MsLatte’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #15): Tiring of your usual telly during lockdown? Want to be transported somewhere else? Try our escapist boxset recommendations

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the K-curious. (MsLatte is a Her Private Life reference.) Most of our viewing is drawn from Netflix and Viki, with a sprinkling of Dramabus (non subscription, maybe dodgy) and AmazonPrime. 

We also dip into Japanese, Taiwanese & Chinese drama as & when. 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 an asterisk 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)
The Fiery Priest (Netflix)

Crime/Thriller

Come and Hug Me (Dramafast)
Graceful Family (Viki)
Healer (Netflix)*
Heartless City (Viki)
He is Psychometric (Viki)
I Hear Your Voice (Netflix /Viki)

Life on Mars (classy remake of BBC series, Dramafast)
My Secret Terrius (Netflix)*
Signal (Netflix)*
Suspicious Partner (Netflix)*
The Lies Within (Netflix)*
Tunnel (Netflix)*

Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
100 Days My Prince (Viki)
Crowned Clown (Viki)*
Mr Sunshine (Netflix)
Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung (Netflix)
Tale of Nokdu (Viki)*

Romance - lighter & fluffier
Beating Again (Netflix)
Coffee Prince (Netflix)
Don’t Dare to Dream (Netflix, or as Jealousy Incarnate on Viki)*
Gogh, The Starry Night (Viki)

Happy Once Again (Netflix)
Her Private Life (Viki)*

His Master’s Sun (Netflix)

Love from a Star (Netflix)*
Pinocchio (Netflix)
Radio Romance (Netflix)

Romance is the Bonus Book (Netflix)*

She Was Pretty (Dramabus/Netflix)*
The Beauty Inside (Viki/Netflix)
The Secret Life of My Secretary (Viki/Netflix)
Thirty Not Seventeen (Viki) or as Still 17 (Netflix)
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (Netflix/Viki)
What’s Up With Secretary Kim (Viki)*
Where Stars Land (Viki)*
You are my Destiny (Netflix)


Romance - heavier weight/more grown up themes

Another Miss Oh (Netflix)*
Because This Is My First Life (Viki/Netflix)*

Chicago Typewriter (Viki/Netflix)*
Crash Landing on You (Netflix)**
Descendants of the Sun (Viki/Netflix)
Doctors (Netflix)
Fight For My Way (Viki/Drama bus)*
Go Back Couple (Viki)
I’ll Go To You When The Weather is Nice (Viki)

Just Between Lovers (Viki)*
Melo is my Nature (Viki)/Be Melodramatic (Dramafast)
My Strange Hero (Viki)
One Spring Night (Netflix)
Red Carpet - film (Netflix, very adult content)
Romantic Dr Kim - seasons 1&2 (Viki)
Search: WWW (Viki)*

Something in the Rain (Netflix)
The Package (Viki)



Straighter ‘Slice of Life’ dramas on universal themes
Hospital Playlist (Netflix)
Itaewon Class (Netflix)
Live (Netflix)
My Mister (Viki)**
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*

Stove League (Viki)

Supernatural/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - lighter & fluffier

Extraordinary You (Netflix)
Goblin (Viki)*

I am not a Robot (Netflix)
Legend of the Blue Sea (Viki/Netflix)
My Holo Love (Netflix)*
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: Two Worlds (Viki & Netflix)*



Guilty Pleasures (for the joy, not the quality)
Bride of Habaek (Netflix)
Hwarang (Viki/Netflix)
The Last Empress (Viki/Netflix)
Sassy Go Go (Netflix)



Mad as a box of frogs/uncategorisable

Strong Girl Bong Soon (Netflix)

Not Korean but just try it
Regulars occasionally branch out into Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese drama. The Chinese & Taiwanese stuff is much more variable quality-wise, so we’ve noted anything decent here:

Before We Get Married (Viki - Taiwanese)
Go Go Squid (Viki - Chinese)
Instead of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk (Viki, Chinese)
Love O2O (Viki - Chinese)
Morning Call (Netflix - Japanese)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Netflix - Chinese)
Tientsin Mystic (Netflix, Chinese)

Thread Regulars’ Top 5 Dramas of 2019
(courtesy of Hello’s kdrama spreadsheet, scores range from +10 if very good to -10 for truly awful)

1. Her Private Life - 9.40 (5 votes)
2. Melo is My Nature - 9.00 (5 votes)

3.= Crash Landing On You, The Crowned Clown, The Lies Within, and The Tale of Nokdu - 8.75 (4 votes)

1. Hotel del Luna - 8.50 (4 votes)

5.= Romance is a Bonus Book, and Search: WWW - 8.17 (6 votes)

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. Quite a few of us are learning Korean, Japanese and/or Mandarin (some more diligently than others admittedly), so we swap tips and links to language resources. Basically, anything topical goes.


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/ML is too dense to realise the 2ML/2FL is better)
🥾🍑 (boot, peach) = kick up the arse to go to bed



We also abbreviate titles if they’re long, but usually with an obvious abbreviation. Some favourite actors & actresses have been abbreviated for speed/efficiency, eg Park Min Young (PMY), Kim Jae Wook (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…

Do esports teams really live in those sci-fi shipping crate type places?

I've been rewatching bits of Love O2O and the FLs lack of response to MLs kisses is really blank, right at the end she puts her arms round him but thats about it! (Still like series as a whole though)

Oh the FL inLove020 really comes across as a wet noodle. I got that she was inexperienced at the start, but considering that they stayed together while she studied, you would think she would have more of a response 2 years down the line.

bettys I know the money they put into creating perfect training spaces is ridiculous. I watched a video on it and it was ridiculous, better spaces than most football training spaces. I'll have to see if I can find it again.

Please post it if you do Hello, as I think it would be of interest to the Boaty menfolk.

Yes I'd like to read it too, as it still just seems to be the stuff of dramas to me and not true life at all.

......and am obv too lazy to look it up myself

Japanese Signal was good right up to the end. Its totally set up for a 2nd series though. I might watch the Korean one next so I can do a direct comparison. 🧐

Ooh do that Girl I'd be interested to know! I think hello might have mentioned that the visuals were better in the Korean Signal but surely the crimes featured would be different.

Well if the visuals are better I definitely need to do a thorough comparison 😁.
If anyone watches the Japanese one, the ML from back in time has excellent dramatic running skills.

This is the longer, more indepth video than the one I watched but they spend millions on it. This is an American team as well which pale in comparison to some Asian teams.

It's absolutely mental to me that they do things like bone density scanning to check likelihood of injury, and even use that data to compare different types of game players. What happened to a simple game of Mario Kart?!

Thanks hello that was interesting! It still astonishes me though that it is obviously a huge industry that (in my world at least) in relatively unheard of.

But where were all the handsome esports players??? >

Yeah, that US esports centre wasn’t anything like the (fake TV) Chinese ones. It was soulless like a business park Travellodge. All those training rooms needed was a Corby trouser press and a tea tray to complete the look.

I just googled the Oslo skyline because the Oslo in this series has soooo many skyscrapers. My instincts were correct. 😉

The stroppy 13 year old at the amusement park in Go Go Squid is good value, but it’s spooky - she’s channelling my inner monologue (dissing the grumpy ML). Keep at it, Little Ai!

So I'm on episode 4 of Korean Signal and the ML is the ML from WSL. I'd agree he's better looking than the lead in the Japanese version but I think the older policeman is cooler in the Japanese one. The scripts are word for word in a big chunk of it so far, and the crimes are exactly the same. But the Korean version is twice as long so I'm not sure if there will be more differences later on.
I'm not as gripped by the Korean version but I presume that's because I know what's going to happen, and when you've warmed to one set of characters they seem "right".
The FL also has a nice green coat in this version but it's not as good as the Japanese one.

Good effort on the comparative viewing, Girl. 👍

I’m tempted to watch the J version of Signal for the green coat alone

Just finished ep 5 of Extracurricular and it’s moving along well, gripping at parts, just hoping it is resolved with no clunking Netflix Cliffhanger at the end🤞

Drunk on one can of 3% beer?

Lightweight

Or convincingly faking it? 😉 Either ways, the Koreans have it on the drunk girl method of conveyance - piggyback wins hands down over the sack of spuds over shoulder fireman’s lift.

I’m not sure that I’ve seen proper drunk throwing up on oppa’s shoulder in a Chinese drama, just one sniff of beer & they’re a ditsy kipper

😂😂 double digits or it doesn't count! ( hides gin labels) My sister was in Seoul a couple of years ago for work and they went for barbeque and makkolli. She said she felt fine until she stood up at the end of the night and it hit her. She was so hungover the next day that she barely made her flight and was stopped by immigration when she landed because she looked so unwell 😂 Her boss had to explain that they were all hanging, but she said she was never going to go drinking in Korea again if she was the youngest/least senior in the group. Being the very supportive sister that I am, I did check of she was ok after having laughed so hard at the retelling of her taxi journey through Tokyo with the combination of nausea/heat/humidity and her boss begging her not to puke 'because it's not covered by expenses'. Poor guy felt so responsible for her being in that state because he was well gone by the time he realised how pissed she was that she got 2 days paid leave to recover 😂😂

I was kind of hoping she’d disgrace herself by barfing on his Lego masterpiece, but it’s far too sanitised for that. Can you imagine? Short of dismantling it and putting the bricks through the dishwasher, the smell would dog you for months.

I’ve decided the young gamers are basically Minions, which makes all the piling into a room in a giggling gaggle easier to roll with.

Oh Monkey that's making me feel hungover just thinking about it 😱

I've remembered something else about Japanese Signal - BTS sing the theme tune!

I've remembered something else about Japanese Signal - BTS sing the theme tune!

That’s set off the Bea klaxon. 😆

She had done something similar before during the avian flu crisis. She was in Beiiing for work, had to go do the socialising thing and ended up running to catch her flight. Got to Narita and was pulled out of the line because she had a high temp and was back from China. She was telling them that she was just hungover but she was grateful for the drip and ambulance ride back to our local hospital which was about 5mins from her place.

The last time I hung out with her for a drink, I was with a few of her colleagues and we had a great time until I managed to lose one of them in central London. Apparently I'm now known as the person who managed to lose the boss that she didn't like and her colleagues claim that it was very suspicious 😂😤 I can neither confirm nor deny...