K-Drama

[Winnow]

K-dramas are something I never even thought about but they were recommended to me. Turns out they're quite entertaining. Here's what I have to say about them.

First off, there are a fuck ton of K-Dramas. If it turns out you enjoy them, you will have a huge backlog of series to enjoy as well as plenty of new series each month.

The best way I can convey that they are good is that Korea is a very conservative country. Basically no sex, drugs and limited violence in their entertainment...and the shows are STILL good : ) The other thing I noted is that a K-Drama series typically last 16 1+ hour episodes where basically at the end, nothing really happened...and they're STILL entertaining : ) Around episode 8 of a series I find myself thinking everything and nothing happened and how the hell are there 8 more episodes left to watch but there are still more twists and turns ahead. Depending on the series, you can end up tearing up. There's a ton of crying in some series. The other thing about K-Dramas is that they don't unfold as predictably as you might first think at the start of the series.

I initially decided to watch some K-Drama because I figured I'd learn a little about Korean culture (and some Chinese modern day culture).

K-Dramas are the best IMO, but there are an endless supply of C-Dramas (Chinese) of which some can be good but no where near the quality of K-Dramas. K-Dramas have more music and higher budgets) I actually watched the C-Drama "Love Scenery" first because it caught my attention having an MMORPG being the mechanic where two people initially meet anonymously. The interesting part was the MMO parts were played out live action style.

There's quite a variety of K-Drama. First thing to mention is that while there are just a handful of them on Netflix and Apple TV, VIKI.COM https://www.viki.com/ is where you go to access all K-Drama, C-Drama, J-Drama and most other Asian drama and movies. There's a 7 day free trial and then either 4.99 or 9.99/month which is totally worth it if you end up enjoying K-Drama.

The K-drama Squid Game is currently the most watched series on Neflix in the US. That's a first. I haven't watched it yet but I hear it's good.

As with the 80's High School movies (Breakfast Club, Fast Times, Ferris, Pretty in Pink etc) I enjoy High School drama. With that said, I'd recommend watching True Beauty, which I believe is available on Apple TV or Viki. That will give you a good idea of what K-Drama is like. You need to get over any hang ups of guys wearing as much makeup as girls. That's just the way it is. While True Beauty IMO is a good intro into K-Drama, keep in mind it's high school, there are plenty of other genres.

Here are some recommendations from what I've watched: (most of the titles translate kind of corny sounding)

High School dramas:

True Beauty
My Strange Hero
Love Revolution
Best Mistake
When We Were Young (C-Drama)
A Love so Beautiful (C-Drama)

Romance/Comedy (ROMCOM)

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo - best title ever and really good, don't ignore due to title!
Backstreet Rookie
Love Scenery (C-Drama) - higher than normal production values for a C-Drama
Yumi's Cells

More Adult/Series mix of drama/romance/some comedy

Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (a benchmark, highly rated series)
Uncontrollably Fond - great acting
Descendants of the Sun
Hotel Del Luna - Main female lead is IU, a famous Korean singer. amazing wardrobe changes like every 5 minutes. Decent but slow moving story.

K-Pop Related

Imitation
Dream High

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Resources:

VIKI.COM - one stop shop for K-drama and all other Asian drama (except for a couple Netflix exclusives)

MyDramaList.Com Great resource (like IMDB) to find other dramas with an actor you might like

I'd recommend watching these two:

True Beauty - High School ROMCOM with some deep drama parts. Many Kdramas are based off of webtoons. This is one of them.



Guardian: The lonley and Great God - Also known as "Goblin" but make sure you watch the right one with these actors:




Just a warning about Guardian and some other K-Dramas. A lot of times they have flashbacks to ancient history in the beginning but the main story takes place in present day. For that reason, a series like Guardian, I recommend watching at least 2 episodes to get a grip on what's going on.

Two K-Dramas I think are available on Netflix that are highly regarded but I haven't watched yet besides already mentoned Squid Game:

Crash Landing on You
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim

Other k-Dramas I've watched that were ok but 2nd tier

Love Alarm
So I married an Anti-Fan
Playful Kiss

[Winnow]

I did end up watching Squid Game and it's good. Be sure to watch it with subtitles and not the crappy English audio dub. Takes a couple episodes as with a lot of kdramas for character development but if you don't care about the characters most TV series are worthless.

As for KPOP:

Blackpink > BTS

There's a new Kdrama on Netflix titled, "My Name". After that watch True Beauty over on AppleTV if yuou have it and then you'll be ready to sub to VIKI.com where the list in the previous post can be viewed

[Kwonryu DragonFist]

All of Us Are Dead
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
Sweet Home
Squid Game
Business Proposal
My ID is Gangnam Beauty
Hellbound

[Winnow]

All of Us Are Dead
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha
Sweet Home
Squid Game
Business Proposal
My ID is Gangnam Beauty
Hellbound

Business Proposal was good : )

Crazy Love (Disney+) is also good

I'm on my 39th K-Drama. I keep a list! Technically one or two were C-Dramas (Chinese)

The Chinese drama's were

Love Scenery C-Drama (good, involves gamer college guy that hooks up with a famous singer to teach her how to game)
When We Were Young C-Drama (not bad, high school drama, just ok)
A love So Beautiful C-Drama (I cant even remember what this one was about but I watched it!)
To Fly with You C-Drama (not bad, is about a female speed skater in college)

Doubtful you'd have access to these unless subscribe to VIKI.COM

Krama I watched and don't recommend:

Bad Girlfriend (started out good, hated the ending, no redeeming qualities for any of the characters)

Kdrama most can access:

Extaodinary Attorny Woo (Netflix about autistic lawyer)

I did end up watching What's Wrong with Secretary Kim (Netflix) it's a good one as well

A lot of these Kramas run 16 episodes at around 1 hour each but they can vary

I watched two series that are 52 x 1 hour episodes:

Young Lady and Gentleman - I enjoyed the series but it's more like a soap opera and infuriating how much shit the lead character goes through, plus they play the "amnesia card" multiple times in the same story. Amnesia is always a plot cop out IMO.

My Golden Life - A swapped at birth type scenario. Not bad but a marathon of a story.

The character development is pretty amazing in a lot of these kdramas. Also, the 16 episode series feel like they are over after 8 episodes leaving me wondering that the hell they have left to tell in another 8 episodes but they find a way.

As for Korean culture, I've learned so much while watching these but one funny thing culture-wise is them mentioning poop. In kdrama I'm currently watching the lady casually mentions she needs to poop then heads off to the bathroom, later it cuts to her flushing the toilet. TMI!

[Winnow]

I'm on my 64th Kdrama (a couple C-Dramas). 1000+ hours of Kdrama and I still only know a handful of Korean words but I can understand a lot more while watching.

I keep a list. Interesting thing about memory recall. When I go back and look at the titles of the Kdramas, most of them I can't remember a thing about the plot but if I look them up and visually see the actors, I can immediately recall most of the (average) 16 hours of each series.

My thoughts on watching Kdrama:

-usually takes a couple episodes to got hooked. Once you are, it's binge city. They take their time in developing a story which is actually a good thing and almost always turns out to be interesting plot twists etc.
-it's a little harder to predict the story and (also good) things happen you don't expect
-after 8 episodes (8 hours) you are wondering how the fuck can this show only be half over after everything that's happened
-last episode of a kdrama isn't always the best. They tend to drag out the aftermath a little.
-crying, lots of crying in Kdrama. Kdrama manages to mix romantic comedy with serious very well.

I'm trying to think of the recent best ones that aren't only on VIKI and easily accessed by the masses.

Death's Game (Prime Video) is pretty good

Marry My Husband (Prime Video) is the most popular Kdrama right now, 10 episodes out of 16 are out (2 new episodes per week)

Castaway Diva (Netflix) isn't bad. Notable as it stars same actress from Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix) which would be the first recommendation to watch over Castaway Diva if haven't already)

And just recapping (if you haven't watched any Kdramas at all, the best ones' to get started with are:

Some of these are available on Viki.com but I'm listing the main US streaming ones only

The Glory (Netflix) excellent revenge Kdrama. Probably #1 recommendation to watch.
Descendants of the Sun (Apple/Hulu)
Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix) think ranks 3rd in popularity behind Squid Game and The Glory
True Beauty (Prime and Netflix) my favorite and first Kdrama I watched but it's high school drama so keep that in mind)
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo (Apple) best title and excellent Kdrama
Crash Landing on You (Netflix)
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim (Apple)
Uncontrollably Fond (Netflix) Sad, tearjerker)

https://mydramalist.com/ is a good reference for locating Kdramas and where they can be viewed. Actor/Actress cross referencing is nice once you find some you like)

Any of those or all of those would provide an excellent introduction to Kdrama.

Goblin (Apple) is excellent and most popular kdrama of all time but it's a little dated so I wouldn't necessarily recommend that one first

[Winnow]

Love Scenery C-Drama
When We Were Young C-Drama
A love So Beautiful C-Drama
True Beauty K-Drama
Love Alarm K-Drama
So I married and Anti-Fan K-Drama
Imitation K-Drama
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo K-Drama
Love Revolution K-Drama
My Strange Hero K-Drama
Goblin - Guardian The Lonely and Great God K-Drama
Backstreet Rookie K-Drama
Best Mistake Kdrama
Uncontrollably Fond K-Drama
Decendants of the Sun K-Drama
Playful Kiss Drama
Dream High
User Not Found
Hotel Del Luna
Twenty (Movie)
Yumi's Cells
Squid Game
What's Wrong with Secretary Kim
Young Lady and Gentleman
School 2021
Happiness
My Golden Life
Be My Boyfriend
To Fly with You C-Drama
Snowdrop
A Man's Voice
My Secret Romance
My Roommate is a Gumiho
Business Proposal
Crazy Love
Hope or Dope
Andante
Extraordinary Attourney Woo
Bad Girlfriend (not recommended, bad)
Dear.M
Bravo, My Life
My Love From the Star
Master's Daughter J-Drama
Angel's Last Mission: Love
Revenge of Others
Revenge Note
The Legend of the Blue Sea
Thirty but Seventeen
Miracle
The Glory
Crash Landing on You
Oh My Venus
My Lovely Liar
Hello, My Twenties!
King the Land
Uncanny Counter
Doona
Live on
Castaway Diva
Death's Game
1% of Something
Marry My Husband
A Time Called You
Casting a Spell to You
Gangnam Style (Canadian)
Chaebol X (Flex-Cop-X)

That's my list of Kdrama with a few Cdrama and Jdrama sprinkled in close to order watched. After starting off with three C-Dramas and enjoying them, I was encouraged to watch Kdrama because it's "better". True Beauty, the first K-drama I ever watched is still my favorite. While I'll watch occasional Chinese and Japanese dramas, it's clear Kdrama is so much higher production value/acting etc. It's a great Kdrama but just like my favorite movie of all time is Hackers, I know my preferences aren't everyone's. I tend to gravitate toward high school/early 20's storylines because to me, that's the most interesting/lifechanging time in people's lives. I'm in my 50's but I don't want to watch shows about old people although it's nice to see old people respected in Korea : )

Most Kdramas run on average 16 one hour episodes but Netflix/Disney sometimes have 10 episode series. On the other hand, a few have more, like "Young Lady and Gentleman" and "My Golden Life" have 50+ episodes.

Moms are fucking evil in Koreans dramas (most of the time). Women also tend to play a stronger role in the family and in businesses more often than in the U.S. Plenty of asshole guys in the shows but just something I've notice about how Korean moms are portrayed. Gotta give it up to the writers. You can end up rage hating some of the characters.

Not all of the kdramas I've watched have been top tier, but there's only one on the list I don't recommend "Bad Girlfriend". It has no redeeming value and the story doesn't make sense although I guess you do end up hating the lady so that part worked. Most Kdramas have plenty of twists and turns but this one she was a bitch straight through so I don't get the point. Kdramas are usually very good about building up both good and bad characters making them multidemensional which is a key ingredient of good storytelling. Also said this probably multiple times but by episode 8 of a 16 episode kdrama you're wondering how the fuck does this show have 8 more episodes with all that has happened.

I also listened to two audiobooks about Korea recently, "South Korea: The Price of Efficiency" and "A brief History of Korea". I wouldn't necessarily recommend the books but it gave me a pretty solid understanding of Korean History (short version, they had a really crappy history harassed and abused by their neighbors) and also how they were able to turn things around to become the powerhouse in the world they are today.

Kdrama is my mindless entertainment which everyone should have to go along with the more serious pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the world. Also, I don't cry about anything usually so Kdrama is healthy for tearing up and keeping that system functioning! Besides my girlfriend, no one watches Kdrama that I know personally (besides maybe ultra popular Squid Game) and me talking about it doesn't help. I think most people don't want to deal with the subtitles. I'm actually amazed that I watch them since I tend to multitask and hard to do that when you need to read the subtitles. I guess it's a credit to them being a good watch that I do.