MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #49: Still reeling from the insanity of When the Stars Gossip, we dust off our party frocks to present Daebak Café’s 2024 best scoring shows

[boatyardblues]

A quiet corner of MN for serious addicts of Kdrama, or the K-curious. Most of our viewing is drawn from Netflix, Viki, Amazon Prime, 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 - the best are listed below.

The previous thread is here. Our list is cumulative & includes previous threads’ recommendations and favourites. Shows marked with a star are more uniformly loved or admired. On genre categories, 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. This tonal chaos is 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)🌟
Family By Choice (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)
Light Shop (Disney+)
Moon in the Day (Viki)
Moving (Disney+)
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)
I’m Married But… (Netflix - Taiwanese)⭐️
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 2024 dramas with 5 or more votes
Overall scores reduced due to more voters this year.
#1 A Shop For Killers 9
#2 Lovely Runner 8.8
#3 Let's Talk About CHU Score 8.8
#4 Family By Choice 8.6
#5 Squid Game 2 8.5
#6 Mr Plankton: 8.3
Full run down by Bettys here.

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.

Our Unwritten Seoul is still knocking it out of the park. Another great episode today.

Going to start that this week - looks very good.

It’s really well written. PBY is so good at portraying the twin sisters that I have to remind myself that she’s only one person. It’s a wonderfully nuanced performance. The writing is great too. I love the strawberry farmer - a wiser man than he first appears.

I really need to find something to watch after CLOY. I tried Hospital Playlist but found reading all the medical stuff in the subtitles just mindboggling. And I wasn’t expecting them to burst into song.

In other news, I have started learning Korean on Duolingo! Though I might need to swap to a proper language learning programme.

And I’m enjoying a lot of Korean and Japanese fiction.

It’s been a while but I liked Lingodeer because it explained the grammar and syntax as well as slinging vocab at you.

Thanks @boatyardblues, I’ll give that a try.

I think Duolingo is quite good for learning the letters but not the actual lessons.

The Rational Life (Netflix) - pleeeenty of food, some of it very spicy, judging by the reactions 😁 Don’t recommend watching after 10pm, was getting hungry just watching it.

I’ve returned to Heavenly Ever After and realised my favourite characters are Hae-sook and the pastor. Their interactions are delightful, especially as they are relaxing around each other and she’s mothering him. I’m enjoying her teaching him how to cook. I’ve got to the homemade makgeolli incident. 🤣 I’ve had enough of the dogs (sorry not sorry).

Wrapped up Tastefully Yours. Thought it dipped quite badly in the middle, and the writing was poor in places. But I loved the food, the temples, Jeonju, and the excellent ensemble cast. Kang Ha-neul doesn't float my boat as such, but I always enjoy anything he's in. A sound comfort watch.

Still enjoying Heart Pairing, with two episodes to go. Will definitely miss it when it's ended.

Watching Nine Puzzles with DH, which means we're progressing at a glacial pace. Both enjoying it though.

Slightly against my better judgement, just started The First Night with the Duke and absolutely LOVING it. This has alot to do with Taecyeon and His Ears 😍. I also really rate Seohyun so far (of Girls' Generation) as FL. It's definitely a bit silly and slapstick-y, but it's well done and it looks beautiful. Really looking forward to the next episode.

Otherwise, I'm focusing on working my way through classic Korean films (all available for free on the excellent 'Korean Classic Film' YouTube channel).

Some of the really early ones are relatively hard work in terms of print quality/audio/dialogue style, but all interesting in their own way. I've now hit the 1960s and 1970s. Mist (1967) is very reminiscent of French and Italian films of the day. And two of the 1970s ones on the list are quite extraordinary (Heavenly Homecoming to Stars (1974) and The March of Fools (1975)) - WAY more explicit than most modern dramas, and openly critical of society, which is crazy seeing as they were made in the Park Chung-hee period of authoritarian rule.

Finally - beyond delighted that most of BTS are now back, and that we got a glimpse of Suga already at Hope on the Stage 😻 And yes I will be going to see Jin in August 😁😁😁

And two of the 1970s ones on the list are quite extraordinary (Heavenly Homecoming to Stars(1974) and The March of Fools (1975)) - WAY more explicit than most modern dramas, and openly critical of society, which is crazy seeing as they were made in the Park Chung-hee period of authoritarian rule.

This is interesting. Although we would have expected more censorship under Park Chung-hee, do you think the prevalence of Christian/Catholic conservative politicians in democratic SK could be a factor in the more recent coyness @Saram13 ? I read that the super-churches in Daegu and the south are an important route into the political establishment.

I had a tab open on my phone for ages about Confucianism, how it shapes Korean attitudes to mortality (head in sand, avoidant) and how that shows up in eg attitudes to terminal illness, palliative and end of life care. I was awake at 4am a couple of days ago, finally read it & thought I should share it here because it was so good, then closed the tab and went back to sleep. 🤦‍♀️ I can’t now remember the publication name, headline or writer so I haven’t been able to find it again. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ Anyway, the opening was memorable. The writer’s interest was initially piqued by a Korean reader’s comment under an article about a dying man completing his bucket list along the lines of a breezy “I hope you feel better soon”, against the flow of every other comment.

Adding: it included the stat that 75% of Koreans die in hospital, many in intensive care. This explains why so many funeral homes co-locate in hospitals.

I found 2016 govt stats for the UK. I found more recent ones for 2022 but the commentary said COVID had skewed the trends.

Main findings
This update shows:

• in 2016, almost half of all deaths in England (46.9%) occurred in hospital
• nearly a quarter of deaths (23.5%) occurred in people’s own home
• 21.8% of deaths occurred in care homes, that is residential and nursing homes
• 5.7% of deaths occurred in a hospice
• the trend over recent years has been a reducing proportion of deaths in hospital, and an increasing proportion of deaths to occur in care homes and private homes. In 2004, 57.9% of deaths occurred in hospital

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/end-of-life-care-profiles-february-2018-update/statistical-commentary-end-of-life-care-profiles-february-2018-update

So 75% of deaths in hospital is high relative to the UK.

/nerd-sidebar

Evening all. Can't remember what I last updated with but I don't seem to have watched much. I'm in the way home from The Rose at the O2, they were bloody brilliant

DD2 and I have finally finished The First Frost, I liked it but not nearly as much as Hidden Love. I'm watching Fireworks of my Heart (Cdrama) on my own but am watching Kingdom Legendary War in between, my friend got me onto it. It's a good show to have on in the background whilst doing other jobs but there's far too much talking and bts and not enough of the performances. I'm also not sure who all the bands/members are so would have been good to have a little caption on screen. It's really nice to see how genuinely excited they are for each other.

DH and I have the last episode of Hometown Cha Cha Cha left and then I think we might move onto Mercy for None or Love and Remarriage.

My Swiss CLOY trip is next week!! I have left all the planning to sil as she's very good at that sort of thkng

Your Swiss trip sounds fun. Please do report back on your experience & whether its overrun with CLOY fans. 😄

16:00 WEDNESDAY = First night with the Duke 🥰

With the current shit show in the ME, I need a good ogle giggle. #Tacyeon🔥

I love Tacyeon 🥰 too, but I'm a bit meh about First Night With the Duke so far (I'm currently on ep 2). I hope it hots up a bit 🔥🤞😁.

I'm also currently watching low budget zombie horror Dark Hole on Viki with DH (it's ok, but no Kingdom or All of Us Are Dead) and Japanese (weepy?) romance Beyond Goodbye on Netflix, which is great for scenic shots of Japanese rural railways and lingering scenes of drip coffee making, if you're in the mood for that kind of thing ☕️🚝

I’m here for the rural Japanese train stations and drip coffee. Both sound soothing just now.

V pleased to hear of the love for First night with the Duke. I keep getting pushed clips and it looks right up my street. I am still enjoying Heart Pairing, and now have very little clue where it will all end. Have to confess to rather enjoying seeing what little sweater/shirt combo Siwon will appear in. I was surprised to see him on the panel as I assume he is a bachelor in much demand himself! Mimi and her contact lenses often catch me off guard as well but then my daughter has taken to wearing grey contacts as her eyes appears so dark that the pupil and iris are indistinguishable, so maybe it is a new fashion trend? The CLOY Swiss trip sounds wonderful, all that lovely mountain air.

Oh I saw them last year at Wembley Arena, they were great, though the venue was a bit too big. How was it at O2? Was it full?

@peanutcookie Am also off to Switzerland soon, and hoping to go to Iseltwald, please update us on your trip with locations!

I'm easily amused as I'm chuckling over the obviously artificial rare medicinal plant in TFNWTD 😆