MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #38): Where we’re still reeling from the 2022 top 5 scoring Jdrama First Love v Alchemy of Souls kerfuffle. What can I say? Takeru Satoh broke our scoring rubric.

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the K-curious. Most of our shows are on 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)
Little Women (Netflix)
My Name (Netflix)
My Secret Terrius (Netflix)🌟
Signal (Netflix)🌟
Somebody (Netflix, content warning: sexual & violence)
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)

‘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 ‘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)
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)

Top Scoring 2022 Dramas
Courtesy of much-missed Hello’s kdrama spreadsheet, updated by thread regulars. Marks out of 10.

#1 My Liberation Notes 9.45

#2 Alchemy of Souls 9.10

#3 First Love 8.88 (Jdrama)

#4 Our Blues 8.83

#5 Gaus Electronics 8.75

Top Scoring 2021 Dramas
#1 The Red Sleeve - 10
#2 Happiness - 9
#3 Devil Judge - 8.75
#4 Squid Game - 8.6
#5 Navillera - 8.57

Top Scoring 2020 dramas
#1 Mr Queen - 9.4
#2 Parasite (film) - 9.05
#3 It's Okay To Not Be Okay - 8.88
#4 The Uncanny Counter - 8.50
#5 Once Again - 8.42

Top Scoring 2019 dramas
#1 Her Private Life - 9.40
#2 Melo is My Nature - 9.00
#3 tied: Crash Landing On You, The Crowned Clown, The Lies Within, and The Tale of Nokdu - 8.75
#4 Hotel del Luna - 8.50
#5 tied: Romance is a Bonus Book, and Search: WWW - 8.17

We are fans of all things Korean, so equally happy to talk about Korean cookery, language, current affairs, film and music when the mood takes us. A few of us are learning Korean, Japanese and/or Mandarin (some more diligently than others), so we swap tips and links to language resources. Basically, anything topical goes.

We often resort to acronyms and/or abbreviations of show titles or 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!

Thanks so much FedUp for doing that! Now we just need some top notch dramas in 2023 to fill it up 🤞

It was a beacon for all the local doggers with that lighting. I was also a bit 🤔 at the boot do-over. Surely car sex is meant to be more furtive and risky for the thrill, not deluxe car sex glamping. Kinda misses the point. A+ for effort though. 😂

🤣🤣🤣 at doggers 🤣🤣🤣

Ha, I haven't watched it, but it sounds like a winner 😂

I can't remember who mentioned older rom-coms (up thread somewhere) but I stumbled across and enjoyed Fight for my Way a while back, although it was almost immersion breaking for me with how long it took for the main couple to be inferred to have had sex - COME ON WRITERS! They are meant to be nearly 30!

I also liked 1% of Something despite the daft premise and initially douchebag chaebol ML (played by sexy age appropriate oppa Ha Seok Jin). Good chemistry between the leads and spicy kiss scenes when they get around to it....

This is 100% accurate 😂😂

I think FFMW positively frisky TheLoup because they DO have sex within a few nights of getting together 😂
My trav companion to Korea this year has long had 1% as her rewatch on a loop comfort drama - loved for the shonky details as much as the genuine chemistry (we have high and indulgent tolerance for wrist grabbing...) His terrible suits! The sweating because they filmed it in a two week heatwave! The Mexican Belgian chef! We are planning to stay at the hotel they filmed in for at least one night so we can eat the "internationally renowned" breakfast and giggle a lot.

😂 😂 Perhaps I'm projecting onto FFMW because I definitely couldn't friend-zone PSJ for 20 years!

YES to the horrendous suits in 1% and the sometimes-clashing shirts - he needed a Secretary Kim to pick out his outfits 🤣. You have to post a full review of the internationally renowned breakfast! I'm so jealous.

You have to post a full review of the internationally renowned breakfast! I'm so jealous.

Me too. SK has superfast broadband everywhere. Any chance we can have regular pictorial updates, either here or Insta, as your trip unfolds? I’m desperate for vicarious SK thrills.

Sure thing. And come and join us! 😉

Oh pol if only I could!
Although if I went to SK or Japan without the kids I'd never hear the end of it 🙄

Hahaha! I would consider it. Leave DH and the kids behind & just go. Like I said, I was already talking to a friend about taking instead of DH if I won the InsideAsia holiday. 😂

Taking her

I am watching FFMW at the moment and loving it - really needed a good romcom at the moment and it is really ticking the box. I really didn't get on with PSJ in Secretary Kim, found him so annoying and that was my first exposure to him. I've loved him in everything else I've watched though - especially FFMW.

Consider it a well-earned motherhood sabbatical.

His best show I reckon AmVa

As much as I love WWWSK, I have to agree. FFMW is great. A good rewatch too.

What are people's feelings here on Hwarang?? It keeps coming up obviously as a PSJ show I haven't watched but I can't get past the wigs!! Is it totally ridiculous in a good way? Or a bad way??

Love love love Hwarang although got a bit annoyed with FL at times.

It's over the top bonkers in a good way - like a mad 80s video - or that dance in A Knight's Tale the film with Heath Ledger and a deliciously wicked Rufus Sewell

Oh in a GOOD way!!! I mean it is completely daft and wigs are terrible, but I really love it.

Okay I definitely have to start The Makanai now I know it features a shrine to Hyun Bin 😂
twitter.com/kdramafolder/status/1613929022370770945?t=gYD6WevJ3WypXFfwpIjj6A&s=19

That is a FedUp series if ever I saw one.

Just in from an absolute slap up meal. I've got the meat sweats so it's time for a digestif nap.

Watching will commence following.

Just done the first two episodes. It's very soothing.

I was just about to come on to comment that although PSJ looks great in a suit I've never found him entirely convincing in businessman/chaebol type roles. He definitely shines more in underdog or "common man against the establishment" type roles like in FFMW and Hwarang. He's very funny in Hwarang and as long as you just take it for what it is - boy band idols do fantasy history - it's actually a very enjoyable show.

Finished Hit the Spot and it was a refreshing and lightly handled take on sex. Was glad to see the very handsome Louis Bunuel in a more sympathetic role after Green Mothers Club.
Cosy winter camping looks like fun and I could set up a tent in the garden to try, but would need steel wires and concrete posts to prevent an impromptu Wizard of Oz happening.
And the sexy-times car is really a Tardis.