MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #30): In which we return to Korea from our January Japanese adventures

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the K-curious. Most of our viewing is drawn from Netflix and Viki, with a sprinkling of AmazonPrime. There are also platforms streaming content illegally if you go looking. We don’t promote them as they are peppered with pop-ups of “Olga” and friends offering a good time, but we can point you in the right direction. We also dip into Japanese, Taiwanese & Chinese drama as & when.

The previous thread is here but our list 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. Writer/actor Simon Pegg referred to it fondly as “tonal chaos” - it’s part of kdrama’s charm. View the categories below as best approximate & ask if you need guidance about suitability for younger viewers.

Comedy (with a side order of absurd)
I picked up a celebrity on the street (Viki)
My Fellow Citizens (Viki/Netflix)
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, no major site yet)
My Name (Netflix)
My Secret Terrius (Netflix)*
Signal (Netflix)*
Stranger - 2 seasons (Netflix)
Suspicious Partner (Netflix)*
The Lies Within (Netflix)*
Tunnel (Netflix)*

Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
100 Days My Prince (Viki/Netflix)
Crowned Clown (Viki/Netflix)*
Mr Queen (Viki)*
Mr Sunshine (Netflix)
Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung (Netflix)
Tale of Nokdu (Viki/Netflix)*
The King’s Affection (Netflix)
The Red Sleeve (Viki)*

Romance - lighter & fluffier
Beating Again (Netflix)
Coffee Prince (Netflix)
Dali & the Cocky Prince (Viki)
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)
Hometown Cha Cha Cha (Viki)*
Love from a Star (Netflix)*
Lovestruck in the City (Netflix)
Monthly Magazine Home (Viki)
Pinocchio (Netflix)
Radio Romance (Netflix)

Romance is the Bonus Book (Netflix)*
Run On (Netflix)

She Was Pretty (Netflix)*
The Beauty Inside (Viki/Netflix)
The Secret Life of My Secretary (Viki/Netflix)
Thirty Not Seventeen (Viki) or as Still 17 (Netflix)
To My Star [BL] (Viki)
True Beauty (Viki)
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (Netflix/Viki)

What’s Up With Secretary Kim (Viki)*
Where Stars Land (Viki)*
You are my Destiny (Netflix)
You Make Me Dance [BL] (Viki)
Yumi’s Cells (Viki)


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)
Doom At Your Service (Viki)
Fight For My Way (Viki/Netflix)*
Go Back Couple (Viki)/Couple on the Backtrack (Netflix)
I’ll Go To You When The Weather is Nice (Viki)
It’s OK Not To Be OK (Netflix)

Just Between Lovers (Viki)/Rain or Shine (Netflix)*
Mad For Each Other (Netflix)*
Melo is my Nature (Viki)/Be Melodramatic (other sites)*
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, Netflix)*

Something in the Rain (Netflix)
The Handmaid (film, Netflix - content warning: explicit sexual content)
The Package (Viki)

Straighter ‘Slice of Life’ dramas on universal themes
Hospital Playlist (Netflix)*
Hospital Playlist 2 (Netflix)*
Into The Ring (Viki)
Itaewon Class (Netflix)
Live (Netflix)
Misaeng (Netflix)*
Move to Heaven (Netflix)
My Mister (Viki/Netflix)*
My Unfamiliar Family (Viki)*
Navillera (Netflix)*
Prison Playbook (Netflix)*

Once Again (Viki)
Stove League (Viki)/Hot Stove League (Netflix)
Racket Boys (Netflix)
Would You Like a Cup of Coffee (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)
Kiss Goblin (Viki, webdrama)
My Holo Love (Netflix)*
Orange Marmalade (Netflix)
While You Were Sleeping (Viki)*



Supernatural/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - darker/more grown up themes
#Alive (Netflix)
Black (Netflix)*
Happiness* (Viki)
Hotel del Luna (Viki/Netflix)*
King: The Eternal Monarch (Netflix)
Kingdom (Netflix)*
Kingdom: Ashin of the North (Netflix)
Mystic Pop-up Bar (Netflix)
Peninsula - film, Train to Busan sequel (Amazon Prime, iMovies)
Sisyphus (Netflix)
The Guest (Netflix)
Train to Busan - film (Amazon Prime)

W: Two Worlds (Viki & Netflix)*
Zombie Detective (Viki/Netflix)


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



Mad as a box of frogs/uncategorisable

Strong Girl Bong Soon (Netflix)
School Nurse Files (Netflix)

Not Korean ‘You May Also Like’
Regulars also 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)
Find Yourself (Netflix - Chinese)
Go Go Squid (Viki - Chinese)
In House Marriage Honey (Viki, Japanese)
In Time With You (Viki - Japanese)
Instead of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk (Viki, Chinese)
Lost Romance (Viki, Taiwanese)
Love O2O (Viki, Chinese)
Million Yen Women (Netflix, Japanese)
Morning Call (Netflix, Japanese)
My Little Happiness (Viki, Chinese)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Netflix, Chinese)
Rinko Wants To Try (Viki)
Some Day or One Day (Viki, Taiwanese)
The Romance of Tiger & Rose (Viki, Chinese)
To Fly with Me (Viki, Chinese)
Tientsin Mystic (Netflix, Chinese)
You Are My Hero (Viki, Chinese)*

AVOID aka “the shit list” 💩

Melting Me Softly
The Birth of a Beauty
Well-Intentioned Love season 1 (S2 is fine & stands alone)

Posters’ Top Scoring 2021 Dramas
Courtesy of Hello’s kdrama spreadsheet, updated by thread regulars. Marks out of 10.

1. The Red Sleeve - 10 (2 votes, more pending)
2. Happiness - 9 (6 votes)
3. Devil Judge - 8.75 (3 votes)
4. Squid Game - 8.63 (12 votes)
5. Navillera - 8.57 (7 votes)

2020’s top scoring dramas
1 - Mr Queen - 9.4 (5 votes)
2 - Parasite - 9.05 (10 Votes)
3 - It's Okay To Not Be Okay - 8.88 (9 Votes)
4 - The Uncanny Counter - 8.50 (4 Votes)
5 - Once Again - 8.42 (6 Votes)

2019’s top scoring dramas:

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. 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 sometimes resort to acronyms and/or abbreviations of show titles or favourite actors’ names. 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!

The room is his office/studio .. Rkive... And it's the hallways at HYBE... I'm guessing... He'd obviously been collecting so much artwork it's spilling out into the hallways! 🤣😂... I imagine BTS Have a whole floor to themselves... Wouldn't be surprised as the HYBE building is HUGE and they own a fair bit of it! 🤣😂🤣😂

The flower is prob most definitely Takashi Murakami
Jhope is usually associated with the sunshine flower! 😂😂

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takashi_Murakami

No you're still in your pyjamas and not started work because you began reading To Love Your Enemy and apparently can't stop.

Oooh good one pol

I’m nearly at the end of it, must finish it off as I got distracted by shiny new stuff

Snowdrop feels slightly tonally alien. It’s a kdrama but with a Hollywood polish. They really, really need to dial down the orchestral score. Even with the cuts to the hall director’s record player it’s making me itch. Cool it guys! I did like the hint at the hall director’s past - classic kdrama drive-by exposition. 👌

MR BINN IS GETTING MARRIED!!!

😲😲😲😲😲😲😲😲👏👏👏👏👏🤩🤩🤩🤩

I think someone needs to purchase a Ms. Son!

Really? Mr Binn is out sowing his oats & travelling before he settles down. She might cramp his style?

@boatyardblues

Snowdrop feels slightly tonally alien. It’s a kdrama but with a Hollywood polish. They really, really need to dial down the orchestral score. Even with the cuts to the hall director’s record player it’s making me itch. Cool it guys! I did like the hint at the hall director’s past - classic kdrama drive-by exposition. 👌

I'm not sure I like the sound of this! I don't like the Hollywood polish, that's why I like K dramas! 😕 I'll still give it a go though

I've just seen!! 🥰🥰🥰... Oh! My CLOY heart! 🥰🥰🥰

www.soompi.com/article/1512349wpp/breaking-hyun-bin-and-son-ye-jin-announce-marriage

Just when I thought I can not find another bonkers show ….. let me introduce Prince Consort, please advise.
It’s totally bonkers & addictive 🤣🤣🤣
12 episodes (15-ish mins each).

Rowdy - it is recognisably kdrama with friendships and multiple strands. It is just like kdrama’s brash, show-off niece if you know what I mean. If you’ve ever seen the episode of Kim’s Convenience where Janet’s Korean cousin visits, it’s like that & I am Janet.

@JinBhoot

Just when I thought I can not find another bonkers show ….. let me introduce Prince Consort, please advise. It’s totally bonkers & addictive 🤣🤣🤣 12 episodes (15-ish mins each).

Right up my straße then? 😁

Need to source cardboard unni for the cardboard oppa...

You could host a cardboard wedding Briiiiick 😀

Thanks Boaty, I'm definitely going to give it a go, I'll try not to judge it before I've tried it 😬

Great news about the wedding. Hope there are some baby Bin Jins soon.

@FedUpWithBriiiiick it is slightly different from our usual bonkers stuff.

FL is sent off to another country for a diplomatic marriage as soon as she is promoted to a princess of the Haitang Kingdom. Together with her nanny, they arrive in the Xiangxiong Kingdom, where they meet her future husbands; the five sons of the royal Ma family. She learns that the matrimonial traditions there differ completely from those of her own, and she is in a polyandrous marriage with the five Ma sons.

I am watching it with this expression 🥴 (baffled, amused, what on earth is going on, WTF). On Ep6 and there are no smooches or typical cdrama accidentally tripping & landing on lips either.

I don’t know why I am fully invested in this ridiculous story (I am procrastinating, and 100% sure it’s because of my to-do list at work)

Before wedding Mr Binn can go on proper British stag.

I don’t know why I am fully invested in this ridiculous story (I am procrastinating, and 100% sure it’s because of my to-do list at work)

This sounds like ideal material for me too then, although it does need some accidental tripping/landing on lips to be perfect

although it does need some accidental tripping/landing on lips to be perfect

You'll find this in Hello Sharpshooter, including a hospital stay caused by an accidental kiss! I'm not sure I quite understand what's going on, but the ML and FL are quite cute. I'm waiting for the couples electric toothbrushes to make an appearance, as a dentistry company is pushing the ppl.

So thrilled for Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin! Love the sound of a British stag for Mr Binn^^ Jin!

It doesn't take much to flatten Mr Binn on an ordinary night out tbf.

I am now watching The Tale of Nokdu and while I am all for suspending belief, when he is dressed as a woman, does no one notice his Adam's apple?

Also, the clothing the women wear is so pretty, but as always for women, totally impractical. Imagine trying to do the housework in billowing skirts.

Oh I love Nokdu Metheven 🥰 I might rewatch that whilst I'm in my slump.

Have you finished Goblin yet?