End of Year Drama Challenge Day 1: Which country's dramas have you watched the most of in 2025?

China and South Korea are tied! Of the 49 dramas I've completed so far this year, 19 were cdramas and 19 were kdramas.

However! I also watched the most jdramas ever this year at a whopping SEVEN. 😅 Some friends here say jdramas are their favorite, so I made it a point to watch more of them.
#kdrama #cdrama #jdrama
#EndOfYearDramaChallenge #EYDC2025

End of Year Drama Challenge Day 2: Favorite actress discovered in 2025

Zhao Li Ying. I loved her in both #TheStoryOfMingLan and #TheLegendOfShenLi

I think I rewatched Minglan 3 times in a row, it was so good.

#cdrama #EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 3: favorite actor discovered in 2025

Tan Jianci.

Now, technically, I first tried watching him in "Go East" last year, but I ended up dropping it. Seeing him in his minor part in #WinterBegonia and then intriguing main role in #LostYouForever this year won me over. I'm now currently watching him in #UnderTheSkin where he plays a genius forensic artist who helps solve crimes.
#cdrama #EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 4: favorite original song from a 2025 drama

*stares into the camera*

If I picked any song other than this one, I would not be me. And with over 4 million views, I'm not the only one who loved it. It's placement in the drama was *chef kiss* as well.

[언젠가는 슬기로울 전공의생활 (Resident Playbook) OST Part 6] 도경수 (D.O.) - 영원해 (FOREVER) MV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq_SJPKO_G0
#kdrama #kpop #EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge #DohKyungsoo #도경수 #디오 #ResidentPlaybook

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 5: a visually beautiful 2025 Drama

This was a hard choice for me as I didn't watch a ton of dramas from 2025. Some gorgeous ones from 2024, though.

So I decided this 2025 movie must count. It uses a lot of the same locations as it's prequel #KillBokSoon that are just eye-catching and well-framed.

Mantis | Official Trailer | Netflix [ENG SUB]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PItlVyrf15U
#kdrama #Mantis #EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 6: a drama you dropped in 2025

The #cdrama #Mobius that was too cop-heavy for me. I understand from other watchers that it was on purpose, possibly parody-like, but it was too much for me.

#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

Trailer: Five rewinds, fate remade. Warped time—truth? | 不眠日 Mobius | iQIYI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwLhK38QKVM

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 7: favorite character of 2025

Jung Geum Ja from the 2020 #kdrama #Hyena

Every single one of her outfits was bold and on fire. She's fierce and flawed and a force to be reckoned with. And Kim Hye Soo at age 50 is smokin' hot.
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 8: standout secondary character of 2025

Li Leyan, played by Zhao Lusi, from the 2021 #cdrama #TheLongBallad

The female lead dresses up as a man and strives to be the best at traditionally masculine activities. In contrast, her younger sister, Leyan, is strong and perseveres in a very feminine way. She cares, she gives, she loves, she adapts, she survives. I *love* that.
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 9: did you watch older dramas in 2025

YES. @hanktank61 convinced me to watch one of his favorite #kdrama, 2009's #TheGreatQueenSeondeok and it is 62 hour-long episodes that never get dull. Fighting and magic and languages and Science and politics and romance and History and snarky clapbacks! It is now one of my favorites ever.

#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 10: did you rewatch dramas in 2025

Yes. I first watched the #cdrama #FindYourself in 2025 and then rewatched it a couple of times. I just enjoyed the characters and the story SO MUCH. A commentary on different expectations of men vs women for career, dating, marriage, aging, friendship... And so smart and funny!

#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 11: a drama that taught you something new

It had never occurred to me that dyslexia could also exist in character-based languages like Japanese. Seeing some of the strategies to help a person with dyslexia learn how to read Japanese was interesting to me.

#jdrama #LearningToLove
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of Year Drama Challenge Day 12: a platonic relationship you loved

Does it count that the web novel was a bl and the adapted drama was platonic?

2020 #cdrama #WinterBegonia was phenomenal and the unlikely friendship between opera singer Shang Xi Rui and business mogul Cheng Fengtai was so good!
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 16: best actress of 2025

Hsieh Ying Xuan in the #TWdrama #ForgetYouNot where she plays a 40-something woman who does stand-up comedy and also takes care of her aging father. I laughed and cried SO HARD while watching this show. I felt it was truly full of heart and humility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULsQBgUQ_Zs
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 17: best actor of 2025

Yoon Kye Sang in the #kdrama #TheWinningTry as the fall-from-grace national rugby hero who got caught in a doping scandal and gets hired as a coach for a ragtag underdog high school rugby team. He was dorky, and silly, and full of heart, and love and pride for his players.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAd-AjZLkbI
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 18: most watched genre

Romance. More than half (possibly even close to 80%) include the "Romance" tag on MDL.
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 19: Drama that made you laugh

The 2024 #cdrama #LaterILaughed was hilarious and at times too real. A woman decides to try stand-up comedy to get her frustrations with life out. I think this was one of my favorites all year.

Trailer:
https://youtu.be/2qw-5SJ0IFQ
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of Year Drama Challenge Day 20: a drama that made you cry

The Taiwanese drama "Forget You Not" had me ugly crying. And laughing! But the challenging relationship she has with her dad as he ages and starts having health problems, while she is just barely holding her life together? Big cathartic tears over here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULsQBgUQ_Zs
#TWdrama #ForgetYouNot #EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 21: a drama that surprised you

The #kdrama movie #SecretUntoldMelody . I expected it to just be a cute, warm fuzzy love story, but then ... it wasn't just that. 😳

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJgpnZAsKts
#DohKyungsoo #도경수 #EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 22: a drama that lives up to the hype

The #kdrama #StudyGroup. It was very entertaining (and violent!) and full of heart? I felt hope in humanity after watching it, which I did not expect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx0piV_Uf4E
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 23: a drama that made you think

The #kdrama #TheGreatQueenSeondeok about the first female monarch in Silla, had me think a lot about not only what limitations women have in leadership, but also practical economics of a country. If you have fixed amount of labor and supplies, you must choose what to put it towards. In times of peace: farm tools and health for citizens. In times of war: weapons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m99ZJQEDszo
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 24: favorite costumes

The weekly themed costumes from the #kdrama #SpiritFingers. Every week, the drawing group picked a theme to dress up as and then had their drawing get-together in a themed room, too. Very fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srB0ng9mPXE
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 25: sweetest romance

It must be the young romance between Batay and Wen Xiu from the 2024 #cdrama #ToTheWonder, set in remote northern China between Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Young folks learning to live and love as the landscape and livelihoods of their families changes in front of their eyes.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Bvn5QbF8k
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 26: most disappointing Drama

The #kdrama #TheManipulated was most disappointing to ME, personally, because it was so violent. They took all the gross stereotypes of prison and put it on TV in the extreme. I wanted to support my favorite actor, Doh Kyungsoo, but I just don't have enough emotional fortitude often enough to complete this show yet.

Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXPDFkuLfhs
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 27: a drama more people should watch

The 2020 #cdrama #FindYourself was smart, funny, vulnerable, endearing... had cute doggos... silly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=323Er03eKMw
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge

End of the Year Drama Challenge Day 28: an industry change you want to happen

LESS blood and violence for violence's sake. Disney+/Hulu seems to be the worst culprit here, with big budgets for top actors, that make fans like me tune out. Netflix does it, too, and maybe "Squid Game" was the impetus for it all. I don't need to see a close-up of a person's face get carved (Bloodhounds) and I lost count of the "(flesh squelches)" subtitles in "Moving".
#EYDC2025 #EndOfYearDramaChallenge #kdrama