MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #41): A poorly anticipated placeholder thread to contain the Filthy Noonas’ ongoing musings on all things Korean, with Japanese and Chinese sprinkles

[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)
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)
Our Blooming Youth (Viki)
Pachinko (AppleTV)
Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung (Netflix)
Tale of Nokdu (Viki/Netflix)🌟
The Forbidden Marriage (Viki)
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/Netflix)
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 Course in Romance (Netflix)
Crash Landing on You (Netflix)🌟
Descendants of the Sun (Viki/Netflix)
Doctors (Netflix)
Doom At Your Service (Viki)
Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix)
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)🌟
Delivery Man (Viki)
Happiness (Viki/Netflix)🌟
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)
Sell Your Haunted House (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)
Meet Yourself (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 Makanai (Netflix, 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!

Sorry Rowdy, I should have put a "Look Away Now!" alert for you.

Aah, I’m back to watching Race on Disney+. One of the characters really went out on a limb emotionally and got knocked back. I want to give her a big eonni hug.

Migs will forever be Capybara Devourer. Why does every meat supposedly taste like pork or chicken? I heard human flesh is most like pork. I was puzzling over how I knew that, but I seem to recall it was a documentary about those forensic bodyfarms run by US crime agencies. They use pig carcasses because their body composition/fat is most similar to ours.

(I haven’t been drinking, I promise.)

migs

My friend had a similar dietary experience about 20 years ago when he ate guinea pig meat at a roadside BBQ in South America (I want to say Chile but it might have been Peru). He - slightly guiltily as he was an actual guinea pig owner - said how delicious it was, and has never lived it down, as you can see because I'm still telling the story in 2023 😂)

Loup it could easily have been Chile, as my experience took place in Colombia. Rodents are a common food source all over South America.
I don't even eat rabbit. (Because we once had a pet rabbit who had free range of the house, used to play tag with the dog, ate sausages, and was spoon fed ice cream while sitting on the sofa watching tv with the dc!!)

Capybara Devourer 😁 I've not (willingly/knowingly) eaten meat or fish since 1989 but I'm expecting some unexpected/unwelcome additions may be par for the course when in Korea. Not in the sense that anyone will willingly sabotage food 🤔 more that ingredients may not always be clear. Not everyone considers meat broth as meat, for example. And in some cases there may simply not be an alternative.

boaty your chingu's path into Yoongi fandom sounds much like my own. It took me 10 months from first hearing Dynamite to buying my first item of merch (excluding albums). Resistance was ultimately futile 😁

Up to date with TGBM, it is just outstanding. I love Ra Mi-Ran and Lee Do-hyun more than ever, what fantastic actors (in fact it's another of those brilliant ensemble dramas, everyone is pitch perfect). And I rounded off Love Village, what a great show. Last week's episodes (5 and 6) of Dr Cha are on the to-do list - everything else has drawn to a halt as my exam is rapidly approaching. Only 4 hours long this time (!) 💀WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF 😂

DS is horrified HORRIFIED at the consumption of capybara.

They're the cute animal du jour.

I mean looking at a capybara I can imagine there's quite alot of meat on them 🤔[tumbleweed]

Oh and my K-pop-refusing offspring was listening to something yesterday and I said 'that has to be Korean' cue eyeroll. And, yes - Cupid by Fifty Fity. Horrendously catchy (sounds alot like Polaroid Love by Enhyphen though cough, which is what I thought it was at first). Aaaannnndd thank you 😁

I wouldn't be surprised if a brand new (horror) book entitled The Capybara Devourer landed with a certain publisher and was swiftly followed by a copyright lawsuit from the person who had coined the name!

I am doing a 'skip through to favourite bits' rewatch of Because this is my first life - the mother's letter at the wedding always has me 😭😭😭

I mean looking at a capybara I can imagine there's quite alot of meat on them 🤔

I’ll own it. I had the same thought.

I wouldn't be surprised if a brand new (horror) book entitled The Capybara Devourer landed with a certain publisher and was swiftly followed by a copyright lawsuit from the person who had coined the name!

Happy to relinquish any rights to that for our AO3-active noonas, just so ling as you link to it from the thread. 😄

I'm laughing at the thought of The Capybara Devourer - perhaps ripe for a dramatic adaptation as well as a book?

I'm still watching Love in the Moonlight - Park Bo Gum does not normally do it for me, but it's amazing what a hanbok and a sword can do for a person. I'm officially into it - he makes a hot crown prince 😂.

AmVa I cried at that bit too! I really enjoyed that drama.

Saram Cupid popped up on my kpop playlist yesterday - I think it is on the new Barbie movie soundtrack, very fitting!

I enjoyed Agust D’s concert very much. My friend and I really felt for him with his tickly throat.

I haven't read a good a horror novel in ages. I'd definitely be up for reading The Capybara Devourer if anyone cares to write it 😁

I also liked Park Bo Gum in Love in the Moonlight TheLoup, though not as much as I liked Kwak Dong-yeon as his hot assassin friend.

Satisfactory conclusion to Dr Cha although felt the whole liver thing was a distraction really. It was a show with too many random plot lines.
And, although I can suspend my disbelief for many aspects of KD plotting - painting and rehanging a kitchen cupboard door in a single afternoon?? No.

AND she made kimchi and filled the fridge. And hoovered. I wouldnae have bovvered

Yes! I am into the hot assassin friend as well - I would be one of the giggling court ladies to show up for all his palace guard training sessions 🔥😂

boaty glad you enjoyed the concert! Was it a full house?

boaty Me too and me too. I thought the live arrangements were phenomenally good and the staging/storyline pleasingly theatrical (kept having to think of various operas). And how he kept singing so well despite obvious coughing. The crowd interaction and the signs at the end were genuinely moving. And my eyes leaked at Ryuichi Sakamoto. Again 😭

My Korean friend said she'd never imagined Yoongi would be able to shine as a solo artist so much. She loved it.

Was it on here someone was wondering whether hair is shaved off even if someone is exempt military service as such? I asked her about it (we were quite invested in the hair after the concert 😁) and she said yes, everyone goes through the same intake process and first weeks of basic training even if they are assigned to the civil service after that.

And was it you TheLoup wondering about how it works releasing a record while doing military service? My friend said just a release with no 'live' promotion would be acceptable. The latter (e.g. TV appearance) would be extremely badly looked upon.

It was me and @Dragonrock that were wondering about it Saram - that makes sense though, as it's a digital release only .. Yoongi has strong hair game, I think he'll pull off the buzz cut as well.....

Yoongi has strong hair game, I think he'll pull off the buzz cut as well.....
But Loup he will look twelve years old!!
On stage Suga wore what looked like a 15mm Tahitian pearl necklace... pearls seem to have replaced gold for rappers.
https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/pearl-jewelry-for-men/

Oh the drama to get to the cinema today. I had forgotten all about D-Day and was still in my gym clothes after a class when I suddenly remembered. It was 14:30. Grabbed car keys and phone, raced into town and was seated by 15:02. It wasn't full but I was surprised that about a third of the audience were people in the 50+ age group. Spoke to two of them who said they were really BTS fans 💜and had become fans of k-pop/drama in late 2021.
Thank you covid lockdown for bringing us to all things SKorean 🙏🏼 😁
When I saw all the Japanese fans waving their light globes, my brain was screeching "Bangtax!!"

Our showing wasn’t very busy, maybe 40-45 people. It was about 2/3 youngsters and 1/3 ajummas, me and friend included. We all hit the ladies after and gave each other warm smiles but were too shy to chat. 😁

I love Baek Ji Won so much when she acts drunk. She’s so charming. She’s unlikely to top her rabbit-rabbit scene in Melo but she’s adorable in Race (Disney+).

Oh boy, Hospital Playlist just crash landed into Dr Romantic 3!

Speaking of bangtax (I know we weren't, but anyway) correct me if I'm wrong, but is it going to cost £66 to live stream Yoongi's Seoul concert? That seems pretty steep to sit at my PC..... Think I'll nope out but am having FOMO