Nostalgic Old Dramas

Currently watching and this is how I love my old dramas to be like. This has that old drama production quality and visuals that I love, the music is lovable and all the things that stop me from watching old shows are absent here. This is more of a slice of like romcom. Back when Korea was busy making makjang melo problematic romances, Taiwan and Japan were making shows like this. For me, Taiwan and Japan clearly win when it comes to old dramas and also Chinese mainstream old dramas. This still holds up very well in 2026 when I am watching it for the first time and I must say, it holds up even over certain over popular Friends to Lovers kdramas. This feels so real, they feel so real! It also offers a view into the kind of stereotypes women had to face and the kind of society women lived in back when the term 'leftover women' was not frowned upon and there were yet to be any movements like 4B in Korea and Me Too and when women had not actively decided to give up marriage and relationships over career. It's like a window in time.

The Reply series had been the ONLY set of kdramas whose age I never felt while watching. They just walk their own lane. They are exceptional. I think these 3 shows will stand the test of times the most in kdramaland, and also WLGYT but that is a new one so I won't talk of it. There is something about these series that no other kdramas could ever encapsulate. Kdramas are too romance focused for my taste and most of them are generic shows made with a next big hit formula that I am sorry to say never works on me. The reason I still watch kdramas is due to the good slice of life and thriller shows and they keep getting lesser as years go by. The magic of Reply is however very hard to replicate and I have seen no other kdrama go up to this level, even the good ones, when it comes to nostalgic slice of life shows

If I could use more numbers to rate, 97 will be 9.6, 94 will be 9.75 and 88 will be 10

The best thing I ever saw back then, and it still holds up today. If you want to watch an old drama but fear for it to be outdated, makjangy or one dimensional, then fear not. This is a very good show with depiction of complex themes and characters and the FL is just lovable in her portrayal of a quiet character. The music is memorable and I still love to listen to it's tracks.

I love the FLs writing a lot as FL having quiet or introverted personalities were often and still continue to be depicted as doormats, worthless, pushovers that are tired of their life and wish to be like an extrovert which is not how introverts work. I am an introvert myself and such depictions often frustrated me, more so because the very first drama I ever saw with such a character was Mars and HQL was perfectly written, someone who takes a stand for herself while also being not strong all the time due to very obvious spoilery reasons. So imagine my shock to discover horrendous depiction in Kdramas especially. Even the one made even 12 years after this like Oh My Ghost had such a poorly written introverted FL.

I have talked enough about the Reply series in the 1988 section, I have the same things to say here as well. This one did not go full 10/10 as similar to 97, this show had an annoying FL and I am very empathetic and understanding of female characters and am very vocal on the hate complicated female characters get when male characters are exempted from it and even loved despite being actually badly written and toxic. So when I say she was annoying, she really was annoying. But it did not get me that bad, and I watched it for the friendship and daily life depiction and ofc the romance here was slightly better than 97. Overall, I liked this slightly more than 97, but still not enough to reach it 10/10.

If I could use more numbers to rate, 97 will be 9.6, 94 will be 9.75 and 88 will be 10

I have talked enough about the Reply series in the 1988 section, I have the same things to say here as well. This one did not go full 10/10 as the romance started good but as it progressed I did not really enjoy it that much and I love it more for it's friendships and family depiction and depiction of daily life. Also, the music of the 90s. Another thing less likable was the obsessively insane fangirl character of FL that got on my nerves often.

If I could use more numbers to rate, 97 will be 9.6, 94 will be 9.75 and 88 will be 10

My first drama ever and I loved it back then while also recognizing its faults. I don't know if I'd be able to watch it now if it were for the first time, but I sure would not have hated it and have watched it knowing its flaws. The styling of the ML is insanely good, I cannot understand how people chose to love the style of Jun Pyo back then over the style of Ahmon. The difference is clear! One looks like he was pulled out of the manga, other looks like a grandma. Anyways this is outdated sure, but the chemistry still works and it has way less melodrama and no makjang that was common in old kdramas. It was just a sweet stupid show with an edgy ML and cute FL.

Oh, and it totally has that old tv visual production quality that I love so much and every soundtrack of this is a favorite of mine still. Chou Nan Ren, Ai Mei, Li Xiang Qing Ren and Set me free are all just lovable.

One of the better remakes along with the Taiwanese and Thai versions (even Chinese is good enough honestly, it's only the Korean remake that sucks). If you can bear the toxic lead and old style shojou stories and want to see what the huge deal was about, this version and Taiwanese version are the best choices. Thai and Chinese if you are not watching out of nostalgic reasons, but honestly the story works more when you know it's old and such stories are not normalized now.

This was my 2nd drama ever, watched it right after DBY. Back then, I loved this more than DBY as the FL here was much serious than DBY and I just wanted to see a serious heroine back then. Also, the ML here was also not as tough and edgy as Ahmon. He was more goofy. I loved the dynamic of these 2 more. But over time I feel like I can rewatch DBY with more ease than this. That is because this has melodramatic tones and the last few episodes has that trope of old dramas that I dislike which makes it sad out of nowhere. It was definitely because they had nothing more to write about but they had to make that many episodes so they just wrote whatever. Still, I have many memories attached to this and this show has that nostalgic vibe I love.

Rainie seemed to learn from Mike for this one >ᗜ< she is so much like Ahmon here I loved it for that. Other than that, it was pretty average. This was supposed to be a role reversal, but that dynamic went away after the time skip. It however did not have the issues of old dramas found in kdramas like makjang and despite a melodramatic feel it never went overboard. It's songs like Rainy love are still my favourite

Before I begin the review, I must say that this one has none of the old drama issues that make them hard to watch. The reason why I did not like this much was because as compared to other shows like this, this one was too draggy, the acting was not good enough and I was struggling to finish this.

I thought this was average as I expected more from the rave reviews it had back when I heard of this. The story interested me a lot and I had not seen a work with similar plotline back then so my expectations were quite high. Two years later, I decided to finally watch this and by that time, my obsession of E.Asian dramas that blinded me to believe that each drama is good and 8 and above rated shows are supposed to be extraordinary was worn off.

I cannot say this was bad, but it was not good either. I would have liked a better actress for the exhausted FL that was supposed to portray the vibrant FL too. Her acting cringed me a lot as I felt that it was too try hard, especially given the fact that I watched the GOAT Someday or One Day around the same timeframe and had fallen for KJY's portrayal of both Yun Ru and Yu Xuan. Other thing was that the story was too draggy and had no business being this long.

Back then I was loving it for a different approach to the Hana Yori Dango storyline as this was an unofficial remake of it, but that lasted only for the first half. After that it became a dumpsterfire. Also, it's 2nd season looks like torture recipe with the amnesia and loving another girl plot that lasts for quite long. Why would they think anyone would like watching that?

I still do go back to it as I just love the nostalgic vibes plus all the memories I have of it and also the song Wo Yao De Fei Xiang just carries me to another world altogether, that song is ethereally nostalgic. I am getting goosebumps as I remember the song.

I finished this as I watched it back in 2021 when I picked dramas again after a long hiatus. This was the first show I saw to bring the hiatus to an end and I still have a picture I took while I started this. This gets me very nostalgic so despite it's faults I cannot bring myself to hate it exactly plus it was bad sure but not as bad as bof or playful kiss. It has that old drama production visuals that carry the vibe I love, the music is both eccentric, weird and memorable. Two people was lovely.

I tried this, but could not go further knowing how messy this is. The comedy and the power rangers were what attracted me to this the most, and back in 2020 the comedy was funny. Turns out it wasn't funny when I got down to watch it in 2025. I love Han Ji Min and she acts really well in this too, but this was a doomed case since the start. I may pick again to watch as I eat or for vibes someday. Also, what's it with old sh*tty kdramas having insanely good soundtracks? Better than the romantic kdramas today, now we have sh_tty romance kdramas with generic ost.

I tried it back in 2024 for the vibes and it most definitely has aspects in terms of production quality and music that kdramas lack today. The ost, especially Perhaps Love is a fav, that song feels nostalgic and I get all the vibes I looked for. The production quality was insanely good for an show that old. There was contrast and depth, very much unlike todays kdramas where they shine the brightest white light everywhere and just remove any contrast, making everything look synthetic and boring. Just look at shots from Perfect Crown and Queen of Tears and then from this and you will know what I mean. Also, newer dramas showcasing wealth often feel absurd as the interior spaces are always plain, white and empty, as if telling that wealth does not bring taste. The love for minimalism is crazy given that majority of Asian cultures are vibrant and maximalist and you would expect Asians everywhere to have better aesthetic and cultural sense but no, in places like Korea and even India, they blindly copy the boring western minimalist aesthetic. Minimalism is especially not understood as adapted even by the rich. It just looks so lifeless and just bad. There is no such issue here. Also, the FL was charming despite being dumb.

However the ML here was just too much for me to bear. Not only did he cheat on FL, he expects her to stay away from SML and gets all jealous. But for him, FL is overreacting when she gets mad at him after discovering his cheating. The SFL is your old school sexist portrayal of the brainy, beautiful and successful woman being a negative character and how she dumps her very successful career for a man and being a hateful meanie towards the FL ---you know how it goes. I just could not bear with the toxicity and dropped it for the sake of my mental health. I also looked forward to that beach scene as it was so beautifully shot and when combined with perhaps love it felt heavenly and perhaps I might cave in someday and watch it full

This was quite stupid and eccentric. It does not have any old kdrama issues, Taiwan old dramas barely have those issues but it was boring and too over the top and its humor was not my type.

It was said to be a good classic with the theme of music so I was interested to watch it. It was different from other old kdramas and the FL was no pushover and was a meanie instead and the ML was a cutie and naiveish and I did like that depiction but it was ultimately boring and has no soundtrack that I liked except that of Goose Dream but that is not an ost but old song so yeah

Another show where my feelings are same as 49 days: it does not have the problematic elements that often scare me from watching old shows, it was just that I found it draggy, boring and overall unimpressive. Everything here was just so-so. The acting, the story, the production quality, the music and the romance. The only positive was that the FL was quite different from the usual doormat FLs from those times.

Same issues: bad plot but good music. Nostalgic visual production style as well. However, this one was even harder to watch than Goong and Rooftop Prince due to how they tried to show the FL as a strong woman but actually she is just the worst doormat you would have ever met who gets angry at the ML only, and that too changes when he shouts at her and she just listens. For a show that was pushed as iconic and rated that well, I expected it to atleast have a little hook. But no. I don't think how people today watch this fully and rate it high, any sane person would only do that while admitting it to be a guilty pleasure (tho i do question what pleasure does this even give except for the nostalgic music and visuals)

Bad bad bad just bad. I don't remember having any nostalgia from the scenes through the cinematography and all, but the music sure is great. Because I am stupid and starlight tear were especially good and paradise brings memories despite being that weird. It could have been my first ever drama but thankfully I chose Devil Beside You. It was the better choice.

This is the only show that really does not have any redeeming qualities. Not only is it a terrible adaptation of an already problematic work, but the music was nothing memorable and I don't think any scene had the vibes I loved. Truly never ever got it's hype. Skip this one. No vibes at all, just the urge to blow everyone up.

Same as Goong, the production visual style and the music attracts me insanely and I may give in someday, but the characters are too toxic as I know. Same ML being the a-hole, the old school successful, bright, beautiful and intelligent SFL being the villain and the doormat dumb FL. Additionally, the friends of FL are bloodsuckingly annoying. Wish me luck whenever I get to this

This one seems still tolerable

The music here, THE MUSIC!!! I've always loved 'I've fallen for you'

I hope that this could give a similar feel as ITWY as I really would love to see a good old kdrama that has slice of life rather than makjang, but I've also heard that it does go into drama territory sometimes and is overall not as good as ITWY. I'll see for myself tho

Another old kdrama which does not seem to follow themes and patterns I dislike and looks slice of life ish and I love slice of life so I might try this.

Said to be more jdoramaish than kdrama like which is interesting as old jdoramas are the best. Also to note that this was adapted from a Japanese novel

Although this has outdated old drama elements, I might like it as it has better written female characters and it is an old Taiwanese classic, not old Korean classic

The best adaptation of this story ever and their chemistry and acting will make you like this as a cute brainless fluff. If you really want to see what the hype was about for this story, AVOID THE KOREAN ADAPTATION at all costs. Avoid it like plague. Watch this and Thai adaptation only.