2025 isn’t over yet, but it’s already been an exciting year for some of the best K-dramas. Though Squid Game has come to an end (for now) that doesn’t mean there aren’t still plenty of Korean dramas to obsess over.
The selections below tackle a variety of relevant topics (even if they’re not wholly relatable), including high school bullying, revenge, and the kind of poverty that leads citizens to despair. And no one does slice-of-life shows like Korean creatives, who present everyday life in such a compelling way that serves as a reminder that sometimes the most ordinary action can also be the most profound.
Below, check out the 7 best K-dramas of 2025 — so far — that you’ll want to check out immediately.
When Life Gives You Tangerines
If a green flag was a man, it would be Gwan-sik (Park Bo-gum). Devoted to Ae-sun (IU) since their childhood, he repeatedly proves his devotion for her throughout this gorgeous slice-of-life K-drama. When he learns that Ae-sun – orphaned at a young age – is being treated as less than at her uncle’s house, he brings her fish every day to ensure that she is eating everything her relatives do. After she cries out for him as he sails away to another city, Gwan-sik literally jumps off the ship to swim to her. And when his mother and grandmother pick away at Ae-sun’s self worth – something they feel entitled to – he defies tradition and removes her from the toxic environment into their own home.
The show’s deconstructed storyline moves from the 1960s to present day, focusing on the hardships the couple overcome in order to have their happily ever after. Park and IU play their characters as young adults, and the latter also tackles the role of the couple’s strong-minded daughter, Geum-myeung. But even Geum-myeung internalizes generational trauma as she deals with what her potential in-laws expect from her. As Ae-sun watches her daughter put herself last before them, she realizes that Geum-myeung learned to do this by watching her. As for the series finale, warning! It will tie up loose ends, but it will also break your heart. (Netflix)
Study Group
Ga-min’s love for academics is as strong as his grades are weak. Even as a middle school student, none of his classmates would cram with him. They feared they might do worse on exams just by being in his proximity. In high school, the studious but grade-challenged teen (played by Hwang Min-hyun) hopes to better his chances to get into a good university by transferring to a less prestigious and academically easier high school, but his grades are still at the bottom.
So he puts that effort into forming a study group and finding classmates who will join him, in a testament to his determination to better himself. Study Group also is a fast-moving action series where teenagers fight nonstop and rank each other by who can beat up everyone else. Like Clark Kent, who turns into Superman when he removes his glasses, Ga-min proves to be a skilled martial artist who can take down anyone when he removes his. Shout out to Ga-min’s mother, who unlike other K-drama parents push academic excellence above all else. “Who cares if you don’t do well on tests,” she tells him. “That’s not the important thing.” (Viki)
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