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!

I am holding off on anymore My Royal Nemisis, as I am off to China for work at the end of the month and considering downloading it all and using for the plane/hotel. I don't connect my ipad to the wifi when there as apps get blocked. But considering paying for iQIYI when there, so I can get some local dramas! Need to check out what else I can download off Netflix to keep me happy.

I feel like inviting well.behaved.ahjummas(Insta) here.
Her joy is so refreshing, I am sure that’s how we enjoy dramas as well 😁

Anyone else watched/watching The Scarecrow on Viki? It’s excellent, if a touch terrifying. The killer’s MO is creepy AFl. The 80s setting is evocative and the production brilliantly paced. I left US TV behind to get away from murdered women in ditches, yet here I am. 🤦‍♀️

I finished Filing For Love. I thought it started out strong but fell a little flat in the end. I love the ML but didn’t find them a convincing couple at all. The last episode was mostly unnecessary. Watchable overall but not brilliant.

Just saw a trailer for Husbands in Action (I think that’s the title) out in June and with same ML and it looks very funny. He’s a great comedic actor.

DH and I are watching We Are All Trying Here and loving it.

I have a question for those of you who watched/are watching We Are All Trying Here: they keep referring to the writers as directors and implying that they do both - surely most of the time the writer and director are different people? Am I missing a nuance or did something get lost in translation?

Watching A Hundred Memories with same ML as My Royal Nemesis and have to say that his lip lift only works in comedies. It's most distracting in a straight role, and not in a nice way. 🙁

I've recently started to get into K dramas while we've got Netflix on for a month I thought I'd look beyond Squid Game which was fab. I can only watch the ones that are dubbed into English as I'm doing house work or cooking at the same time so I need to hear what is being said if I move away from the screen to do stuff. So far I've enjoyed :
Little Women
You and Everything Else
The 8 Show
When Life Gives You Tangerines

I'm currently watching The Price Of Confession which is very good too.

Hi @chattyness- those are some great ones to start with.

DH and I finished We Are All Trying Here last night - loved, loved, loved it! I think it’s the first 10 for me this year.

Welcome @chattyness.

Everyone is loving We are all trying here, including dh.
What’s wrong with me? I find the male lead character really annoying. However, we’ve only watched 3 episodes so I will keep going.

welcome @chattyness ! 👋

It’s taken me a while to get into We Are All Trying Here so it’s not a straightforward easy one. However, for those of us who’ve been watching for a while it has tge same writer as My Mister, My Liberation Notes and The Other Miss Oh. The first two of those are exceptional dramas but also slower burning ones tgat require commitment.

The list in the thread header which is a good place to start. Mr Sunshine is a really good Netflix production & may be subtitled. Likewise Mr Plankton.

I find the male lead infuriating too Andante. It’s why I’m dipping in & out. However I noticed he’s being written more sympathetically as it develops so I may warm to him.

Oh yes, My Unwritten Seoul was a v good Netflix drama too @chattyness

Hwang Dongman will grow on you - we also found him very annoying in the beginning. So many great actors - some in very different roles than I’ve seen them in before too which is always nice.

So many great actors - some in very different roles than I’ve seen them in before too which is always nice.

Yes, I don’t think I’ve seen Jeon Bae Su in a role like this.
I last saw Oh Jeon Hui who plays the famous actress as the Dowager Queen in Mr Queen where she was brilliant.

I'm in bed with a cold so bingewatched The Scarecrow (Viki). I rate it a 9.5, but it won't be for everyone as it's a hard, sad, frustrating and anger-inducing at times, watch.

It's brilliant and so much more than a serial killer hunt as it rests on big themes of social commentary, corruption in those who should be protecting us, family, ambition and immorality.

I decided The Scarecrow looked too dark for me.

DH and I just started The Wonderfools - totally bonkers.

I’ve just finished The Scarecrow too. I agree with Migs - a solid 9.5, possibly even a 10. It was so layered and cleverly written. The ending is bittersweet, hopeful but also so sad because so many tragic things happened. I recommend it, in spite of the darkness.

I have started watching Teach you a lesson OMG - my heart 💔 but also I can’t stop watching.
It’s definitely not for a relaxing weekend watch.
I wonder how many of laws are currently in parliament?
Apparently the show is highly criticised by teachers that violence is not the answer.
each episode is highlighting new issue.
Ep 5 resonates so much - this gentle parenting is creating an issues and making teaching very difficult.

@JinBhoot , I started Teach You a Lesson today, and it's ticking lots of boxes for me too. I've tidied up my watchlists and removed several 40+ ep C-dramas and K-rom-coms that I started then dropped.

Getting back to The Scarecrow, omg, the OST (Spotify) is also brilliant, with a mix of different musical genres - the simple guitar instrumental, the sweeping orchestras, the Latin beats, Jazz rhythms, and haunting vocals. Maybe it's a 10 after all. Even though I don't understand a word that's being sung, the emotions and messages are clear.

I’m still thinking about it today and the different characters’ arcs, Migs. It was so good. I can’t decide whether I pitied Cha Si Young by the end or not. He was an awful human, and yet…

I can recommend Straight to Hell as a good watch. A very complex main character but essentially amoral.

My Japanese friend couldn’t even watch it because it brought up so many bad memories for her. The fraudulent fortune telling biz was insidious when she was growing up.

All other k-dramas on the list are downloaded ready for my 14 hour airplane journey 😅

Yeah!! chingu on tour! 🙌💖

Welcome on board @chattyness . I am an avid watcher but at the lighter end of the spectrum, as can't sleep at night if too dark or too much suspense! So if you want light-hearted recommendations let me know. I am all caught up with Heart Signal and enjoying myself. Same with The Legend of Kitchen Soldier. Am like FedUp, holding off on some so I can download form Netflix and binge on a flight.

ah apologies @chattyness welcome to the thread!