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!

Misaeng is on the list for DH and I to watch.

Uhm Tae-goo must to stop smiling in MSM. I’m developing an unseemly crush. I will rewatch Night in Paradise as a palate cleanser, as I don’t recall him smiling in that at all. 😄

Well, well, well. Uhm Tae-goo has another drama coming out this year where the OG naughty boy Ju Ji-hoon and little chestnut Park Bo-Young are the lead couple. The whole cast looks good and I love a light fantasy plot. 👌

mydramalist.com/750681-shop-of-the-lamp/cast

Is it just me, or is Chae Jong-Hyeop suddenly everywhere. He's been in something like 5 dramas in the last year. I might give Serendipity's Embrace a try in a bit, but finishing True Beauty and and getting stuck into MSM are first on the list.

@AmVa True Beauty is our all time favourite! My not very mature kids thought it was hysterical when the sister (Hee-Kyung?) was desperate for the toilet in the very first episode and dubbed it poo booty 🤦🏽‍♀️

We still constantly send each other Su Ho/Seo Jun memes!

💯 he's having a boom year

Okay.. MSM episode 1, prize for most protracted falling down stairs EVER in a kdrama. I feel like there's got to be some stiff, flailing-armed competition out there but this was truly ridiculous. I love it already 😄

I don't find Uhm Tae Goo particularly attractive as Ji Hwan in MSM but if you see interviews with him, he's adorable! And I agree, when he smiles...!!

Ohhh this looks gooood...

www.instagram.com/reel/C93XKurPf5B/?igsh=aW1uZnk2MHlqd2Jj

Hello all! Thanks for the new thread. Just popping by to say happy watching to everyone and my list is growing longer and longer! Am away at mo so no viewing for me. I did download a series on prime to watch on my kindle but we are just too knackered in the evenings to concentrate on anything. Hopefully will be back to it once back home

Ooo that looks REALLY good!

Morning noonas (old and new), thanks for the new thread. Currently on the go Chez Punks:
(With MrPunks) The Double, as well as The Turkish Detective on BBC.
(By myself) Just finished Marriage Contract, started Bloodhounds and continuing with Miss Night and Day (really enjoying).

But...MiniPunks2 (aged 14) asked me to watch Chicken Nugget with him, so we've just started that together. His first KDrama, I'm so proud! 😭😁

Lots on the go there Punks!

I'm watching My Sweet Mobster (although it's gone off the boil a bit), The Boyfriend and CDrama As Beautiful as You. Also started Sweet Home with DH.

I've heard good things about Sunny on AppleTV, so might give that a whirl with DH too.

Weekend visitors and the Olympic have blown a hole in my kdrama viewing. It saddens my heart to think of how much time the soggy opening ceremony sank. 😕

I’m up to date with Miss Night & Day and set for next week’s nail-biting finale. 😱

For anyone who thought the hagwon lovers had no chemistry together, then the leads in Red Swan (Disney+)will absolutely change your opinion. Rain and Kim Ha-neul make the other pair look red hot! I might drop this one as even the storyline is nothing new.

Good Partner (Viki) on the other hand is an office/law drama with amusing and engaging character dynamics. Shame that the next ep doesn't drop for another 20 days but the Olympics might be playing a part in that.

Wasn't the Archery final bet SK and China totes thrilling??!!!
And in Fencing - the splits by the SK Champion! 🙀

Migs - I had to leave the room during the shoot out. My allegiance is normally with China due to family connections etc but nope this time I was all in for SK. I am enjoying MSM a lot but keep getting side-tracked wondering how much contouring they did in early episodes on Uhm Tae-goo cheeks to get that very angular look, seems to look less angular in later episodes, or maybe that is the lighter clothing around the face - lesson to us all! FedUp - saw that clip of The Frog and though, oh no not for me. I can't take suspense, which is why I had to leave the room at the end of the archery.

The high-tech use of a magnifying glass at the end of the archery made me 🤣!

Loved it!!

I’ve been glued to the Olympics - the rifle shooting and archery were so tense - like Dragonrock I had to leave the room on a couple of occasions. Korea’s gold medals for archery in ten consecutive Olympics is very impressive.
My teacher and I have been texting each other constantly in a state of high excitement.

Cute archers in the men’s team event.

Andante57 - know what you mean, first time I have ever been interested in fencing! I enjoy clips fo Kim Jun-ho and his son / sons in Return of Superman + Jackson Wang always bigs up the fencing. I prefer the less popular events.

I joined the fencing club at university. It does wonders for the thigh muscles 😉😁

I also hold a (basic) archery qualification. We need a 'Crap Olympics' for people like me who aren't completely clueless at a sport, but aren't very good at it either 🤣
What event would you all enter?

I also hold a (basic) archery qualification.
That must make watching archery even more interesting as you know something about the sport.
I used to ride when I was younger but I’ve lost my nerve now.

Same here Andante, I used to ride a bit as a child but haven't been near a horse in years. I don't think I'd get very far with my yellow belt in judo either 😂. So if I had to represent the kdrama thread at the mumsnet Olympics it would have to be table tennis, I played a lot when I was younger and I haven't completely lost my edge yet

The 'Riding for People Who've Lost Their Nerve' gold medal goes to @Andante57

I think that I'd do quite well in Gymnastics ('Women Who Think That They Can Still Do Handstands and The Splits When Tipsy' category) 🤸‍♂️