Say what you will about the whole drama, and I bet we can say plenty, but the entrance of Kkokdu as 21st century Kkokdu was pretty iconic in Kkokdu’s Season.

Stairs. White dog. Rain falling. No rain falling. Petals falling. Person falling. Kkokdu appearing, quite suddenly. A moment of stillness. Jewelry falling. Kkokdu leaving, silently.

It’s probably no wonder this was one of the scenes heavily promoted beforehand…and if only the rest of the series were as interesting to watch.

I think Jang Uk wins this year with all his epic entrances! That said, it was overplayed a bit in ALCHEMY OF SOULS 2. Still I can’t deny he was super hot tho!

Second place is Hong-joo in bridal attire with a full wedding planned to marry a very surprised Yeon when they reunite in TALE OF THE NINE-TAILED 1938. And let’s not forget Rang blasting Yeon with a rocket launcher, to show his unwavering brotherly love

Guwon is only copying Matan's enterance in Gaus right?

I couldn’t think of any, went off and had to watch Hospital Playlist just to see that scene again.

I looked up Backstreet Rookie which opens with Changwook nicely dressed in light coloured outfit noticing a kitten trapped in the sewer. He removes the cover and rescues it only to find himself late and covered in mess as he dashes off to meet his date who is not impressed with his smelly appearance and ends the date. However, to all the animal lovers and Wookie fans this is exactly the kind of man we are looking for🥰

My love from the star Soohyun walking through stopped time to rescue a widowed childbride from flying off a cliff due to the wind caused by his starship landing in the Joseon era of Korea.

Baek Ma-tan's entry in Gaus Electronics takes a special place . For someone who wants to not be known, he kept on doing things that sold him out every single time. It a surprise how he wasn't caught in record time.

A most recent is Baek Do-yi in Durian's Affair. Her face was kept hidden to all except her sons till her birthday party. It was worth it though.

Kim So-hyun's entry as a warrior Queen in River Where the Moon Rises.

I think my interest in Mishil was piqued with her very first scene which happens to be the first scene in Queen Seondeok which involves her taking down a team of assassins who were attacking King Byeophyung. Sadly, that's the only scene I think exists of Mishil engaging in battle in Queen Seondeok.

There are some characters that are introduced episodes into the series and were done in an iconic manner but I can't seem to place my head on any at the moment.

Historical dramas are generally better at this, or maybe that's just me? Nah, hardly. Bonus points if the character in question is not a squeaky clean perfect hero but a villain or at least morally gray individual. Like, for example, everyone's favorite trashy (with all respect) tearjerker MOON LOVERS does it so right - ML, looking all goth and edgy, gallops cinematically across the CGI-ed eclipse, rides into the palace, dismounts, kills the very horse he arrived on for emphasis, says cryptic "I'm back, bitches" or something along the lines and struts further in, leaving poor guards and viewers to rightfully expect a bloody trouble now. +100500 for sageuk coolness))) Or the iconic "if sageuk westerns were a thing" slave hunters trio entrance in CHUNO. Hard to beat that, right?

Fantasy costume shows up the pathos even more, as recently proved by TTEOTM (don't expect me to shut up about it EVER lol) where everyone, esp ML, had TONS of these. Most notably intro scenes for his 3 (actually 4) characters: sexy Satan Devil God riding a flying dragons chariot across what looks like and technically is a demonic Apocalypse, blowing up massive territories with just a flick of his fingers; unluckiest prince ever freezing his malnourished ass off kneeling in the snow and giving his abusive wife "can't wait to become a widower" death glare (to his credit, she asked for it); God of War (title alone makes you expect epicness, isn't it?) in his peak battle glory kicking dozens of demons all by himself in his dragon form, then shifting into more mainstream droolablehuman one to slow-mo turn to face the camera (and one stalkerish fangirl in the bushes) while literally sparkling (TWILIGHT much?); and finally the scene on my avatar, where Devil God (not quite the one we discussed above) slowly unmasks himself to do the typical devil's stuff - seducing folks to the dark side (given the face he has it surely was more effective without mask on). All in all, no amount of strutting in a cool suit while badass BGM plays can really reach the same effect, but some shows did try and even somewhat succeeded. Not that I can remember many rn, expect maybe k-SUITS (that one knew what's up). Funny entrances or classics like "character A arrives at Incheon airport and dramatically takes their designer shades off" don't do it me, unfortunately, I'm a go big or go home kind of girl with such things^^

Heartless City : The first scene with the ML is he standing on the rooftop of a building in the middle of the night with the great OST.

Zombie Detective : When he's smoking in dump and the smoke is getting out from his body

Extraordinary You : We spend the 2 first episodes with the FL trying to see his face and finally we can see it! The wait wait was worth it!

Kim Shin and Grim Reaper's backlit entrance when they went to save Eun Tak from kidnappers in Goblin is forever etched in my brain

Shin Hye-sun's "I'm the hero of this story" moment in Mr. Queen, when she swoops in to save Hwa-jin (with 2ne1's 'I Am the Best' running in the background 🤣).

As I’m re-watching Thank You, the algorithm of YT brings this up in my feed: https://youtu.be/_fhTkmE4F4U The Lee Gon shampoo ad in the opening episode of Fated To Love You. Epic!

Yes, Ik Jon’s Darth Vader helmet in Hospital Playlist has my vote too.

I just remembered... Bidam's entrance in Queen Seondok. Yes, he was shown in a couple of scenes before the iconic one, but his real introduction was when he first fought to save Deok Man.

All entrances of the epic Jang Man-wool in Hotel del Luna

Queen Inhyun’s Man, where the ML gets on his horse in 1694, races through villages and courtyards, jumps it over the palace wall, and lands in 2012 Seoul alongside the FL’s car.

Rather than entrances, my two favorite character reveals are:

1. Yumi's Cells when the character that Yumi sees as a paper doll turns into gorgeous Park Jin-young. I gasped, he was so gorgeous, and the "Nightfalling" OST by John Park suited the scene perfectly.

2. Work Later, Drink Now when Mr. Nice Paper is revealed to be Yoon Shi-yoon. I gasped as his character had been a guessing game throughout the drama, then swooned when we learn that he had recognized Jung Eun-ji at his book signing from the message that he had written to her in his book, "You look even prettier in person."

At the beginning of Vincenzo, we see Song Joong-ki and the building where the rest of the drama takes place, but then we immediately jump to him in Italy a couple of days earlier where he has that whole exchange with the guy at the vineyard. The exchange ends with the Italian guy saying racist and insulting things, and Vincenzo striding confidently away as he tosses his lighter into the vineyard, igniting and burning down the whole thing. It really set the tone for his character, and it’s such a dramatic scene. I think that’s among those that I remember most, and to this day I send the gif of the lighter toss to anyone in need of “big burning-down-a-vineyard energy”.

shin se gi... remember...

I love My Holo Love does the introduction of Nan-do, where he's this mysterious figure until he takes off his helmet and then you see he looks (gasp) exactly like Holo.

One of my favorite character intros, although maybe not epic or iconic, is that of Arang in Arang in the Magistrate when you see her in the forest and she starts leaping through the air.

A memorable non-introductory entrance is the lead couple in Healer all glammed up to crash the press conference. They looked great.

The first one that I thought of is Jang Hyuk's entrance in Fated to Love You.
If I'm remembering it right, the hair commercial?

Memorable for me:

-Crash Landing on You: Captain Riu stalking the woods, pistol drawn, catches Se-Ri, then steps on a land mine.

-Reply 1988: the moms calling everyone to dinner

I loved Cha Seung Won with that cane and hat in the Hwayugi! (But I love him all the time, does not matter what role he is playing)