sunflower63

For me Prison Playbook and Just Between Lovers were dramas of 2017 as they were mostly shown then and I considered them to definitely be the best of that year.
Mr. Sunshine, Misty and Life on Mars are for me the best Kdramas of 2018, it will be interesting however to see the results of this poll.

The Rise of Phoenixes all the way. Pity the couple here didn't make it in the Best couple section.

Thanks for this interesting article. Actually I decided to give this drama a go because your review sounds really convincing. I watched a few of Kang Ji Hwang's dramas before and they were witty with well developed plots (Incarnation of Money and Monster mainly) so this should be a fun ride.

I was very disappointed by this drama which I was excited about for the presence of Yoon Eun Hye. Unfortunately the plot was not original, in fact rather boring, and most of all for the first time in so many years I found the acting here to be pretty bad (including YEH who must be probably out of practice after so long?) in general. I have to say this was one of the worst dramas of the year for me.

Thanks for this article. As a 'non gamer' I am surprised at how much I am enjoying this drama. I am admiring how well the writers were able to mix the virtual world into reality. I am really happy for Hyun Bin after his last disaster of a drama as this so far seems like a really good project which I hope will be more successful also in Korea.
Strangely I am appreciating PHS's acting too which I have never been particularly fond of.

All of these couples are great and I would also add Ning Yi and Feng Zhi Wei of The Rise of Phoenixes.

Very interesting article, thanks for writing it. For me this year Korean dramas were so and so and the only ones I truly appreciated were Mr. Sunshine, Misty and Life on Mars. Whereas I was absolutely fascinated by Chinese dramas in particular The Rise of Phoenixes which I am already watching a second time around. Secrets of the Three Kingdoms was another C drama that impressed me very much indeed. As far as J dramas are concerned I only watched and enjoyed BG. No Thailandese dramas for me but I really enjoyed Meet me @1006 which was Taiwanese. Overall I felt that there was an amazing increase in the quality and choice of Chinese dramas and I hope they keep it up.

Thanks for writing this article and reminding me of Sex and the City which will always be a great series for me. However I also have doubts that a Korean remake could not be as good and direct as SATC was. The original is almost always better than any remake in general and in this case it would probably be even more so.

Best Chinese Drama of 2018: Rise of Phoenixes
Best Chinese Actor: Chen Kun (Ning Yi - Rise of Phoenixes)
Best Chinese Actress: Ni Ni (Feng Zhi Wei - Rise of Phoenixes)
Best Couple: Ning Yi and Feng Zhi Wei - Rise of Phoenixes

Thanks to ToRoom19 I managed to watch this amazing drama which really blew me off!
I have to say that for me it will probably be the best drama of the year (2018) as every aspect of it was mesmerizing. From the acting, to the settings, the costumes, the music and yes also the script even with its flaws towards the ending.
I was litterally bewitched by Ning Yi (Chen Kun how come I had never heard of such a talented actor?) and Feng Zhi Wei who had one of the most fascinating, entertaining and heart-breaking relationship seen in years. The icing on the cake was that also the remainder of the cast was incredibly good (my favourite was definitely Master Xin). What a masterpiece!! Don't let spoilers or opinions concerning the ending put you off from watching something that will be hard to forget. ( A rewatch will be soon on the way for me!!)

Wow, your article was truly interesting and an eye opener for me. Thanks for writing it as I learned so much. I will certainly read and enjoy your follow ups. :)

I had the same exactly the same thought about the last scene.

Although I am not particularly fond of flying I enjoyed the airport setting in this drama. The story was easy going and relaxing in the first half and it became quite messy with a lot of unanswered questions in the second half. The cast did a good job overall. I really enjoyed the airport guard couple.

One of the main reasons why I enjoyed watching this drama was the slice of life aspect. In my opinion it described the difficulties of relationships in a very realistic way and I appreciated the fact that the writers showed us the three different stages of lives of the main characters. I found the ending very mature and reasonable...after all that both the leads had been through it made total sense to me.
I only wish the writers didn't have to throw in harsh life tragedies as I feel that the plot could have been equally interesting without them.

I watched the Japanese version of this drama a long time ago and I forgot it all so for me it was like watching a completely new story. As the story progressed some very vague memories came back however I feel confident to say that I found this Korean version to be very good. Writing, acting and filming were excellent and feelings were portrayed in an extremely realistic way.
At one point I was relieved that the writers had somehow modified the original story only to be disappointed by how they decided to make it unfold.
In any case this was a great drama and for me better than the Japanese original for the little I can remember of it.

Even though the plot was totally unrealistic for me I enjoyed this drama up to about four episodes from the end. It then became uselessly angsty in order to fill in the last part of the story at which point I concentrated more on the secondary couple.
My rating is not too low because of the great acting but the story could have definitely been written better towards the end.

I enjoyed this drama as whenever I watched each episode time would just fly by and I would always be smiling. My favourite part was definitely the KIS group and their amazing friendship however of course also the interactions between Kim Bon and Ae Rin were great fun.
Yes the spy story part had some unrealistic sides to it but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the drama. The kids were really lovable and So Ji Sub was a really fantastic baby sitter.
I would definitely recommend this for a relaxing watch.

Oh yes, that's another great feature I had forgotten about. Thanks for all your hard work Skye. :)

Thanks very much indeed! It's an interesting feature for me as many recommendations are of dramas that I purposedly skipped for one reason or another, but there are some that I didn't know of and also many movies that sparked my curiosity.

I haven't seen most of these dramas...very disappointed. My tastes go to dramas like Prison Playbook, Misty and Mr. Sunshine only to mention a few.