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.

Oh no, we haven't. Good shout!

Is it very violent? (I see it's an 18)

Our Movie is so good. Already anticipating k-trauma ending and preparing myself for that.

I didn't think so even though there are fight scenes.

I'd say Taxi Driver is quite violent, although most of the violence happens to rather nasty people, which makes it a slightly easier watch than something like Bloodhounds, for instance, but it's still a pretty dark show imo.

We’ve just watched the first episode of Bon Appetit Your Majesty.
Really enjoyable.

We randomly started Happiness and luckily the zombies are silly enough that I didn’t find them scary (so far). Between watching that with DH, Our Movie and three ongoing ones (Love Take Two, Beyond the Bar and Bon Appetit) I’ve 5 on the go at the minute! And all very different.

Well I have spent the last couple of days bed rotting and watched the whole of Imitation and then last night watched Love Untangled too. I liked Imitation though the fl was pretty weak and most of the Ateez members should stick to singing. I watched the first 2 episodes of Head Over Heels which I quite enjoyed. DH has been away for a few days so hoping to get back to Beyond the Bar tomorrow night.

Everyone seems to be watching Beyond the Bar, I'm feeling a bit left out, but I really can't face another legal drama straight after Law and the City 😁.

I'm mostly looking forward to American shows atm, with the rest of Wednesday due out soon and the final series of Stranger Things in the Autumn. In the meantime I've finally started The Red Sleeve, which has been on my watchlist for a while.

I'm also watching a Chinese wuxia BL on Youtube called Kill For Love which is really rather good. The political plot is a bit difficult to follow, the English subtitles aren't brilliant, but the romance is quite engaging. There seems to be a production company, based in Singapore to avoid censorship, producing a lot of Chinese BL lately. There's a fantastic one on Viki called Revenged Love that's caused a bit of a stir because of the chemistry between the leads.

There seems to be a production company, based in Singapore to avoid censorship, producing a lot of Chinese BL.

That’s interesting Cobol. Presumably these shows can’t be watched in China, though maybe Chinese citizens have access to overseas shows. I’m not sure censorship works there.

I mean internet access to overseas shows.

@Andante57 I don't know a lot about Chinese censorship either but presumably the shows can be watched in places like Hong Kong and Taiwan and probably domestically as well with the use of VPNs, although I don't know how easily. Actors can face repercussions as well, of course, and I must admit I was a little anxious for those involved in Revenged Love, the main lead especially is very young, but I read somewhere they have only faced a "soft ban", which means a few appearances on mainstream shows have been pulled but they haven't been prevented from continuing working. They did this cute shout-out for Viki on Instagram, which I've not really seen from a Chinese show before, so I think it must have been pretty successful :

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMtmtGySsz9/?igsh=MTRlOHBsemp6YnNrOQ==

Well I have just finished watching CLOY for the second time (I rewatched immediately after finishing) and don’t know what to do with myself now. One of the best shows I’ve ever watched, but wishing I hadn’t. If only everyone could find a love like that in their lifetime. I feel depressed and flat. Anyone else have this reaction to CLOY? What helped?!

Absolutely nothing so far for me! I just loved it so much, and it was pure me time as DD and DH weren’t interested.

I genuinely feel I might be dissatisfied with my life forever now 😩 No show will compare, and any relationship with a man will never compare! Actually worried, and wish I’d not watched it! What a masterpiece.

It really was. I’ve tried a couple of other series recommended on here but neither came close.

thisist · Yesterday 19:36
Well I have just finished watching CLOY for the second time (I rewatched immediately after finishing) and don’t know what to do with myself now

I agree. We - eg dh and I - watched it in lockdown and I’ve never been so invested in a drama since I was 11 and adored the film Oliver.
I’ve recommended it to all my friends and although a couple of people enjoyed it, I was baffled by the reactions of most of them.
’oh, we didn’t really get into it”
”how far did you get?’ I asked.
”we watched about 20 minutes and then realised it wasn’t for us”.
Or “I didn’t think much of that Chinese drama you recommended”.

Well, it’s their loss.
CLOY has led us to many wonderful K dramas and amazing trips to Korea, travelling around that beautiful country and learning about its culture and history. It has changed our lives for the better in so many ways

Oh please tell me about your trips to Korea! Where did you go? What did you think of it?

I feel like the series has hit my like a bus, and I need to take something positive from it - like travel or something to make me feel alive. How can I make my life meaningful and compare someway to their epic love story?!

Thisist we have travelled all over - we’ve explored Seoul and Busan and been to provincial towns and villages. The countryside is absolutely stunning and the museums beautifully done.
It’s a really fascinating and beautiful country and we are looking forward to our next trip next spring.

I wish DD and DH joined me in my CLOY love but it’s just me! But DH wants to go to Switzerland anyway because of LOTR so I think we can at least make that work 🤣.

Just watched K-pop Demon Hunters, totally fab.

Beyond the Bar is delivering the smoothest, most gentle slide into an April to July romance between the leads possible. It's rather nice actually and cognizant of traditional Korean culture regarding differing age relationships. Maybe things are changing over there.

100% agree with this. It’s very well done. It works because it’s drawing out their temperamental and ethical/outlook compatibility. I love it.

I also like the noona romance brewing. It's an equal opportunity office! 🥳

I've just started Beyond the Bar (ep.3) and loving it so far!

My new class of 8 year olds appear to be very into K-Pop Demon Hunters so I'm going to have to watch it at some point. The trailer made my eyes bleed though 😬

I haven’t watched K-pop Demon Hunters yet either. Feels like it needs to be done. 🙂