Retrospective of My 2024 Hits

2024 was an absolute whirlwind, complete with surgery recovery, surprise house move, and family health issues.
My tired is tired.

All drama watching goals and dreams of blogging throughout the year went out the window as early as April and I was essentially running on fumes for the next 6 months.
So even though I didn't have near as much time for hobbies and fun as I would have liked, here's some of the main things that I was into this year.

Asian Dramas
January kicked off with a bang as we did a Lee Dong Wook deep dive episode for the podcast, and then in February we released a related A Shop for Killers Hit List episode.
I really enjoyed how action packed and surprisingly touching that drama was.

Also around that time I was hooked on the historical action romcom kdrama Knight Flower and had a really good time with it.
I was in deep, so I watched all of the behind-the-scenes clips and videos on Honey Lee's channel about her stunt training for the show.
Super fun times.

February must have been busy drama-wise for me because I was also very much into the makjang and time travel vibes of Marry My Husband as it was airing.
I also watched all of the behind-the-scenes clip of this show that I could get my mitts on.
Once the drama finished Natalia and I did a livestream chatting about the show, if you'd like to check that out.

As I've been looking back at the year, I've realized that I did have another specific actor 'era' as I'm wont to do, but this one was so unintentional and spread out that I didn't even realize it happened. 

Also he did release three dramas in 2024, so I'm not unique in having spent extra time with him this year.

That being said, Ju Ji Hoon was the man of the hour this go around.

I very much enjoyed the intensity of the kdrama Blood Free and all of the twists it had. It's a really cool show that I can't say too much about for fear of spoiling.

Having approached Light Shop with no idea what it was really about and no notable expectations, I can highly recommend that other folks approach it the same way. However, there are a lot of content warnings to heed and also horror themes, so bear that in mind. I found it to be squarely in my wheelhouse and it ended up being one of my top dramas of the year.

And finally, Love Your Enemy has been a nice, light romcom watch and it was fun to see Ju Ji Hoon flex his comedic timing and expressions. High school star-crossed rivals to lovers and later on becoming coworkers? Yep, I had a great time.

I finally finished an entire 50 episode Korean weekender drama with Beauty and Mr. Romantic!

It was a fun time that I really tried to keep up with but when life got too crazy I ended up having a couple of binge watches to get the job done, and I gotta say, bingeing really highlights that screechy mother character. haha But that's all to be expected. Still had a great time with the two lead characters and actor and actress, they're always a delight.

There were lots of other dramas I enjoyed, but easiest way to get my thoughts on those is to check out the Certified Noonas podcast episodes through the year, since I didn't have the time to watch much outside of what I ended up discussing on there. Also, check out our end of year wrap up podcast episode Certified 2024 Roundup.

Kpop
My consumption of N.Flying's discography is always a given, as well as ASTRO.
Speaking of...in 2024 my ASTRO kiddos brought the heat with Rocky's second mini album BLANK, Cha Eunwoo's first mini album ENTITY, and Yoon Sanha's first mini album DUSK.

ONEWE's two releases, mini album Planet Nine: ISOTROPHY and digital single OFF ROAD, were on high rotation all year long, because of course they were.

I fell deeper into the Xdinary Heroes rabbit hole and listened to all of their tunes all year long.
I also really enjoyed DREAMCATCHER's mini album VIRTUOUS and PLAVE's second mini album ASTERUM 134-1.

My other favorite fun bop albums of the year were Strawberry Rush by Chuu and Whu Is Me: Complex by Hui.

I also jammed out to WORK  by ATEEZ a lot.
But not near as much as I listened to TVXQ's 20&2 twentieth debut anniversary release which dropped at the very end of 2023 and played all year long for me.

Alien Stage
Around late August I ran across fanart for a Korean animated miniseries called Alien Stage on Twitter and went to check it out on YouTube and immediately fell hard.

It's a story centered around a music competition (death match) participants who are prisoners of various aliens.
Very difficult to describe, but golly was it emotional and violent, with gorgeous music and art.
(If you do watch it, take care to watch from Round 1.)
All of the songs from the miniseries are on listening platforms, so I've been listening to them a lot ever since.

Love and Deepspace
Early in 2024 I decided to try out the Chinese otome mobile app game Love and Deepspace. The graphics looked slick and the sci-fi elements were super intriguing to me so I was pretty sure it was going to be right up my alley.

 And dagnabbit was I right. haha
The main storyline is really intriguing and there's always plenty to do and a ton of events to partake (read: spend monies) in, as well as even real life cultural aspects they infuse into aspects of the game.

I've had a blast playing it along with my friends Jane and Katy as we laugh at the silly jokes, and it's been fun experiencing the releases of the love interest character Sylus (as well as Caleb in January 2025).