MsLatté’s Daebak Cybercafé (Kdrama addicts #50: God rest you merry gentlemen 🎶 Oppa season is just around the corner and we are here for it.

[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 cumulative list includes previous threads’ recommendations and favourites. Shows with a star are more uniformly loved or admired. On genre categories, most Korean dramas have multiple strands - e.g. supernatural, romance with a thriller; crime series with fantasy elements. Genre-busting mash-ups are normal. Series tagged as dark may also have moments of comedy or the absurd, likewise fluff can have heavier moments. 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)
Squid Game - 2 seasons (Netflix)
Suspicious Partner (Netflix)🌟
The Lies Within (Netflix)🌟
The Worst of Evil (Disney+)
Tunnel (Netflix)🌟
Vigilante (Disney+)
Walking on Thin Ice (Viki)

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)
Our Movie (Disney+)🌟
Our Unwritten Seoul (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)⭐️
Glass Heart (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)
Romantics Anonymous (Netflix, 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

#1 A Shop For Killers Score: 9 Votes: 7
#2 Lovely Runner Score: 8.8 Votes: 10
#3 Let's Talk About CHU Score: 8.8 Votes: 8
#4 Family By Choice Score: 8.6 Votes: 9
#5 Squid Game 2: Score: 8.5 Votes: 5
#6 Mr Plankton: Score: 8.3 Votes: 10
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.

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!

Positively Yours was a disappointment. The final episode had a whiff of state propaganda: “Just breed ladies, please! 🙏 Look, your husband can pull his weight at playing babydaddy so you can go back to being a girl boss!” It was so oddly paced at the end, like the ratings were flagging so they administered a swift death. Eleven episodes is an unusual number. Lucky mad SIL - she swerved consequences for her actions.

Agree with everything. Very disappointing overall.

I could tell the bad penny in Our Universe was bad news from the get-go. I’m bordering on irritated by the current arc but the kid is just about still swinging it for me. The office dreamboat is a bit too perfect for my liking. I’d love him to drop an f-bomb or turn up to work in a rumpled shirt. Is any one else still watching?

I haven’t seen today’s episode but can guess who you mean and also saw it coming a mile off. Still watching but mainly for the cute kid.

Is anyone else watching Undercover Miss Hong? I’m actually really enjoying it. Some great characters.

Gentle nerd poppet C-drama alert 🚨

Love Story in the 1970s on Viki

Have C dramas raised their game or are they still terribly slowly paced with a handhold maybe around episode 10 and a kiss (maybe) by episode 20? I lost patience with them a couple of years ago but the cover art, trailers & titles hint at a step change in production quality.

I've started watching c-drama when I get fed up of the 'recycled' meh k-dramas on offer.

@FedUpWithBriiiiick - thanks for that recommendation, could be very interesting 'lite' social history piece. Seen the ML in a few things and he can be versatile, so let us hope he does not repeat sulky mouth and broody this time. . Boaty - spot on about them dragging out some of the C-dramas. I was watching the historical C-drama The Unexpected Marriage - it had good pace, funny, sweet, slightly different (but not really) plotting. Was just congratulating myself at ep 11 that we are getting close to the end for the ML/FL and then spotted it was 24 ep😫. It quickly deteriorated into the standard Prince competing for the throne kind of thing. I skipped from ep 12 to ep 24 and even ff that as the ending was just silly. Undercover Miss Hong is on my list and I am dipping into but mainly out of No Tail to Tell and wondering if it is worth the investment? I've opted to go back in time and am on ep 3 of Love with Flaws from 2019 on Viki as wanted something light and silly. Think I am just in a holding pattern until Mar 21st for the BTS concert from Seoul and associated album launch content.

We’re watching Can this Love be Translated and we’re enjoying it but I don’t think it will be a rewatch.
Am I imagining it or has Kim Seon Ho had a lot of work done? His face looks a bit odd.
The Hanok house and collection he has inherited is fabulous. If I was a billionaire I’d buy a house like that in Korea but alas there are fewer and fewer left.
I’m enjoying the Japanese actor the most - or his role, at any rate.

Of the kdramas I've recently finished I enjoyed No Tail to Tell the most. It was funny and unpredictable and wrapped up well. Spring Fever and CTLBT were also enjoyable enough (and the Japanese character in the latter was fun) but none of them are particularly unmissable, I would say.

So I'm back to waiting for All of Us Are Dead 2 (looking more certain now 😀) and in the meantime I've somehow ended up embarking on a rambling 40 episode wuxia called Dashing Youth. I'm a bit doubtful about this one, so many characters and they all have so many names it's like reading a Russian novel, I'm permanently confused about who's who, but there's lots of swords and fluttering robes and I'm sure it'll start making sense eventually....hopefully....😂

There is a Jdrama with the Japanese actor as 2ML on Viki, Koinaka. I’ve bookmarked it for a rainy day.

I had given No Tail to Tell a swerve because I saw bad reviews on social media so I’m glad you liked it, Cobol. Maybe it’ll go back on the list.

Talking of having work done, I saw a snippet of an interview with Park Min-Young promoting her new show and her face looked so weird. It hardly moved at all when she was talking. Such a shame as she’s so beautiful.

I started You and Everything Else last night after several of you recommended it. Planning to watch Boyfriend on Demand with DD16 as she loves Jisoo and it looks fun.

Thank you Boaty.
I am losing enthusiasm for Can this Love be Translated as Cha Mu-Hee/Do Ra Mi’s weird behaviour is becoming a bit too repetitive.

What current shows is everyone watching?

In Your Radiant Season seems promising (although I’ve been disappointed several times recently with good starts petering off). I just finished Our Universe which was only saved by the adorable kid. Otherwise just dull.

I'm not watching any current dramas atm mrsfeather, I'm just catching up with Bon Appetit Your Majesty from last year as well as Dashing Youth (plus junior world figure skating - the Cardiff born, half Welsh, half Japanese skater Rio Nakata is a real character and a very promising talent ⛸️).

I also had a look at the spreadsheet to see what others thought of Bon Appetit... and was very excited to see we've got a new 2026 sheet up and running. Many thanks to whoever did the honours. I've added No Tail to Tell but am thinking I have odd taste as it doesn't seem to be very popular elsewhere, just 6.5/10 on IMDb 😂

That was me - I like to do the scores as I go along and had quite a few 2026 ones to add!

I recently watched and loved Battle of Fates on Disney+ (shaman/saju reality show - totally fascinating on all levels).

Started Siren's Kiss (Prime) because of Wi Ha-jun but it's a bit crapola so far 😬

Currently three episodes into Boyfriend On Demand (Netflix). I'm not generally one for the romance genre, but when they're successfully tongue-in-cheek like this one is, suddenly something clicks and I really enjoy them (see also Eye Love You, from a few years back).

Thanks for sorting the spreadsheet mrsfeather. I find it really useful when weighing up what to watch. Although opinions can differ quite widely sometimes. Such as Boyfriend on Demand. I was going to avoid it as the reviews weren't great, but I also liked Eye Love You, Saram, so now I'm reconsidering it.

I'm watching a new historical C-drama Pursuit of Jade on Netflix. I am a sucker for tough funny/quirky FL and jolly handsome ML. Really well shot and is smashing it in China, with +100million views for some of the episodes. I'm at ep 10, just another 30 to go! Hadn't heard of Eye Love You before, so thanks for that. Been enjoying Gimbap and Onigiri but it got a bit slow. I enjoyed the start of Spring Fever and need to finish that as well!

I’ve loved Love Story in the 1970s, made a start on Phantom Lawyer (a bit too quirky for DH 😅)

I’ll give Pursuit of Jade a whirl @Dragonrock!

@DragonrockI’m liking Gimbap and Onigiri despite the lack of much happening! Helped by the fact that the episodes are short and only one a week, I think.

DH and I are watching The Glory and getting confused with all the different characters.

I’m not watching as much TV of any flavour at the mo which is why I’ve not posted as much.

I finished Our Universe (Viki) on Thursday. It was so-so, probably a 5 but the adorable toddler kept me watching. I posted upthread that I was amazed he hadn’t injured himself as their eyes were never on him. Well…

I’ve started Love Story in the 70s and I’m enjoying it. I usually find cdramas too slow but this one nips along.

I’ve also started Boyfriend on Demand and think it’s got off to a good start. I’m hoping it doesn’t sag later under the weight of its central concept.

I was thinking of your previous comments about the safety of the wee fella when watching the last couple of episodes, boaty and chortled to myself. I also laughed at the altogether unsuitable for small children venue that they got for the birthday party - those steps!!

And no little pals from nursery. How hard is it to arrange some extras to give an air of credibility?