MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (kdrama addicts #9)

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the Kdrama-curious. (MsLatte is a Her Private Life reference.) Most of our viewing is drawn from Netflix and Viki, with a sprinkling of AmazonPrime and search engine-accessible content available on shady non subscription streaming sites (listed as ‘alt site’ below). The subtitling on alternative sites is variable in quality and the pop-ups can be adult themed...

The previous thread is here but our ‘Addicts Recommend’ list below is cumulative so includes recommendations and favourites from all previous threads.

Shows marked with asterisk(s) are more uniformly loved or admired. In categorising series, its important to note most Korean dramas have multiple strands - e.g. supernatural, romance and a thriller; crime series with fantasy elements. Genre-busting mash-ups are normal. Series that are tagged as dark may also have moments of comedy or the absurd, likewise fluff can have heavier moments. View the categories below as best approximate & ask if you need guidance, eg about suitability for younger teens.

Comedy (with a side order of absurd)
I picked up a celebrity on the street (Viki)
My Fellow Citizens (Viki)

Crime/Thriller
Come and Hug Me (Dramafast)
Healer (Netflix)*
Heartless City (Viki)
He is Psychometric (Viki)
I Hear Your Voice (Netflix /Viki)
Life on Mars (classy remake, alt site)
Live (Netflix)
Pride & Prejudice (Netflix)*
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*
Suspicious Partner (Netflix)*
Watcher (Viki)*

Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
Crowned Clown (Viki)
Mr Sunshine (Netflix)
Rookie Historian (Netflix)

Romance - lighter & fluffier
1% of Something (Viki)
Beating Again (Netflix)
Coffee Prince (Netflix)
Don’t Dare to Dream (Netflix, or as Jealousy Incarnate on Viki)*
Happy Once Again (Netflix)
Her Private Life (Viki)*
His Master’s Sun (Netflix)
Love from a Star (Netflix)*
Morning Call (Netflix - Japanese)
Pinocchio (Netflix)
Radio Romance (Netflix)
Romance is the Bonus Book (Netflix)**
She Was Pretty (Dramabus/Netflix)*
The Beauty Inside (Viki/Netflix)
Thirty Not Seventeen (Viki)
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (Netflix/Viki)
What’s Up With Secretary Kim (Viki)**
You are my Destiny (Netflix)

Romance - heavier weight/more grown up themes
Because This Is My First Life (Viki)*
Chicago Typewriter (Viki)*
Descendants of the Sun (Viki)
Fight For My Way (Viki/Drama bus)*
Just Between Lovers (Viki)**
Melo is my Nature (Viki)/Be Melodramatic (alt sites)**
My Strange Hero (Viki)
One Spring Night (Netflix)
Red Carpet - film (Netflix, very adult content)
Search: WWW (Viki)*
Something in the Rain (Netflix)
The Package (Viki)

Supernatural/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - lighter & fluffier
Absolute Boyfriend (Viki)
Are You Human (Netflix)
Goblin (Viki)*
I am not a Robot (Netflix)
Legend of the Blue Sea (Viki/Netflix)
Love O2O (Viki - Chinese)
Orange Marmalade (Netflix)
While You Were Sleeping (Viki)*

Supernatural/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - darker/more grown up themes
Black (Netflix)*
Hotel del Luna (Viki)*
Kingdom (Netflix)*
The Guest (Dramafast)
Train to Busan - film (Amazon Prime)
W (Viki & Netflix)*

Guilty Pleasures (for the joy, not the quality)
Before We Get Married (Viki -Taiwanese)
Hwarang (Viki/Netflix)
The Last Empress (Viki)
Sassy Go Go (Netflix)

Mad as a box of frogs/uncategorisable
Strong Girl Bong Soon (Netflix)

We have some lovely occasional posters with links to Korea who pop in from time to time to provide the context for some of the more baffling cultural references. (Although we may have scared them all away since our early threads with the fangirling. If you’re still reading, please say hi.)

We are generally fans of all things Korean, so equally happy to talk about Korean cookery, language, film and music when the mood takes us.

We have a few frequently used acronyms:
FL/2FL = female lead/2nd female lead
ML/2ML = male lead/2nd male lead
SLS = Second Lead Syndrome (where the FL/MLis too dense to realise how much better the 2ML/2FL is)
🥾🍑 (boot, peach) = kick up the arse to go to bed

We also abbreviate titles if they’re long, but usually only after using the full title & acronym together or an obvious abbreviation. Some favourite actors & actresses have been abbreviated for speed/efficiency, eg Lee Jong-Suk (LJS), Park Min Young (PMY), Ji Chang Wook (JCW) and his hotness Kim Jae Wook (HH KJW). Don’t be afraid to ask for help/clues if we’re not making sense or have descended into acronym soup.

If you want to join us down the kdrama rabbit hole, welcome! Pull up a chair, say goodbye to early nights and get stuck in…

hello I would agree with that summary for My Country
I much prefer WDH over the other ML

Me too bettys!

Is anyone keeping up with Tales of Nokdu? The dancing scene in episode 3 is so lovely, and surprise abs from JDY. I can't wait to carry on watching it. Kim Sohyun is one of those actresses I will always watch because I think she brings life to any drama.

hello's question of the day: who are the actors or actresses who you will always watch? (have i asked this before? maybe but i stand by it)

hello I am loving Tale of Nokdu and I adored the dancing scene and nonchalant abs

who are the actors or actresses who you will always watch?

GRrr JCW is one. I am watching Melting purely because he is in it, it is not a genre I like

never really got on with Grr JCW but I really do appreciate the visuals he brings to any drama

actually even GrrJCW couldn’t make me sit through Warrior Baek Dong Soo

Hello... Toasty Lee jong suk....

Want to give is a bit more info there, Bea? 😉

😂 😂 😂 Short and sweet answer for hello... 🤣... I would also say GRR JCW... But I haven't watched warrior baek soo! And unlikely to as bettys hasn't bothered! And I bow down to her wisdom! 😂

Toasty Lee Jong Suk is on my list too Bea He's like a freshly baked cinnamon bun. Warm, soft and most importantly delicious.

Ah. I thought it was a “well hellooooo LJS!” Type post & you’d forgotten to include the link to the picture of LJS in his army fatigues or similar, forgetting we have Hello, a regular. 🤦‍♀️

Starting a username with hello was a bad choice really.

In the spirit of the Korean appreciation that happens on this thread, happy 573rd birthday to Hangul. One of the simplest languages to learn to read due to its unchanging sound rules but one of the hardest to understand. 생일축하드려요! I apologise if it isn't truly the theme of the thread but I love a good language and Hangul has to be one of the best. Amazing to thing that its less than 600 years old.

I was chatting to a Korean language teacher at a local event earlier this year and I was fulsome in my praise for the design of the Hangul alphabet and the elegance of the syllables and syntax etc. It is superb. Sadly, for a foreign learner, the wheels come off with the complexity of the differing levels of formality & the way sounds are elided in natural speech. 😄

I was saying on the other foreign language thread that I err on the side of caution and just stick a -요 on most things. The worst that will happen is that you're overly polite.

It was the first language that didn't use the latin alphabet that I started to learn and I'm so glad I did. Even though I still struggle, it's such a nice language to speak. Plus it's not tonal so I don't look odd trying to contort my face to make tones happen.

Is it really one of the simplest to learn? I'd love to learn it but I started on Duolingo ... just touched upon it and memorising the shapes is sooo hard I had to do the ... it looks like a table... that looks like and upside down cup.... This one looks like a tree blown over... and then to remember the sounds for each shape.... ????

Boatyard.....Hellllooooooo LJS!

There's an easier way to learn the sounds and shapes. You can associste the shapes with something they look like that has the same sound in. That's not the best explanation but I'll try show it.

ㄴ looks like a Nose and is pronounced like a N.

ㅎ looks like someone wearing a Hat and is pronounced H.

ㄷ looks like a Door and is pronounced D.

The vowels are harder because the don't look like anything but it can still be done.

ㅓ the little line comes befOre and has that eo sound from before.

ㅏ has the little line After and is pronounced like a.

ㅜ has the line underneath like a rOOt and is pronounced the a u/oo sound.

Ill try find the link for the resource I used but I had it in 30 minutes and haven't really had a problem since.

www.ryanestrada.com/learntoreadkoreanin15minutes/

This is a similar one to the way I learned. I found once I could read things fluently everything became a lot easier to understand.

wow! Hello! That does work!!!!!

OMG! That does seem to work! Thank You!!!

You'll be flying through it now Bea

I had a crap day at the hospital so I've picked up some 새우깡 (spicy shrimp crackers) and I'm going to eat them while watching some cheesy fluffy dramas. I hope everyone's evening is much better

Sorry you have had a rubbish day Hello.
That link about reading Hangul is great! I could actually sound out the examples, I didn't think it was possible 😂.

It's 니모 that gets me. Of all the examples that you could've had, Nemo is the best one

I can remember ㅗ because ㅜ hangs down in to a U (sound it makes) and ㅗ points up to the moon, as it appears as 오 (O) when there’s no consonant first.