4 Teen Romance K-Dramas for Fans of the Movie ’20th Century Girl’
The Netflix movie 20th Century Girl arouses feelings of what it means to be a young teen and fall in love for the first time. Its sentiment and storyline resonate with many audience members as a female teenager does her due diligence as a best friend, gets caught in a love triangle, and experiences her first love. If wanting more of the sappy teen romance seen in 20th Century Girl, there are plenty of K-drama options.
‘Sweet Revenge’ is a classic K-drama to get started in the teen genre
The 2018 K-drama Sweet Revenge is also titled Revenge Note. In the same high school setting as 20th Century Girl, the teen romance K-drama focuses on Ho Goo-hee (Kim Hyang-gi). She is a kind, quiet, and sweet 17-year-old girl. But like most storyline tropes, she is constantly bullied because her name sounds like the word “fool.”
Her life takes a turn when the brooding and handsome Shin Ji-hoon (Park Solomon) ends up saving more than he would like. In reality, he never planned to and now deals with Goo-hee believing he likes her. As her life continues in disarray, her only solace is her K-Pop idol close family friend, Cha Eun-woo. In Sweet Revenge, Cha plays himself as part of the group Astro.
But Goo-hee gets another chance at redemption and possibly trouble when an app called “Revenge Note” appears on her phone. By writing the name of a bully, bad things happen.
Sweet Revenge is available on Viki.
‘Reply 1988’ is a teen romance ‘Slice of Life’ classic K-drama
Following the trend in 20th Century Girl, Reply 1988 takes place in the past and has a heartbreaking story of young love. The K-drama is the third installment in the Reply franchise and focuses on a group of childhood friends from the same neighborhood. Duk-sun (Hyeri), Jung-hwan (Ryoo Joon-yeol), Sun-woo (Ko Gyung-pyo), and Dong-ryong (Lee Dong-hwi) are high school students, and Taek (Park Bo-gum) is a go player. Each character has their battles in life and family problems.
But a big part of the K-dramas charm is the brewing love triangle between Duk-sun, Taek, and Jung-hwan. Reply 1988 is at the forefront of the complex love trope, ‘Second-Lead syndrome,’ and the meaning of friendship.
Jung-hwan has been in love with Duk-sun since they were children. But he has always been a step too late in being there for Duk-sun and confessing his feelings. In the shadows, he watches Taek win over her heart as they move on through life as friends.
Reply 1988 is available on Netflix.
‘Moment of 18’ K-drama has a loner meet a top student and begin a teen romance
The beauty of a teen romance K-drama is discovering what it means to develop a crush, give in to feelings, and fall in love. Moment of 18, also known as At Eighteen, tells the story of two unlikely characters falling for each other. Choi Jun-woo (Ong Seong-wu) is seen by everyone as a loner, aloof, quiet, and hard to speak to. In reality, he is introverted and only shows his kind and goofy side to the right people.
When transferring schools, he meets Yoo Soo-bin (Kim Hyang-gi). She is a top student who dreams of leaving her mother’s stifling control over her. Ma Hwi-young (Shin Seung-ho) is seen as the golden boy. Behind closed doors, he faces the scrutiny of his father to be perfect and physical mistreatment.
Moment of 18 follows the lives of the teenage characters as they face the world’s complexities. All the while, Jun-woo and Soo-bin develop a friendship that blossoms into love.
Moment of 18 is available on Viki.
‘Twenty-Five Twenty-One’ is the epitome of a coming-of-age story worth a few tears
The critically acclaimed K-drama Twenty-Five Twenty-One had fans in tears by its finale. Its teen romance storyline touched the deepest parts of audiences’ hearts as four characters learn what it means to live life, fall in love, and develop strong friendships. Set in 1998, Na Hee-do (Kim Tae-ri) is a gifted fencer from a middle-class family. She still holds scars from her father’s death and her mother’s inability to understand her passion.
During the IMF crisis, she gets to join another school and the fencing team of her idol. Ko Yu-rim (Bona) worked from her family’s poor background to become a national fencer. When she meets Hee-do, she is less than pleased at the possibility of her title getting taken.
At the same time, in the IMF crisis, 20-year-old Baek Yi-jin’s (Nam Joo-hyuk) family went from riches to rags. He embarks on his own to build his own life from scratch. He soon meets Hee-do and develops a friendship, and they teach other new aspects of life.
