Winter Romance K-Dramas For The Holiday Season
A list of wintery K-Dramas for those who love snow and winter vibes.
The K-Dramas on this list take place primarily during winter. These are mostly going to be rom-coms because that’s…really about all I watch.
The bare minimum requirement for a K-Drama to make it on this list is for there to be at least one snow scene or scene that I can reasonably conclude is set in winter.
While You Were Sleeping
Starting off my list is this fantasy rom-com drama (which is not to be confused with the 1995 American rom-com movie of the same title, which I also like, but that’s neither here nor there) which starts off on one fateful snowy Valentine’s Day where Hong Joo, a woman who has had prophetic dreams ever since she was young and is powerless to stop or change them, was supposed to wind up framed for the accidental vehicular manslaughter of a police officer named Woo Tak. Both she and the officer are saved by Jae Chan, who has a prophetic dream about Hong Joo being framed and having her life fall apart because of it. Anyway, the three of them all have prophetic dreams and work to figure out why they have these abilities while utilizing them in order to save those that they love.
This drama features plenty of wintery scenes as some key moments within the drama take place during late winter, but also a scene around Christmas. This drama also features some of my favorite tropes (some of which I can’t list for spoiler reasons) and also features the rarest of creatures: a love triangle that actually doesn’t aggravate me.
Doom At Your Service
This supernatural fantasy rom-com drama takes place primarily in wintertime, I think it starts somewhere in December or January, with the end being in March. There’s mostly rain scenes in this drama, but there are two snow scenes in episode 11.
This drama is about Tak Dong-kyung, a woman who just found out that she has a terminal brain tumor the same day she discovers her boyfriend is actually a married man. One night, while drunk, she declares a desire for doom to befall the world. This ends up bringing Myul Mang, Doom himself, to her doorstep. He offers to grant her wish as well as make sure she doesn’t feel the pain or negative effects of her illness for the 100 days of their contract. She of course agrees and over time, both of them begin to falling in love with each other.
I’m going to be super honest about this drama, the 2nd lead female and her love triangle is 100% skippable without impacting your enjoyment or understanding of the show. It’s very bland, boring and kinda…easy to not care about when you have the high-fantasy romance happening in the A plot. This drama isn’t perfect, but I still continue to recommend it because Seo In-guk and Park Bo-young really brought their A games to their roles and it’s really worth it to watch their parts in the drama.
Pinocchio
Yet another Lee Jong-suk drama makes its way onto this list and the first time this drama has made it on one of my lists because I recently finished it.
This drama is undeniably set in and around December. Why undeniably? The Christmas decorations and the music. Not to mention there’s also an episode that takes place on Christmas Day which has a very drunk Dal-po/Ha-myung telling his adoptive father and “little” brother “Merry Christmas, pew pew.” Which, is simply adorable.
Anyway, this K-Drama is very basically about news reporters. Very specifically focusing on the male lead character Ha-myung (also known as Dal-po) and female lead, In-ha. Dal-po/Ha-myung’s family was destroyed by wrongful news reporting, which the worst of was largely done by the In-ha’s mother. Ha-myung ends up being adopted by In-ha’s grandfather and so he’s also, legally, her uncle.
They grew up together, went to school together, fell in love with each other and now work as reporters at two different news companies that are rivals.
Soundtrack #1
This is a short 4 episode long K-Drama that’s on Disney+.
This K-Drama has a friends-to-lovers story, with Sunwoo the ML having been pining for the Eunsoo the FL for 8(?) years. The story focuses primarily on a time when they’re living together in Eunsoo’s home for two weeks in order to help her write the lyrics for song about unrequited love, something that Eunsoo has no experience with, but knows that Sunwoo does (though she has no idea who the unrequited love is really directed to). The show seems to take place during winter, there’s plenty of snow, that’s for sure!
I originally only wanted to watch this drama because of Seo In-guk’s cameo, but I ended up actually really enjoying the show despite how short it was!
Romance Is A Bonus Book
Either I am being too generous with what K-Dramas I consider to be wintery enough for this list or Lee Jong-suk really loves doing dramas that are set in wintertime.
This drama is primarily set around late fall, maybe early winter?
Anyway, here’s a third Lee Jong-suk winter-y drama. Unlike the other two on this list, this one is a noona romance where the age gap between the characters is 5 years.
I’ve talked about this drama before many a time and how it feels like curling up in some warm blankets with a hot drink and a good book.
This drama is about Dan-yi, a divorced single mom who has been struggling to get hired after a 7 year job break. Desperate to get a job, she “erases” her college education and work experience on her resume when applying to work at the publishing company that her long-time best friend Cha Eun-ho works at as an editor (when he’s not teaching college classes or publishing his own successful books).
If you want warm and cozy feels for the fall or winter season or for the holidays, I strongly recommend this drama, even if you think that you wouldn’t like it because it’s a noona romance.
Goblin: The Lonely and Great God
This drama is set in fall and winter. I feel like it’s set primarily in November/December. There’s plenty of snow and rain, not to mention Christmas lights and decorations!
This drama is about a man named Kim Shin who was a decorated military general who was betrayed by his king and forced to witness his family be killed before being murdered himself. Except he doesn't really die and is instead transformed into an immortal goblin. He wanders through the years in search of the prophesied "goblin's bride" who is the only one with the ability to remove his sword from his chest and set his soul free. 19 years ago, he happens to save a pregnant woman from a life-threatening accident and as a result her child is able to see and talk to ghosts, but because she was never supposed to be born, she has to hide from a grim reaper - who just so happens to now be the Goblin's roommate.
I Am Not A Robot
I’m not exactly sure when this drama is set, but it must be winter because the characters are bundled up and snow is on the ground and falling from the sky. There’s also rain!
Anyway, this drama is about a male chaebol heir named Min-kyu, who is allergic to humans and the mere touch of a fellow human being can cause him to have a severe allergic reaction. He becomes interested in a humanoid robot being made by a company that he just bought/acquired called Aji3. He convinces the scientists to allow him to do a trial run of the robot in his home. They agree, but the day before they are to start the trial run, something happens to the robot that makes it not operational. In order to save their company and the project, the man who designed the Aji3 goes to the inspiration and model for the robot - his ex-girlfriend Jo Ji-a. Since she too needs the money in order to work on her own inventions, she agrees and poses as the robot.
While posing as the Aji3, Ji-a comes to care for and eventually falls in love with Min-kyu, who has also fallen in love with her.
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo
This drama is for all the people who love a good school drama with a friends-to-lovers story. This drama is set during the fall semester of college.
This drama is about Kim Bok-joo, a girl who has been a weightlifter most of her life and has never really considered doing anything else. She falls in love for the very first time with the older brother of her friend Jun-hyung and gets swept up in the feelings. In order to spend time with him and get his attention, she does things that she’d never considered doing before.
Jun-hyung and Bok-joo have a really fun relationship dynamic which starts off almost enemy-like. Jun-hyung teases her at first and while I didn’t like him calling her “Chubs” he doesn’t mean it maliciously, so I guess I’m forgiving of his brief use of the nickname lol They’re really supportive of one another and this drama is something I recommend to non-sports loving people like myself lol
My Roommate Is A Gumiho
Another school drama, this one also being set in college/university.
This drama is about Lee Dam, a female history major student who has never been in a relationship before winding up in possession of (via accidentally swallowing) the fox bead belonging to Shin Woo-yeo, a 999 year old gumiho hoping to become human. Due to the nature of the bead, it causes some ill-effects to Lee Dam, which lead to her and Shin Woo-yeo entering into a contract cohabitation agreement.
You Who Came From The Stars
So, I’ll be honest, I’m only 1/3 of the way through this show (I’m just starting episode 7 as of writing this) but I’m including this one on the list because just like Pinocchio, this show is set primarily in winter. Very specifically, in December.
You’ll see a fair amount of Christmas decorations, lights, etc. in this drama!
This drama is about an alien who had been on Earth for the past 400 years and in 3 months is due to finally return to his home-world. He winds up with a new neighbor, a famous Hallyu actress.
I’ll be honest, the female lead is a bit… unlikeable at first/currently for me and I’m having a tough time with this drama, but it’s got enough intrigue to keep me interested and I’m hoping she gets some positive character development.
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