If you think long distance relationships are hard, wait until you fall in love with someone from another century!
A time-travel romance usually starts with how the two leading roles find love in each other despite the differences (coming from a different time is definitely a huge difference) and how reality strikes eventually and they are forced to decide whether they need to part and go back to their own lives.
Delve into unrealistic love stories with these 10 South Korean time-travel romance dramas:
1.Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo is more than just a time-travel romance drama; It is about the power struggle and survival of the mentally fittest as they fight for the throne.
Based on the Chinese novel Bu Bu Jing Xin by Tong Hua, the story starts with Go Ha-jin (Lee Ji-eun) being transported back in time to the Goryeo Dynasty from 21st century woman.
She wakes up in the year 941 in the body of Hae Soo where she initially falls in love with the 8th Prince Wang Wook (Kang Ha-neul).
Later, her love interest is the fearsome 4th Prince Wang So (Lee Joon-gi) who has hideously scarred and hides it behind a mask.
The drama, overall is like a reverse harlem story with more than two of the characters falling in love with the leading woman.
As the princes fight for their places in the palace, more than two deaths occur along the way. So get ready with your tissues as some deaths are truly sorrowful to watch.
2.Rooftop Prince (2012)
How far would you go to marry the guy of your dream? Would you scar your own sister for life just to get what you want?
The story follows Lee Kak, a Joseon prince who is ready to marry Boo Yong (Han Ji-min). But her sister Hwa Yong (Jung Yoo-mi) wants to marry the prince so she accidentally-on-purpose burns her sister’s face.
As the old tradition goes, the bride of the king or future king must be without any blemishes or scars, so Hwa Yong ends up marrying the prince.
Years pass and the connection or attraction between Lee Kak and Boo Yong remains undeniably strong to Hwa Yong’s dismay. Suddenly, one day Lee Kak finds his wife has mysteriously died.
While he investigates into his wife’s death, Lee Kak and his men are chased by a group of assassins to the edge of a cliff.
The group jumps off the cliff and then later find themselves transported to the 21st century.
In present day Seoul, Lee Kak finds Park Ha who has an uncanny resemblance to Boo Yong.
3.Tomorrow, With You (2017)
This Korean time-travel romance drama kinda reminds you of Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 novel The Time Traveler’s Wife.
The story centers around Yoo So-joon (Lee Je-hoon), a CEO of a real estate company.
He has the ability to travel through time via a subway. The more So-joon tries to change the future that he foresees, the more it changes his present.
He saves a woman named Song Ma-rin (Shin Min-a) and eventually decides to marry her to prevent her death that he foresees during his time travel.
In the end, can he truly change the future? Overall, the CGI is nicely done while the cinematography is impressive.
4.Queen In Hyun’s Man (2012)
Before Yoo In-na went on to star in Kim Eun-sook’s Goblin, she had her first leading role in Queen In Hyun’s Man (2012).
Here, she plays the role of Choi Hee-jin, an unsuccessful actress who lands her big break when she is cast as Queen In-hyun in the the drama “New Jang Heebin”. She crosses paths with Kim Bung-do (Ji Hyun-woo) and eventually falls in love.
Meanwhile, Bung-do is a time-traveler and a noble-born scholar from 1694 whose family was massacred in a conspiracy.
Bung-do supports the reinstatement of Queen In-hyun a real-life Joseon queen (1667-1701) who was the second queen consort of King Sukjong.
The queen was deposed by the infamous royal concubine Jang Hui-bin who is historically known for her greed for power.
5.Go Back Couple (2017)
Also known as Confession Couple, this time-travel romance drama is based on the Naver webtoon Do it One More Time by Hong Seung-pyo and Kim Hye-yeon.
It is about a pair of married couple who is unhappy with their lives as they both struggling to find their purposes in life.
After reaching a breaking point of their relationship, they both find themselves as 20-year-old university students.
What happen when they decide to make different choices than they did the first time around? One of thing for sure, their decisions impact their friends and families more than themselves.
The drama stars Son Ho-jun as Choi Ban-do and Jang Na-ra as Ma Jin-joo.
6.Faith (2012)
In 2012, Eun-soo (Kim Hee-sun) is a 33-year-old plastic surgeon who was originally a general surgeon. One day a strange man whom she thinks is a drama extra kidnaps her and takes her back to the Goryeo era.
The man turns out to be Choi Young (Lee Min-ho), a royal bodyguard to King Gongmin of the Goryeo Dynasty from the mid-1300s.
There is a handful of time jumping in this drama that makes you want to scream, “Why can’t they just stick to one century at a a time?!”
Meanwhile, behind the camera, the drama was embroiled with casting conflicts and embezzlement scandals.
The writer Song Ji-na uploaded the original script on her website and showed that there were some obvious differences from the final product.
One could not help but wander if the drama could have turned out better if they stuck to Song Ji-na’s original script and if they did not have financial problems.
7.Somehow 18 (2017)
When it comes to K-pop group Shinee, you can’t be sure who is the better actor of the group; Onew or Minho.
In this time-travel romance drama, Minho acts as Gyung Hwi, a 28-year-old resident at a university hospital.
He was bullied in high school and even tried to commit suicide. Thankfully, a new student transfer Han Na-bi (Lee Yoo-bi) stops him.
To his shock however, she later took her own life. For 10 years, Gyung Hwi cannot let go of his past.
One day, he finds himself back in high school 10 years prior before Na-bi’s death. Now he has to find out why she killed herself, but most importantly, can he stop her?
8.Marry Him if You Dare (2013)
While this storyline and plot is good and entertaining, the final episode of this time-travel romance drama might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
It depicts the love stories and the lives of people working in a broadcasting station.
Na Mi-rae (Yoon Eun-hye) travels back in time to prevent her 32-year-old self from marrying news anchor Kim Shin.
This sets her onto a different path in life, enabling her to do the things she really wanted.
9.Splash Splash Love (2015)
Dan-Bi (Kim Seul-gi) is a senior high school student who has an irrational fear of mathematics.
For her university entrance exam, Dan-Bi can’t deal with the pressure and runs off to a playground.
There, she falls into a puddle and finds herself transported to the Joseon period.
In Joseon she is mistaken for a eunuch. She then serves as a confidante of King Lee Do (Yoon Doo-joon).
Interestingly, Danbi’s high school level of math and science makes her the greatest scientist in the entire kingdom.
10.Bing Goo (2017)
When Man Soo (Kim Jung-hyun) meets Jang Ha-da (Han Sun-hwa), he is shocked to see she looks exactly like the woman he was in love with back in 1979.
While other time-travel romance dramas on this list have fancy portals or ways to make their time jumps, Bing Goo is about a man who was frozen for 37 years.
So it is basically a melodramatic version of Captain America without the superpower or the Avengers and there is another woman who looks like Peggy in the future.
