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!

Anybody seen Taxi Driver? I'm fully caught up on the VIKI dramas and thought I would start something on Netflix. I've also not seen Healer or Signal? Fancy something a bit gritty!

I've given up on Curtain Call. Absolutely love Reborn Rich, Summer strike is OK but lacks a little something.

Healer is just top notch fun Aesops. Signal is grittier and quality but I thought the ending was meh.

Will give that a go thanks

Thank you! Will check those out.

FedUp - when you last posted about First Love your heart was breaking. Have you finished it yet and, if so, were you left satisfied?

Will have a look. Thanks. Very excited about these recommendations! I'm looking forward to checking them out.

Absolutely delighted with it.

Right up my straße.

@AesopsMables , I liked Taxi Driver and coincidentally, there's a Rainbow Taxi in the city where I live. 😀Season 2 coming next year, around March, I think.

I've given up on Curtain Call. Absolutely love Reborn Rich, Summer strike is OK but lacks a little something.

I agree about Summer Strike and I found the drunk scene at the supermarket and bank much too long.
However we are going to finish it and then we’ve got to decide between Reborn Rich and Stranger series 2.

Well. I don't know what I've fallen into watching but already hooked The Lady in Dignity. It's giving me love ft marriage & divorce vibes. Easy and mind numbing with a touch of bonkers. A new guilty pleasure

Hi everyone - I am looking for webtoon recommendations. Is the best place to read them on the Webtoon app? And if so - some story recommendations for romcom / run reading? I've been reading Yumi's Cells - gave up on the TV show for now, but other than that don't know where else to start!

@AesopsMables The Lady in Dignity certainly has its moments, esp around the antics of the divorced husband. Not as bonkers as LftMD tho.

I fancy myself an expert on makjang kdramas now I've watched so many, so need to expand into c/j drama territory. Recommendations anyone?

btw, have you tried One Warm Word? It's better than The Lady in Dignity and the only drama I have ever re-watched.

@AmVa the mainstream manhwa platforms discussed on here in the past have been Tapas, Webtoons and Manta. Tapas and Webtoons give some free content on drip feed, but you need to buy ‘ink’ or ‘coins’ respectively if you want to go faster and cost racks up quickly. Manta has a flat subscription fee of c£4 a month for all you can eat and plenty of decent content. FedUp introduced us recently to Bato, where there is a lot of free content, some of it with wonky fan translations and hit and miss uploads/completions. The mainstream sites had scrub their more explicit content to remain hosted via the Apple app store, so won’t frighten the horses. Much of the bato content is NSFW, though it also has full versions of the non-adult ‘toons from mainstream sites without paywall. I’ll have a think about recommendations.

Tapas and Webtoon episodes work out 50p-£1ish each, so the Manta subscription represents really good value & it has a really well-designed app too.

Migs Did you mean A word from warm heart? If so I will add to my watchlist

AmVa On Webtoons you want a few weekly droppers on different days and then you get a manageable daily dose and you don't need to spend money . Try - To Love Your Enemy, Our Beloved Summer, Til Debt do us Part, Secretary out of Order for completed series. Currently enjoying weekly droppers - No Outtakes, Daily JoJo, Maybe Meant to Be, No Marriage is Perfect, The Prenup, Honey and Lemon, Love and Leashes (and quite a few others but that'll start you off!). I do think Webtoons maintains a certain quality in translation and art whereas the others are hit and miss but it depends how much baguette you're after and at the end of the day they all have different flavours... 😂 Also recommend I Confessed to the Boss, Substitute Boyfriend, You're Perfect for Me, Business Proposal and Positively Yours on Tapas/Bato

Can't add much to the above, other to say that Webtoons is great for modern romcoms if you're patient with weekly episodes, manta has romcoms too but seems to lean more towards historical/fantasy/isekai and BL. I gave up on Tapas because I find the platform frustrating.

Manta is best VFM, bato is free (and more uncensored) but a bit wonky. Lots of Japanese manga on there too (of the clean and yuck varieties)

Oppa advent day 8

It's Ji Seung Hyun, who only seems to take wholesome photos and who's lovely smile we don't see often enough!

That's the one Aesops.

Thank you Rowdy! Lovely cheery oppa to bring some warmth to this frosty winter’s morning.

He's in our Advent Calendar and we have more of his oppa worthiness in The Good Detective 😁
Thank you Rowdy.

Thank you Rowdy.

I might have had a glass too many of wine last night, but this cheery Oppa has alleviated my headache!