✩ kdrama challenge 2025

Challenge #01.
Sweater worthy of The Heirs — Cutest baby chick (Ep. 5) 

Genre: Romance / Comedy / Sci-Fi

Completed: January 2025

Challenge #02.
Wheel of Chance: Korean Culture Highlight (Throws Salt)

Genre: Romance / Comedy

Completed: April 2022 / xxxx 2025

Other Options: Brewing Love & The Midnight Studio (both not planned for this year)

Challenge #03.
Wheel of Chance: Food Scenes (Drying food outside)

Genre: Romance / Comedy / Thriller / Life

Challenge #04.
Wheel of Chance: Common (yells "바다"! (bada/sea) at the ocean)

Genre: Life / Romance / Melodrama

Completed: June 2022 / xxxx 2025

Other Options: Brewing Love (not planned for the year), Go Back Couple (rewatch)

Challenge #05.
Wheel of Chance: Character Surname (Lee/Yi) — Prince Yi Rim

Genre: Historical / Romance / Comedy

Other Options: Rooftop Prince, Queen For Seven Days, Bloody Heart, Arang and the Magistrate, Anna, School 2015, Jealousy Incarnate, The Light In Your Eyes, Let's Eat, Hot Stove League, 365: Repeat the Year, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, Chocolate

Challenge #06.
Wheel of Chance: Medical Emergency (Rips out their IV line) — Ep. 10

Genre: Romance / Melodrama

Other Options: When The Phone Rings (Ep. 3)

Challenge #07.
Originally broadcast on one of Korea's terrestrial big 3 stations — MBC

Genre: Romance / Comedy

Challenge #09.
Features a character making a wish — Rainbow (Ep. 5), Cherry Blossom (Ep. 11 / 16)

Genre: Romance / Comedy / Fantasy / Music

Completed: January 2025

Challenge #10.
Features a mentor-mentee relationship — Teacher Kim & multiple mentees

Genre: Life / Romance / Drama / Medical

Completed: January 2025

Challenge #11.
Where a character has a pet — Dog

Genre: Romance / Comedy / Fantasy

Other Options: Uncontrollably Fond (dog), Oh My Ghost (dog), Coffee Prince (dog), Let's Eat (dog), 365 Repeat The Year (dog), Kill it (wolfdog), The Smile has left your eyes (cat)

Challenge #12.
Where changes in time are visible — Time Travel & Time Altering

Genre: Thriller / Mystery / Fantasy

Other Options: Rooftop Prince (time travel), Tomorrow with You (time travel)

Challenge #13.
Which aired across two years — Dec  8, 2014 - Feb 10, 2015

Genre: Thriller / Action / Mystery / Romance

Other Options: Let's Eat (2013-14), Chocolate (2019-20), The Interest of Love (2022-23), School 2013 (2012-13), Hot Stove League (2019-20)

Challenge #14.
Character who moves to a new city or previously lived abroad — Greece & Africa

Genre: Romance / Melodrama / Life

Other Options: A Piece of Your Mind (Norway), Are You Human Too (Czech Republic)

Challenge #15.
Starring a beloved grandparent of Kdramaland  — 8 veteran actors

Genre: Life / Melodrama

Other Options: The Most Beautiful Goodbye, Dog Knows Everything, Never Twice, The Light in Your Eyes, Curtain Call, More Beautiful Than Heaven

Challenge #16.
Featuring a character wearing a nondescript black cap for no particular reason — Female lead

Genre: Thriller / Romance / Melodrama

Challenge #17.
Featuring two characters wearing matching items — Tracksuits

Genre: Romance / Youth / Music

Other Options: My ID is Gangnam Beauty (hoodies), School 2013 (uniforms), School 2015 (uniforms), The Interest of Love (work uniform), Playful Kiss (uniforms & pyjamas), Shut Up Flower Boy Band (uniforms & leather jacket), Thirty Nine (hospital gown), Hot Stove League (baseball uniforms), Jealousy Incarnate (women outfits)

Challenge #18.
Starring a lead actor who goes by a stage name — Lee Joon & Jang Hyuk

Genre: Historical / Drama

Other Options: Call It Love, The Interest of Love, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, Tomorrow With You, Are You Human Too, Playful Kiss, School 2013, Cheese in the Trap, My ID is Gangnam Beauty, Arang and the Magistrate, Rooftop Prince, Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung, The Nokdu Flower, Joseon Attorney, Healer, Kill It, Jirisan, Lie After Lie

Challenge #19.
OST by a K-pop group member — "See The Light" - Hyunsik (BtoB)

Genre: Romance / Thriller / Mystery

Completed: January 2025 (needs a re-watch to qualify)

Challenge #20.
Features a main characters who is a celebrity — Yeo Ha Jin, Actress

Genre: Romance / Melodrama

Other Options: Lovely Runner (Idol)

Challenge #21.
Features a sibling relationship — Three siblings

Genre: Life / Drama

Other Options: Call It Love (Sister&Brother), When The Weather is Fine (Brother&Sister), Something in the Rain (Brother&Sister/Sister&Brother), Cheese in the Trap (Twins), My ID is Gangnam Beauty (Brother&Sister), At a Distance, Spring is Green (Brothers), The Smile Has Left Your Eyes (Sister&Brother), Hello Monster (Brothers), You're Beautiful (Twins)

Challenge #22.
A main character has a part-time job — Nam Soo Hyun, has multiple part-time jobs

Genre: Romance / Life / Youth

Challenge #23.
Featuring a a character preparing for or taking an exam — Civil servant exam

Genre: Romance / Life / Melodrama

Other Options: Cheese in the Trap (graduation)

Challenge #24.
Features location/tourism product placement — Gyonggi-do

Genre: Romance / Life / Melodrama

Challenge #25.
Features a traditional market — Fish Market (Ep. 6)

Genre: Romance / Comedy / Fantasy

Challenge #26.
Calls someone by their professional title — "대표님" (Daepyonim / CEO)

Genre: Life / Romance / Business

Challenge #27.
2024 Wheel of Chance: Tropes (First Snow)

Genre: Romance

Other Options: Healer (Ep. 8?), A Piece of Your Mind (maybe), Yumi's Cells (maybe)

Challenge #28.
Listed in last year’s Drama Database

Genre: Thriller / Mystery / Romance

Other Options: Coffee Prince, Arang and the Magistrate

Challenge #29.
Previously discussed in The Weekly Binge

Genre: Fantasy / Romance / Comedy

Other Options: Arang and the Magistrate, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band, Uncontrollably Fond, School 2013, Personal Taste, Chocolate, You're Beautiful, My Unfamiliar Family

Challenge #30.
Features a character that is a part of the LGBTQ — Heo Yoon Seob

Genre: Romance / Life / Drama

Other Options: My Unfamiliar Family (gay), Coffee Prince ("gay"), Love in the Big City (gay)

Challenge #31.
A drama that aired before 2010

Genre: Romance / Comedy / Food

Other Options: You're beautiful, Iljimae

Challenge #32.
Aired in the 2010's (2010-2019) — 10 years ago

Genre: Romance / Mystery / Youth

Other Options: Oh My Ghost

Challenge #33.
From the "Sageuk" genre — Joseon Dynasty (1499-1506)

Genre: Historical / Romance / Melodrama

Challenge #34.
Single episode drama

Genre: Life / Youth

Challenge #35.
Mid-long form drama — 54 hours

Genre: Life / Romance / Comedy / Family

Challenge #36.
Featuring a Truck of Doom™ 

Genre: Romance / Youth / Music

Other Options: I Hear Your Voice, A Shop for Killers, Uncontrollably Fond, Are You Human Too

Challenge #01.
Featuring a sweater worthy of The Heirs — The Sweater

Genre: Life / Romance / Melodrama

Other Options: Something in the Rain (sweater), Uncontrollably Fond (sweater), When The Weather is Fine (sweater), You're Beautiful (sweater), Tomorrow With You (sweater), Shut Up: Flower Boy Band (sweater), School 2013 (sweater), Healer  (sweater)

Challenge #26.
Calls someone by their professional title — Coach?

Genre: Life / Sports