Netflix is investing heavily in new original Korean content. Read on for the best Korean Dramas on Netflix right now (July 2021).<\/b>
\nLet\u2019s go ahead and cut to the chase. If you have any interest whatsoever in K-dramas \u2014 and you should, because so many of them come close to TV perfection \u2014 Netflix is increasingly the place to turn to. The biggest streamer in the world has already made clear it will spend around half a billion dollars this year on Korean content alone. That\u2019s to continue investing in a Korean content slate that\u2019s helped Netflix garner almost 4 million users in the country. It even built a pair of production facilities in South Korea and has been releasing a steady stream of original Korean shows and movies. Which ultimately begs the question: Which ones, exactly, are the best Korean dramas on Netflix to stream right now? Since \u201cbest\u201d is subjective, a good way to answer this is by identifying a certain kind of Netflix K-drama. Below, you\u2019ll find our recommendations for original Netflix Korean fare that a connoisseur of the genre would identify as \u201cmust watches.\u201d We can argue about which ones of these are the best. But all of them, most definitely, need to at least be seen. There are five shows in all below. And at least some of them also deserve to be on the year-end best TV of 2021 lists. Furthermore, you don\u2019t have to take our word for this, either. Ask any hardcore K-drama fan, and they will point to some and maybe even all of these shows as among the best of what Netflix has to offer. So, without further ado, let\u2019s dive in. If you need a one-stop-shop place to start, Netflix\u2019s K-drama landing page is a good entry point into the category. These are all grouped the same way Netflix content on your main page is. The K-drama categories here include everything from \u201cSoapy TV Shows\u201d to \u201cPopular,\u201d \u201cSci-fi\u201d and more. Let\u2019s start with a recent addition to Netflix\u2019s library, one that debuted in February and which I just finished, myself. Vincenzo is a perfect example of something I\u2019ve encountered during the coronavirus pandemic. Stuck at home, I\u2019ve found myself gravitating to international streaming fare, including Korean shows like this one. And it feels like so many K-dramas, including Vincenzo, try to bombard you with anything and everything you could possibly like. Vincenzo, especially, encompasses comedy, drama, action, corporate espionage and intrigue, a little romance \u2014 something, in other words, for everyone. A quick summary of the plot: Vincenzo Cassano is a lawyer and consigliere for the Italian mafia. He returns to his homeland of Korea, and quickly locks horns with a corrupt CEO and his minions. Vincenzo lays the smack down on bad guys the way you\u2019d expect from a stylish Mafioso. He also sticks up for a coterie of small business owners, who form the heart of the show. There are way too many twists in Vincenzo to count, so you\u2019ll never get bored. There\u2019s only one season (again, something of a hallmark of K-dramas), so you don\u2019t have to make a huge investment here. It\u2019s pure escapist TV, of a sort that translates across any language. Crash Landing on You gets my vote for the #1, absolutely best Korean drama on Netflix. The plot: A filthy rich South Korean heiress goes hang gliding and gets swept across the border in a storm. She lands in a North Korean forest. In a tree, where she crash lands into the arms of a handsome, elite North Korean soldier. You can probably guess where this one\u2019s going. Same as with Vincenzo, CLoY (the acronym by which fans refer to the show) is chock-a-block with everything from romance to comedy, drama, action sequences, big-budget set pieces, an ensemble bromance, and spy action, along with much more. Be warned: You will literally fall in love with all of these characters, and you might be ready to march outside of Netflix\u2019s headquarters in protest once you\u2019ve finished this one. That\u2019s because there\u2019s not going to be a Season 2. Just try it, though. You\u2019ll see what we mean (But you WILL be satisfied, overall, because this one is absolutely the best of the best). From Netflix\u2019s official description of It\u2019s Okay to Not Be Okay: \u201cDesperate to escape from his emotional baggage and the heavy responsibility he\u2019s had all his life, a psychiatric ward worker begins to heal with help from the unexpected.\u201d The unexpected being \u201ca woman who writes fairy tales, but doesn\u2019t believe in them.\u201d There\u2019s an element of bravery in this show that I haven\u2019t seen a TV drama tackle to this same degree in a long time. It beautifully grapples with issues of mental health and what it means to heal from trauma. Every character in the show has some baggage, of sorts, along these lines. From depression to PTSD. No less than The New York Times praised this show as one of the best international series of 2020. This one sort of feels like The Wonder Years \u2014 but transported to Seoul, in the 1980s. That should tell you all you need to know about Reply 1988, which follows the lives of five families who all live on the same street in a Seoul neighborhood called Ssangmun-dong. It will remind you of a certain time in your life, when you were growing up, and it really underscores the universality of the best Korean dramas on Netflix. \u201cEvery day is extraordinary for five doctors and their patients inside a hospital, where birth, death and everything in between coexist,\u201d reads the official Netflix description for Hospital Playlist. This one reminds me of Scrubs, in terms of the mixing of tones. The characters practice medicine. There\u2019s also the normal bond we see between friends. And they\u2019re also all in a band together. Hospital Playlist is another fan favorite. It\u2019s on all of the \u201cBest Korean drama\u201d lists, and fans of the genre should definitely check it out.<\/p>\n