MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #34): July brings internal conflict. Make the most of sunshine and the long days, or keep on top of your kdrama? 🤔

[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 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 a star 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)🌟
My Liberation Notes🌟
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)
Our Blues (Netflix)🌟
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.

The Red Sleeve - 10
Happiness - 9
Devil Judge - 8.75
Squid Game - 8.63
Navillera - 8.57

2020’s top scoring dramas
Mr Queen - 9.4
Parasite - 9.05
It's Okay To Not Be Okay - 8.88
The Uncanny Counter - 8.50
Once Again - 8.42

2019’s top scoring dramas:
Her Private Life - 9.40
Melo is My Nature - 9.00
Tied 3rd: Crash Landing On You, The Crowned Clown, The Lies Within, and The Tale of Nokdu - 8.75
Hotel del Luna - 8.50
Tied 5th: Romance is a Bonus Book, and Search: WWW

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!

Monthly subscription you say?? But do they do a good line in brooding CEOs because I'm not really a fantasy kinda girl?

I mostly read BL, modern romance & fantasy on Manta but I have just started a CEO one called Check In To My Heart which is promising

@pol there are CEO stories on there but I would say the majority is fantasy romance.

They do a lot of thrillers too I think but I'm not keen on them.

I'll take done screenshots to see if it swings your ding

.

Ooh! I started Lady and her Butler on Tapas but had to stop because it didn't do free episodes. I'm in...

You can dip your toe in Manta and nose around via a browser before signing up.

Thank you so much for sharing this, I'm obsessed with cats cooking 😂

Good thread and articles. Apparently SK men may not be exactly as presented on KDrama.
twitter.com/JakeKwon88/status/1558267390261350402?t=OvtPvKbdXuKMSDN6oquAQg&s=19

Good link pol I especially liked the piece on Gong Yoo 😂

"now is not the time to girlkeep bossgate Gong Yoo. Now is the time to welcome a new wave of wretched whorebags." 😂 Bettys 💯

Finished Kiss Sixth Sense with much enjoyment. A few notes -
-That ad was no Nicole and Papa.
-Amazing self drying clothes post lake.
-ML was much sexier than I initially thought he was. Well done ML

• closed caption description of music very unsettling - kept going 'No, that's wistful not sombre for chrissakes' etc

I just loved the bickering. Also his doctor friend who was totally screwball in this, but completely buttoned up in My Fellow Citizens as FL’s step brother with a crushing, unrequited one-sided love for the FL. I like the actor even more now.

And a proper baddy hospital manager in Ghost Doctor which was disconcerting.

My Fellow Citizens didn’t get much traction on the thread when it was released, but I’m going to big it up again. It was so fabulously executed. Yes, Choi Siwon was a bit annoying but his whole schtick was perfect for a conman going into politics. There were just so many fantastic female characters - FL, her step-mum (chief of police), the crime syndicate headed by hotel-owner Miss Hina from Mr Sunshine and all her ratbag sisters, the wildly talented women in the grifter family. It had so many belly laugh funny twists & turns as all the crime families came head-to-head with corrupt politicians, I have to recommend it.

Is alchemy of Souls on break this week?

Daily Webtoon is delivering on the feels this week.

The mystery thriller Big Mouth, is certainly to be recommended. Five episodes in and I haven't a clue who Big Mouth might be; perhaps ep6 might give more clues. I'm watching on Olga's as last time I checked it hadn't yet landed on Disney+ here.

I was about to ask if anyone is watching Big Mouth … I can’t imagine LJS in this type of role.

I think both LJS & JCW are trying to break out from their typical roles.
If You Wish Upon Me looks promising.

What happened to AOS? There is no date on next episode.

I am watching Sell your haunted house & Police University

Jin’s vlog, isn't it as shrimp on toast? Whatever it is, I am craving for them, best ones I had them was in Dubai, still remember the taste.

Jin** I was just going to ask if anyone was picking up on If You Wish Upon Me. Looks interesting, but challenging.

I have started If You Wish Upon Me FedUpWithBriiiiick and I think it's going to be a real tearjerker. JCW seems to be very good at playing a tortured soul. Plus the fact it is set in a hospice means I will have a plentiful supply of tissues.

The heat isn’t helping but the Alchemy of Souls drought without explanation or forecasted arrival is making me unreasonably grumpy this weekend. Have Netflix pulled a fast one? Grrrrr.

I flopped on the sofa. The sun’s moved round and I’m too lethargic to get up and drop the blinds. Hurry up autumn!

Her Peculiar Visitor on Manta is excellent fun: divine beings, ghosts, grim reapers, soul eaters, unsolved murders and sexy CEO. It would make a cracking drama and they could just reuse the set from that drama where SKJ wore farmers’ trousers and made loads of drip coffee and PMY barely cracked a smile for the whole 16 episodes. In the webtoon I’m waiting for the family business to fold because the CEO is spending far too much time wafting around with FL. Annoyingly I started it thinking it was complete & it’s still dropping new episodes weekly. 😫

Bookshop set ^

Olga's has AOS ep16.1 and 16.2 without subs, with actors talking about scenes in the show etc.

I read Alchemy of Souls was taking a break to get final episodes "up to standard". Think just one week? Presumably some dodgy CGI to sort. Also read that they extended the run?
Looking forward to 1000 roses (CSY and formerly-grrr's tearfest I must say. Just Wot I Like ☺️

www.soompi.com/article/1539300wpp/alchemy-of-souls-to-go-on-1-week-hiatus-next-week