Another week, Another list of my all-time favorite dramas. This week is ALL ABOUT THE CDRAMAS! This list was SIGNIFICANTLY harder to make. I had to do some honorable mentions with this list unlike my list of favorite Jdramas of all time. If you have not read my Jdrama list - you can check it out here.
As per usual, a few ground rules, these lists will be in no particular order or genre. It is just my favorite dramas from this particular Asian country. I have to had completed the drama for it to be on this list. I can almost guarantee that not all of my favorites will make these lists because then we would be here all day. I have made sure to just say "Caitlin, you can only put 10 dramas at the most, on these lists". As I said, there is an HONORABLE MENTIONS for this cdramas list which is at the end. If your favorites are not on my list, doesn't mean I didn't like them. I either had to pick and choose and your favorites didn't make the cut OR I might not even have seen them yet. Play along and tell me your favorites!
I think after Kdramas, Cdramas are the dramas I have seen the most of. So, the choices for this list came from a bigger pool of completed dramas than my Jdrama list. I also tend to like certain genres over others when it comes to Chinese dramas. So, you might see more Xianxia/fantasy than any other genre in this list. Xianxia is my favorite genre from cdramaland. I DEFINITELY HAVE NOT SEEN ALL OF THE CDRAMAS! I have many on my plan to watchlist that I have just not gotten to yet. If you want to read some of my other blog posts that I have done about Chinese dramas - some of the cdramas on this list are in some of the other lists already on my blog - you can check out some of these blog posts: FAVORITE CHINESE CRIME DRAMAS, FAVORITE XIANXIA/WUXIA DRAMAS and WHY I LIKE CDRAMAS.
Memory Lost just holds a special place in my heart. It was my first cdrama ever. Is it the best Cdrama ever compared to what we get now? Absolutely not! Do I care? No, I still love it. 😂 For people who have not seen Memory Lost, this cdrama is a crime drama and has a bit of everything. It has romance. It has crime. It is a little campy/cheesy and some of the storylines are very far-fetched. It is action packed. The leads have great chemistry and it was fun watching them interact. This cdrama will always be somewhere in my top 10 because it is nostalgic for me.
I might be a little bias with this one. I LOVE the anime of this so, when I saw that there was going to be a cdrama made of this story - I WAS VERY EXCITED! This cdrama did not disappoint and was everything I wanted it to be. Who would have thought I would be SO INVESTED in a drama about Go. You care and root for the characters. I loved watching the relationships develop and grow as the drama progressed. The story is fantastic and makes you feel all of the emotions. The OSTs are some of my favorites. This drama just is everything I wanted and more. I hope more people check this drama out because you are really missing out on something special. You can read my review of this drama here.
I have always liked crime dramas so; it makes total sense why this is on my list of my favorite cdramas of all time. Now I will say, when I clicked play on this drama, I didn't know just HOW MUCH I WOULD LOVE THIS DRAMA! I love when dramas use its platform to talk about societal issues and this drama did just that. This drama was not afraid to bring these topics up and show some harsh truths about these issues. The cast for this drama was AMAZING! I loved that it was female centered and was told through their perspectives. It had some great twists in the plot and was acted very well. You can check out my review of this cdrama here. FUN FACT - this drama was the first drama review I ever did on this blog.
I am still surprised I watched this because I knew going into the drama that it was going to make me cry and I HATE TO CRY! This drama made be sob but it was worth it. The costumes were beautiful. The story was heartbreaking but fantastic. The acting was superb. I loved the leads and their chemistry. I really need to watch Forever and Ever. I have not gotten around to watching that one yet. I am a sucker for great cinematography and this was a beautiful drama to watch. I also loved the fight scenes/choreo. The OSTs are some of my favorites as well. You can check out my full review of this cdrama here.
I am sure no one is surprised this is on my list. It took the world by storm and is a favorite cdrama for many people. Xianxia is one of my favorite genres and this drama did not disappoint. This cdrama is EPIC! I love all of the found family in it (one of my favorite tropes of all time). I love the OST. I, of course, loved the leads and the cast. The chemistry between the leads was good. I just have a lot of great memories from watching this drama. I mean there is a reason why this cdrama is beloved by many.
I absolutely ADORE this cdrama. I went into this drama wanting to watch it for the crime elements since it was advertised as a crime drama. I did not expect to fall in love with the main couple so much. I just loved watching them solve crimes and how their relationship progressed. I loved how both leads were opposites of each other but that made their dynamic work and they were fun to watch together. I love actors who can express emotions through their facial expressions and eyes and both leads can do that very well. I was more invested in the lead couple than the crimes which is saying something. I usually am not a fan of romance dramas. To have this be one of my favorite cdramas because of the romance is something special. I love this drama so much that I wrote a blog post about it on the first anniversary of when it aired. You can read that here.
This drama is like Memory Lost. It was the first Xianxia drama I ever watched. So, it has a special place in my heart and is nostalgic for me. I binged THE HELL out of this drama when I watched it. I loved everything about this drama and was very invested. I actually liked Dilraba and Vengo Gao's relationship the most in this drama. I still need to watch Pillow Book. I love that Xianxia dramas can be so EPIC! I love the magic and Xianxia dramas seems to make the stories have higher stakes in them for some reason. You got romance, magic, betrayal and love with this drama. Now, I want to rewatch this drama which I will probably be doing later this year. 😉
This drama was quite the wild ride. It is a nail biter and doesn't let you go until the very end. It is a thrilling story that keeps you guessing. The acting is fantastic. I loved the twists that the plot took because you could not predict what was going to happen. The story was really creative in coming up how everything was going to connect and what was going to get revealed as the characters investigated more. You can read my review of this drama here.
I was really late to watching this. A ton of people told me to watch this drama because they knew I would love it and it would be something that was right up my alley. This is a visually STUNNING cdrama. You literally don't know where to look sometimes as you are watching it because everything is just beautiful to look at. It is a thrilling story that hooks you at the beginning. The cast is AMAZING! The cast did a great job and has a lot of talent in it. This is a cdrama where you have to pay close attention to it because there is a lot going on with it. THE FIGHT/ACTION SCENES ARE FANTASTIC!! You can read my review of this drama here.
I mean what can I even say about this drama. This will probably be one of my favorite dramas I watch in 2023. This is definitely one of favorite Xianxia dramas I have ever watched. Everything about it is amazing. It is EPIC and beautiful. The main couple is everything and has BLAZING chemistry. You will feel all the emotions with this drama and become very invested with this main couple. The CGI is gorgeous. The OSTS are some of my favorites of all time. There is just so much I can say about this drama. I even did a 2-episode podcast on it with Daebak K-Rambles Podcast because we had so much to gush about it. You should go check out those episodes and her podcast. 😉 You can read my review of this drama here.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
This cdrama flies under the radar for many people. I enjoyed this drama a lot. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I was pleasantly surprised. You got some crime. You got some romance. You got found family with some loveable characters. You got some comedy. You got some surprisingly good cinematography. So, I had to add this one to the honorable mentions. I wrote a LOVE LETTER blog post about this drama as well. That just shows how much I loved this drama. You can check it out here.
This cdrama came out of NOWHERE for me. It is a crime drama so, I thought I would just check it out to see if it was any good. The thing that made me love it was the leads' chemistry. THEIR CHEMISTRY WAS AMAZING!! I want them in a drama again together. This drama also has some great OSTs. I literally remember not being able to put this drama down when I watched it so, it had to be in the honorable mentions.
I am a sucker for historical crime dramas (CLEARLY!). Again, the leads were great together and had great chemistry. I even liked the second couple with this one. This drama also stood out because it didn't have much angst and the couples really had no drama between them. I watched this for the couples and their chemistry.
If you know anything about me, you know I love this cdrama so, I had to put it in my honorable mentions. Like many other people, I loved the two leads in this drama. I loved their banter and relationship. I loved how they worked together to solve crimes. I liked their dynamic and they were the highlight of this drama for me.
Making this list has made me want to go and binge some of the cdramas that have been on my PLAN TO WATCHLIST. This list also makes me want to rewatch all of these dramas again.😂 As I said earlier, this drama was a lot harder to make and narrow down. The honorable mentions helped, OF COURSE.
ANYWAY - THAT IS THE LIST! THAT IS MY LIST OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE CDRAMAS THAT I HAVE SEEN!
Did some of your favorite Chinese dramas make the list?
What are some of your favorites that are not on the list that I should check out?
What on the list have you seen?
What on the list have you not seen but are now going to check out?
WE NOW ALSO HAVE A DISCORD SO TALK TO US ON THERE AS WELL