Published Apr 17, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT
Merlyn De Souza is a freelance writer and anime enthusiast based in Goa, India, with a Bachelor's in English Literature. When she isn't writing, she can be found exploring various realms of entertainment, including, but not limited to, K-dramas, novels, and even the occasional manhwa. She also enjoys all things creative, like sewing and makeup.
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When it comes to categorizing K-dramas, streaming platforms are usually the go-to, whether that's Netflix, Viki, or Disney+. However, the studios and producers behind the shows themselves are often overlooked in this process. Some of the most notable K-drama studios include Studio N, JTBC Studios, Pan Entertainment, and Monster Union. Having said that, the one studio that most K-drama fans will instantly recognize is Studio Dragon.
For the last decade and a half, Studio Dragon has produced some of the biggest, most successful K-dramas out there across various genres. After landing so many hits, it's come to a point where any drama by Studio Dragon is almost instantly expected to be good, and the studio delivers on these expectations nearly every single time. That said, of all the K-dramas Studio Dragon has produced over the years, these are 10/10 masterpieces.
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Everything in K-dramas works to make them incredibly compelling, so much so that the best of them will have you wanting to rewatch again and again.
8 Bon Appétit, Your Majesty
Where To Stream: Netflix
Despite being a newer addition to Studio Dragon and Netflix's archives, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty is already proving to be an enduring hit. Released in August 2025, the series saw the return of Girls' Generation's Lim Yoona, in yet another webtoon-worthy rom-com just like her previous hit King the Land.
However, instead of a contemporary chaebol romance, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty adopts the classic isekai formula, blending the modern and fantastical when Yeon Ji-yeon, a professional, award-winning chef, is sent back in time via a mysterious ancient cookbook. Call it fate or misfortune, but a series of events leads to Ji-yeon becoming the private chef to Korea's most notorious tyrant and gourmand, Lee Heon.
With her survival resting on every meal she serves, Ji-yeon brings contemporary cuisine to the Joseon dynasty, improvising as she goes in the absence of modern equipment and ingredients. With only twelve episodes, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty is compact and incredibly enjoyable, with its only shortcoming being that it ends, leaving fans desperately wanting more.
7 It's Okay to Not Be Okay
Where To Stream: Netflix
Amidst releases such as Itaewon Class, Start-Up, True Beauty, The Uncanny Counter, Mr. Queen, and many more, 2020 was a huge year for k-dramas, as well as Studio Dragon, which found its standout hit in It's Okay to Not Be Okay. Starring Seo Ye-ji, the series revolves around an eccentric children's author named Ko Mun-yeong who is also rumored to have an antisocial personality.
The story takes off when Mun-yeong finds herself enamored with Moon Gang-tae, a caregiver always on the move with his autistic brother, who is also a highly talented artist, with Mun-yeong hiring the latter as the illustrator for her upcoming book. That said, while the series may start off as a rom-com, it quickly proves to be anything but light and airy as it explores Mun-yeong's traumatic past and unpacks Gang-tae's own emotional baggage all while a murder mystery unravels in the background.
All that said, the series' biggest draw is its gorgeous visual storytelling, which is interspersed with gothic, whimsical, storybook-esque animated sequences. Beyond that, the series also offers excellent representation of autism and personality disorders, which, together with Seo Ye-ji's stellar performance, offers plenty reason to give the series a chance despite Kim Soo-hyun's recent controversy.
6 Twenty Five Twenty One
Where To Stream: Netflix
If the success of shows like Reply 1988 and even newer releases like Undercover Miss Hong are any indication, nostalgia sells every time and Twenty Five Twenty One hones right in on that sweet 90s nostalgia. Set in the aftermath of the IMF crisis, the series is both a rom-com and a coming-of-age story following Na Hee-do, a talented fencer, and Baek Yi-jin, a young man who is left to fend for himself after his family went bankrupt.
Interestingly enough, the series is told through the eyes of Hee-do's daughter in the present after she comes across her mother's old diary, though this hardly takes away from the immersion. While Twenty Five Twenty One's ending has famously left many heartbroken, don't let this stop you from giving this bittersweet yet incredibly beautiful series a chance.
5 Hotel Del Luna
Where To Stream: Netflix
While IU chooses her acting projects carefully, when she does star in a K-drama, you can bet it's going to be a hit, especially if it's produced by Studio Dragon on top of it all, and Hotel Del Luna ticks all of those boxes. The series revolves around a hotel for ghosts that appears in the middle of Seoul every night. The hotel houses the spirits of the dead with unfinished business, even fulfilling their wishes, but for a price, of course.
Hotel Del Luna takes off when Gu Chang-sun is recruited to be the manager of the hotel as repayment for a debt his father owed to the hotel's mysterious, charismatic owner, Jang Man-wol. Thrust into this secret supernatural world, Chan-sung gradually unravels the secrets of the hotel as well as Man-wol's tragic past. All in all, besides its excellent main leads and well-written story, Hotel Del Luna has a little bit of everything, be it romance, comedy, tragedy, horror, or fantastical elements, making it a must-watch even years later.
4 Gyeonseong Creature
Where To Stream: Netflix
Custom image by Yeider ChaconBesides cozy rom-coms and grand fantasies, Studio Dragon has just as good of a grip on the horror genre with two major hits in Sweet Home and Gyeongseong Creature. That said, while Sweet Home is undoubtedly popular, Gyeongeong Creature is easily the superior of the two, with a subversive take on the saturated zombie horror trope.
The series is set in post-WWII Seoul, called Gyeongseong at the time, and follows the unlikely duo of Jang Tae-sang and Yoon Cha-ok as they investigate a hospital where, instead of your typical zombie outbreak, human experiments by the Japanese armed forces have bred a fearsome creature born of a zombie virus.
However, other than bestowing its victim with peculiar powers, this virus can also grant powers of immortality, making for quite a subversive story. All in all, with two seasons, Gyeongseong Creature is packed with action, excellent CGI, and is a must-watch even for non-horror fans.
3 Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
Where To Stream: Netflix
While Studio Dragon pumps out more rom-coms than you can count every season, very few are as memorable or as perfect as Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, and even fewer have managed to achieve the same mainstream success. Set in the fictional seaside town of Gongjin, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha follows Yoon Hye-jin, a dentist from Seoul who decides to open up her own clinic in the countryside.
In doing so, she crosses paths with Hong Du-sik, the captain and handyman of Gongjin beloved by the entire town. From then on, their paths keep intertwining, bringing the two closer despite initially being at odds. That said, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is much more than a simple, cozy romance with deep, heartfelt themes of community, family, guilt, and overcoming prejudice.
2 Alchemy of Souls
Where To Stream: Netflix
With an estimated production cost of $30 million in all, Alchemy of Souls might just be one of Studio Dragon's most high-budget dramas, and it most definitely paid off. Set in the fictional land of Daeho, the series follows a notorious assassin named Naksu, who, when cornered and at death's door, swaps her soul with that of a seemingly ordinary woman named Mu-Deok.
Eventually, Naksu, or rather Mu-deok, find herself entangled with Jang-uk, the son of one of the four great noble families of Daeho. Much like Naksu, Jang-uk comes with secret baggage of his own in the form of an absentee father who blocked Jang-uk's energy gate before abandoning him as a child, thus leaving him unable to cast spells. Thus, despite being master and servant, Mu-deok ends up us being Jang-uk's master as far as spell-casting is concerned.
Overall, with two seasons and thirty episodes, Alchemy of Souls still reigns supreme as one if not the best fantasy K-dramas out there with a top-notch story, script, romance, as well as excellent set and costume design, special effects, CGI, world building and power system.
1 Crash Landing on You
Where To Stream: Netflix
With some K-dramas, it's clear that they're masterpieces right from the start, and Crash Landing on You is one such enduring masterpiece. The series takes off on the absurd premise of a South Korean woman accidently ending up in North Korea while paragliding. Deep in enemy territory, Yoon Se-ri is luckily discovered by Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok, who allows her to hide away in his home until he can find a way to safely get her back across the border.
However, being a rich heiress, celebrity, and businesswoman, Se-ri is the definition of a fish out of water in North Korea, and is forced to adapt to her new very humble and challenging lifestyle all while having to keep her identity a secret. With beautiful writing, cinematography, music, and exceptional chemistry between its leads, Crash Landing on You has cemented itself as a K-drama classic, even if its somber moments are sometimes broken up by good ol' Subway product placements.
Release Date 2019 - 2020-00-00
Network tvN
Directors Kim Hee-won
Writers Park Ji-eun
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