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!

I think this article from 2019 may give some insight into why physical bullying is such a problem in South Korean schools. As long as parents are teaching their kids by example that hitting people is acceptable, the problem will probably continue. Corporal punishment was only banned in South Korean schools in 2010, a step in the right direction, I think, but they have a long way to go.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/43j4zg/parents-in-south-korea-are-upset-they-cant-beat-their-kids-anymore

I have moved from noodles stage and deliberating if I should learn how to make kimbap.

This looks interesting story

Any idea when is JCW & Wi Ha-Joon’s new drama coming out?

Annoyingly, UK release is September Jin.

Absolutely PERFECT last episode of TGBM. I cheered and I cried and I laughed. Smashing wee show.

Jin MissLoup (aged 7) is desperate to try making kimbap after watching Jinny's Kitchen (make, not eat) - she said she wanted to work there with V and Wooshik, I had to break it to her that it was only there for the duration of the TV show!

I really enjoyed The Good Bad Mother. Good old school melo-rom-com 👍

ML in A Date with the Future has just sent FL to bed with a lit candle to comfort her through fear of the dark. Which seems ill advised given he's the chief of the fire station who already has demons from the loss of his best comrade to burn injuries.

pol 🤣 blatant disregard* *for fire safety 101!

MrLoup and I just watched Kill Boksoon - liked it, but we were both a bit 'oh' at the end - slightly anticlimactic.....

I have just watched ep 7 of TGBM , it was too sad 😭😭😭

I’m away this weekend, in a different Netflix region. I am toying with downloading some episodes of TGBM but think it’s unlikely I’ll get a minute’s peace to watch them. Chingus, I think I’m to have to go cold turkey. See you on the other side. (I will be vicariously enjoying things as & when I can MN via the thread obvs.)

Also Loup - I think ML & FL in Race have a good chance of making the long haul if they do get together. Their communication skills are top notch and there is a lot of honesty in their relationship. I am starting to wonder if some of the characters will go out on their own and start a new agency. It’s kind of hard to work out how they’ll fill another 6 episodes otherwise.

boaty I was predicting that too - I would like to see them set up a new agency, away from the toxic company culture in Seyong!

It would be ace. The drummer CEO and kickass CCO need to come with them, as well as preggers colleague and the one from the other company who had twins. They’d be effing awesome.

Jin, I tried making kimbap some months ago. I already had a sushi rolling mat but you can do it without one. I made a crab sticks version and it was delicious even without perilla leaves. I would say give it a go to both Mini Loup and yourself.💪

The spy cam issue might change if suddenly loads were placed in male toilets, changing rooms, bath houses etc and the footage uploaded to porn sites. Sign me up!!! (I don't know why the treatment of women in SK riles me up so much). It was so depressing to find out perpetrators held positions such as - judge (up skirting!), sex crimes policeman, obstetritian, Police uni student.

Enjoy your mini retirement (a la Phil Neville)!

Morning all.

3) Six Flying Dragons

Following on just a decade or so from where Empress Ki leaves off, this is a full-on historical epic that plots the foundation of the great Joseon dynasty that lasted just over 500 years from 1392 to 1897.

Set in the late 14th and early 15th centuries Six Flying Dragons features an array of real life historical figures alongside the fictional characters, including Yi Seong-gye who became King Taejo, the founder and first ruler of Joseon and Jeong Do-jeon, a prominent scholar who became Joseon’s first Chief State Councillor (the original “wispy beard”!). The drama focuses, however, on the young Yi Bang-won who later became King Taejong, the third ruler of Joseon and father of King Sejong the Great (who we’ll be meeting in the next drama).

I’m actually only on episode 5 of this one, so I don’t know it very well, but it’s considered a bit of a classic and covers a key area of Korean history. We’re all familiar with the Joseon period but until I came across this drama I hadn’t given much thought to how it all started so I’m looking forward to finding out. When I finish it I’ll let you know how I got on (probably around Xmas 😀)

Watch for: Seminal history, political intrigue and sword-fighting action.

Migs You're so right about the spycam problem not being taken seriously because it mostly affects women. I wonder if it's also because they're much more comfortable generally with the idea of public surveillance, such as cctv, that those in charge seem less enraged than we would be here by such an invasion of privacy.

Cobol I think you are right, because as you say, it is the same for any crime that effects women. That's an interesting thought about high surveillance society - the boundary/trade off between the privacy that we willingly give up for beneficial reasons and how that is open to exploitation/abuse.

Also - Six Flying Dragons sounds really good, I haven't seen that one.

Lots of bangtan content today (new single!) that I promise not to spam the thread with 😇 BUT we appear to have entered Jeon Jungkook's TikTok era 🤣
Super dance challenge

Seo Kang-joon must have heard us talking about him, he's update on IG
www.instagram.com/p/CtROy79SgLQ/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Cute!!!

TheGirl I love the way it just looks like it was filmed on someone's phone in a parking lot or something and Mingyu is in his socks 🤣

😍

I have started Bloodhounds … 2 episodes in & I might pull an all-nighter to watch all 8 episodes.

Bromance, revenge, suspense, Egoistic chebol, shady business … woah, what’s not to like.

Ahhhh! Jin I'm so excited to watch this later! Can't wait!

Caught up on Race and will join you Jin on Bloodhounds tomorrow as I tackle a pile of ironing. I also have my eye on The Ghost Bride.