5 Best K-Dramas About Reincarnation With 8.0 & Higher IMDb Scores

Korean dramas have long been masters of playing with time in ways that leave viewers dizzy. While time travel has become commonplace, reincarnation is a more subtle and philosophical concept.

The best examples of the genre feature characters who live several lives, attempting to break karmic cycles, seek revenge on those who wronged them in past lives, or find each other across the centuries.

5. 'Legend of the Blue Sea', 2016-2017

IMDb Score: 8.1/10

In 1598, a mermaid was washed ashore during a storm and captured by locals. Enchanted by the captive, the new governor ordered her release – but an impossible love had already blossomed between them.

In the present day, con man Joon-jae flies to a Mediterranean island to pull off another scam. He believes the local mermaid legends are a myth until one falls in love with him at first sight.

The mermaid resolves to search for her beloved at all costs, even if it means going ashore.

4. 'Reborn Rich', 2022

IMDb Score: 8.1/10

Yoon Hyun-woo was a loyal employee of the Sunyang Group conglomerate for ten years, helping the chairman avoid punishment for financial crimes.

After the chairman dies of a heart attack, the family decides to dispose of their troublesome assistant – Hyun-woo is framed for embezzlement and murdered.

However, he is reincarnated in the past as the teenage Do-jun, the chairman's youngest grandson. Seizing his second chance, Hyun-woo decides to get revenge by seizing control of the Sunyang Group and eliminating everyone involved in his death.

3. 'Mr. Queen', 2020-2021

IMDb Score: 8.5/10

Bong-hwan is a brilliant chef at the presidential residence whose success has gone to his head – he has become insolent and arrogant. He has plenty of enemies, and one day, he loses everything. First, he is fired, and then he is accused of corruption.

While trying to escape the police, Bong-hwan falls from a balcony into a pool and hits his head. A stranger kisses him underwater and when he wakes up, he finds himself in the body of Princess So-yong from the Joseon era.

The princess is preparing for her arranged marriage to the king, who is remembered as a fool. Bong-hwan urgently needs to get out of this mess.

2. 'Death's Game', 2023-2024

IMDb Score: 8.5/10

For Choi Yee-jae, his entire life was divided one fateful morning. Before a job interview, he witnessed a man being killed by a car. The failed interview set off a chain of misfortunes, including debt, eviction from his apartment, and the departure of his girlfriend.

After seven years of despair, Yee-jae jumped from a roof. Instead of dying, however, he awakes on a luxury plane just before Death.

Enraged by his actions, Death sentences him to twelve reincarnations in the bodies of people doomed to die. If he survives them all, he will get a second chance. However, Yee-jae no longer wants to live.

1. 'Guardian: The Lonely and Great God', 2016-2017

IMDb Score: 8.5/10

The renowned commander, Kim Shin, was idolized by the people but destroyed by the envy of those close to the throne. Accused of treason, he was executed on the young emperor's orders.

The heavens took pity on him, granting him immortality. Now, he is a goblin whose fate only the bride can change. Eun-tak was supposed to die as a child. At age nine, the Reaper came for her, but she escaped.

Since then, she has seen ghosts. On her 19th birthday, as she blows out the candles, she asks for simple things: work and true love. Instead, she receives the goblin himself as a gift.