MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #32): Spring is in the air, it’s blossom season and the BinJin wedding was lovely. Happiness abounds!

[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, AppleTV and Disney+. There are also platforms streaming content illegally if you go looking. We don’t actively 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)*
Snowdrop (Disney+)
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)
Pachinko (AppleTV)
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)
Business Proposal (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)
Twenty-five Twenty-one (Netflix)*
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)*

On The Verge of Insanity (Viki)
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, writers, film and music when the mood takes us. We have some ARMY (BTS fans) among our regulars. Some 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!

Crying at the unexpected last five minutes of Pachinko. Strange but effective end to the season. There must be a second season planned because there's a lot of stuff hanging and characters who remain unexplained/unexplored.
Also they remixed the theme tune for some reason 🤔. Still the face of the actress who plays (young) Sunja will remain with me - she's been so good throughout.

New brand ambassadors! 😂😂😂

Well I'm sold!

Yes, YES, YES!!!!

www.instagram.com/reel/Cc4N9InBr22/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

So cool 😎

That looks brilliant! It's it based on a Webtoon?

I think it's based on the US show Jane the Virgin, Rowdy. I didn't watch it, but I quite like Im Soo-hyang from My ID is Gangnam Beauty so looking forward to it.

Was that Sung Hoon in the nightclub as Raphael in that reel? Either way, it looks fun. 👍

We have bank holiday plans which will impede my catch up viewing this evening and tomorrow. 😬 Real life, eh? It’s lovely to get back to some normality post-pandemic but having everything on a Sat/Sun airing schedule is incompatible with a social life. 😂

That song is fab. Will be cranking it up today whilst cleaning the kitchen 🪩. Had some friends round for supper last night. DH served crispy Mandhu as starter with various dips. We then had a Chinese Hot Pot. The bloody mess today though, as we decided to leave it. He's now off playing golf so the quicker I can get it done the more time I have to put my feet up for viewing! We are going into London tomorrow for a show/dinner and I'm looking forward to going into an KMart!

Started Black Dog and although it's OK I'm not sure yet. Will give it to ep 3 and report back in.

Happy Bank Holiday 🎉

Yup! Haven't seen him in a leading role for a while.

Ah yeah, I've heard of that. Not seen it though. Looks fun!

I cannot wait for My Liberation Notes today 🤗

This morning I'm finishing off One Spring Night then I might start shitting Stars. I'm having a break from Start Up, I will finish it but it's going to take me a while.

I hope everyone has a lovely sunny Bank Holiday ☀️

I'm going to commit to Black Dog
It's quite good. Ha Jun is very easy on the eye too.
Looking forward to my 3 regulars dropping this afternoon, feet up and a river of tea with cake is the plan 🫖🍰

river of tea with cake

My kind of vista. 👍

That looks good!
I didn't watch the American show either so I can go in fresh.

DH pointed me towards the event below. It's a free online talk hosted by The British Korean Society featuring Jieun Kiaer (Professor of Korean Language and Linguistics at the University of Oxford) and Loli Kim (DPhil Researcher in Korean Studies and Research Assistant at the University of Oxford)

A bit of the blurb: "Watching a foreign language movie presents a unique situation in which the film viewer is unwittingly placed in the role of a multimodal translator, finding themselves entirely responsible for interpreting multifaceted meanings at the mercy of their own repertoire. It is no wonder then that in recent years foreign film viewers have been trying to develop their repertoires for the task that they are faced with. This is particularly the case with South Korean films and television shows, which have drawn the interest of foreign viewers (especially English speakers) who are eager to understand the meanings beyond the subtitle."

SIGNING UP!!!!

Beyond the Subtitle; What Even The Best Translators Can't Tell You

Thanks Musique, I have registered!!

That sounds very interesting Musique, I wonder if it has to be watched live as I'm away on holiday that week 🤔

Musique - I saw that online talk and I really really want to watch it, except ……we’ll be in Korea. I wonder if there’s a way to watch it later?

Sorry Rowdy - X post - I started writing my message then got distracted then posted it without checking.

Your trip to Korea is so close Andante! How exciting!

I've registered for that too, it looks really interesting!

@Andante57 that's fab, how long are you going for?

LftM&D
What just happened in Ep15? Only one more episode to go and my head is in a spin. The ghost visits people and even hits the shops; the rude and greedy housekeepers get a shock when their resignations are accepted; you can buy someone's good dream, and we see more of the grim reapers, so someone's going to die (Dong Ma?). I want to see the finale now! 😩

Yes, we are getting excited. We are going for a fortnight but I think we’ve been a bit optimistic with all the plans we’ve made as jet lag will be bad in that direction and we may run out of steam before each day’s activities are finished.

How exciting Adante. You must share your recommendations when you return for hotels/sights etc.