As Korean dramas continue to grow exponentially in popularity—especially internationally—different streaming platforms have begun creating their own. Much like how Netflix has its own “original series,” many Asian-content streaming services have done the same. Viki, one of the most popular places to watch all things Asian media—including Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese films and dramas—began releasing their own original content not that long ago. Known as Viki Original series, these dramas vary in content of all kinds.
From your typical cheesy romance to heart-gripping action dramas, Viki produces original series that will keep you captivated the entire time. Rather than flipping through page after page of Viki’s list of Viki Originals, here are the top seven, highest-rated Viki Original series that you seriously need to watch.
Table of Contents
Viki Original Series: the Process Used to Make this List
Just so we’re all on the same page, I’ll explain a bit how this list came about. Firstly, Viki has a curated list of “all” their Viki Originals. I say “all” with quotation marks because they haven’t updated the list for a little while, so I had to find many of them from the comments!
While scouring through the list, you’ll see that each drama has a rating (up to ten) and the number of ratings given. I wrote down all fifty-two Korean Viki Original Series that I found, their ratings, and the number of ratings given.
From here, I started crossing out the dramas with the lowest ratings (there were a few in the eights and even one with a 7.9 rating). After that, I removed dramas that had less than 10,000 ratings—as this would skew the rating itself because of the lower number. For example, there was a drama with a 9.6 rating but only 789 ratings given. Compared to other dramas, some of which had over 30,000 ratings, this 9.6 felt a little biased still.
Lastly, I started from the highest ranking and went done. And bam! I had all seven dramas chosen.
The Top 7 Highest-Rated Viki Original Series
K-Dramas Rated 9.6/10
To start off this list, we’ll begin with those rated 9.6! This was the highest rating throughout the Viki Original series. And there were only a small number of them, so you know these are beyond good!
1. Thirty But Seventeen (2018)
This 2018 Korean drama explores the way sudden changes in life can bring difficulties. Woo Seo-ri, a seventeen-year-old violin prodigy, is left in a coma after a serious car accident. Gong Woo-jin, who caused the accident, is guilt-ridden and traumatized from the event. He closes himself off and tries to keep to himself as best he can.
When Seo-ri wakes up again thirteen years later, she’s in limbo of thinking like a seventeen-year-old but living in a thirty-year-old body. Woo-jin tries to help her learn to adjust in this new life.
This drama has a total of thirty-two episodes. And it is marked as a Romantic Comedy and Crime/Mystery drama. So there’s far more beneath the surface of this one! You’ll need to be prepared for anything it throws your way.
On Viki, this Original Series earned its 9.6 with a total of 73,000+ ratings thus far. This is one of the highest numbers of ratings for these original series, so you know this drama has gotten its 9.6 fair and square. You can watch this drama on Viki here.
2. Where Your Eyes Linger (2020)
In recent years, Viki has started creating Korean dramas in the boy-love (or BL) category. While Asian BL dramas aren’t that uncommon—Thailand is especially known for producing plenty of high-quality BL dramas—Korea itself hasn’t dived into that category quite as much. In fact, there were hardly any you could find a few years ago.
Where Your Eyes Linger is one of the first Korean BL Viki Original Series to come out in 2020. It brought a massive influx of viewers and gained over 34,000 ratings. This amount of viewership brought the drama to its 9.6 rating with ease.
This nine-episode drama follows the life of Han Tae-joo, who’s under 24/7 surveillance per his parents’ order. His closest friend, Gang-gook, is there to keep him company through it all. Of course, it wouldn’t be a typical Korean drama if there wasn’t a love triangle somewhere. So the boys’ feelings really seem to bubble up when a girl from their school tries to date one of them.
You can watch this drama on Viki here!
3. To My Star (2021)
The last 9.6 on this list is the 2021 BL To My Star. With 22,000+ ratings, this Korean drama became one of the highest-rated Viki Original Series.
Like the last BL, this drama has significantly fewer and significantly shorter episodes. There are only ten episodes for this drama—each around the fifteen-minute mark—so you can spend an entire day just binging this show!
The drama follows Kang Seo-joon, an actor whose career is on a downfall after being one of the most popular actors in South Korea. When he meets the young chef Han Ji-woo, he believes his luck has changed. The two fall in love, but must fight through their differences to make it work.
You can watch this drama on Viki here.
K-Dramas Rated 9.5/10
With only a 0.1 difference in ratings, these next three Korean dramas hold onto their spot in the top seven Viki Original series!
4. Devilish Joy (2018)
To kick off the 9.5s, we’ve got a drama that has over 34,500 ratings (the highest amount for those in the 9.5 section).
This Romantic Comedy follows Doctor Gong Ma-sung. In the drama, he suffers from memory loss where his memories disappear once it passes midnight every night. To combat this, he takes notes throughout the day so he has some way to remember. He meets a once-popular star name Joo Gi-bbeum. With Ma-sung’s memory loss, they have to figure out how to make their relationship work.
You can watch this sixteen-episode on Viki here!
5. You Make Me Dance (2021)
Another Korean BL drama has made it into the top seven Viki Original series! This one has eight episodes but has over 31,000 ratings to garner itself a 9.5 overall.
Following the intertwining lives of Song Shi-on and Jin Hong-seok, this drama depicts the hard fight one makes to pursue their dreams. Shi-on had gotten thrown out of his house because of his family’s disapproval of chasing his dancing dreams. And Hong-seok was sucked into working in an unfulfilling job. The two meet because of their circumstances, but they’re able to get through a lot of things because they’re together.
You can watch this drama on Viki here!
6. Imitation (2021)
The last Viki Original drama in the 9.5 section is actually one of my favorites. (Partially because of the idols acting in it, but mostly because it was that good.) It has just over 21,000 ratings.
Imitation is a twelve-episode drama that rips open the toxicity of K-Pop fandoms and shows the loopholes many idols go through to make things work. Following the two leads—Lee Ma-ha and Kwon Ryok—it shows just how messy things can get when feelings, fans, and past events can make the present.
Ma-ha had been a trainee for a long time, nearly debuting at one point but ultimately failing. Eventually, she gets to debut with her two friends in the group Tea Party. Though they’re a little unconventional in terms of K-Pop groups, they make a big impact in the K-Pop scene. On the other hand, Kwon Ryok is part of the most popular boy group (Shax). The two cross paths multiple times, and through their misunderstandings they find feelings.
You can watch this drama on Viki here!
K-Dramas Ranked 9.4/10
Since we’re stopping at seven dramas, there could only be one from the 9.4 rating. But you’re in luck… because this one’s a good one!
7. So I Married the Anti-Fan (2021)
Since its release in April of 2021, this Viki Original has been quite the talk throughout the Korean drama world. This drama has accumulated over 44,000 ratings so far and I can only assume that that number will continue to grow with time.
This sixteen-episode Romantic Comedy has just about everything you need: funny moments that are borderline ridiculous, intertwining consequences, and the push of having two people live together. Hoo Joon is one of the biggest stars in the entertainment industry, and Lee Geun-young is a reporter. The two meet at an event and things start off on a really bad note. So bad, in fact, that Gen-young is fired from her job and ends up living with the very same person she thought was the reason for it. Of course… as the two spend more time together, they learn that they get along better than they originally thought.
You can watch this drama on Viki here!
A Few Viki Original Series Worth Mentioning
Like I mentioned earlier, we only talked about the top seven dramas out of fifty-two. There’s plenty of other Viki Original Series to watch! Here are a few that barely missed the cut:
At a Distance, Spring is Green is another drama ranked 9.4. However, this one only has about 20,700 reviews, making it more than half of the chosen 9.4. You can check this drama out on Viki here.
Another 9.4 to check out is Love Revolution! Since its release in 2020, this drama has accumulated quite the viewing. You can find out more about this drama on Viki here.
The last honorable mention on this list is I’ll Go to You When the Weather is Nice. As our only 9.3 throughout this post, this drama held on tightly to be included. With over 43,000 ratings, it’s one of the highest amounts of ratings throughout the entire list. You can read more into this drama on Viki here.
Which Viki Original will you add to your list?
Out of these ten Viki Original series, did one catch your eye? The good thing about this list, since each drama is ranked so high (with a high number of people who rated it), it’s nearly guaranteed that they’re all really good.
If you’d like to find even more Korean dramas to binge-watch, feel free to scroll through our Korean Drama Category! We’ve written about plenty of dramas you’ll want to check out. Including Webtoon Adaptation Dramas and dramas that have actors/actresses with amazing chemistry on and off the screen. So be sure to give our Korea Drama Category a look!