I have found it, the magical unicorn of dramas.
- Historical setting – check.
- Amazing costumes – check.
- Cool brutal action scenes – check.
- Outstanding leading actors – check.
- Lots of humor – check.
- Less than 50 million episodes -check.
- Happy Ending – check.
Behold! I give you Moonlight Drawn by Clouds.
This Korean drama is available on Viki. As I mentioned before, Viki has an app, so if you have a Roku player or smart TV, you can download it. Also Viki should pay me for how much business I am giving them.
Hong Ra On is a girl who was forced by her mother to live most of her life as a boy because of some unspecified danger. After losing her mother during a festival, she is found by a troop of performers and continues to live her life as a boy named Sam Nom until she is eighteen, doing odd jobs and getting into misadventures. Her adoptive father is sick, so Sam Nom ends up borrowing money from some street thugs to buy him medicine. She is trying to pay off her debt, but money is hard to come by.
One of her odd jobs involves writing love letters for a young nobleman who is in love with someone in the palace. When the two lovers arrange to meet, the young nobleman realizes that the person he is in love with is too high in status and begs Sam Nom to go in his stand and carefully end it.
Meanwhile, in the palace the Crown Prince Lee Yeong realizes that some idiot is writing his younger sister love letters, intercepts said letter, and goes to the meeting in her stead. Hilarious misunderstanding occurs which ends with the Crown Prince being thoroughly humiliated and pissed off at what he thinks is a young noble.
The street thugs get tired of waiting for her to pay her debt so they kidnap her and sell her to the palace as a eunuch. More hilarity occurs, especially once the Crown Prince, who has a tendency to dress up as a guard, realizes that the man who offended him in now in the palace.
Here is a link to the scene where Sam Nom is desperately trying to fail the eunuch exam so she can be released from the palace and the Crown Prince dresses up as a eunuch to make sure this doesn’t happen. Unlike the actual series on viki, this clip has no subtitles, but you can figure out what’s going on. He is telling her that she isn’t going to escape. The acting is just so good. Just the facial expressions alone…
So there is a cute romance, it’s funny, it’s sad, there is grand betrayal and some politics and obligatory angst and the supercute scenes, and the sort of love triangle that never actually becomes a triangle… Anyway. Watch it. Is good. I’m going to rewatch it again for all the funnies.
If you ever wanted to venture into Korean Dramas, I would definitely recommend Sungkyunkwan Scandal. It has a girl dressed as a boy, humour, romance, political plot, some unrequited love but lots of adorable romance and a great happy ending!
Second this 😀 It’s among the few K-drama series I managed to finish watching the whole series.
I’d also like to add Splash Splash Love for another (super) short historical rom-com of the same vibe 🙂
I loved Sungkyunkwan Scandal! I still rewatch it from time to time. 🙂 My friend recommended one called Damo about a Female Detective in the Joseon Dynasty.
I love Hong Ra On!. She is an actress I followed since she was 5. Thanks Ilona for liking Korean dramas. I love viki.
Korean dramas tend to be a little more innocent but always with a lesson in life. 🙂
Seconded!!! One of my all time favorites.
Park Min Young is amazing in that one, but I love all of her dramas!
Definitely one of my favorites!!!
I enjoyed this one also, although this one suffers the fate of a lot f historical dramas with a lead heroine. The ending is not very believable.
I really enjoyed Dae Jang Geum which I was able to get from my local library. Will have to try this one next.
Uh-oh. This may very well be the start of your K-Drama fever. This was released as “Love in the Moonlight” in my country. There are other very good K-Drama’s as well, plot and custome wise in the same genre.
Two of the best kdramas are scarlet heart Reyo and goblin. They’re amazing but also heartbreaking ?
IU was amazing in Scarlet Heart, and don’t even get me started on Gong Yoo, that man makes me melt. Coffee Prince, Big, Goblin, I loved him in all of them!
I tried to see if this app had coffee prince – no luck I’m afraid 🙁
Love goblin. Wonderful series.
Scarlet Heart Ryeo is definitely a heartbreaker, but while Goblin (aka Goblin- The Lonely & Great God) does have it’s sadness it is more of happy variety.
I’d definitely recommend both, since IU & Lee Jong Ki did a wonderful job in SHR and Goblin is simply outstanding – it set a whole new standard for cinematography! It’s breathtaking to watch!
Fun! Thank you for a very enjoyable few minutes.
If you love those kind of dramas you can also whatch Mr sunshine, The moon embrassing the sun, The princess man (very Romeo and Juliette).
Also among the crème de la crème (but not historical) you have healer❤❤❤, my love from another star, kill me heal me (sooo good) and strong woman dong bong soo (god I just love that drama).
*Watch (french auto correct)
In the Rom/com category, My Love from Another Star is definitely the best!!! I like my rom/com with a lot of laughs. In the same category, of course, there are Secret Garden and Boys over Flowers. Healer & City Hunter are the best, too, in the action/vigilantes style. Anyways, all of those cracked me up.
I absolutely loved Healer. I’m watching Suspicious Partners now, because I loved Ji Chang Wook. I just started watching Asian dramas again because of Ilona’s posts. The last time was back in the 1980’s with HK dramas! I forget how addicting they are. I did a couple of all nighters, binge watching What’s the matter with Secretary Kim, Oh My Venus, and The Greatest Love – also on Amazon Prime.
Thanks for the recommendation!! These are all the things I look for in a drama also!! Can’t wait to check it out ?
I really enjoy your books they are the best. I want to recommend, “the sound of dessert” ” strong Heroine.
, romance, ost music, fhigt, War, good story
They all sound fascinating.
I am almost tempted to watch TV again – but not quite. I’d have to learn how to navigate the remotes…
Because I don’t have it in me to read an article on Kdramas and not make a recommendation 😉 Chicago Typewriter (also on viki) is brilliant and massively underrated.
Chicago typewritter is AMAZING! I have been watching kdramas since the release of Full House – so 15 years now,since WAY before streaming and legal options ^^;; – and CT is one of my favorites. Very re-watchable as well.
I also love Queen In-hyun’s man (one of the best imo), Romance is a bonus Book (new, low-key and fun), I need Romance 2 (skip #1, it’s not related), and so many more.
I am willing to give it a try. However, I feel compelled to mention two of my recents, although they do not have all of your list of qualities. The Baker and the Beauty from Israel–watch the original two seasons before they ruin by trying to Americanize it (supposedly in the works.) Then you can wait with me on pins and needles for season 3 to find out what the heck happens. If you want great costumes, acting, period drama and humor, then the follow up to the amazing Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries just dropped. Miss Fisher (Phryne-Essie Davis) has gone missing in the South American jungle. Declared dead, her niece, Peregrine, inherits her house and her car which in typical Phryne fashion are contemporary and fabulous. The new series is set in the 1960s and the cast of characters is different and includes a new set of amazing and role-busting women.
Thanks for telling me about the Miss Fisher followup! I had forgotten all about it.
The Baker and the Beauty: https://www.amazon.com/Baker-Beauty-Season-English-Subtitled/dp/B0756MZK92?creativeASIN=B0756MZK92&linkCode=w50&tag=bustle-20&imprToken=7AaLsJsCT6elHpICHg5lng&slotNum=0.
Now I’ll have to talk Mr. Wife into actually using the Amazon subscription trailing daughter #2 has shared with us. *sigh* I already find Netflix entirely too complicated — wish me luck!
Oh my gosh, I had such serious clothing envy watching that (not that I could have pulled any of it off), in addition to loving the series. I had no idea they were doing a follow up. I’m so going off to hunt for that 🙂
Ahahahaha, that was hilarious! Spose I can get Viki to work on DSL? Or do I just need to get a better data plan for my phone?
This was a good one. Try Goblin. It was lots of fun.
Uh-oh. This may very well be the start of your K-Drama fever. This was released as “Love in the Moonlight” in my country. There are other very good K-Drama’s as well, plot and custome wise in the same genre.
REPLY
FYI for those in the UK it’s on Netflix and is called ‘Love in the Moonlight’ and it’s so fun and cute! I’m also ridiculously jealous of their complexions ?
Saw it a few months ago and loved it. In international dramas I like Korean dramas and some Chinese dramas. The big draw is not only that they are different, the setting different, emotions are funadamentally the same, romance is awesome but also that the dramas are short!
In some locations this is available on Netflix too. I saw it there.
“Sorry, this content is not licensed for your region.”
*sigh* every time…..
Damn you Australia!
I know right!!!! So frustrating ?
Try the website ondemandkorea.com, I can watch a lot of shows that way.
Its on Netflix called Love in the Moonlight
you can try using VPNs
Viki should pay you. Never heard of it and now Im going to go watch some stuff.
I would second Goblin. It has a beautiful soundtrack to go with it, too. However, I’m guessing that Ilona likes historical pieces and Goblin is not really a historical piece. So no gorgeous costumes in Goblin. Plot is about an ancient goblin who is cursed to live as one (meaning he is immortal, not that he’s all funny-looking) until he meets his wife. How will he know? Because she’ll be able to see the sword stuck in his chest. She’s the only one to see it, and she’ll be the only one to pull it out of him (thereby killing him). The plot has grim reapers, and sassy women, and great acting. Set in modern Korea.
And, one that recently ended is Fiery Priest. Comedy, but with a good commentary on society in general, especially how corrupt Korean society can be.
I don’t tend to watch subtitled things because I seldom look at the tv, I listen to it while knitting (and sometimes reading also). My boys, however, love Japanese and Korean dramas/soap operas. I wander thru when they’re watching them sometimes and see them both looking at their computers or games while some Asian language is being spoken on the television.
I say “do you boys even understand what’s going on?”
And inevitably they will enthusiastically explain the plot… I know they don’t speak Japanese or Korean, but I think they understand it like I do Spanish. (I can’t tell you what the words are but I get the geist)
This is the other reason I like things in Chinese. (Though sometimes I get ridiculous amounts of enjoyment from translation differences between Chinese and English. I’m sure it’s actually not that funny, and I don’t care.)
Oh, dear… that sounds exactly like my sort of catnip (assuming I ever start to watch videos, which is still up in the air). Though it’s in Korean, which I used to have about thirty words of, and probably have less now… (Hey, Chinese at least is Good Language Practice, and it aids that nice sense of virtue as I cheerfully watch fluff.)
My takeaway is you must be the most efficient writer ever—or else Gordon is carrying the load. It is unimaginable that you can manage to find time to binge watch these things. Maybe you just don’t sleep?
What are you talking about? After all, there are 24 hours in a day! Plenty of time to write, take care of anything that needs to be taken care of (kids, pets, house, husband, blog etc.) and still have time left for important things. Feeding your funny side is an important thing. Oh, and so is sleeping.
One of my favorites! Another recommendation, which isn’t strictly a historical, but it does involve a Joseon scholar who time travels to modern times, is Queen In-Hyun’s Man (a.k.a., The Queen and I). I’m not sure which streaming service has it right now (Viki, OnDemandKorea, Kocowa, or Netflix) but y’all should definitely watch this– it’s adorable.
SECOND SECOND SECOND. I bought the director’s cut dvds for this even though they don’t have subs. This is an AMAZING drama
My favorite k-drama is all time is descendants of the sun (modern romance) and goblin (fantasy). Highly recommend both. Also love the works of Actors – Lee min ho, park shin hye and lee jong suk. Also love the k-drama what’s wrong with secretary kim.
Omg the clip was too funny! Thanks for the rec, I can’t wait to watch it 😀
BTW, this plot is totally something I can imagine Eloisa James writing. Not to be all greedy, but do you have any romcom book recs? In return I’ll share that I’m currently listening to Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal — narrated by the author — and am enjoying it so far. It’s a Pride and Prejudice retelling set in modern day Pakistan. I’m at chapter 6 right now where Alys just overheard Darsee talking shit about her to his BFF. Before this, I listened to The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon and while that was definitely a sweet (and super cute) story, parts of it was kind of too emo for me.
Amy,
Have you read Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld? It is Pride and Prejudice set in present-day Cincinnati. Too Funny!
This clip was very cute. Thanks for the laugh!
Looks awesome – going to check it out. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
So exciting to see you watch Chinese and Korean dramas! Since you like video games, I recommend the korean drama Memories of the Alhambra. It’s on Netflix. I think you would like it 🙂
Video game dramas? I recommend this c-drama: Love o2o.
Watched on hulu a while back, not sure if it’s still there.
I love the actress that plays Hong Ra-on, Kim Yoo-jung. I first saw her in Moon Embracing the Sun where she played the younger version of the main character. She was much much better than the actress playing the adult counterpart.
If you’re on the lookout for more c and k dramas, here are some of my favorites:
Slice of life:
– Coffee Prince
– My Name is Kim Samsoon
– Flower Boy Next Door
– Secret Garden
– You Are Beautiful
– Heartstrings
– Personal Taste
– City Hunter
– Lie to Me
– Flower Boy Ramen Shop
– Oh My Venus
– Descendants of the Sun
Historical:
– Sungkyunkwan Scandal
– Legend of Fuyao (Ch)
– Eternal Love
– Oh My General
– Ashes of Love
– Faith
– Arang & the Magistrate
As you can see, I tend to enjoy the girl disguised as boy trope:). I don’t have a problem, I swear.
For Australians this is called Love in the Moonlight and is currently playing on Netflix
Hi!
I would like to recommend Master’s Sun. It’s about a girl that can see ghost and there’s only one person who can help her make them temporary disappear so she can rest. There are some humor at the same time some very touching moments. I hope you’ll try it out. It’s also on Viki.
-tam
Anyone watch CHICAGO TYPEWRITER? It’s awesome.
A writer found this typewriter in an antique shop and after he gets haunted. He also meets a lady that seems to also haunts his dreams, but is it really dreams? Or is it flashbacks of a previous life? So we get two timelines, the present and the Japanese occupation in Korea. It is really good and well acted!!!! I definitely recc.
I discovered the Viki channel when I got my Roku for Christmas and have been binge watching ever since. Hwarang on Viki, Eternal Love, and The Eternal Love 1&2 (two different stories altogether but both worth watching) Oh my Emperor was silly and fun to watch. Moon Lovers, Scarlet Heart Ryeo is not in Viki or YouTube (it is in YouTube but not with English subtitles) but you can watch it on the website, ondramanice.tv
If you haven’t gone back to Oh my General, I can definitely recommend that, yes the side stories about the court and her mess of a cousin bog it down a little, but then they go back to the main couple and it is worth finishing.
I am up waaaaay too late watching this. I love/hate you for recommending it XD
Seeing Park Bo Gum in your blog made me double take for a sec ?. This is one of faves among his work. This drama also gave me major Second Lead Guy syndrome. Definitely worth several rounds of re-watching!
Leaving this link for the lols: https://youtu.be/YKalIVv3Z24
Seeing Park Bo Gum in your blog made me double take for a sec ?. This is one of faves among his work. This drama also gave me major Second Lead Guy syndrome. worth several rounds of re-watching!
Leaving this link for the lols: https://youtu.be/YKalIVv3Z24
I am surprised nobody has listed “Painter in the Wind”. Less of a comedy and more of a drama, but it uses the Girl pretending to be a boy theme. It is worth it for the artwork alone. Stars Moon_Geun-young (My Little Bride, Father is Strange)
Started Moonlight Drawn by Clouds… (Of course my mom has already seen it but probably with Vietnamese dubbing) 5(!) episodes later and I had to make myself stop so I can function a little tomorrow- I mean today! I gotta get some rest, though ?
well, that escalated quickly.
around midnight, i had the bright idea to start moonlight drawn by clouds…
at 5.30pm i ended it. SEVENTEEN hours. seventeen. 17. and then sum.
and yes, i have seen it all, from start to finish.
thank god i got sick and had the perfect excuse to continue watching. all nicht, all day long. without any serious breaks. i managed to wash my hair, but failed to dry it (I look like i got electroluted).
I should probably sleep any time now, but what did I?
I read the first comment and started sungkyunkwan scandal. well. i am hopeless it seems.
So, to get my revenge, try: doctor X
I have no clue why i like it so emensly but i do.
so, enjoy and say a prayer to the TV or eye or whatever god to talk some sence into me.
I have similar binge watching issues which also apply if I start a good book at night… XD I don’t have a Netflix subscription for my own sanity.
On the upside, I can firmly say that I am very good at not moving for 10+ hours if I have sufficient entertainment. It comes in handy for long haul flights in economy (but do remember to get up to move and hydrate as you wait for the airline intros/next episode intros to finish as deep vein thrombosis is no-one’s idea of fun).
Yes!!! Moonlight Drawn by Clouds was my gateway kdrama. =)
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2015/06/so-you-wanna-watch-some-k-dramas/
I spent my entire life as a voracious book reader until I read the above, and fell down the rabbit hole of k dramas. They are wondrously incredible, as legions of their fans can attest.
Healer, Goblin, and Misaeng are my recs, but you have to work up to them, there is a vernacular that you acquire through exposure to the dramas that then edifies the whole experience…..
Although I vehemently despise romance anything. This K-dramas caused me to fall in love with Korean and the culture. Started learning Korean a week later! Got to this drama quite by accident while it was still on air and actually felt like they weren’t releasing the episodes fast enough! I also don’t rewatch a series for 5-10 years. This was an exception–first ever. Rewatched after about 2 yrs. I recommend this to many ppl I know that just started learning Korean.
Hi Ilona, you can also find this drama with subtitles in http://www.viu.com. Viu is also available as an app.
I also highly recommend the k-drama “Healer”. It’s a must watch in my opinion. Let me know how it goes 🙂
I totally agree with recommending “Healer”. I also loved “City Hunter”.
BTW this is called ‘Love in the Moonlight’ in Europe
I don’t think I saw anyone mentioning ‘My love from the stars’ that was one of my all time favorites! It’s not historical but it’s got loads of humor, plenty of super powers and a wonderful romance between a mortal and a Super being from another planet.
I’d also like to recommend another great Chinese drama called Ever Night. It’s a story about a boys journey to avenge his family who were unjustly massacred. It’s an epic fantasy story with lots of fighting and martial arts cultivation ( think of the Jedi’s in Star Wars, cultivation is basically practicing a set of mystical martial arts in order to attain more inner ‘force’ or Qi (energy/power), it allows the practitioners to have different superpower abilities such as ‘flying’ or more accurately, having ‘light steps’ the most basic level of cultivation one can achieve. (which is why we see lots of people who seem to be able to fly in most Chinese dramas).
Here’s a link to the trailer for Ever Night, very epic!
https://youtu.be/pR6QAx73A9w
If you haven’t seen it Legend of the Blue Sea is a great k-drama starring starring Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Min-ho. It’s about a mermaid who accidentally gets washed ashore. After meeting the hero who is also a con-artis she travels across the ocean to find him. There’s humour, adventure and romance. The main part of the story is set in the present but there is also a parallel story set in the Joseon era about their incarnations, town head Kim Dam-ryeong and the mermaid Se-hwa. You could watch it on Youtube last time I checked.
Ep 1 can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1nsWbQhPig
The app should definitely give you guys a credits mention at the very least. Out of curiosity I downloaded and watched an episode. ..four days later and I’ve watched the whole series and am just finishing the special. .. I’ll be looking through the comments for other good recommendations along the lines of this drama to meet my new hordes devouring level of finding another show as good. With a fixed number of episodes so that I know the story wI’ll wrap up.
ETERNAL LOVE all the way!!
(aka Ten miles of peach blossoms)
Had over 50 billion online views
The story basically follows the life of Bai-chian a spirited and kick ass goddess from the 9 tailed Fox tribe. We follow her through three chapters of her life: First as SiYing, cross dressed as a young boy disciple to Moyan the high god of war; then as SuSu, a powerless amnesiac Mortal who fell in love with YeHua high god and crown prince of the Celestial realm; and finally we see her as herself Baiqian, the Monarch and High Goddess of the 9 tailed Fox tribe. Although the story follows her, the major arc of the story centers on the love and romance between her and Yehua. From the beginning to the end, the lines of their fates continue to cross, an entanglement of three lifetimes, three worlds and ten miles of peach blossoms.
Main couple’s photo shoot:
https://youtu.be/_cNpMPBMAHg
And supporting casts:
https://youtu.be/i_2UnDY5I3g
OMG, I’ve been away from your site too long. O.O How much do I love that you watch C- & K-dramas! Squeee! It’s addictive, isn’t it? It’s like eye candy crack. Once you start one episode, you have to marathon the rest. LOL! Happy watching! There are SO many to choose from!!!!!!