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.

It's good, isn't it?

Yes feather! The benefit of a late start is that I have banked eps to watch.😻

... and Lee Sang-yi in glasses is 🔥🔥🔥in it. 😎

Agreed. Nice muscly arms too.

DH and I finished Remarriage and Desires, I liked it right up until the very bollywood ending. We haven't started anything else yet as I don't think we have a single evening together until some time next week. I'm looking forward to starting First Night with the Duke and Unwritten Seoul. Off to Zurich tomorrow, straight after school. I'll finish packing after Y11 prom tonight. I've been enjoying Kingdom Legendary War and absolutely loved Kpop Demon Hunters whilst making bracelets for Stray Kids next month. I am very slow at the bracelet making

Have fun in Switzerland, peanut! My DH is in Zurich at the minute with work, sadly for him, not on a CLOY pilgrimage!

I’m looking forward to watching Demon Hunters with DD!

I am so glad I waited a bit to watch Our Unwritten Seoul because I've been able to binge the first 10 episodes this past week ready for the finale this weekend. So amazing, agree with everyone who has said their favourite drama of the year so far. Sad I have caught up now since my husband is out tonight and I thought I had one more episode to watch than I did...

Will have a tonal shift and spend a night with the duke instead !

Finished Our Unwritten Soul and it was so lovely. Only the fifth drama to be awarded 10 out of 10 by me! Park Jinyoung was a revelation to me as I hadn’t seen him in anything before and had no idea he was this massive idol!

I’m currently watching Good Boy and My Dearest so might start First Night with the Duke as it’s getting good reviews here and on socials.

I loved Our Unwritten Seoul and agree it’s a 10. That’ll be hard to beat for me this year.

After being underwhelmed by Squid Game 3, I've moved on to Our Movie (Disney+). Namkoong Min is one of my favourite actors and just one episode in, I think I will enjoy this drama very much.

I also checked out during the finale of Heart Pairing. No drams, no twists and not entirely sympathetic characters and too much meaningless talking. I felt so sorry for misfit in Korean culture, Ja Han-eul.

There's talk online that there might be Our Unwritten Seoul 2!

That would be amazing. I want to know what happens with the strawberry farmer. I was left wanting more of that arc, as well as the two mothers’ story.

My friend has been bigging up Our Movie, Miggs. I like Namkoong Min’s performances very much so it’s next on my list.

Joining the OUS chorus of praise - it was just so good!! Park Bo Young was amazing - I would almost forget it was the same actress.

I thought the same. The differences between the twins were quite subtle at times, but also significant. I thought it was interesting how quickly the strawberry farmer cottoned on. He was a great character that I wanted to see more of.

Yes - I loved the strawberry farmer too - feels like they didn't take the expected path with that half of the story line as well which was nice.

I really enjoyed Ryu Kyung Soo - I have seen him I in a few things but didn't realise how much he had imprinted on me - when he first appears in OUS you see the back of his head while he's talking and I immediately knew who it was from the sound of his voice. I think it must be more distinctive than average...

I’m loving My Dearest but there’s only so much barbarian-based peril I can cope with in a day so decided to give Head Over Heels a go after seeing stuff on socials - it was giving Lovely Runner vibes.

@boatyardblues I'm now 5 episodes in on Our Movie and in my opinion it's better than OUS. The topic won't be for everyone as there's more than a touch of Love Story's poignancy but man, is it good! The storyline, the characters, the acting. Aaahhhhh, I'm in love <gently>.

Hello everyone! Switzerland was absolutely amazing and I'm already working on DH for us to go back for a proper holiday next year. I hadn't expected it to be so beautiful and I really want to swim in one of the lakes.

We started off in Zurich where we spent a couple of hours walking around Lindenhof Hill where the opening credits are filmed and Munsterbruke Bridge and then we found ourselves in a vintage designer street market so everyone wanted a good browse.

We took the train to our Airbnb in Interlaken dumped our things and went straight on to the Panoramabrücke Sigriswil - the bridge where she was about to jump but had her first meeting with Ri Jeong Hyeok.

Next day was busier and we started with the famous landing stage where he played the piano and walked around the lake which was also in the opening credits. Next we took a steamer to the Grandhotel Geissbach which was the scene of his university when Seo Dan comes to see him. We had lunch on the terrace overlooking the waterfall which we later walked up to and under - that was a new experience for me. Back in Interlaken, we had drinks on the terrace of the the Victoria Jungfrau Grandhotel but sadly the ballroom was being used and we couldn't see it. They did say we could come back the next day but we had an early train to Grindelwald.

Day 3 started off with a thunderstorm so we thought we'd leave our Grindelwald plan and head to Bern instead for a couple of hours before heading to the airport but it cleared up and I'm so glad we stuck with our original plan and it was stunning! There were some other locations too but they were further away and we just didn't have time to fit it all in.

We toyed with the idea of paragliding but we couldn't find a group in Interlaken or Grindelwald with women instructors and we didn't want to be strapped to a man.

The trip was 10/10 and I'd highly recommend. I'm already looking into Berlin for a QOT trip next year!

Your trip sounds awesome @peanutcookie. For your next visit, you might want to try hot air ballooning in Mürren and a trip to the glacier of Jungfraujoch. Remind me, was it an agency tour or did you plan and arrange it yourself?
I haven't been to Switzerland in decades but your report has piqued my interest in a return visit!

Wow, Peanut, that sounds amazing. I’m so envious.
Did any of the locations look different in any way to how they looked in the drama?
Did you come across any other CLOY fans?
We stayed in the Hanok hotel which features in Mr Plankton, and in the drama i didn’t realise that in reality the buildings are all on a steep hill.

Thanks for posting the detail of your trip @peanutcookie . First of all, it sounds amazing and I love hearing about other people’s holidays. Second, I have just saved your post because it sounds v do-able from the UK. It’s always handy to have a tried and trusted itinerary. 🙏

The First Night with The Duke - Some scenes are pure comedy gold. 😂I went from hehehe to rofl and I like the idea of the sexually forward FL and the resisting ML. The cooking scene! A perfect counterbalance to the emotional intensity of Our Movie.

I’ve started Our Movie. It is, indeed, outstanding.

I'm waiting to finish My Dearest as I don't like simultaneously watching two things with the same lead!

Anyone start Law and the City? I think it's being billed as a lawyer version of Hospital Playlist

What’s replaced Our Unwritten Seoul for the Sat/Sun drop? My family accidentally watched some “normal TV” (their words) on my Netflix account and now I’m not getting my usual precise recommendations. 🙄