate. During this, the Onin War happened and the aftermath was chaotic which would eventually lead to the start of the Sengoku Jidai. For this reason alone, I’d say it is worth a watch at least once and I thought it did represent that particular time well after watching this in full.

Sources to watch: OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This is the sequel to Nirvana in Fire from two years prior and it goes a generation past the cast from the first Nirvana in Fire (Though there will be familiar faces from the first show in different roles). It is political heavy just like the first show but with more action to it as the show progressed on and it is a enjoyable show overall, just not as strong as the first one but it is recommended to try out especially if you have enjoyed the first show and wanted more from that lore there as it does expand on the lore in this sequel.

Sources to watch: YouTube (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show is centered on Yinzhen who would go on to become Yongzheng Emperor, it does start out with his rise of prominence within the Qing government but then had to overcome a lot of obstacles along the way before being ascended after the death of Kangxi Emperor in 1723 though there was definitely quite the heated competition between him and the others in who will succeed to take the throne leading up to it and even after he had ascended as Emperor. Yinzhen then would go on to have quite the busy life as the Emperor after being ascended and would try to address the main issue in regards to finances within the Qing government (Which would be resolved eventually) which did ultimately lead to his health declining and eventual death (Fun fact: His actor here would be the man who was Zhuge Liang in the 94 ROTK show and he has the similar kind of fate that Yinzhen/Yongzheng has here). This is a very enjoyable political based show during the early days of the Qing Dynasty and if you don’t mind political heavy shows, this is highly recommended as it is in my opinion, one of the finest of this and another 90s classic from CCTV.

Sources to watch: YouTube (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show centered around Princess Taiping, the daughter of Wu Zetian, a prominent female figure of the Tang Dynasty and was the main person in charge later in her life. This show does come recommended if you are interested in checking out Wu Zetian and Princess Taiping in this particular style of CCTV that is there in the 80s and 90s.

Sources to watch: YouTube (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show is based on Oishi Kuranosuke’s time under the Ako Asano in the late-17th century (1600s) and into the early 1700s before it would ultimately lead to the 47 ronin where Kuranosuke spent over a year preparing for revenge for the death of his lord, Naganori from the Pine Corridor incident. Very enjoyable stuff overall in my opinion and a nice one to wrap up the 90s with for the taigas, can recommend it though it can take time for the more exciting stuff to happen if you’re hoping that it would be the case.

Sources to watch: OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show centers around Mitsuhide, the main highlights comes from the first half where it goes over his time under the Saito (Which is their most interesting of the taigas that had English subs in my opinion) and how he gets along with the imperial court by the time that they went to seek Nobunaga’s assistance by the late 1560s. The second half was enjoyable as well in its own right though amongst all that had covered the Nobunaga era, not my top choice but it is enjoyable in its own right. It is recommended, one of the finest of the 2020s so far in my opinion.

Sources to watch: Archive.org (Raw videos and subs) (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, MyAsianTV, KissAsian, DramaCool, DramaFull.co 

This show centers around Cao Cao and his rise to power, it starts off when he was younger and goes all the way to the Hebei campaign in the 200s after the famous Battle of Guandu. It does provide the most in depth for Cao Cao’s early life, as for the ones that was within familiar territory from his failed assassination attempt against Dong Zhuo onwards, it was solid though 94, 2010, and Advisors Alliance had more interesting takes on Cao Cao during that span in my opinion. It does come recommended if you’re interested to see how Cao Cao had grown up and became the powerhouse that he would eventually become over in the north.

Sources to watch: OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

The sequel to Advisors Alliance from earlier the year in 2017. It covers Sima Yi’s return to Wei after a few year absence away during Cao Pi’s reign which would then lead to one that he would be notable for in Zhuge Liang’s northern campaign and while I’ll say that 94 had the more enjoyable take on it, that being said, the way it was done here was pretty good in my opinion. It would then transitioned over to Cao Rui’s final days as Wei Emperor which was mostly enjoyable personally then it would move on to the time where Cao Shuang held power after Cao Rui’s death and it is in my opinion, the most uninteresting part of the drama, it’s not all bad by any means but compared to how it was before, it was not very interesting to say the least though it did bounce back nicely by the time it does eventually get to how Sima Yi would end up pulling up a coup following the death of his wife, Zhang Chunhua that stems from an incident that leads to Sima Shi’s temporary confinement. The build to the coup to the end where Sima Yi died would be pretty enjoyable to watch the whole way through and it is honestly, my favorite of the ones that covered that part of the story. Overall, it is a pretty good sequel to Advisors Alliance in my opinion, only thing that holds it back was the Cao Shuang years for the most part up until it gets to the lead up to the coup, I do recommend giving it a shot.

Sources to watch: YouTube (12 episodes with subs, all episodes with dub), Viki (Most recommended), KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This is a show centered around the Chu-Han war and it does start off with the lead up to it where Qin Shi Huang had united China which he would go on to do tyrannical things until his death and the foundation that he had left behind would soon show signs of crack after his death which would leave open for new faces to step up to the place in Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. These two would end up fighting against each other over who will gain control over China and it would be Liu Bang that would emerge victorious which would lead to the formation of the Han Dynasty that would go on to exist all the way until the time that leads to the iconic 3K era of China. I do quite enjoyed the show overall, though it was marred by the way it was started (It gotten better within the next few episodes after the initial start in my opinion) and the way it ended which does affect the rating of it for me personally, though had it ended around the time where Xiang Yu had died and not go over what happened afterwards in such a rushed manner in the actual finale, I might give it a full 10 but as it stands, it is at least a strong 9.5 in my opinion and one I can recommend checking out, also, if you watched 3K 2010 before this one, there are a ton of familiar faces from 3K 2010 in this show and they did pretty well, a good chunk I’d say were either on par with their 3K 2010 performances or better like Xiang Yu’s actor who was Lu Bu in 3K 2010. 

Sources to watch: OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

The first of three taigas where Ieyasu is the main character, the other two being Aoi Tokugawa Sandai in 2000 and the second Ieyasu centered taiga in 2023. I do quite enjoy the 1983 Ieyasu taiga, the only knock that I had with it was compared to how future taigas handled the Hideyoshi era (More so after the siege of Odawara in 1590) onwards, it hasn’t hold up quite as well 40+ years later in my opinion but it can still be enjoyable to watch nonetheless. The highlight was by far the first half where it goes over his early life, the relationship with Sena/Lady Tsukiyama that ultimately led to bad blood between the two and also the death of Sena after the word about her collusion with the Takeda alongside Nobuyasu, and also his time where he was allies with Nobunaga (One of the best versions of Nobunaga that I’ve seen in my opinion) was very enjoyable. It does get to show his retreat as soon as the word came that Nobunaga had died at Honnoji at the hands of Mitsuhide which was one of the few that gets to cover that and it was nice that it did. Overall, very enjoyable show in my opinion, just don’t expect the greatest towards the second half when it gets to the Hideyoshi era onwards especially if you have seen future taigas before checking out this one.

Sources to watch: JP-Films (Most recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show is a highly fictional take on Zhuge Liang's northern campaigns, spying is the main aspect of the show and while it did have a slow starter at first for me personally, but it'll pick up nicely as the show progressed and it is a pretty enjoyable show overall. Does come recommended.

Sources to watch: YouTube (Highly recommended), OneTouchTV, KissAsian, MyAsianTV, DramaCool

This show is one of the CCTV adaptations of the famous four Classical Chinese novels from the 80s and 90s, this would be the second of the four overall as CCTV Journey to the West came a year prior in 1986. It is a enjoyable take on Dream of the Red Mansions/Chambers in my opinion though of the four classical novels via CCTV adaptations, it is the one that I enjoyed the least, it wasn’t very engaging for me to watch and not one that I’ll watch often but it is at least worth a watch at least once to see how CCTV handled Dream of the Red Mansions/Chambers so overall, good adaptation, just not on par with the rest of the four classical novels via CCTV adaptations in my opinion.

Sources to watch: Archive.org (Raw videos and subs)

I’ve watched it after the 94 ROTK show and well, of the two, this one I found more flaws in 3K 2010 than in 94, the main issues I have with it are the ordering around the story especially in around the first 1/3 of the show was kind of a mess (Examples of such are peach garden oath happening in the middle of Cao Cao’s failed assassination attempt against Dong Zhuo and also Sun Ce’s death happening while Cao Cao and Liu Bei are fighting amongst each other in Jing long after his time passed), the way the notable female characters (Diaochan, Sun Xiaoren/Shangxiang, and Xiaoqiao in particular) are handled were bleh overall in my opinion, and Wu especially from the time of Sun Ce (Didn’t help that it cuts his campaign in Jiangdong) and Zhou Yu was done really poorly in my opinion, there’s some bright spots to them like Lu Su (He really carried Wu in this show in my opinion) but not enjoyable overall. The main highlight of the show was by far Wei during Cao Cao’s era, it was by far the most entertaining part of the show and it helps that Cao Cao is easily my top favorite plus the major supporting cast around him are very solid. Other notable bright spots are it was one of the few 3K media where I can get behind Shu especially during Liu Bei’s era and I really do enjoy the way Yuan Shao’s faction was handled there, the man himself was very entertaining to watch plus his advisors, in particular, the internal rivalry between Tian Feng and Xu You was very entertaining to watch. Overall, it was a pretty solid show and it is more readily accessible between this and 94, though as one centered around the overall 3K story, it was not perfect by any means hence the rating I gave in a 9 as there’s some flaws about it (Especially when compared to 94) really held it back from reaching any higher in my opinion, but aside from those flaws, it was still very enjoyable to watch and it is recommended.

Sources to watch: Dailymotion, Nyaa (High quality version)