MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #47: Lee Min-Ho’s a no-show, Kim Soo-Hyun cried himself into a dry husk and a sweet mobster sausage supremo is currently charming the noonas. We continue our ongoing mission to spread Kdrama joy. 😘

[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.
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
I picked up a celebrity on the street (Viki)
LTNS (no major platform yet)
My Fellow Citizens (Viki/Netflix)
The Fiery Priest (Netflix)

Crime/Thriller
Bloodhounds (Netflix)
Come and Hug Me (Dramafast)
Graceful Family (Viki)
Healer (Netflix)🌟
Heartless City (Viki)
He is Psychometric (Viki)
I Hear Your Voice (Netflix /Viki)
Killer Paradox (Netflix)
Life on Mars (classy remake of BBC series, no major site yet)
Little Women (Netflix)
Maestra (Disney+)
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)🌟
The Worst of Evil (Disney+)
Tunnel (Netflix)🌟
Vigilante (Disney+)

Historical/Period drama (“sageuk”)
100 Days My Prince (Viki/Netflix)
Crowned Clown (Viki/Netflix)🌟
Missing Crown Prince (Viki)
Mr Queen (Viki)🌟
Mr Sunshine (Netflix)
My Dearest (Viki)
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)🌟

Makjang
Perfect Marriage Revenge (Viki)

Romance - lighter & fluffier
Beating Again (Netflix)
Business Proposal (Netflix)
Coffee Prince (Netflix)
Dali & the Cocky Prince (Viki)
Destined with You (Netflix)
Don’t Dare to Dream (Netflix, or as The Eighth Sense [BL] (Viki)
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)🌟
King The Land (Netflix)
Love for Love’s Sake(QiYi)
Love from a Star (Netflix)🌟
Lovely Runner (Viki)
Lovestruck in the City (Netflix)
Monthly Magazine Home (Viki)
Pinocchio (Netflix)
Race (Disney+)
Radio Romance (Netflix)
Romance is the Bonus Book (Netflix)🌟
Run On (Netflix)
Semantic Error [BL] (Viki)
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)🌟
Wedding Impossible (Viki)
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)🌟
Daily Dose of Sunshine (Netflix)
Descendants of the Sun (Viki/Netflix)
Doctors (Netflix)
Doom At Your Service (Netflix/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)/When the Weather is Nice (Netflix)
It’s OK Not To Be OK (Netflix)
Just Between Lovers (Viki)/Rain or Shine (Netflix)🌟
Mad For Each Other (Netflix)🌟
Marry My Husband (
Melo is my Nature (Viki)/Be Melodramatic (Netflix)🌟
My Strange Hero (Viki)
One Spring Night (Netflix)
Red Carpet - film (Netflix, very adult content)
Romantic Dr Kim - seasons 1&2 (Viki), season 3 (Disney+)
Search: WWW (Viki, Netflix)🌟
Something in the Rain (Netflix)
Tell Me That You Love Me (Disney+)
The Atypical Family (Netflix)
The Handmaid (film, Netflix - content warning: explicit sexual content)
The Package (Viki)

Straighter ‘Slice of Life’ dramas on universal themes
Gaus Electronics (Viki)🌟
First Responders (Disney+)
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)🌟
Not Others (Viki)
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)
The Good Bad Mother (Netflix)
Would You Like a Cup of Coffee (Viki/Netflix)🌟

Supernatural/zombies/vampires/fantasy/sci-fi - lighter & fluffier
A Time Called You (Netflix)
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)🌟
My Lovely Liar (Viki)
Orange Marmalade (Netflix)
Twinkling Watermelon (Viki)
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)
Moon in the Day (Viki)
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
Chicken Nugget (Netflix)
Behind Your Touch (Netflix)
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)
F4 Thailand (Viki)
Fake it Till You Make it (Viki)
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)
Let’s Talk About Chu (Netflix, Taiwan)⭐️
Lost Romance [BL] (Viki, Taiwanese)
Love O2O (Viki, Chinese)
Meet Yourself (Viki, Chinese)
Million Yen Women (Netflix, Japanese)
Morning Call (Netflix, Japanese)
My Little Happiness (Viki, Chinese)
My Personal Weatherman [BL] (Jdrama, Viki)
Orange Days (Japan, Netflix)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Netflix, Chinese)
Rinko Wants To Try (Viki, Japanese)
Some Day or One Day (Viki, Taiwanese)
Sweat and Soap (Viki, Japanese)
The Makanai (Netflix, Japanese)
The Romance of Tiger & Rose (Viki, Chinese)
The Untamed (Nertlix, 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 2023 Dramas
#1 Bloodhounds 8.9
#2 = The Good Bad Mother 8.8
#2 = Deaths Game 8.8
#2 = Moving 8.8
#2 = The Glory 8.8
(#2 rankings by number of votes)

Top Scoring 2022 Dramas
#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!

@boatyardblues What Comes After Love is all over my Instagram feed so I'm going to give it a go. It's pretty short, I think - 6 episodes ...?

I'm watching Perfect Marriage Revenge at the minute and there is a character with quite long, very un-Korean hair which I'm itching to get at with scissors! Enjoying it very much. High expectations as it scores highly on the spreadsheet

Will check and report back 🫡

It’s decent so far MrsF. On what I’ve seen, I’d recommend giving it a go. I will update if it goes tits up. 😄

And bless you FedUp.

Noooo. The frizz has been tamed into Playmobil helmet hair! 😱

😁Boaty, be careful what you ask for! I'm also watching What comes after love.

It's a bit like how the Koreans speak Japanese in Pachinko. Grammatically correct but can't quite handle the pitch accent. Still has the Korean sort of sound - slow, melodic.

The dildos!! How did I go from that scene to absolute floods of tears when Hae-Yeong was talking??? Such a good show.

Also... Have we ever talked about the fact that there are two VIP hospital rooms in all of kdrama land? The one in NGNL ep 11 I always think of as the CLOY one because there was such an extended hospital stay in there 😅

Two VIP hospitals room and never a member of staff to be seen!

Thanks FedUp. We are lucky to have posters with language skills who can answer these itchy questions. 🙏

It was the frilly duvet cover on CEO-nim’s hospital bed that got me. He should really have been in Barbie pjs, not the boy version of the hospital gowns.

The dildo fight reminded me of Everything Everywhere All at Once. Totally on brand for kdrama tonal chaos.

Evening! I've been a bit quiet on here because I havnt watched and dramas for weeks. But I've just binged GC2 in 2 evenings 😮. Very enjoyable, and I agree with all the comments about PSJ. He was really good in this. Is the Harrison Ford thing because he wears a lot of khaki coloured clothes like Indiana Jones??

The polyamory plot line in No Gain No Love is most tedious and annoying.

@cobol sorry you can't watch 'Judge From Hell'! Hopefully you can get a trial once all the episodes are out and binge watch.

I know it's not Korean (and is a bit old now) but we thoroughly enjoyed Tokyo Vice^^ on BBC iPlayer. It does have a couple of Japanese/Korean characters too!

The glow in the dark dildo fighting was hilarious! I didn't particularly like the last episode, it was a bit boring but I'm looking forward to the spin off.

I finished Romance in the House today, that was a huge let down and I was only interested in the dog. The relationship between the taekwondo instructor and his dad was nice and I liked the penultimate episode but that was the only one that was interesting.

I'm going to go back to GC next but taking a break tonight to watch Love is Blind UK as I can't concentrate on anything right now

@Saram13 I haven't watched that, which platform is it on?

What Comes After Love has a similar aesthetic and mood as First Love, poignant and slightly ponderous. It’s rather lovely. Now I want to visit Kyoto, badly.

The ending of NGNL just seemed a little rushed but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Mostly satisfying ending to NGNL, but agree there were some things that were a bit rushed. Not enough Kim Young Dae in the last episode!! One of my favourite shows of the year for sure, just not quite a 10/10. Also - not sure they did enough to redeem the 2ML from all his dickish behaviour in the first half of the show.

On the slimy ex - on the one hand I would have liked some kind of consequences for him, but the show is all about the inequalities in reality so I have to think it was on purpose that he's just a terrible mediocre guy who has success because of piggybacking off idea / status of the women around him.

Here to say how much I'm enjoying What comes after love (Viki). Intriguing start, goodlooking ML, Kentaro Sakaguchi and very talented FL , Lee Se-young. There is a haunting quality to the background music that ties in perfectly to the FL voiceover to create a tone of sadness and possible regret (?) at the point where she says that she had to leave. Now I want to know why.

I found the ending most odd. The "business" parts were so weird.

I get the feeling that PD-nims saw the better potential in the 2ML & 2FL and developed their ending more fully.

@FedUpWithBriiiiick I am about to dive into Spice Up Our Love - just found out it is only 2 episodes (I know technically that is a spin off, but I feel like from the marketing I was expecting it to be a whole show). Will see if their chemistry transcends into the fictional realm!

I think I find Kim Young Dae very hot (as evidenced by my many comments here) and I don't find Lee Sang Yi that hot, so I didn't agree with the chat I saw around about the second couple being so much more interesting.

Haven’t had a chance to watch much for a while but feeling a bit grotty ended up binging the last 6! episodes of Mr Queen and I thoroughly enjoyed it I have to say. Think my sweet mobster is going to be next on the list as I’ve hardly used the Viki subscription as we cant get it on the TV 🤦🏽‍♀️

Spooky! I was at a loose end so started rewatching Mr Queen last night.

Ever watched a kdrama that made you suddenly lose interest in all the other dramas you were also watching. (Looking at you LND!) ? What comes after love has done that to me. I so desperately want to read the book now that I would pay for a private translation as there is no English translation.

I'm also shallow. Fell in love with the colour of the green trench the ex-girlfriend wears in Ep3 and already searching online for it!😁

I’m enjoying it too. The atmosphere, acting and production are exquisite. I’m genuinely disappointed that the ML Kentaro Sakaguchi doesn’t float my boat even the tiniest bit as that detracts from its brilliance for me. It reminds me so much of First Love, which was brightened immeasurably by Takeru Satoh’s presence. I was more meh about the FL in First Love. I would pay good money to see Takeru Satoh and Lee Se-Young as the leads in a drama. Lee Se-Young’s performance is carrying What Comes After Love for me.