MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #37): The one where FedUp’s big birthday could tip her into ajumma territory. Thankfully filthy noona status is forever.

[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 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)
Little Women (Netflix)
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
Gaus Electronics (Viki)
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
Alchemy of Souls (Netflix) 🌟
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 Recommendations
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)
First Love (Netflix - Japanese)🌟
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)
Sweat and Soap (Viki, Japanese)
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.

So, current rankings @ 21.15ish today:

1. The Red Sleeve - 10
2. Happiness - 9
3. Devil Judge - 8.75
4. Squid Game - 8.63
5. Navillera - 8.57

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

2019’s top scoring dramas:

1. Her Private Life - 9.40
2. Melo is My Nature - 9.00

3.= Crash Landing On You, The Crowned Clown, The Lies Within, and The Tale of Nokdu

1. Hotel del Luna - 8.50

5.= Romance is a Bonus Book, and Search: WWW - 8.17

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!

I totally forgot about this pickup line 😂😂😂

Musique! So good to see you! Hope you are keeping well ❤️

Musique now you get nearly all the oppas in one go, which is not to be sniffed at!

I’m having grief posting today so let’s see if this works.

I agree about the outcome in Reply 1988 too.

@polkettle and @bettys HOW MANY manwha installments?! 😱😂amazing! 🤩

Nice to see you back Musique!

Chingus, I shit you not. After Gong Yoo and Mr Gu lookalikes, this morning I was out and about and did a double-take at a beautiful Ryu whatsit lookalike at the tram stop. He was standing waiting with a less attractive friend as my bus pulled in. Made eye contact for a happy brief moment 😳 I nearly dislocated my neck to get a second look 😂 Real-life advent oppa 😁🎅👀

Yes that’s the one

To @boatyardblues query on Alice in Borderland.

Lovely to see you back Musique! I hope you're doing well. Now you can open all the advent doors in one fell swoop! 😍

Crikey Saram, lucky you!

I think I might have to give up on Kdrama until after Christmas, its taken me 3 days to try and watch one episode of AoS2, and I still haven't finished it. What with 3 poorly kids, a new puppy and getting ready for Christmas it's just impossible 😵

There are so many new shows I want to watch too!

What with 3 poorly kids, a new puppy and getting ready for Christmas it's just impossible

That sounds HARD Rowdy. I hope things pick up quickly. You need the kids back up and running to play with the puppy. 💐

Well, I’m trailing well behind on the Webtoons. (It doesn’t include my Bato and Manta reads though, which are - ahem - significant.)

DH has succumbed to the horrendous cold that lasts for weeks. I’m thankful that our Christmas guests are familiar enough and unjudgey enough that minimal housework will suffice. My only chances to sit today have been 45 min coffee with a friend first thing, 30 mins at lunch and half an hour stuck in a traffic jam on the way home from Tesco. My back and feet are killing me and I have to hustle again now - Christmas desserts to prep and dinner prep to finish.

Rowdy - Fighting ✊ Hopefully the children will feel better soon.

I've been up out of bed for a couple of days but still not 100%. DH and DD's out finishing shopping today, I've just logged off and going to bed to start The Fabulous.

Hope all the poorly households get well soon! - Fighting! chingus!
Work (urgent care) was absolutely rammed

as everyone trying to get seen before xmas - I'm off now til Wednesday, so a glass of vino and new episode of The Forbidden Marriage for me tonight 🙂

Saram I was on the train from Brighton to London and saw a gorgeous young Kim Jae-Wook lookalike (think of his hot waffle chef in coffee Prince era) my cousin was laughing at me because I did a proper double take before I remembered I was in fact in my 40's 😂

After a brief respite from the flu, I'm back in bed. I can barely breathe after walking from the kitchen but tested negative for Covid, so this must be the cold/flu that lasts ages. I'm keep falling asleep while trying to watch Missing: the other side s1 but that's okay as I have all the time in the world to watch dramas over the next two weeks.

Get well soon all the poorly people! Fighting 💪

Ooh I'm currently watching Missing too MigsandTiggs, while waiting for more AoS2. I was completely baffled at the end of the first episode but kept going and I'm getting into it now.

Oh and here's some virtual citron tea for all those fighting off flus and colds at the moment. Hope you're all feeing better soon.
🍊☕

Rowdy's kids, Miggs, Mr Boaty, Aesops and all other poorly chingus and chingu family and friends - hope you're all over it soon and can enjoy the holidays ! Junior Saram was sent home ill from school yesterday (having all just had Covid, half the school has come down with flu now apparently🙄). Seemed more tired and a bit coldy than properly flu-y, we'll just have to see how and if it develops.

@TheLoupGarou Hot waffle chef ah yes! 😍I am endlessly fascinated looking at people (not just Korean actors and idols 😁) and am sometimes probably rather more direct than I mean to be 😬(I blame Kae Tempest and People's Faces, which is a beautiful song). Poor beautiful Ryu wotsit lookalike is probably sitting have a drink with his chingus right now saying 'did I tell you about that weird woman who was staring at me from a bus?!' 💀😂

In other news, have had a few more mad BTS dreams. In one of them, I was running a hotel with my husband. Suddenly the hotel was much loftier and bigger than it had been, all these guests appeared from nowhere and it had had a whole new wing added in the night. I was like hang on, no-one told me about this. So I was a bit pissed off and wanted to find him and find out if he knew anything about it. I asked one of the staff where Namjoon was because yes, chingus, in the dream Namjoon was apparently my husband. They said he was somewhere in the hotel doing some maintenance. Cue mental image of Namjoon with a power drill or doing some minor plumbing 😁I have a feeling I might have been IU 🤔

Sending Best wishes and positive thoughts to poorly chingus & thier families.

@Saram13 loving your dream, May be in your next dream you can host New Year’s Eve party at your hotel with your “husband’s friends” and your virtual chingus from this thread.

I have a long to-do list which I am aiming to finish before 3pm tomorrow. AOS2 ep5 is my motivation.
I suspect episode4 was a calm before the storm, it will hit the fan this weekend.

"I asked one of the staff where Namjoon was because yes, chingus, in the dream Namjoon was apparently my husband."

Saram, your dream is hilarious😂just brilliant!

No kdrama this evening because the fam watched the Knives Out spin-off Glass Onion on Netflix. It was terrific! Chef’s kiss. Highly recommended. Worth it for Daniel Craig’s bathers alone (manage your expectations noonas - they were at the other end of the spectrum to his James Bond bathers). 😂

Seems legit.

Someone was asking me who my favourite BTS member was - I found this similar to having to name my favourite child .

They are all a no-go, due to youth, but as a teenager it would definitely have been Tae-hyung or Jungkook. As an adult I think my subconscious would prob pick Namjoon as a husband as well saram 🤣

Oppa advent day 24

It's our final Oppa of advent and it can only be Mr Gu (Oppa of the year for many) Son Seok Ku

OPPA!!!!! 😍😍😍😍

Yes Oppa of the Year award is for Mr Gu