‘‘THAT DRAMA
EVERYBODY KNOWS ’’

Let's face it: There IS that specific handful of K-dramas that all the international fans have watched, no matter how much they like K-dramas or not. As a Korean American who goes to school in California, I know what drama title to say when I've met an international 'newbie' K-drama fan. Even if he/she had only watched one or two, the drama I have in mind is almost always right.
And I'm pretty sure we all have the same drama in mind. Yes. That drama.

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10. To the Beautiful You

Don't tell me you haven't even heard of this drama, or even thought of watching it.
Take a look: SM here, SM over there, and yeah, SM over there in the back too. If SHINee's Minho hadn't caught your eye, then f(x)'s Sulli would. Or maybe the semi-popular Lee Hyunwoo who had a pretty sturdy amount of fans at the time this drama came out. Then there was Kwanghee, some hot guy no one knew named Kang Haneul.... And then the real deal--SM's new group, EXO would be revealed in the drama for a good four seconds.
An SM drama, people called it, and an SM drama it was. Let's face it: No good actors were in the drama. Instead, it was a great--perfect--gift of fanservice.
But by the time this drama came out, we were smart enough to know that, well, such a drama wouldn't get a lot of good ratings. The plotline was mixed with a hint of boring school life, a teaspoon of bad acting, and a bucketful of 'What am I watching'. To the Beautiful You was generally a cliche drama, and wasn't worth my time... which was part of the reason why this is tenth on the list. I can bet you a lot of people stopped watching this in the middle, even if they had let out a few Kpop fangirl screams here and there before.
But really, almost everyone atleast typed this drama up in the Internet to check it out.

9. The Moon that Embraces the Sun

This is one of those 'rising stars' dramas: Kim Soohyun became Kim Soohyun because of this drama.
Now, as all of you know, the name 'Kim Soohyun' rang a bell with a whole lot of people when this drama was first introduced. He had been known as the lovable Samdong from Dream High, or the adorable-guy-that-suddenly-turns-emo love interest with Miss A's Suzy. If his character hadn't caused a crowd of people to click on episode one, Jung Il Woo from High Kick and ZE:A's Im Siwan would've gotten that crowd.
In my opinion, this was one of those dramas that wasn't too popular at first, but got a HUGE improvement in popularity as it progressed. Rumor spread that this was a pretty good drama, and everyone suddenly started watching it. Now, if someone said The Moon that Embraces the Sun, you would automatically know, 'Oh, that historical drama with Kim Soohyun with the moons and suns in the title or whatever.'  Because that's how I remembered it at first.
But over all, this made a much better success among the people in Korea more than America, so I give it a 9.

8. City Hunter

Guys, this had Lee Minho.



JK. Not gonna end there. Because then there was a pretty interesting plotline, about the intense revenge and action. Really, the poster ended the game: Lee Minho, dressed in black, hot hair, hot glare, and that gun. His love interest? Park Minyoung, who was pretty much a beautiful actress with a praised talent of acting. This and KARA's Goo Hara made a pretty intruiging cast, which made all those thriller lovers dig into the first episode without hestitation.
But that may be the problem: K-drama fans, after all, consisted of both older AND younger people. The younger middle schoolers definitely wouldn't want to watch a guy stabbing another with a scalpel to dig a bullet out during the first episode. And really, even I at that age wouldn't have been interested in a drama about a guy taking revenge on the Blue House when I found the White House boring enough.
But as I said earlier, Lee Minho was enough to pull in a huge crowd.

7. My Girlfriend is a Gumiho

Now, this drama may not fit your opinion, but a certain friend's 'OHMYGOD I LOVE THAT DRAMA' fangirlism brought me to put this drama on the list.
Lee Seungi was and is famous, being the multi-mulit guy who sings, acts, and runs Strong Heart like an adorable pro. But unlike the others, it wasn't really the cast's doing that brought this drama to be known around the world. Sure, T-ara's Hyomin was here, but the storyline. What kind of drama with a cute and pretty nine-tailed fox is called cliche?
It was definitely fun to watch, and I liked it--it was a good source of entertainment. The story went by intriguingly, and the plot itself was interesting to the many people out there.
But like reality itself, all the WOWY dramas may not be as favored outside of Korea, mostly because it's simply a different country and nature does what nature does. This drama was a cute, nicely packaged drama, and I would recommend it to all the fluffy, cutesy watchers out there.

6. Shut up Flower Boy Band

I'm guessing you're starting to see a pattern here. Yes, the dramas with a bunch of Kpop idols always make their way to the international world. A 'star-studded cast', some would call it. As for this drama?
YEAH! You're right! It's INFINITE'S L!
That's what everyone, including me, thought when I first heard about this drama. Sure, L's acting is labelled as just eh, common, but gawd just look at that perfect pair of sparkly eyes and that attractive nose and kissable lips and--oh my gosh the ot