Itaewon Class is a Korean drama that has gained good reviews and ratings. It stars Kim Da Mi as Jo Si Seo and Park Seo Joon as Park Sae Roy. It is a light show with heartwarming moments of romance and drama. The show is written by Gwang Jin and directed by Sung Yoon Kim. The plot of the show revolves around Park Sae Royi, who loses his father and is filled with the desire for revenge.
He opened a restaurant, DanBam, seven years later after getting out of Jail. He is looking to expand his business and defeat Jangga Group. If you have not watched Itaewon Class, then check it out here. But if you have already watched the show and are looking for dramas like Itaewon Class, then the list will give you exactly that. In this piece, we will suggest 15 dramas like Itaewon Class.
The suggestions on this list have various shows from trending genres, so you can be assured that there is a show for everyone. The list is in a particular order. Look for your favorite show and just enjoy the funny characters with easy stories and heartwarming moments.
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1. Fight For My Way
Fight For My Way is a Korean drama that features classic characters who are struggling with their personal lives and careers. They’re in their extended teenage years, so they are child adults with flexible, dynamic personalities.
There is no rich setup or business world with lavish locations like other K-dramas and no ultimate negative character or villain. It is a light and classic show with basic settings. The whole plot of the show revolves around four friends: Choi Ae Ra, played by Kim Ji Won and Ko Dong Man, played by Park Seo Joon are the lead couple, and Baek Seol Hee, played by Song Ha Yoon and Kim Joo Man, played by Ahn Jae Hong are the side couple.
He only wants to hang out with his best pal, Ae Ra, played by Kim Ji Won, and also work on his dream of becoming a skilled MMA fighter. When his dreams see a slowdown, Dong seeks the support of Ae Ra to get him through this tough time. The story moves forward, and both of them discover that they are in the same spot, looking for strength and working forward to pursue their goals.
All of them are not that qualified and are left out, and the individuals who are facing hardships just to survive in this world have a massive heart. You will see these characters fighting emotionally and working hard to achieve their dreams and will come closer to support each other and their friendship. Fight For My Way is just like Itaewon. Both of them have elements of friendship and a concept of reality that the audience can relate to.
Park Seo does a good job of showing a simple character that was needed by the script of the character. He fills in the shoes well and the demands of the show, his innocent performance, he is available for his friends, which always feels good to see.
The show is well-balanced, emotionally subtle, and hilarious scenes that the audience will love as the story unfolds in each episode. Overall, it’s a well-balanced show that has a heart in its place.
2. So Not Worth It
So Not Worth It revolves around a newbie batch of college students residing at a residence. The plot will entertain the audience with the common life and happenings of a college student in Korea. You all can think and relate easily with the plot as we all have been in the college and affairs of college. Jae’s father is the owner of a big Korean food franchise.
Minne is from Thailand and is a huge fan of Korean dramas. Jamie is an international student, and Hyun Bin is a fun character. The show is bound to give you all the fun and refreshing elements that will lighten the mood of the viewers.
So Not Worth It and Itaewon Class are good dramas with full colors and funny dialogues. Each of the shows promotes street art and other cultures, which is totally new to the see in Korean drama shows.
3. Hospital Playlist
Hospital Playlist is one of the shows that has no negatives like a villain or an antagonist to divide the viewers. The storylines of the drama basically surround five college friends who have grown in their professional lives. Lee Ik Jun, played by Jo Jung Suk; Ahn Jeong Won, played by Yoo Yeon Seok. Ahn Jeong Won, played by Yoo Yeon Seok, and Chae Song Hwa, played by Jeon Min Do.
The five join as a band while working as professors/doctors at the Yulje Medical Centre. Each character is well-written, and that is very evident on the screen. When you see them, you feel a different vibe from each of them. When combined, it is a total madhouse.
The whole show portrays the typical life of a doctor, from graduation to the respective niche and skills they master as they progress ahead in their careers. Like Itaewon Class, the drama shows the true life happenings and struggles the characters suffer and go through in an authentic plot.
The show also has many witty lines and funny scenes with paced direction, and these dramas have a way of creating a soft corner in the viewer’s hearts. These dramas have a different true-to-life plot, which is other than a romantic or revenge plot, which is common in the Korean drama space.
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4. Record of Youth
The show starts with Sa Hye Jun, played by Park Bo Gum, an eccentric model with a fierce attitude and aspiring actor. He took many auditions but failed in them, but he never gave up on his dreams and slowly started making himself present as an actor.
On the other hand, Won Hae Hyo is also a model and friend to Hye Jun. He comes from a wealthy family and also wants to become an actor.
Ahn Jung Ha, played by Park So Dam, is a hard-working girl. To open her own salon, she left her professional office job. She also acts as a make-up artist in the same industry as the two of them.
Despite struggling internally, she is always joyous and keeps a healthy smile on her face, and this shows her mental strength and depth. The story that follows shows the youth and how they work on conquering their dreams with support from each other rather than putting down one another in this competitive world.
Record of Youth is very similar to Itaewon Class, showing young people who work on their dreams and find what they truly love and desire.
5. Chocolate
Moon Gi Cha Young, played by Ha Ji Won, is an aspiring chef who runs into Lee Kang, played by Yoon Kye Sang, her first love, in a hospital. She is ill and is treated by him because he is a doctor and surgeon.
Kang is unable to recognize her, but Cha recognizes him instantly. Cha Young later finds out that she is dating Kwon Mln Sung, played by Yoo Two, Kang’s best friend.
To take control of the feelings, she breaks up with him to get away from Kang, but fate keeps bringing them together in one manner or the other. As Itaewon Class, Chocolate is also filled with many mouth-watering scenes.
From the title, going in for this show, you can expect many baking lessons, sweet chocolate truffles, and some mouth-watering Korean dishes. Seeing the main characters cooking together five gives the audience a high sense of comfort, given that the show is about food. The show is light and will heal you and uplift your mood. Overall, it is a good drama that will lighten your mood and give you a good feeling.
6. Wok of Love
Seo Poong, played by Junho, is a skilled chef who gets fired from his top cooking job at a hotel. He starts to work at a restaurant across the street. The restaurant is not famous and is nearing its bankruptcy. Seo takes on himself to bring the restaurant on the track and make it successful. He gets hired by Doo Chil Seong, played by Jang Hyuk, and becomes the manager of that restaurant. He then hires Dan Sao Woo, played by Jung Ryeo Won, as a server.
Both of them begin to get involved romantically. But it’s unfortunate for Chi Seong as he also likes Sae Woo. Three of them work in tandem to make this restaurant run successfully and keep their love triangle in check.
Like Itaewon Class, the show has many delicious sites, and there will not be even one episode where you won’t get the feeling of hunger. You will love the detail put in the scenes, the cooking actions, and the processes, and seeing characters getting involved in the cuisines will make you crave harder for the food.
Other than the food, you will also see a healthy bromance between Jang Hyuk and Jun Ho and some heart-fluttering romance between the duo. Overall, it is a good show for someone who likes cooking and wants to see the details of it with a light, beautiful story, and loveable characters.
Prison Playbook
Starring in “Prison Playbook” are Jung Kyung Ho as Lee Joon Ho, Park Hae Soo as Kim Je Hyuk, and Krystal as Kim Ji Ho. Famous baseball player Je Hyuk assaults a guy who was torturing his young sister.
Despite what the other man did, he is condemned to jail, and the series focuses on his time there and the people he encounters. The character of Jung Kyung Ho enters the scene as a buddy of Je Hyuk and also happens to work at the same jail where Je Hyuk is imprisoned.
Prison Playbook looks far from being your usual K-drama because the setting is the confines of a prison. It may have seemed like a grim series, but “Prison Playbook” was able to touch viewers’ hearts and make them empathize with the convicts and their unique tales. By emphasizing their individual tales, the drama succeeds in humanizing the prisoners, allowing viewers to identify with and feel sympathy for them. It is an original and enduring series.
Go Back Couple
A couple named Choi Ban Do, played by Son Ho Jun, and Ma Jin Joo, played by Jang Na Ra, in the drama “Go Back Couple,” had outgrown their love for one another. Despite having two small children, they are frequently seen squabbling and resenting one another. The two wake up and discover they have gone back in time to when they were in college, just as they are both experiencing heartbreak and feeling hopeless.
They learn that they can change the past, and they resolve to avoid each other at all costs this time. But somehow, destiny appears to unite them. The drama is about love, family, and regret. It is all too realistic to watch Jin Joo deal with the challenges of motherhood and improving her marriage with her husband.
It gives a wonderful insight into the demanding labor moms must perform, particularly in Korea, where spouses work nonstop. Jin Joo is a character that many can empathize with since she is a realistic mother, daughter, wife, and friend who goes through many of the challenges that people face on a daily basis.
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Witch’s Love
Ban Ji Yeon, played by Uhm Jung Hwa, is a focused career woman who has no interest in love. She believes that she has no time to love. She has a broken heart because of love and doesn’t want to get into it again.
She meets Yoon Dong Ha, played by Park Seo Joon, and almost has a one-night stand with him. Furthermore, she finds out that he is 14 years younger than her. She pushes him away and vows to never see him again.
But Dong, on the other hand, has already started liking her and is willing to do anything to get with her by winning her over. Witch’s Romance was Park Seo Joon’s first big hit on the screen, put him on the radar, and won many hearts across the whole Korean audience.
The portrayal of his character, who is young and innocent and has his heart on his sleeve, is illustrated exceptionally well. Seeing him in such an innocent and vulnerable role at the start of his acting career was an advantage to him. Other than him, the supporting cast also did well to keep the script floating and keep the audience hooked.
Extracurricular
Extracurricular has many flawed characters across all the episodes. It gives the audience a sense of uniqueness with an extra bit of flavor to spice up this teen drama with increasing tension and speed with each episode. The plot of the show focuses on Ji Soo, who is a model student and a role model in the eyes of other students and teachers. He likes to be alone, keeps his head down, and spends most of his time studying and topping the exams and, of course, staying invisible.
But don’t get confused. He has a darker persona, which starts in the first episode and is shown in bits and pieces in the later episodes. To know the whole story, you should watch the show. It’s a good show, well-written, and totally engaging from start to end.
You could find yourself screaming at your screen in disbelief at some of the choices that these characters make in Extracurricular, which has a propensity to keep you on the edge of your seat. Then, you are reminded that these are high school students and not sophisticated criminals. The goal of the show is not to make you feel wonderful but rather to make you aware of the fact that society may sometimes fail young people.
Therefore, it is logical that everything is always going wrong from the beginning; rather than a brilliant protagonist or character development, they just keep giving us cowardice, never-ending conflict, and unsatisfactory solutions.
Start-up
Start-up is one of the most funny and enjoyable shows on this list. Seo Dal Mi, played by Bae Suzy, and her sister are living very different lives. Dal Mi lives in Korea with a dream of becoming an entrepreneur with her father, Won In Jae, played by Kam Hye Na. and They’re not very wealthy. On the other hand, Won In Jae, played by Kan Hye Na, was adopted by a rich family and moved to the USA.
Dal Mi wants to become a CEO by grabbing the top of a top-of-the-line spot in Sandbox. Sandbox is just like Silicone Valley, where new-age start-ups are being formed. There’s also her friend from childhood, Nam Do San, with whom she has been in contact, and also with an entrepreneur played by Nam Ji Hyu, who pretends to be Do San. You will love the chaos in this drama, which is funny and keeps you entertained.
The teammates of Nam Do San are supportive, and they have a mutual understanding. The characters in the show are trying to make it big by working hard on their project and ideas.
The funny scenes, especially advertising campaigns and, of course, a love triangle. It can be said that the show has been heavily inspired by the American show ‘Silicon Valley.’ But it is a good show with a Korean blend to it. If you’re into business, show them this should definitely be on your watch list.
Reply 1988
The plot of the drama, Reply 1988, is based on a poor and rich complex of society, but the vibe of the show is different than other shows. She has a romantic theme going on, and the portrayal of the characters by the whole cast feels natural.
It is a drama with a full range of emotions that the audience will enjoy from the first episode. As the name suggests, the show is set up in 1988 and revolves around the lives of five friends and their families.
The middle child, Sung Duk Soon, is highlighted for achieving the 999th rank in her school. Choi Taek is a Baduk player, an adorable personality with a simple life and a genius brain. Then we have Sun Woo, who is the president of the student council.
Jun-Hwan is their rich friend who likes to play basketball and make sarcastic jokes. Finally, Ryu Ryon is the most mature in the group, is also carefree, and has an easygoing personality.
The plot basically revolves around the families of these characters and their struggles in their respective lives. The show has fresh writing, and the scenes also look different, which keeps the show unique. With so many characters, the story never feels boring or repetitive.
There is always something going on with the main characters, which keeps the drama moving forward. As an audience, you will never feel bored. The show always entertains.
Stove League
You will meet Namgoong Min as Baek Seung Soo in the Stove League. He is the new manager of the team, which has been losing continuously. He has to use his skills to turn those losses into winning ones.
The team is at the bottom, and Seung Soo has been called to make whatever changes necessary that will change the team’s course for good.
He questions the people at top positions and asks them to take tough calls so that they can make a team that they can trust and have the ability to win the championship.
The show also stars Park Eun Bin as Lee Se Young, the operational team manager who seriously likes the team and has devoted her time and efforts to the team.
The show will give you a new Park Eun Bin, and she has played a totally different show in the show, a refreshing role. The acting crew was qualified to play the ideal script by the writers, which has all the elements that made it a balanced watch.
The show has 16 episodes, and it has very few on-field activities or action. The show leans towards the roles of the managers and solving the issues created after the streak of losses.
You will learn some elements of management, such as negotiation, presenting skills, and how to be a team player. The team of Namgoong Min and Park Eun Bin keeps the show uplifting. There was no love theme or chemistry, but still, they shined in their plots, which kept the plot funny.
Sky Castle
This drama is based in an apartment called Sky Castle. In Sky Castle, there are four families who are very powerful and are willing to go to any lengths to ensure that their kids go to top universities. The stars of the show include Lee Tan Ran, Oh Na Ra, Yoon Se Ah, Yum Jung Ah, and other new artists who got into the limelight after the release of this show.
The show will give you a dive into rich international families that are somehow trying to get into the Korean education circle for their children. The show highlights the hardships and issues that the kids face before and after getting into these top educational institutions.
The writers have kept the plot detailed with multiple subplots between the children and their parents by blending aspects like competition, wealth, and jealousy. All of these emotions make the series enticing, with no awkward scenes or moments.
The roles are complex, but the actors make them easy on screen. Sky Castle is a total recommendation for anyone who likes to watch something from the education and schooling system.
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay is a show that will help you heal your broken parts. This show also has a rich and poor theme going on in it. The female lead character has more detailed writing, which makes it more fierce and edgy.
The plot of the show circles a woman who likes a man and is willing to do anything for him. It is one of the shows with the most ratings in this list, a good blend of plots and subplots with likable characters that try to tell us the importance of mental health.
The story follows a caretaker, Moon Gang Tae. She and her older sibling, Moon Sang Tale, with autism, moved from one place to another after the death of their mother. They come back to their city after some time, and there they meet Mun Young lz, a children’s book author. All the characters have an internal fight and are trying to heal from one thing or the other.
They begin on a path of healing by confronting and finding happiness. The show has a strong message with it. The writing is done thoughtfully, and each episode has a calming screenplay with some self-damaging moments.
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