NOTE: LJ deleted most of the top 3 dramas on this list, but they were-
1) Mars
2)Coffee Prince
3) Devil Beside You. I know some people who love the other Mike He/Rainie Yang drama Why Why Love a good deal more, but for me this was the first drama I saw them in and one of my first Taiwanese dramas ever, and while it could be argued that WWL has a more consistent plot, DBY has my heart. It was love at first fight when Qi Yue(Rainie Yang), after gathering all her courage to hand a letter of confession to her long-time crush Yuan Yi(Kingone Wang), hands it by accident instead to bad boy Jiang Meng(Mike He), the school troublemaker known as "the Devil". The exchange sparks the Devil's interest and he begins pursuing her, to her horror, which becomes even greater when she realizes that he's the son of the man her mother's going to marry and that they'll be living in the same house from then on...
My take: DBY starts out, in the first ep, over-the-top and strident, but recovers its pace an episode or so into it and reveals itself as an absolutely lovely, funny, delicious romantic comedy, with a chemistry-laden OTP and a gorgeous attention to relationship detail. DBY has several of my favorite drama tropes - forced proximity(they live in the same house), bad boy/good girl(and in this case, he really is a bad boy in that he tends to do whatever the hell he wants regardless of circumstance), reasonably well-handled male jealousy, male bonding, hurt/comfort/grief, tons of OTP time, etc. Oh, and a plus? There are TONS of passionate, thorough, excellent kisses(I've always wondered - do the drama writers/directors feel comfortable having RY get passionately kissed because she always looks and seems so innocent? nothing can "corrupt" her in audience's eyes? Because generally twdramas are highly restrained about their kiss types - but MH and RY never hold back, in fact tongue could so easily be used in these types of kisses...) that make me melt inside. Whatever else its flaws might be, DBY hardly ever falters in its OTP interaction. It's definitely one of the best Taiwanese dramas I've seen.
Why you might not like it: You hate Rainie Yang. Which, I can kind of understand in spite of my love for her, in which case you probably won't enjoy this. Or , Mike He's mullet bothers you too much(don't worry - he still manages to be hot). Or, you can't stand over-the-top Taiwanese dramas...which again, I can understand, but bear in mind that in this one all the cheese/soap-operay-ness is balanced out by the delicate, delightful OTP scenes/moments.
When it gets good/Got me! moment: You know, I need to re-watch this because I haven't seen it in a long time, and it's hard to remember specific moments, but I'm thinking, maybe the scene in the first or second episode in which he goes to hit her and kisses her instead.
Fav scene: When he throws open the door suddenly and she's charging forward to hit him and he kisses her instead. Then shuts the door and gets back on the phone with her, that smile playing around his lips...:)
MV: my favorite one of them(highly spoilerish)
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6) THANK YOU(Korean)
Synopsis: Dr. Min, a brilliant, successful surgeon, throws up his career and leaves after being unable to save his girlfriend when she's diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and dies. When his mother sends him off to a small island to recover under the excuse of working for her, he falls in with Lee Young-Shin (Gong Hyo Jin) and her child, and, renting a room from them, quickly gets drawn into the lives of this independent single mother and her incorrigible child with AIDs.
DISCLAIMER: It is not
nearly as angsty as it sounds. The AIDs storyline doesn't affect things at all as far as the kid getting sick and only affects them insofar as Lee Young-Shin struggles to keep it a secret from and/or deal with the reactions of the village people to it. I hate uber-angst and avoid all dramas with it but this is not one of them.
My take: You know, if it weren't for the second half of this drama, Thank You would easily be in 2nd place. (and I fully admit that it is a better drama than most of the ones on this list). But it had certain flaws in the second half that really bothered me, and I personally thought the last few episodes/the ending was rather disappointing(not the ending itself - happy ending:) - but how it was handled) so it goes lower on this list. Having said that, Thank You is brilliant, an incredibly well-written, compelling, addicting drama with an exquisite balance of the funny, the heartbreaking, and the romantic, with amazing performances from Jang Hyuk and Go Hyo Jin, particularly Jang Hyuk as an icy woobie doctor:) If you haven't seen Thank You yet, you should probably drop everything you're watching and go watch it. Oh, and did I mention that it gets off the ground faster than almost any kdrama I've seen? Most kdramas take between 1-3 episodes to really get good/addicting. Thank You is compelling from almost the first moment.
Why you might not like it: Umm, I have to confess it's really hard for me to think of a reason for you to at least not like the first half...umm... I honestly can't think of a single reason. Unless for some reason an element of the plot/story itself bothers you - single mom, kid with AIDs, doctor...but if that's the case why would you watch it at all? And it's MUCH less angsty than it sounds.
When it gets good/Got me! moment: when Dr. Min walks in on the patient strangling his girlfriend in the first episode and instead of stopping him coolly urges him on and gives him tips. And the moment that follows.
Favorite scene/s: The shampoo. It was absolute perfection for every second. I wanted to halt time so that it wouldn't be over. And when he wipes her tears.
I know exactly what my favorite line is and am soo tempted to put it here but it would be spoilery. really did find the best MV for this(there arent' many good ones on Youtube) in her top dramas post so I am shamelessly stealing.
7))FULL HOUSE (Korean)
Synopsis: One of the most famous Korean dramas of all time, Full House is the first Asian drama for many people and the one that gets them hooked on the genre. When Han Ji Eun(Song Hye Kyo)'s friends buy her a plane ticket and a vacation to China, she is ecstatic, having never left the country before. On the flight from Korea to China, she ends up sitting next to superstar actor Lee Young Jae(Rain), and promptly throws up on him as an introduction as the plane takes off. Once in China, however, the paid vacation turns out to not exist. Stranded in a foreign country without money and unable to contact her friends, Ji Eun manages to
swindle borrow money from Lee Young Jae, who is staying at the same hotel. She returns to Korea expecting never to see him again, but, surprise! her money-scheming friends have sold her house and all its possessions in her absence and run away with the money, and guess who they have sold it to? Yup, Lee Young Jae. Through a series of circumstances, the two end up entering upon a contract marriage, and it all goes from there.
My take: Full House is just so completely adorable. It's really hard to capture why it's so fantastic, but, as with many people, it was my first Asian drama ever, and the one which sold me on the genre for all of time. And as such it was always keep a place in my affections:) It's hilarious, well-written, with great characterizations, sufficiently angsty subplots underneath the OTP bickering/cuteness to anchor the story, and scads of adorableness and chemistry between the OTP made up of Rain and Song Hye Kyo(and I don't care what people say - I find it hard to believe too, but I stand by my opinion that Rain actually is a good actor).
Why you might not like it: If you hate Rain or Song Hye-kyo, it's over. Although in my personal opinion, and to my own utter disbelief, Rain actually is a good actor and does a good job in this one. Also, like most older dramas, the production values ain't the greatest. What it lacks in glossiness, however, it makes up for in script.
When it gets good/Got me! moment: The moment she decides to scam him - whenever in the first or second eps that was:)
Fav scene: er, maybe when she's sick and he takes care of her? or the adorable chicken dance:)
8)SOULMATE(Korean)
Synopsis: When Lee Soo Kyung(yes, all the characters in this drama go by their real-life names)'s long-term boyfriend proposes, she expects to be overjoyed. Instead she finds herself embarrassed, confused, and oddly reluctant to accept, but ultimately does so anyway. Shin Dong Wook, meanwhile, is an inveterate playboy who has finally met a woman he believes he can have a serious relationship with, sweet, old-fashioned Hong Yu Jin(Sa Kang), a friend and co-worker of Soo Kyung's. When Soo Kyung's fiance falls for another woman, man-eater Jang Min Ae(coincidentally Hong Yu Jin's mentor and - roommate, if I remember correctly) and breaks up with her, the stage is set for these two soulmates, whose lives have brushed past each other so many times already but who have yet to meet, to finally collide.
My take: Oddly enough, two of my top 10 dramas star Lee Soo Kyung(the other being Lawyers of Korea), and both are as overlooked as she is. Soulmate is a lighter drama, in some ways, although in some ways also very wistful and sad(everyone has lost out in some way by the end of the drama). It also has hands-down the most beautiful and compelling first meeting between the OTP of any drama I've ever seen apart from perhaps Kurosagi. Soulmate marketed itself as a different sort of drama - it's more frank about sex than usual for a kdrama, for instance, and all the main characters go by their real life names, and indeed it is, but not for any of those reasons. Soulmate is just totally different in vibe and concept than any other kdrama I've seen - it's simultaneously somehow very modern and very sweet, combining the freshness of approach with the pure-love heart of the traditional kdrama. More than that, however, it it somehow captures something of the wistfulness and transcendent beauty of life, the way, living in a world with millions of people, sometimes, the lives of strangers can collide - or can just as easily slip past each other, never knowing...The only other drama I've seen do this - capture something of the fragile wonder and mystery of life and human interactions - is Taiwanese drama Silence. Soulmate is also beautifully filmed, with a delicacy to it that creates many ethereally, heartbreakingly beautiful shots and scenes, and deeply romantic, with a standout indie soundtrack only rivaled by Coffee Prince(if you notice on Dramabeans, the soundtracks/song lists of Soulmate and Coffee Prince are the only ones she features). What can I say? It's funny, it's beautiful, it's heartbreaking, it's heartwarming and addicting...go watch it.
Why you might not like it: People tend to stay away from Soulmate for one of three reasons: 1)it looks like it's all about sex based on the alternate cover 2)The love in it looks too "pure" and overly childlike based on above cover 3)The lead doesn't look attractive, again based on above cover. I'm here to assure you that, whatever reasons you might not have to like Soulmate, none of those three should be it, as they're all rampant misrepresentations.
There's also a number of supporting characters who figure largely, from man-eater Min-Ae to Dong Wook's adorkable wannabe-womanizer friends to good-hearted Ryo Hei; I personally enjoyed all of them and found them pretty harmless but if you are easily impatient or like your supporting characters of a certain type then this drama might not be the one for you. It also does have its sexual moments, though nothing too terrible or overt, but I wouldn't recommend it for a kid.
When it gets good/Got me! moment: it's hard to remember, actually, but I think it was partway through the first episode when Lee Soo Kyung plops down on her bed after her fiance proposes to her and all sorts of ridiculous scenarios start going through her head on the ideal marriage proposal, and then eventually of course she realizes that it wasn't the mode but the man himself that's the problem
Fav scene: when he sees her crying and puts his earbud in her ear(runners-up: when he rescues her at the restaurant and when she passes by him outside the window before they meet, near the beginning of the drama)
MV: this isn't my favorite Soulmate MV but it is I think the least spoilerish
9) Tie-the ninth spot is a two-way tie between two very different dramas, Partner and Hong Gil Dong.
PARTNER (Korean)
ETA: I originally wrote this post when I was about three-fourths of the way through Partner, which was subsequently mostly ruined for me by a mediocre, not-particularly-shippy ending. After some thought, I decided to leave Partner on the list, but as soon as I find a better drama Partner is getting bumped straight off(can you tell I'm rather bitter?). That's not to say you shouldn't watch it, however - it wasn't a horrible ending, just a disappointing one, and Partner remains an excellent drama overall.
My take: Partner came out of nowhere for me - even after Lawyers of Korea shot to one of the top spots in my list of favorite dramas, I was still suffering from the misapprehension that lawyers dramas just weren't for me, right up there with food, fashion, and doctor dramas. However, as it turns out, apparently it all depends on how they're handled, and with two - two! - lawyer dramas on my list of all-time favorites, clearly I'll have to withdraw my stance. Regardless, I went into Partner for the cast - while I only remembered Lee Dong Wook vaguely from My Girl, I remembered liking him, and I adored Kim Hyun-Joo after her alternately charming and ball-busting turn in Boys Before Flowers, and was expecting to highly enjoy but not love this drama.
After the first two episodes, I found it enjoyable but unexceptional. Then, somewhere between the 2nd and 4th episodes, I fell for it, and the next week I found myself looking forward to it all week, and after that I fell more deeply in love with it every episode until by around the 9th episode I'd reached the peak and since then I've just consistently loved it at that level. Partner is just really really well-written - it doesn't falter via plot, style, pace, or vibe, and Lee Dong Wook and Kim Hyun Joo were just perfectly cast as two lawyers who start out antagonists, become friends, and then fall in love.
Why you might not like it: Partner is after a legal drama, which means a big part of the plot is the legal cases which Tao Jo and Eun Ho take on. I personally found them surprisingly interesting and addicting, but some are less interesting than others and if that kind of thing bores you utterly to begin with then you'll probably end up wanting to fast-forward through those scenes. Which could get problematic as the personal/relationship stuff is very interwoven with it. Also, there are a couple side stories, including an office romance, which you may or may not find interesting(personally, I tend to watch the legal parts but fastforward through the office romance, which is quite unlike me but there you have it). I am not counting the romance between Honey Lee's character and Tae Jo's brother as a side story because it's a major part of the plot.
When it gets good/got me moment: I don't remember an exact moment, but I do remember that I was hooked by the end of the 3rd episode.
Fav scene: I have two, and they were more of moments, really: the first when they're in the car and he completely unexpectedly leans over in the middle of a conversation and it looks like he's going to hug her but doesn't and instead he puts her seatbelt on - watching her the whole time. I died a thousand deaths. It was such a small moment but so good. Inexplicable to describe - you have to see it. And the second is...you know, I was going to pick a certain one, but even as I speak at least six different other potentials are flooding into my head, and I can't choose. Spoilery MV:
HONG GIL DONG (Korean)
Synopsis/My take: I almost didn't watch this drama. I am completely uninterested in sageuks as a genre, even fusion ones, and I heard all about how bi-polar HGD is and that it goes from rollicking comedy to deep angst unexpectedly in the last few eps. I watched it because it's polarizing and I wanted to be able to form my own opinion on it, and because I couldn't stand the fact anymore that I hadn't seen any Kang Ji Hwan dramas. The verdict? I still don't like sageuks. But I will watch them now, particularly fusion ones, and particularly if they have Kang Ji Hwan. Hong Gil Dong is somewhat uneven, it's true - but only to a slight extent, and not nearly as much as I was expecting. Part hilarious, rollicking, rambunctious comedy about a smart-mouthed, good-for-nothing thief/vagabond who falls for a stubborn, good-hearted peasant girl with some major martial arts skills and gets up to all kinds of Robin-Hood-like mischief with his band of charmingly quirky thieves, and part societal commentary on a reluctant and unlikely hero who rises from the cast-off bastard son of the Interior Minister to the most famed outlaw in the land and the hero of the people, fighting for justice and protecting the poor wherever he goes in the name of changing society, Hong Gil Dong is a brilliant, brilliant story that strives for far more than the average kdrama and mostly achieves it. It's just supremely well-written and ten billion different kinds of awesome and every time I thought it couldn't get more awesome - which happened halfway through the drama - it did. I know people complain that it's bi-polar - but honestly, there were currents of darkness and hints of what was to come from the very beginning, and mixed in with all the overt, tongue-in-cheek quirkiness and hilarious comedy were some serious themes anchoring it, so while I wish HGD did not end as it does, I do not think that it is completely unwarranted. HGD is a stunning adaptation of the Robin Hood myth, one of my personal favorite stories of all time and which has resonated the world over for generations for a reason, and it's also one of the most guuh and awesome and heartrending love stories I've seen in drama land. I highly recommend Hong Gil Dong - even if you don't think it's your thing.
Why you might not like it: It is rather over the top, and it is a historical drama, whereat a fusion one, so if either of those are deal-breakers for you this might not be your thing.
When it gets good/got me moment: When HGD beats her in the fight and wins her as his "wife" :) 1st episode I think? Or perhaps 2nd.
Fav scene: When he looks over as he's about to give himself up to be captured and sees her in the crowd, appearing out of nowhere like a vision, glowing up at him, nothing but love and support written on her face for whatever he might do, and when, as she silently mouths "fighting!" to him, a slow, magnificent smile creeps over his face. YI NOK IS THERE.
Slightly spoilery MV (super spoilery one
here)
10)
METEOR GARDEN (Taiwanese)
Synopsis: Shancai(Barbie Hsu) is a poor girl unhappily attending a wealthy school in which she doesn't fit in at all. The school is led by four boys called the F4, a group of handsome, incredibly wealthy, domineering boys who hold absolute sway over all the school attendees and are headed by Daoming Si(Jerry Yan) the richest of them all. When one of Shancai's friends is bullied by them one day, Shancai snaps and openly defies them, and immediately finds herself the target of bullying by the whole school. Daoming Si, however, fascinated by her stubborn courage, soon finds himself falling for her...Meteor Garden is a little bit of everything - part underdog story, part tragedy, part comedy, but mostly a Cinderella tale, and one of the original Asian dramas that contributed to the craze. It's pretty much a must-see for Asian drama watchers. It's also the drama that started Vic Zhou and Rainie Yang on their road to fame. And it came
before Hana Yori Dango, the Japanese adaptation of the same manga(and of course that addicting trainwreck BOF).
My take:You know, I was watching an MV of Meteor Garden the other day, and just remembering how much Iove it. It was my first Taiwanese and my second Asian drama ever, and while I wasn't initially impressed with it, I fell fast and hard at some point. Barbie Hsu absolutely lights up the screen as the most kick-ass girl ever(easily the best interpretation of her manga character) and she and Jerry have amazing chemistry and the script is just incredibly well-written and well, it's just really good and has this magic about it that I can't quite pin-down. It's one of those classic stories that draws on some of the most basic ideas and impulses that drive us as human beings.
Why you might not like it: its production values are kind of low(it's one of the older dramas) and Jerry Yan isn't the best actor in the world. And the male fashion is odd at best, though nowhere near approaching the atrocity of Full House.
When it gets good/Got me! moment: When Lei comes by and picks up the basket that the others kicked over(1st episode if I remember correctly)
Fav scene/s: still one of my fav drama scenes of all time - so epic. The getting-beaten-up to protect the girl scene. Till this one, I thought that such overtly, satisfyingly romantic scenes could only exist in my imagination. I was wrong:)
My favorite shippy MV can't be embedded but is found
here.
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(Wow, I totally want to re-watch this now...)
In conclusion-
Drama I marathoned the fastest/most obsessively:Hana Kimi
Drama I've loved the longest and most passionately: Mars
Drama which made me hyperventilate the most but ultimately made me the most bitter perhaps: Partner
Drama that made me worship the ground the writer walks on: Lawyers of Korea
HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Goong, Hana Yori Dango 1&2, Brilliant Legacy, Who Are You?, Corner with Love, My Lucky Star, Silence, and Smiling Pasta. These are all dramas which are well-written, compelling, and hugely enjoyable, which I definitely recommend watching if you haven't seen yet, but just didn't quite have that spark of consistent magic that I require in my top dramas, or just don't have my heart in the definitive way the others do.
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rinalin 
