When Life Gives You Tangerines is a once-in-a-lifetime K-drama, but there are similar titles for fans to turn to. Released in 2025, When Life Gives You Tangerines is Netflix’s best romance in years, and certainly one of the best K-dramas overall in recent memory. Without question, Oh Ae-sun (IU) and Yang Gwan-sik (Park Bo-gum) are an instant classic love story.
Twinkling Watermelon
2023
Aside from also having a fruit-centric title, Twinkling Watermelon is similar to When Life Gives You Tangerines in the sense that both are period piece dramas about family conflict and the passage of time. After a crushing fight with his father, Ha Eun-gyeol (Ryeoun) slips back to the 1990s and reconnects with his parents as teenagers.
The K-drama’s time travel element adds a unique twist to the family drama format, and the story is anchored by Eun-gyeol’s love of music. Just as Ae-sun dreamed of being a poet, Eun-gyeol yearned to be a guitarist, against his father’s wishes. In both cases, however, time gives invaluable lessons in perspective, causing characters to rethink their priorities in life.
My Mister
2018
For viewers who were specifically enamored with IU’s infallible performance as Oh Ae-sun and Yang Geum-myeong in When Life Gives You Tangerines, it would be worthwhile to do a deep dive into her filmography. While there’s quirky supernatural fantasy Hotel del Luna and historical romance Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, My Mister is IU’s most iconic role to date.
In the heavy psychological drama, IU plays Lee Ji-an, a woman struggling to be the sole caretaker of her sick grandmother while being blackmailed by loan sharks. Ji-an becomes fixated on the man she’s targeting, strangely finding solace in stalking him. My Mister added credibility to IU’s acting career, opening the door for roles like Oh Ae-sun down the line.
Crash Landing On You
2019
Crash Landing On You is so popular, it’s a K-drama that needs no introduction. South Korean mogul Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) ends up in North Korean territory after a paragliding accident. Her only hope to survive and make it home is army captain Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin), a renowned member of the fearsome Korean People’s Army.
Just like When Life Gives You Tangerines, there’s a timeless quality to Crash Landing On You despite capturing a specific point in history. The central love story is a genre-defining romance, and unlike some classic K-dramas, Crash Landing On You has aged well. For fans of When Life Gives You Tangerines’ bittersweetness, Crash Landing On You is the perfect replacement.
Rain or Shine
2017
Whereas When Life Gives You Tangerines has some levity, Rain or Shine is a heart-wrenching K-drama that morphs into a tender love story. After Lee Kang-doo (Lee Jun-ho) and Ha Moon-soo (Won Jin-ah) both lose their closest relative in a tragic accident, the pair connect years down the line to help each other heal.
When Life Gives You Tangerines gives its characters setbacks, but Rain or Shine puts its characters through hell. All the gloom and doom of their past trauma, however, only makes Kang-doo and Moon-soo’s romance and eventual happy ending all the more gratifying. Like Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, they make the best out of what they have, even when it isn’t much.
Twenty-Five Twenty-One
2022
The latter half of When Life Gives You Tangerines is a snapshot of Y2K Seoul, while Twenty-Five Twenty-One is a K-drama about young love set in the late 90s. Just like Oh Ae-sun, we meet two versions of the main character, Na Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri): a bright-eyed teen chasing her dreams and a subdued adult who let her aspirations go.
The complexities of mother-daughter relationships run as a throughline between When Life Gives You Tangerines and Twenty-Five Twenty-One, as Na Hee-do’s adolescence plays out in flashbacks as her daughter reads her diary. Similar to When Life Gives You Tangerines, Twenty-Five Twenty-One has a divisive— but perfectly fitting— end that underscores the importance of love, especially in the face of loss.
Welcome To Samdal-ri
2023
While Welcome To Samdal-ri is a feel-good K-drama that delves into tropes like friends-to-lovers and second-chance romance, there are thematic parallels to When Life Gives You Tangerines. Plus, there’s the obvious connection between male lead Cho Yong-pil (Ji Chang-wook) and Oh Ae-sun, who both lost their haenyeo mothers on Jeju Island.
Throughout Welcome To Samdal-ri, the tension between Yong-pil and Cho Sam-dal (Shin Hye-sun) stems from their childhood affection for one another— and while Sam-dal may feel apathetic at times, it’s clear Yong-pil never forgot her. Their devotion is no match for Gwan-sik and Ae-sun, but Welcome To Samdal-ri is a lighter, easier watch that touches on the same major themes.
Our Blues
2022
Before When Life Gives You Tangerines, Our Blues was the prevailing slice-of-life K-drama set on Jeju Island. Both are masterpieces, but Our Blues is a fascinating omnibus that creates anthological vignettes for a diverse ensemble cast. There’s no single person that acts as a main character, yet Our Blues never feels untethered or aimless in its storytelling.
Jeju Island was always a place defined by hardship and pain for Oh Ae-sun, but the setting is the beating heart of Our Blues. In that sense, there’s an interesting juxtaposition between Our Blues and When Life Gives You Tangerines that makes them analogous but still distinctive and equally worthy of a watch.
Reply 1988
2015
The Reply anthology series is one of the best franchises in K-drama history, but Reply 1988 is widely agreed to be the best. Set in a small neighborhood in the eponymous year, Reply 1988 centers on a five-person friend group centered around Sung Deok-sun (Lee Hye-ri), a bright but goalless girl.
Between its retro aesthetic and iconic K-drama couple, Reply 1988 has become essential K-drama viewing since its 2015 release. In many ways, the structure of When Life Gives You Tangerines feels like a more advanced take on the ambitious Reply series, but both are exceedingly successful for their given time period.
My Liberation Notes
2022
My Liberation Notes is a surprisingly divisive K-drama for how simple it is. Three siblings— Yeom Ki-jeong (Lee El), Yeom Chang-hee (Lee Min-ki), and Yeom Mi-jeong (Kim Ji-won)— are disenchanted with life. They cross paths with the mysterious Mr. Gu (Son Suk-ku) and embark on a slow-burn, somber iteration of a slice-of-life.
There’s no real pull to My Liberation Notes, no dramatic hook or exciting plot that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat. Rather, the drama feels more like an understated character study; each sibling is a fully-fledged person, simply trying to get by and stay alive. Ironically, When Life Gives You Tangerines is downright cheerful in comparison.
Pachinko
2022
There are myriad historical K-dramas that span the Joseon dynasty to the late 20th century, but Pachinko manages to create a cohesive timeline from 1915 to 1989. It’s important to note, however, that Pachinko is far from a traditional Korean drama. It takes place across Korea, Japan, and the United States, with Korean, Japanese, and English being spoken accordingly.
While this may disqualify it as a K-drama for some, Pachinko, at its core, is a story about Korea’s history and how four generations of an immigrant family find their footing across a near century. When Life Gives You Tangerines still edges it out, but purists shouldn’t be quick to dismiss Pachinko’s riveting artistry as an unconventional K-drama.
Source: screenrant
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