Stairway to Heaven, it was the crying, running, and tragic ness of dramas that got me hooked. Asians aren't on the U.S. Boob tube and I love how the characters are really developed. Kdrama watcher for life ;)

coffee prince!! after that i just couldn't stop

I fell in love with You're Beautiful 2 years ago when I was supposed to be studying for midterms. I ended up pulling an all nighter, alternating between the show and my AP Environmental Science textbook. I was sleep deprived for a couple days, but I aced the class!

My Girl! I've watched a few k-dramas before My Girl but totally got converted to the dark side after watching it.

My first was Sassy Girl Choon Hyang, and boy how glad I am that it was! It had the perfect mix of sweet romance and hilarious comedy that I loved! Jae Hee is freaking awesome!! It surely got me (and with my SGCH giddiness, my friends and a number of aunts and cousins) addicted to K-dramas!

d kdrama that me start the whole kdrama was coffee prince. and the first drama that make me woke up early just to b the first to watch it in eng sub was boys before flower. huhuhu. i miss those days. hahahah

I got started on k-dramas on "Lovers in Paris". Got all of my faves - romantic scenery in France, nerdy-looking and quite snobbish Hero, and the plucky, down-to-earth Heroine. Not to mention that Cutie Second-Lead Guy!

Boys over flowers was the first kdrama that got me hooked :)

My Name is Kim Sam Soon!!

I came across it while stuck at home, suffering from bronchitis and looking for something more exciting to watch on daytime TV than Days of Our Lives. I'm lucky enough to have tons of Asian channels on cable where I live and this was on. After watching a few episode of it I got so hooked I ended up on d-addicts.com to download the rest! Now my addiction has even spread to my parents, who are watching Tree with Deep Roots as I type! lol

That's also how I learned abour your site (for your episode recaps)! :) Congrats on being 5 years old!

My Girl! I've watched a few k-dramas before my girl but totally converted to the dark side after watching it!

Goong! Alllll the way back in 2006... I'd heard of Korean dramas before of course, but Goong was the one that sucked me into the dark side. I read a lot of manhwa and manga at the time too so you can say I was used to birth secrets, noble idiot syndrome, and melodrama but with Goong it was the beautiful costumes and stage sets that got to me. Plus who can resist Joo Ji hoon's face, hehe.

my gateway drug was Boys Over Flowers :)

wowww!!! first of all congrats on making it 5 years!! its been a heck of a long time since I started watching k-dramas... my first drama was actually Wish upon a star with Anh Jae Wook didnt really like it was all to dramatic for me then tried again with Autumn in my heart and hotelier I loved the later and after that every drama that I could put my hands on I watched :)

I absolutely love My Name is Kim Sam Soon. It was my first drama and still one of my favorites.

Coffee Prince

uhh well mine is my lovely sam soon, my name is sam soon, that started it all for me hahaha then it was non-stop watching.

by the way congrats!!! felicidades!! there were a very few places I could read about drama in english, less in spanish and Im thankful for this place! for more to come! cheers!

For me, it was Coffee Prince. It's a life changing drama.
Pre-CP:
Favourite condiment: Dijon
Favourite indie bands: British
I’d go straight for: no one

Post-CP:
Favourite condiment: Kimchi
Favourite indie bands: Korean
I’d go straight for: Gong Yoo and/or Waffle guy

Fresh voice, stunning visuals, great lighting, a story worth telling – you felt you lived right there, in the thick of it. And years later, I still lust after Han Kyul’s apartment.
I’ve never fully recovered from The YEH Effect (be still my beating heart).
That’s a lot of sheer joy from one show.

The ending, however, written by extraterrestrials surely; was as flat as 48-hours Proseco; left on the table; uncorked; in the sun.

First of all, congrats on Dramabeans' 5th birthday! 
The drama that I first fell in love with would have to be My Girlfriend is a Nine-tailed-fox. I only started watching dramas last year, but my friend recomended MGIAN and I just loved it! 

Meteor Garden (the Taiwanese version of Boys Over Flowers). I watched it the year I lived in China, and forgot about it when I came back to the U.S. Then, a couple of years later on a visit to China, I remembered MG and wanted to watch it again.

Then I started watching more Taiwanese and Japanese dramas, and actually avoided Korean dramas for some reason. Then one day, I decided to try a kdrama (probably Goong or Coffee Prince), and ever since, I haven't watched dramas that aren't Korean, haha.

My first drama that left me hooked and wanting more?

Well, that would be Goong a.k.a Princess Hours. :D

I fell head over heels in love with both Shin and Yul (don't ask how) when Goong first aired and thereafter found myself split between the two literally. Often it was Shin, Shin, Shin (said my hormone-crazed teenage self craving for some broody angsty man-meat) and then there was Yul, Yul, Yul (also by my hormone-infused self. Heh.) Of course, Yoon Eun Hye was adorable as Chae Gyung, which helped a lot since thereafter I seem to dislike most female leads in k-dramas. And the Hyorin's character, I thought, actually was a decent foil (or so I thought then). It's funny how this happens, and how this particular drama will stay forever as my first, and one of those dramas I pull out on a yearly basis just to re-watch again and again and again - just to feel that sparkly, comfortable connection.

This drama did peculiar things to me.

This was the drama that made me alter my body clock just to watch it (before this, I slept at 9 p.m. faithfully every night) until the wee hours of the morning. It was thus THE drama that made me fall asleep during English classes and score myself my first detention on my school record. The subsequent insatiable cravings for all dramas, which rapidly extended to include K-pop, Korean cuisine and much later, a love of the country itself (Thank you, 1 Night 2 Days). And finally, it was this drama that made me start foraging into fanfiction, and I've never looked back since.

Oh, and did I mention, after watching the drama thrice (in Korean and Mandarin with English subtitles) that I've finally figured out whom I preferred?

Yes, I want nobody, nobody but Joo. :D

I started quite a while back with Mars :) (not Korean but still lead me to discover the world of asian dramas :D ).

My first drama ever was She is Nineteen. It one me over instantly!

Congratulations Dramabeans, on turning 5! Thank you for feeding my Kdrama addictions and being my lifeline for times real life makes it impossible for me to catch up on my drama watching and times when I needed a pick-me-up from the ups and downs of real life.

My first ever Asian drama which turned me over to the darkside and made me forever obsessed with anything Asian (although I am Malaysian but I rarely ever watched anything local or asian), was Meteor Garden. I never knew obsession till I met Dao Ming Si and gang. Meteor Garden led me to internet sites and fanfictions, and from there a wonderful friend called Darkice with whom I had numerous stimulating conversations, suggested that I download and watch My Name is Kim Sam Soon. That drama made me fall hook line and sinker, first with Kim Sun Ah and Hyun Bin, and then on to the rest. I love MNIKSS so much that I still watch it every now and then! So thank you Korea for such great dramas, and thank you DB (Javabeans and Girlfriday) for making them meaningful to me. <3

Sigh...My sister brought home the full set dvd of Full House...I watched the whole thing in one day and got stuck to k-dramas :) Seriously, just like you said...it sucked my mid 20's away from me...All I remember doing is going to school, come home watch dramas all night, sleep for an hour or two, back to school. How terrible!!! But I still love it!!!

My first drama ever was She is Nineteen. It won me over instantly!

The first drama I fell crazily in love with was Coffee Prince!

From the many dramas that I've casually watched before, I've learnt that a pretty cast does not make a good drama; a good drama makes a pretty cast. And then rolls along this drama that is both good and pretty. Can you say love at first cup?

The characters in this were so lovable and solid, from Hangyul to Yuju to the ditzy Harim. Eunchan and Hangyul start off as friends (frenemies?) and not outright enemies, which I particularly liked. The whole drama played out nicely in the ways that personal taste did not. I liked the realistic touch to everything. There wasn't a birth secret or an accident or memory loss, just lots of slow touching moments. The ending is also just perfect in the way that it wrapped everything up in a nice believable package.

Still my favourite drama to date.

My first kdrama love was Goong. I normally wouldn't squeal over anything, but this made me become madly in love with kdramas. I would watch it together with my high school friends, talk about it in class the next day, then rewatch it all over again. I memorized the OSTs, although the lyrics seemed like tongue twisters to me. I even drew a small portrait of Lee Shin and kept it in my wallet. Even though it wasn't the perfect drama, it made me feel happy. This drama was one of the things that bonded me and my friends:)

BTW, congrats Dramabeans for reaching 5 years!

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Goong/Autumn in My Heart...so long ago, can't remember which!

First drama that made me google more about k-dramas would be Personal Taste! And, congratulations on the 5 year anni!! You're right, time sure flies when you're watching dramas and spreading the drama-love!! :D

Has to be Stairway to Heaven! Watched this when I was about 7 or 8 and it was a mega tearjerker. Definitely got me into the whole K-drama addiction! :-)

Drama that had hooked me up is Coffee Prince.

It was not my first K-drama, but that drama was the first drama I watched at least 4 times in a row.
To this date I still LOVE Eun-chan & Han-Gyul.
That drama had also brought me Dramabeans, one of my guidance in K-drama land.

mine was actually a taiwanese drama, it started with a kiss, although my first korean one was goong. you never forget your first :)

The first drama that reeled me in was probably Save the Last Dance for Me. I think I cried watching every episode. I stayed up late and got sick watching it, but after that I knew I was hooked!

Congrats on 5 years!

Autumn in my heart. Watch it when i was 9. That was so long ago.

I think the first one that really kick-started everything was Full House. I got really frustrated in the middle of course, but I enjoyed the beginning so much that I stuck it out. Plus, Song Hye Gyo was so gorgeous and Rain was so adorable.

Stairway to Heaven. I cried so much afterwards.... Then it was Goong. hehehehe :3

I've got to say that You're Beautiful was my first love drama. A pure nun thrust into the clutches of the music industry, forced to dress as a guy, with Jang Geun-seok as the leading man and the Hong sisters writing the script? Instant hit. I think it was the first one I looked forward to fully completing. I still crack up every time I think of Go Mi Nam in the shower room imagining all of the hot guys as babies, with clouds covering their...lower bodies.

Happy birthday, Dramabeans! May the next five years be just as wonderful!

My first k-drama was Stairway to Heaven, which was introduced to me by a friend. Thinking back, it was probably the most sappy and cliche drama ever! But at the time, I was completely blown away by the Kwon Sang-woo and Choi Ji-woo as the leads ;)

Full House, which also introduces me to my first K-crush: Rain/Bi

The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince brought me to the dark side. I stumbled upon it after watching Never Forever and becoming quite infatuated with Ha Jung Woo. Then Coffee Prince came along and that was my first time watching anything for 17+ hours straight, I couldn't get enough of Choi Han Kyul; I've been in love with Gong Yoo and K-dramas ever since.

My first K-drama love was A Successful Story of a Bright Girl. I'd been into j-dramas since the late 90's, and I stumbled across Bright Girl by chance when looking for another J-drama. The shoujo manga feel to the Bright Girl story hooked me, as did the strong female lead (who was pretty tough right to the end). As the years have gone by and j-dramas have sort of become so... occupation-focused (lawyer series, doctors, police, etc) I began to gravitate more towards kdramas because they almost always have a focus on the romantic love polygon. I also liked how the are longer and air 2 episodes per week. Win! Now I'm totally addicted~

My first K Drama love?
It's honestly been too long to even remember. I used to watch them dubbed in Vietnamese with my mom growing up. To make me stop crying, she would put me in front of a TV, and so I guess it's been programmed in me to go back to Korean dramas for comfort. (Oh god..!)
I think the first memory I remember is that of Glass Slipper. I stopped watching in middle school, for fear that Korean dramas would interfere with my studies, but in 10th grade, I came across Coffee Prince, and well my gpa went downhill! (:

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My first drama was Marrying a Millionaire...with...Go Soo! I watched it because I had watched an MV by Lee Soo Young with him in it and thought he was super cute with his big eyes. So, I watched that and Green Rose after. Then well, my eyes became glued to the computer screen.

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to Dramabeans!

Congratulations on your 5th Anniversary :)

well my first kdrama was BOF, but i was hooked after secret garden it was funny, romantic and sad at the same time... after that i officially became a Kdrama addict :)