The wheels never stop turning in cdrama land, with new long and short videos flying out across various platforms every week. I certainly don’t have time to commit to all of them – but I keep up with the fandoms and usually pick up which dramas that are driving the viewers wild for whatever reason. It’s a team effort that requires a coordinated plan of attack to make the most of our valuable time. So here is my contribution to perhaps help someone pick their next watch.

THE GOOD STUFF

The Blossoming Love (xianxia romance) – 10/10

Currently my favorite drama of 2025.

I’ve got a full massive review of this one is the works and am actually editing it down now cause I may have gotten carried away and written a novella of a musings and nonsense that is too much… even for people who like lengthy rambles. But until that comes out, just know I loved this one. Concept and character-wise, it blew my mind.

The Legend of Zang Hai (mystery revenge) – 10/10

This revenge epic is full of twists and turns and intense episodes. Unlike most costume drama tales of revenge this one did not heavily feature martial artists or depictions of war. Though it was centered on court politicians nearly all of the action took place outside of the palace – in offices, in homes, in small gatherings around the dinner table, in construction sites and tombs. It was a personal revenge story and stayed focused on the people being targeted.

It also had a ton of contraptions, puzzles, secret passageways, booby-traps, and hidden rooms… and my raised on Indiana Jones soul was very happy to explore all this with the main character from the safety of my living room.

There were some moments of comedy and romance but overall this is just a gripping, unique, well-written mystery definitely worth watching once (which should be enough – this is not a comfort drama you’ll revisit for fun – I’m pretty sure it gave me ulcers it was so intense).

The Prisoner of Beauty (costume drama romance) – 10/10

Enemies to lovers, anyone?

This show was a masterpiece, exploring the nature of soft feminine power (both its merits and its limitations) in ye olden days. A smart, petite young lady is married off to a terrifying war general as a peace offering. Her future husband wants nothing more than to see her and everyone else in her entire bloodline wiped from the face of the earth, preferably by his own sword. So, you know, obviously not an ideal situation for our tiny little lady.

This isn’t a show about misunderstandings as much as it is about seeing the bigger picture in political conflicts and war, and the many shades of gray when humans struggle for power. And it’s just a deliciously good romance – with real threats of danger, one step forward two steps back, and a satisfying and realistically slow change of hearts for both characters.

The Demon Hunter’s Romance (fantasy romance) – 9/10

This one started off as an enjoyable side dish of a show I was watching as it aired, two eps dropping each night. But after a while I found myself looking forward to seeing what would happen next, and then it became the show I ran home to watch. This was entirely due to the insane natural chemistry and easy romance between the two leads.

They genuinely felt like two people falling in love for the first time. Playful, insecure, sometimes silly and sometimes serious, the easy smiles, the talking-talking-talking, the eyes that light up every time the other comes into the room. I did not know Allen Ren had it in him to portray someone so capable and yet so utterly at a loss in love. It’s magical, really, when watching a love story unfold that makes it feel like you, too, are falling in love.

The actual plot was good too, mind you. Though the last twenty minutes were horrible – and apparently / allegedly not how it was originally scripted but changed by the production company based on an AI’s assessment of what a good ending should be (getting a robots opinion of how to end a romance story was a terrible idea in the first place). I can’t scrub the last episode from my mind, so it dropped down from a perfect 10/10 for me to it’s current rating. Still highly recommended for the love story.

Eternal Brotherhood 2 (fantasy action) – 9/10

Set in a fictional realm, this action series continues to follow the war bonded brothers from the first season (a goofy hero with a secret identity and destined to save the world vibes, a serious and loyal dude who is getting over the heartbreak of losing his true love, and a terrifying slaughterhouse machine who is just deliciously soft for his wife).

I actually liked this season more than the first (which I also liked) – as I had finally figured out the plot and all the factions and mechanics of the world and could just enjoy the stories unfolding. In particular I loved the goofy hero with his motley crew of misfits who were busy sorting out divisions between tribes on the border towns. This series feels really different from the norm (Iike Arthdal Chronicles was completely unique amongst historical fantasy kdramas) and it’s not over yet… so you might want to hold off until the series is complete if you haven’t seen season 1.

A Moment But Forever (xianxia romance) – 9/10

A surprisingly fresh fantasy romance and a nice win for Liu Xueyi whose last few attempts at leading roles were doomed by script issues or bad chemistry. In this one he plays a weary, abused, philosophical type and the female lead is an optimistic crafty type (as in she’s a literal craftsman who builds things and is used to practical problem solving). The characters felt very true to themselves and I honestly wasn’t sure where the plot was going to lead them, but I was happy no matter what happened along the way it only fortified these already solid characters more. Good worldbuilding. Good plot. Good romance. Good stuff.

Love in Pavilion (xianxia romance) – 9/10

Do you like sad, beautiful love stories? This show was jam packed with gorgeous characters and each one of them had an achingly beautiful but heartbreaking love story. The overall plot was great, the villains well developed (even the baddies had beautiful, sad love stories!), the world building solid and understandable. There were a ton of characters in this drama but it never felt overbloated or difficult to keep up with them all. The costumes and sets were a top level fantasy feast for the eyes.

It took me a while to warm up to the main couple but once I did, I was massively invested in their story. But I’ll be honest, one of the random tangential stories absolutely stole the whole show by sheer power of the acting prowess alone (Ding Yuxi’s dual performance of “twins” had me bawling, ya’ll! It was Shakespearean, I tell ya).

The First Frost (modern melo-romance) – 8.5/10

This is a story about a beautiful girl who has been through a lot of abuse, including sexual assault, and she’s basically curled herself up into a small space (emotionally, socially, physically) in attempts to protect herself and survive. Enter the boy who has loved her since high school – who is the white knight extreme sports edition. Patience, thy name is the male lead of this drama.

Trust is the main thing lost in abuse, and this drama took the time to slowly, slowly, slooooooowly, heal the broken trust of our leading lady. It’s just a sweet, touching romance if ya like that sort of thing. I wanted this sad girl to be happy just as much as the male lead.

The Glory (costume drama historical) – 8/10

Trashy, soap opera style fun. Everyone is the antagonist in this show, there are no good people. It’s just vicious, plotting, scheming, pure evil nonsense which can be hella enjoyable if you’re in the mood for it. This is a great show to pop in after you’ve watched something slow paced or serious and just want a fun ride with bad people doing terrible things.

I heard a lot of grumbling over this show in the fandom from people who either didn’t like the male lead or the female lead or both – or who thought it was unrealistic and everyone was horrible – and yeah, okay, I guess. I personally thought the two leads were good choices (both not the strongest actors in my opinion – so this was a great role for them since they just had to be broody 24/7) – and yeah, it’s unrealistic and all the adults are nightmare people, but that was the plot, peeps. No one watches soap operas or the Real Housewives or whatever to watch good folks working out their problems reasonably. Sometimes you just want blood on the floor, dig it? (I love the poster, with all of them holding weapons in the page tear – that’s good graphic design!)

LESS GOOD AND/OR JUST BAD

• Si Jin (fantasy costume drama romance) – 7/10 – there’s a lot of these reborn stories lately, which is fine, I enjoy the concept. And I enjoyed this one… for a while. But before the halfway mark I had already lost interest. Just not enough going on plot-wise to go on and on for 40 hours, ya dig? It wasn’t awful but there are definitely better options in this genre.

• Love of the Divine Tree (xianxia romance) – 7/10 – I know a lot of people loved and adored this drama, and I hoped I would be one of them. But… no. It started out okay but quickly fell apart for me. I could never believe the female lead put together a sect or trained others as a master – it was hard enough to suspend belief that she belonged in a costume drama in the first place. Sometimes you just can’t overcome a bad casting decision (Feud and In Blossom, I am staring directly at you).

• Guardians of the Dafeng (fantasy action comedy) – 6.5/10 – just not my brand of fantasy. The last episode packed a punch with a shockingly emotional ending but overall it was just too goofy and too “dude” (for lack of a better word) to really land with me. A lot of people loved this one though, so you might check it out.

• Moonlight Mystique (xianxia romance) – 6/10 – the second couple far outshined the leads in this one, but even so this is just not a very good drama. The script is a mess, the cinematography is a hate crime (seriously, the lighting is appallingly bad – so bright you can see the paint chips on the set piece rocks, random color spotlights aimed without rhyme or reason, it’s an assault on aesthetics – which is one of the major appeals of xianxia dramas – thus an unforgivable sin).

• Feud (xianxia romance) – 5/10 – the script is the main issue with this drama, but also I don’t think the leading man was the best decision either. This character would have been better if it was played in true tsundere fashion – with the god being an insufferable pompous jerk with a massive ego, who we find out is secretly kind and who slowly lets go of his insecurities and bloated ego enough to realize things are better when you work together and care for others. I’m not sure Joseph Zeng could pull off playing a jerk character, though, as he’s got such soft puppy dog eyes. I just felt sorry for him watching this show… until I gave up on it after 26 eps I just couldn’t do it to myself any more.

• Filter (fantasy romance) – 6/10 – I tried. It started out intriguing but this is just a mess of a show. I will say it’s cool that they’re trying out some weirder plotline stories. This one felt very webtoon-centric to me, though, and a little immature and lacking in substance to back up the fantastical plot.