Speculative Korean TV: Preface

[Joe Bernstein]

Hello rec.arts.sf.tv:

People who've already read my posts on this topic in rasf.written,
hello again. People who haven't, hi. This post is my first in the
correct newsgroup on something I've been researching for years.

Since 2012, South Korean TV has included an astonishing boom of live
action speculative shows. I've planned a series of posts to this
newsgroup about South Korean speculative shows also since 2012, but
various problems and plenty of pie-in-the-sky ambition have delayed
it endlessly. Now I think I've ethically failed in this regard,
because one of the main websites through which English-speakers could
watch these shows shut down in October. It's not that my advocacy
would've driven enough traffic to them to reverse that decision,
which was mainly about business strategy on the part of a new owner
anyway. Rather, I didn't give y'all the information I had, which
might have encouraged you to watch some shows that have now become
inaccessible, for an unknown length of time, some perhaps permanently,
to some law-abiding viewers.

So this is a quick and dirty introduction to South Korean live action
speculative TV that's legally available *right now*, or has *recently*
been available, for watching online *with English subtitles*. All
fictional live action South Korean TV is normally called in English
"K-drama", so going forward, "speculative K-dramas". I've pulled
this set of posts together in a few weeks, working from the scraps of
previous efforts that have survived various disasters, from the
methods I learnt in those efforts, but not now seeking perfection.

(Disclaimer: I know very little about South Korean animated TV shows,
and didn't even know until working on this set of posts that any were
available in English, whether subtitled or dubbed. They seem to have
been booming too, so if nobody else steps forward by the time I feel
foolishly confident enough, I may try to say something. North Korean
TV is not researchable outside Korea and without knowing Korean -
I've tried, and think it includes speculative shows both live action
and animated, but don't have good evidence even for that much. So
henceforth South Korean and live action, thus K-dramas.)

By tomorrow's end I'll have watched ninety K-dramas, of which fifty-
six are longer than three hours, thirty-four shorter. This is fewer
than have been made in any year in this century so far. Worse,
although most of the short dramas I've watched are speculative, most
of the longer ones aren't. So why do I think I can write about
speculative K-dramas? Because I've been researching the topic for so
long. Much of my work has been lost in a laptop theft and other
vicissitudes, but enough remains that I've been able to throw this
set of posts together; and anyway, it's not as though anyone else has
been telling y'all about these shows, and in the land of the blind,
the one-eyed TV viewer is king.

The following general pronouncement may not hold once I've watched
more speculative K-dramas, but I suspect it will: Few K-dramas have
stretched the boundaries of speculation for me, have done genuinely
unexpected genre things. (In fact only one I've watched so far. [1])
Also, *no* K-drama I've watched has really excelled in special
effects, has gotten my Western-trained eyes to say "Wow!" Finally,
speculative K-drama has a strongly mundane tilt: I know of no
1) secondary-world K-drama (there may have been one in 2015, but
if so, it's untranslated and only two hours long);
2) K-drama set in space, let alone featuring battles there (one
without battles, <City of Stars>, a director's passion project,
has gone nowhere for years);
3) or genuinely surreal K-drama (I've watched a short one that
takes baby steps that way and list it in this thread, but have
heard of none that go farther).
K-dramas' appeal is largely in making older story ideas (especially
from screwball comedy and the melodrama tradition) look realistic, so
this avoidance of the most blatant forms of speculation makes sense,
but still offers less to the interested viewer. Still, the flipside
is that it can also apply that realism to superpowers and monsters.

So I'm not saying you should rush out and watch all these shows
tomorrow. Rather, I'm saying that *if* you decide you're interested
in K-dramas - out of curiosity, or because Koreans of an appropriate
gender attract you, or because someone who matters to you (maybe
yourself) *is* Korean, or because you're some sort of completist, or
because you like K-dramas' conservative style [2] - you may want
information about which ones are speculative, and that's what I'm
offering. More to the point, speculative K-dramas are on-topic here,
and it's about time something was said about them here. Some, even
without being great works of speculation, are good to great works of
art and/or entertainment, worth experiencing.

You may object: "Why K-dramas? Why not dramas from China, Japan,
Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, Egypt, ...? Do
no other TV industries do more or better speculation than South
Korea's?" 1) Chinese TV, at least, does; an enormous Chinese genre
across many media, called wuxia, is by default fantasy, and I've seen
and loved one example. But 2) I couldn't research it, beyond the
minimal information available in English. No language is easy to
learn, but some scripts are easier than others, and Hangul (the usual
Korean script) is *much* easier than Chinese or Japanese, or for that
matter Thai or Arabic. Finally, 3) K-dramas *work* for me; I've
loved many, I can research them and enjoy doing so, hence for example
these posts. Japanese dramas may have a more interesting tradition
of speculation, and someone who knows them, and maybe knows Japanese,
should write about that; someone who knows Chinese, about TV wuxia;
and so forth, but none of that means I shouldn't write about
speculative K-dramas.

I plan twelve notional posts in this thread, one per weekday,
starting with this preface. Most cover the shows available *at one
or more law-abiding streaming website(s)*. The posts still to come:

11/30 Introduction
12/03 Miscellaneous West-focused sites (Tubi, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and
others)
12/04 Netflix (as seen from the US)
12/05 YouTube (restricted to shows uploaded lawfully or nearly so [3];
as seen from the US and the UK)
12/06 Miscellaneous East-focused sites (AsianCrush, Naver, and others)
12/07 OnDemandKorea (Americas only)
12/10 KoCoWa (as seen from the US; may be Americas only, or worldwide)
12/11 Viu (as seen from Singapore)
12/12 DramaFever (as formerly seen from the US)
12/13 Viki (as seen from the US, the UK, Australia and Singapore)
12/14 Beyond law-abiding subtitled streaming sites

To make the posts less intimidatingly long, I expect to split most,
but still post all parts on the same day.

Joe Bernstein

[1] The show that pushed the boundaries of speculation for me has not,
to my knowledge, been Englished, which is why I'm vague about it here.
I'll identify it properly, and point to places to watch it, in the
last post listed above.

[2] What I mean by saying K-dramas have a conservative style is
partly addressed in the next post, the introduction.

[3] "Nearly" lawful uploads to YouTube are explained in the relevant
post, but you'll also need to have read the next post.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Joe Bernstein
People who've already read my posts on this topic in rasf.written,
hello again. People who haven't, hi. This post is my first in the
correct newsgroup on something I've been researching for years.

This is admirable and quite ambitious. I look forward to your project.

Thank you.

[Joe Bernstein]

K-DRAMA BASICS

K-dramas *in general*, to the best of my knowledge, differ from
American, and to a lesser extent from British, TV in several
important ways. The most obvious is that shows normally aren't built
in expectation of a second season. So they *end* clearly, after a
planned number of episodes. They may, however, be cut or extended
during the first showing; because shooting usually overlaps that
showing (the "live shoot system"), cut dramas usually lack unaired
episodes to offer on DVDs or at streaming sites.

Because most K-dramas aren't meant to last very long, they don't need
the complicated structures of, in particular, American shows with
their showrunners, teams of writers, and visiting directors. Rather,
each show has a limited number of writers and directors - at least
half the time, only one of each. So although they're at least as
commercial a form as American TV shows, and under sharper budgetary
constraints, they can, at their best, display individual visions much
more clearly.

A blogger I respect claims K-dramas privilege characters and their
emotions over plot. I think I'd prefer to put that more weakly -
say, that K-dramas find more room for characters and their emotions -
but anyway the genres K-dramas have historically specialised in -
romance, melodrama, and historical - support it. (Fans *often* say K-
dramas are quite unlike American TV because their limited length
*supports*, rather than prolongs or obstructs, romance stories.)
Male-oriented genres, long suppressed by a ban on non-war violence -
crime dramas, action dramas, etc. - arose in the late 1980s; the
styles of the few I've watched also fit the blogger's claim.

As for speculative genres? Horror has long been a recognised genre,
though never as prominent in K-drama as in Korean movies, and since
it's never acquired the serial killer as English-language horror has,
it's primarily a speculative genre, and I list in this thread even
horror dramas I know end up non-speculative. I'm very unsure drama
makers, or South Korean audiences, actually think of fantasy, let
alone science fiction, alternate history, or what I call alternate
geography, as genres. The boom already mentioned hasn't really led
to more horror, but has dramatically increased all other categories
mentioned; of those, fantasy dominates.

I mentioned in the preface K-dramas' "conservative style". Although
K-dramas aren't nearly *as* conservative as you may be thinking I
mean by that, they still are pretty conservative compared to American
or British shows. In particular there's *very* little bare skin, and
that's mostly male. (Most K-drama watchers, both in South Korea and
elsewhere, are women.) Parents and peer pressure get more respect
than we're used to. The conservatism also extends to aesthetics:
coincidences are pretty common, and most K-dramas, not just those
that can be generically categorised as melodramas, pull strong
emotional strings.

I've watched two 1979 short speculative K-dramas now available at
YouTube without subtitles. The rest of what I've watched dates 1988-
2017. 1) I understand 1987-1997 as a golden age of K-drama. I know
of little speculative TV during this time, some of which I've watched,
and discuss in the last post. 2) After the Asian financial crisis,
drama makers always sought exports, and a new order began to emerge.
Only a couple of dramas listed in these posts date to this time.
With few exceptions, I haven't yet gotten to the speculative shows of
this and later periods. 3) In 2004 K-dramas swept into Japan, and
English- and other-language fandoms began, though nowhere as intense
as in East Asia. This brought tons of money into the K-drama world
(widescreen began in 2005), and led to what I see as a silver age.
Most longer shows I've watched date to it. Speculation became
steadily more common at this time, until eleven new speculative shows
began in 2011. 4) Since 2012, I think another transition has been
happening, a major sign of which is the speculative boom already
mentioned; 26 new speculative K-dramas began in 2012, and in 2017, at
least 49.

A formula called "trendy" dominated overwhelmingly 2004-2012, and has
been prominent in both transitions just mentioned (1997-2004 and 2012-
present). It derives from, but has evolved independently from,
Japanese "trendy" drama. Korean trendy is aimed at women, especially
younger ones, and ideally shows a poor or at least ordinary woman
transforming an upper-class jerk into a worthy partner. Few dramas
check every trendy box, but few "silver age" ones check none. Most
K-drama romances, even before but especially under trendy, involve
triangles, and I use a shorthand for the most important characters in
these: Woman, Man, Wrong Man, Wrong Woman.

[Joe Bernstein]

BROADCAST

The Big Three broadcasters originally aired most of the broadcast
dramas these posts cover: KBS (public), MBC (complicated but
essentially public), and SBS (private; new in 1990). Korean TV and K-
dramas began in 1956 (with an arguably speculative short drama).
Series began in 1962, weekly at first, later also daily. In the
1970s, the broadcasters tried twice-weekly schedules. The one that
stuck is two episodes on successive days; shows like this during
prime time are called "flagship", and though speculative shows have
happened in all sorts of schedules, the vast majority of the
broadcast series in these posts premiered as flagships.

During the "silver age", broadcast schedules, numbers of episodes,
lengths of episodes, *and genres* correlated strongly. Weeknight
flagships usually featured romances even if they belonged to other
genres. (I list a few weekend flagships, but in these correlations
they resemble weeknight ones, not other weekend ones, which usually
ran longer and focused on family; speculative family dramas have been
made, but aren't now available.) Romance certainly remains central,
but I'm not clear on how much the correlation in general still holds.
Present-set flagships still usually run sixteen to twenty-four
episodes, shortest of the major schedules, probably why they most
often take such risks as speculation. These posts do list a few of
the last historicals to run many more episodes, as they classically
did. Episodes, about 45 minutes in, say, 1990, are about 70 today,
but because South Korean law bans commercials during episodes, the
Big Three in 2017 started splitting episodes into two or even four.

I also list short dramas. These mainly air in timeslots devoted to
them. SBS and KBS have both had short drama omnibus series focusing
on speculative material, but not recently; what's available subtitled
and law-abidingly now is individual speculative dramas from general-
purpose short-drama timeslots, mostly KBS's but with one MBC example.
Most short dramas are one episode, roughly an hour; some of KBS's are
up to four episodes.

Most broadcast dramas these days get ratings at home that would've
been inconceivably low ten years ago. For the networks, I think
speculation is largely a gamble, sometimes successful, to counteract
this drop.

Each of the Big Three runs at least one cable/satellite channel in
the US, and as far as I know, every drama shown on those channels
gets English subtitles.

CABLE

Cable K-dramas began in 2005; they've consistently pushed boundaries,
and as usual in K-drama, that's included speculation. (The 2005
drama is horror.) Cable dramas' qualities have always correlated
less strongly with their schedules than was true for network shows.
I've watched too few really to judge (my current viewing therefore
focuses on cable shows, so I can try to correct the following), but I
*think* cable dramas seem edgier, trying harder to be cool; I also
think an effect of this is that where network dramas have often
focused on characters' workplaces, cable dramas seem to do that less.

Many cable channels premiered speculative dramas listed in these
posts. The most frequent - tvN and OCN - and a bunch of the others -
CGV, Mnet, OnStyle, Tooniverse, ... - are all owned by CJ
Entertainment, which you may recognise from Korean movie credits.
A few shows listed premiered on cable channels owned by the Big Three,
a few more on other non-CJ channels such as JTBC, MBN and TV Chosun.

Recently cable dramas' ratings have burst through a longtime ceiling;
today a successful cable drama might do better than an ordinary
broadcast one, though still not equalling a successful broadcast show.
For cable, I think speculation is just part of what they've always
done, no big deal.

CJ Entertainment runs a cable/satellite channel in the US, but I
don't know whether it runs dramas, whether they're subtitled, etc.
In general, South Korean cable companies try not to talk to the West.

DramaFever, the site that died recently, was focusing on cable dramas.
As a result, they've suddenly become far less accessible.

WEB

Web K-dramas began in 2010 (with a speculative drama I list in the
next post, sort of cheating). From 2015 to 2017 numerous speculative
Web dramas appeared; this is probably continuing, but no information
source on them can be relied upon for completeness. (My lists may
omit *thousands* of speculative Web dramas you could lawfully watch,
subtitled at some site I've never heard of - unlikely, but possible.)
I learn of Web dramas mainly when streamers pick them up, rather than
from my usual information sources; this built-in delay explains how
few 2018 Web dramas I list so far.

Web dramas' episode lengths can be confusing. Natively, they're
usually quite short - three to twenty minutes - and a drama may have
episodes of wildly differing lengths. However, broadcasters and
cable channels often pick up Web dramas (another way I learn of them)
and repackage them into fewer episodes (often two); Netflix does too.

Web drama makers know how crowded their marketplace is, and seek
attention in various ways. Some of these ways seem to be knowable
only by knowing Korean; I don't, for example, know by which criteria
networks and cable channels pick Web dramas to re-run. But one way
Web dramas seek attention is quite obvious.

You may have heard of "K-pop". To the extent that people don't mean
"Gangnam Style" by that phrase, they usually mean the idol system,
whereby a *lot* of the better-looking musically talented people in
South Korea (and increasingly other countries, including the US and
Canada) get channeled into training and then, usually, into girl
groups or boy bands of vocalists, instruments played entirely by
session musicians. These groups usually specialise in dance songs
with rap bridges, and ballads. Most hits in South Korea since the
early 2000s have come from idols ("Gangnam Style" is an exception,
but the woman Psy dances with in the video is an idol rapper).

Idols usually don't stay in their groups more than a few years. Both
retirees and active idols seeking attention in *their* crowded market-
place try acting, among other things. They're pervasive in "silver
age" and later dramas in general, but in particular nearly every Web
drama features at least one active idol, no doubt so that idol's fan
base, at the least, will find out that the drama exists.

Idols are normally understood as appealing mainly to a) teenagers and
b) people in their 30s and 40s ("uncle" fans, in the case of men
following girl groups; I don't know what the flipside is called).
Web dramas, with their short episodes and consistent use of idols,
seem to me also primarily aimed at younger viewers than cable shows,
which in turn are aimed younger than many broadcast dramas.

Web dramas' makers vary plenty, but many eagerly talk to the West.

[Joe Bernstein]

SUBTITLES

Since 2004, two approaches to K-drama subtitling have been prominent:
professional work, in DVDs, then the networks' channels, most
streaming sites, etc.; and fans' work, in various more or less
illicit distribution channels and some streaming sites. "Fansubs"
translate more, leave a few terms untranslated, and often translate
song lyrics. Pros use fewer words, find work-arounds for the
untranslatable terms, and usually ignore lyrics. Errors in grammar,
etc. are about equally common in both approaches. I think people new
to Korean should start with pro subs, but most experienced drama
watchers prefer fansubs.

Most major streaming sites hire their own subtitlers, but these days
many dramas may arrive with subtitles, thanks to the networks'
American channels, etc. Subtitles baked into the video are "hardsubs",
and I suspect some West-focused sites use these; the major streamers
use "softsubs" to enable substitution of non-English subs. Subs in
the closed captions at YouTube are an example of softsubs.

GEOGRAPHICAL

I'd done much of my work on these posts before finding out that I
could install VPNs on my smartphone and investigate access to dramas
in other countries that way.

My goal has always been to cover the countries with more than a
million native speakers of English: the US, the UK, Canada,
Australia, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, Jamaica, Singapore,
Trinidad and Tobago, and I thought Nigeria though English Wikipedia
currently thinks not:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population>
Anyway. Six of the top seven pair: the US with Canada, the UK with
Ireland, and Australia with New Zealand. This isn't just me waxing
geographical but the sorts of regions I've seen in studying streaming
site Viki's public accounts of its K-drama licenses: the US and
Canada (as well as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago) *always* go
together in "the Americas", ditto Australia and New Zealand in
"Oceania", and although "Europe" in Viki's licenses is never the same
countries twice, I never noticed Ireland omitted.

I wound up using a VPN with a fairly low data limit; just doing the
UK and Singapore used up more than half. Also, as I pretty much
expected, it doesn't cover Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, or South
Africa (nor Nigeria). It does cover Canada, Ireland and New Zealand,
but under the circumstances I decided to trust my past observations
and focus on the UK, Singapore and Australia. Putting it mildly, I
didn't cover even these three for every streaming service; see the
posts on the individual sites for what I did with each. All my VPN
work was done at speed, and I can't pretend to thoroughness,
completeness, or even all that much accuracy in it.

A site which later posts cite for information on web dramas has an
official list of sites which it presumes carry Asian dramas lawfully:
<https://mydramalist.com/discussions/general-asia-forum/31644-official-list-of-legal-streaming-websites>
This list names three sites as having Korean dramas where I didn't
find any (PopcornFlix, Toggle and V LIVE), though I may simply not
have found the magic keys, but *for what it's worth*, the list also
says this next site, also reputedly offering K-dramas, operates in
Nigeria: <https://www.iflix.com/>.

FOR MORE

I've written two *far* longer introductions to K-dramas. The first,
begun in 2012, survives in a 2016 version; it treats trendy romances
as normative. The second, written this year and at 2000 70-character
lines about half as long, is broader in scope (and much less detailed
about trendy romances). If you want either, let me know.

LATER IN THIS THREAD

For each streaming site, I list the speculative K-dramas it offers
under one of two business models usual in the specialised K-drama
sites: 1) Free streaming, probably interrupted by ads. 2) Streaming
available without limit to subscribers who pay monthly or otherwise
scheduled dues, usually without ads. So I don't cover dramas one can
buy or rent from the Western sites where *those* business models
prevail, unless they're also free to subscribers (which is what gets
Amazon into here). Western-focused sites which follow only the model
#2 (especially Netflix) may try not to let non-subscribers learn what
they carry (a bafflingly counter-productive marketing approach), so I
use work-arounds which don't cover such sites outside the US.

For the last few sites covered - OnDemandKorea, KoCoWa, DramaFever,
Viki, and as best I can Viu - which are K-drama dominated, I assume
your unfamiliarity and give introductions. Where I know something
about other sites' relationships with K-dramas, I mention that. For
an earlier attempt to post my research here, I watched "test dramas",
in which I assiduously tried to get glitches, at Viki, DramaFever,
and OnDemandKorea in 2016-2017; recently, I watched less aggressively
testing dramas at Tubi, AsianCrush, OnDemandKorea, KoCoWa and Viki.
(For ODK and Viki that's "will have watched"; for AsianCrush, "am
watching".) I report in the relevant posts on the tests' results.
The terms "arbitrarily" or "well" "placed" refer to ad schedules
followed strictly, or adapted to scene boundaries.

Most sites that stream K-dramas under one of these models also stream
Korean movies under the same, and I decided it was worth saying
something about these too, with specific attention to 1) the years
the movies come from, 2) how many there are, and 3) whether many are
speculative. As with the dramas, this is limited to lawfully
streamed, English-subtitled, live action, South Korean movies. I've
done as little as I could accept on movies' non-US availability.

[Joe Bernstein]

FINALLY I careen off-topic

One reason rec.arts.sf.written has put up with my posts about K-
dramas over the years is that I usually mention music, and point to
it at YouTube. Most of *these* posts are actually on-topic, but I
reward anyone who plods through them with 2-3 songs at the end:

Song A, where possible, is a song I like from the soundtrack of a
speculative drama I've watched, which the relevant site carries.

Song B is a song I like from the soundtrack of a speculative drama
I've watched, which the relevant site *does not* carry.

And song C is a music video from an active solo idol, IU. She's done
*way* more speculative videos than most Korean singers, idol or not.

And songs for this post?

Maybe you want examples of this "conservative style" I've tried to
describe tersely. At your service! I recommend just about everyone
watch seven K-dramas, plus one asterisked because it's too violent to
recommend that broadly, but at least as good. Two of these eight are
speculative, and listed later in this thread. Two (including the
violent one) have long been unavailable for law-abiding streaming
with English subtitles; the last post covers them. The others
helpfully each come from a major genre; for each, one song.

The last post also has suggestions for viewers outside the Americas,
for whom, near as I can tell, none of these four can be streamed both
law-abidingly and with English subtitles. (At least not in the UK,
Australia or Singapore. Maybe in Kazakhstan.)

HISTORICAL: <Dae Jang Geum>, aka <The Jewel in the Palace>, MBC 2003-
2004 (54 episodes). One woman is documented as a doctor to a king of
Korea. This drama assumes she must've been a genius, and patiently
unfolds that genius through her quest to avenge her mother, mostly in
a glittering 16th century palace. Bits of fantasy and of science.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Dae_Jang_Geum>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dae_Jang_Geum> (English Wikipedia's
best article on a specific K-drama)
WARNING: English Wikipedia perpetrates spoilers, unlike the other
informational sites I point to, and also unlike Korean Wikipedia
(which generally eschews plot summary). Read at your own risk.
This article is especially spoilerish.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Dae_Jang_Geum.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409546/>

<https://www.viki.com/tv/614c-jewel-in-the-palace> - free US

"Onara", composed by Im Se-Hyun, sung by Kim Ji-Hyun, Baek Bo-Hyun,
and Kim Seul-Gi.

MELODRAMA: <Truth>, MBC 2000 (16 episodes). 1997-2004 had famous
melodramas, several starring Choi Ji-Woo. Here she's a high school
student, daughter to servants; under pressure from their bosses, she
sins. Political and personal catastrophes follow. This is what
melodrama is *for*.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Honesty>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Truth.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439353/>

<https://www.viki.com/tv/29487c-truth> - free US

"True Love", composed by Park Chae-Wan and Go Byung-Joon, sung by
Kim Dong-Young.

ACTION: <City Hunter>, SBS 2011 (20 episodes). City Hunter is a
Japanese imitation Batman. This origin story for him itself imitates
<Time between Dog and Wolf>, MBC 2007, listed in this thread, more
commercially, and I've seen CH called "soulless". But I think its
soul lies in its frontal attack on Confucian veneration of fathers.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/City_Hunter>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Hunter_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_City_Hunter.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1982229/>

All of DramaFever, Viki and KoCoWa had it in mid-2018 for the US; now
DramaFever is gone and the other two deny it. I don't believe this
situation can last (this is a tremendously popular drama), but
meantime see the last post.

"It's Alright", composed by Oh Jun-Seong, performed by the Yang Hwa
Jin Band.

ROMANCE: <My Name Is Kim Sam-Soon>, MBC 2005 (16 episodes). The
most mature K-drama romance I, and a lot of other viewers, have seen,
far more realistic than usual. A chubby, cranky woman rises from the
worst night of her life to find true love - realistic? Yes. More
triangles than any other drama I've seen, too.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/My_Lovely_Sam-Soon>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lovely_Sam_Soon>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_My_Name_is_Kim_Sam-soon.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477524/>

<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/my-name-is-kim-sam-soon-e01.html> - free US
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/my-lovely-sam-soon/688366> - free US
<https://www.viki.com/tv/1476c-my-name-is-kim-sam-soon> - free US

"Farewell without Farewell", composed by W (Where the Story Ends),
sung by Jisun.

Because, um, "straight" romances - without elements of other genres -
are a plurality of the series I've watched, over 20 of the 55 1/2, I
thought I should be able to point to more. #2 was obvious, but I
don't think quite as well of it as everyone else does, so I wanted a
#3, which torpedoed the plan. Titles and terminal elements from
songs' YouTube URLs, for the #2 and the *four* dramas considered for
#3:
2 <Coffee Prince> - ajA6yM7DKAA. 3a <Boys Over Flowers> -
qqKB2Lzrlpo. 3b <That Fool> aka <The Accidental Couple> -
sFmB6BGSNDc. 3c <Protect the Boss> - aC9gOYn3GyQ. 3d <Dream High>,
*not* actually a "straight" romance - Krzx40YQHyo.

In general, for most of the songs I cite in this thread, I've done
more or less research on some or all of the performers. Ask and I'll
see what I can answer. Or, if adventurous enough or interested
enough, feel free to ask for information on how to do the research
yourself (actually a substantial part of the thousands of lines of
both previous introductions mentioned above, but I can be terser).

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This is the first in a series of posts in which I'm updating my
voluminous posts on the subject line last year and early this year.

In general, things I'm *not* doing in these updates:

1) Re-checking links.
2) Re-checking "Also at".
3) Much of anything with movies.
4) Etc. I've come up with entirely new sets of gruntwork to do, and
don't see the need to repeat any of the gruntwork I already did.

Thins I *am* doing:

1) Noting dropped shows at each relevant site.
2) Noting added shows at each relevant site.
3) Adding shows I missed the first time.

I'd hoped, by the time of these updates, to have watched some of the
dubiously speculative dramas, but it hasn't happened; work on Viki
(which I hope to post at the end of the series of updates, a week
from Friday, so September 6) has sucked too much time from me. So
I'm not dropping any shows, and although I'll probably have watched
many of the dubia by the time of the last post (which I hope will be
in early December, give or take a few weeks), I probably won't drop
the non-speculative ones then either - why bother, so late in the
game?

I meant to post one per day, but Labor Day already scotched that plan,
and also I'm doing far more work on the first sites covered than on
most of the later ones. So I'm doing two posts' updates today, and
will probably double up again in the future; Netflix should show up
tomorrow, but YouTube may well take until Thursday, which would force
more doubling up.

Post by Joe Bernstein
K-DRAMA BASICS
I've watched two 1979 short speculative K-dramas now available at
YouTube without subtitles. The rest of what I've watched dates 1988-
2017. 1) I understand 1987-1997 as a golden age of K-drama. I know
of little speculative TV during this time, some of which I've watched,
and discuss in the last post. 2) After the Asian financial crisis,
drama makers always sought exports, and a new order began to emerge.
Only a couple of dramas listed in these posts date to this time.
With few exceptions, I haven't yet gotten to the speculative shows of
this and later periods.

I interpret a number of phenomena I've observed in the time since I
posted this as companies getting ready for the 2020s by cleaning
house. Concretely, one thing this means is that dramas from before
2004 have almost vanished from the law-abiding world, not just the
English-subtitled part of it. ODK, KoCoWa, and as far as I know Viu
have never had any English-subtitled dramas older than 2003, so this
mainly applies to Viki and the law-abiding sites discussed in the
last post, as well as to whatever becomes of DramaFever's dramas.

(Other sites seem not to have been notified that they should abandon
elderly dramas on the nearest available ice floe, but few had many in
the first place.)

Post by Joe Bernstein
3) In 2004 K-dramas swept into Japan, and
English- and other-language fandoms began, though nowhere as intense
as in East Asia. This brought tons of money into the K-drama world
(widescreen began in 2005), and led to what I see as a silver age.
Most longer shows I've watched date to it. Speculation became
steadily more common at this time, until eleven new speculative shows
began in 2011.

The housecleaning is affecting dramas of this period through severe
winnowing, but not yet overwhelming oblivion.

Post by Joe Bernstein
4) Since 2012, I think another transition has been
happening, a major sign of which is the speculative boom already
mentioned; 26 new speculative K-dramas began in 2012, and in 2017, at
least 49.

Some dramas of this period are still being lost to the law-abiding
world, as some recent dramas always have for various reasons. (I'm
not aware that any site has ever streamed the first drama I ever
watched.) But they are not, so far, seen as so out of date that they
must all vanish from view.

Post by Joe Bernstein
A formula called "trendy" dominated overwhelmingly 2004-2012, and has
been prominent in both transitions just mentioned (1997-2004 and 2012-
present). It derives from, but has evolved independently from,
Japanese "trendy" drama. Korean trendy is aimed at women, especially
younger ones, and ideally shows a poor or at least ordinary woman
transforming an upper-class jerk into a worthy partner. Few dramas
check every trendy box, but few "silver age" ones check none.

I've recently been watching recent dramas preferentially, and my
*guess* is that trendy is still a major force, but fewer and fewer
dramas are simply and entirely trendy, and different parts of the
formula have worn better or worse.

Post by Joe Bernstein
BROADCAST
In the
1970s, the broadcasters tried twice-weekly schedules. The one that
stuck is two episodes on successive days; shows like this during
prime time are called "flagship", and though speculative shows have
happened in all sorts of schedules, the vast majority of the
broadcast series in these posts premiered as flagships.

This is the first place in this set of posts that I referred to a
plan I've since discarded, which was to leave out a whole lot of
speculative dramas, essentially on the grounds that they aren't
legally available to English-speakers, even though that conflicts
with what the plan for the last post always was.
That said, in this particular case, even when I roll all the
broadcast dramas *not* legally available into the mix, still, easily
more than half the speculative ones premiered as flagships, probably
more than 70%.

Post by Joe Bernstein
SBS and KBS have both had short drama omnibus series focusing
on speculative material, but not recently; what's available subtitled
and law-abidingly now is individual speculative dramas from general-
purpose short-drama timeslots, mostly KBS's but with one MBC example.

So, for example, I'll cover those SBS and KBS series in the last post,
and since Viki has gone and dropped that MBC example, I'll still
cover it in the Viki post but to actually *watch* it you'll need the
last post's help, or equivalent information.

Post by Joe Bernstein
CABLE
I've watched too few really to judge (my current viewing therefore
focuses on cable shows, so I can try to correct the following), but I
*think* cable dramas seem edgier, trying harder to be cool; I also
think an effect of this is that where network dramas have often
focused on characters' workplaces, cable dramas seem to do that less.

Between the test dramas for the previous round of posts, and a few
since, I've now watched more than twice as many cable dramas as I had
when I wrote this, not that that's saying much. Edgier still holds -
I'm getting to where I'd confidently say cable dramas *normally* seek
edginess - but the workplace thing more or less depends on the drama,
which was also true of the silver age broadcast flagships that are my
standard of comparison here *anyway*.

Post by Joe Bernstein
In general, South Korean cable companies try not to talk to the West.

Competitive pressures have put major dents in this attitude, as
this set of updates and especially the Viki post will show. So

Post by Joe Bernstein
DramaFever, the site that died recently, was focusing on cable dramas.
As a result, they've suddenly become far less accessible.

this is significantly less true now than it was when I wrote it.

Post by Joe Bernstein
WEB
Web K-dramas began in 2010 (with a speculative drama I list in the
next post, sort of cheating).

Nope. MyDramaList lists a 2009 example. I've now watched it, and
it's very strange, but definitely a Web K-drama; it's at best meta-
speculative, but I figured it was close enough to list in the YouTube
update.
I've also found another 2010 "movie" that consists of episodes and
premiered on the Web. It isn't speculative at all.
I know of no Web K-dramas from 2011, although I haven't looked
very hard. This is the only excuse I can still make for the general
claim that Web K-dramas only began in 2012.

Post by Joe Bernstein
From 2015 to 2017 numerous speculative
Web dramas appeared; this is probably continuing,

Yes, but speculation is no longer anywhere near half the total.

Post by Joe Bernstein
but no information
source on them can be relied upon for completeness. (My lists may
omit *thousands* of speculative Web dramas you could lawfully watch,
subtitled at some site I've never heard of - unlikely, but possible.)
I learn of Web dramas mainly when streamers pick them up, rather than
from my usual information sources; this built-in delay explains how
few 2018 Web dramas I list so far.

No longer an issue. I mentioned in the original YouTube post a list
of 209 dramas I'd then just found. MyDramaList has a built-in search
function that turns up 284, which actually isn't all the Web K-dramas
known to that site, and a user there has listed about 100. I'm
beginning to think that as of the start of 2019, very likely fewer
than 1000 Web K-dramas had been made, and quite possibly fewer than
500; it partly depends on what you count as a "drama". Many studios
now churn them out diligently - mahy of these post much of their
output to YouTube, so will come up in that update *too* - so I'd
hesitate to make either of those numerical claims for *end* 2019.
Anyway, I'm undoubtedly still behind, but I list several 2019 Web
K-dramas in these updates.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Web dramas, with their short episodes and consistent use of idols,
seem to me also primarily aimed at younger viewers than cable shows,
which in turn are aimed younger than many broadcast dramas.

I've now watched *far* more Web K-dramas than I had when I wrote
this, and examined more still; between that and the cable drama
watching mentioned above, I'm *quite* certain this is correct.
In particular, an easy majority of Web K-dramas now being made are
short love stories meant to appeal to viewers between 10 and 30 years
old. The comments on these at YouTube are an excellent demonstration
of that site's most social-media-like aspects: in them, these young
viewers hash out proper responses to the moral issues, if any, raised
by the stories.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Web dramas' makers vary plenty, but many eagerly talk to the West.

The majority of the studios mentioned above subtitle their dramas
in English, or at least invite viewers to do so.

I further wrote in news:***@144.76.35.198:

[English-speaking countries]

Post by Joe Bernstein
This isn't just me
waxing geographical but the sorts of regions I've seen in studying
streaming site Viki's public accounts of its K-drama licenses: the US
and Canada (as well as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago) *always* go
together in "the Americas", ditto Australia and New Zealand in
"Oceania", and although "Europe" in Viki's licenses is never the same
countries twice, I never noticed Ireland omitted.

I must not have been looking very hard. At Viki, Canada and the US
really do get extremely similar lists of shows, but Australia and
New Zealand differ some, and Ireland and the UK considerably.

Post by Joe Bernstein
I wound up using a VPN with a fairly low data limit ... All my VPN
work was done at speed, and I can't pretend to thoroughness,
completeness, or even all that much accuracy in it.

I later posted some amendments to this once I'd found VPN programs
with higher data limits. This set of posts covers Netflix in all the
countries listed, and Viki in all but Trinidad and Tobago, but I
haven't, in these updates, tried to re-do all the work I then did on
the other sites I cover, most of which are pretty Americas-centric
(with the obvious exception of Viu, and also except, of course,
YouTube).

Post by Joe Bernstein
A site which later posts cite for information on web dramas has an
<https://mydramalist.com/discussions/general-asia-forum/31644-official-
list-of-legal-streaming-websites> This list names three sites as
having Korean dramas where I didn't find any (PopcornFlix, Toggle and
V LIVE), though I may simply not have found the magic keys, but *for
what it's worth*, the list also says this next site, also reputedly
offering K-dramas, operates in Nigeria: <https://www.iflix.com/>.

The previous round of posts ended up saying a lot about iflix and
other sites in Southeast and South Asia and in Africa. I more or
less exhausted what I thought I could do with those sites, and have
not revisited them for these updates, but will refer to them again in
the last post so will probably look at them again before doing so.

A significant chunk of the Web dramas listed at MyDramaList are said
to have premiered at VLive, so I must have missed something basic.

Post by Joe Bernstein
FOR MORE
I've written two *far* longer introductions to K-dramas. The first,
begun in 2012, survives in a 2016 version; it treats trendy romances
as normative. The second, written this year and at 2000 70-character
lines about half as long, is broader in scope (and much less detailed
about trendy romances). If you want either, let me know.

The one written in 2018 was lost when my backpack, containing the two
flash drives it was on, was stolen in February 2019. Since nobody
asked for either, I probably won't re-create it in that form.

Post by Joe Bernstein
LATER IN THIS THREAD
For each streaming site, I list the speculative K-dramas it offers
under one of two business models usual in the specialised K-drama
sites: 1) Free streaming, probably interrupted by ads. 2) Streaming
available without limit to subscribers who pay monthly or otherwise
scheduled dues, usually without ads. So I don't cover dramas one can
buy or rent from the Western sites where *those* business models
prevail, unless they're also free to subscribers (which is what gets
Amazon into here). Western-focused sites which follow only the model
#2 (especially Netflix) may try not to let non-subscribers learn what
they carry (a bafflingly counter-productive marketing approach), so I
use work-arounds which don't cover such sites outside the US.

I now cover Netflix rather more thoroughly, other such sites less
so.
I ended up saying a little about sites with other business models,
mainly in the next post, the one covering miscellaneous Western-
oriented sites. I expect to expand that significantly in the next
set of updates, because Apple TV comes up in many searches for K-
dramas, but so far, that site isn't admitting to any actual contents,
at least not anywhere I can think of to look. I assume once it
launches properly, that will change, so I may be able to cover it in
that set of posts.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Most sites that stream K-dramas under one of these models also stream
Korean movies under the same, and I decided it was worth saying
something about these too,

I've done as little as I could accept on movies for these updates.

Post by Joe Bernstein
HISTORICAL: <Dae Jang Geum>, aka <The Jewel in the Palace>, MBC 2003-
2004 (54 episodes).
<https://www.viki.com/tv/614c-jewel-in-the-palace> - free US

Now dead.

Post by Joe Bernstein
MELODRAMA: <Truth>, MBC 2000 (16 episodes).
<https://www.viki.com/tv/29487c-truth> - free US

Now dead.

Post by Joe Bernstein
ACTION: <City Hunter>, SBS 2011 (20 episodes).
All of DramaFever, Viki and KoCoWa had it in mid-2018 for the US; now
DramaFever is gone and the other two deny it. I don't believe this
situation can last (this is a tremendously popular drama), but
meantime see the last post.

It has lasted. Are you beginning to see a pattern here?

Post by Joe Bernstein
ROMANCE: <My Name Is Kim Sam-Soon>, MBC 2005 (16 episodes).
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/my-name-is-kim-sam-soon-e01.html> - free US
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/my-lovely-sam-soon/688366> - free US
<https://www.viki.com/tv/1476c-my-name-is-kim-sam-soon> - free US

None of *these* are dead.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Because, um, "straight" romances - without elements of other genres -
are a plurality of the series I've watched, over 20 of the 55 1/2, I
thought I should be able to point to more. #2 was obvious, but I
don't think quite as well of it as everyone else does, so I wanted a
#3, which torpedoed the plan. Titles and terminal elements from
songs' YouTube URLs, for the #2 and the *four* dramas considered for
2 <Coffee Prince> - ajA6yM7DKAA. 3a <Boys Over Flowers> -
qqKB2Lzrlpo. 3b <That Fool> aka <The Accidental Couple> -
sFmB6BGSNDc. 3c <Protect the Boss> - aC9gOYn3GyQ. 3d <Dream High>,
*not* actually a "straight" romance - Krzx40YQHyo.

When I wrote that, all but <That Fool> were at Viki, and of those,
all but <Protect the Boss> were free to watch. Now <Coffee Prince>
and <Dream High> are also paywalled there, but not at OnDemandKorea,
which also carries <The Accidental Couple>.

So my point is that what determines the survival of silver age dramas
at this point seems to me to be how romantic they are, pure and
simple. This obviously doesn't bode well for most speculative shows.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This post covers miscellaneous video streaming sites which English-
speakers are likely to think of as "general purpose". There are, of
course, billions of such sites, since every company in the First
World is convinced that streaming video is the only business worth
pursuing in the future. I'm pretty sure most of these sites have no
Korean dramas at all. I asked here for any suggestions of sites *to*
seek out and got no answers. I ultimately relied on this list:

<https://mydramalist.com/discussions/general-asia-forum/31644-official-list-of-legal-streaming-websites>

which the site in question uses to whitelist links to streamers,
although they seem to have compiled it largely from user comments.

However, when I decided to pay attention to Korean movies in these
posts, I stumbled onto a site whose Wikipedia page lists various
competitors, and decided I should at least *try* to play fairer,
ultimately checking ten sites. None offer K-dramas under free with
ads or subscription business models, but some get closer than others.
Putting it mildly, I chose not to use VPN bytes on any of these; some
of these sites are US-only, others wider.

1) I decided not to install Facebook's app on my phone just to find
out whether they had any K-dramas in Facebook Watch; nobody seemed to
say they did.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Watch>
<https://www.facebook.com/watch>

2) Movies Anywhere follows neither business model, and seems to have
no Korean content (a search on 'Korean' returns nothing).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movies_Anywhere>
<http://moviesanywhere.com/>

Two sites do follow those business models, but lack Korean content
(same criterion; sometimes, site-specific Google searches for 'Korean').
Sony, which owns both, is active in Korean entertainment, so why?

3) Sony Crackle is free with ads.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Crackle>
<https://www.sonycrackle.com/> (seems to be down today?)

4) PlayStation Vue is subscription.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Vue>
<http://www.playstationvue.com/>

Four sites don't follow either business model, but do have Korean
movies:

5) FandangoNOW has at least 66. (That was my second visit to the
last URL below; on the first, 36. Will the third be 148, 47, or 2?)
The selection of 36 emphasised sex rather than horror, so not as many
were speculative as I'd expected, and a quick glance at the 66 says
similar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fandango_(company)#FandangoNow>
<https://www.fandangonow.com/>
<https://www.fandangonow.com/list/korean-cinema>

6) Microsoft Movies | Films & TV has, in the US, around sixty, lots
of which are speculative.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Movies_%26_TV>
<https://www.microsoft.com/movies-and-tv>
<https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Korean+audio%22+site:microsoft.com/en-us/>

7) Kanopy is free to viewers, without even ads, but is pay per view
(i.e., rental) to the libraries which are its actual customers. Its
impressive selection of 69 Korean movies includes much horror from
the decade of the 2000s hard to find elsewhere.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanopy>
<https://www.kanopy.com/>
<https://www.kanopy.com/category/languages/korean>

8) Google Play is the clear champion, among sites that rent or sell
Korean movies in digital form. In my Android phone, it offered me
eleven *lists* of Korean movies (I didn't believe they were all
Korean, and clicked on a bunch of dubia - nope, they all were). I
collated these on 12/1 and found 205. None of those lists focuses on
horror or speculation, and the set punches *way* under its weight in
these areas, though its weight is so great that it still has quite a
few. I did find a horror list with the search URL below; it includes
only 13 movies, though that may be for aesthetic reasons. Google
*does* focus on genres outside the stereotypes of Korean movies: war,
comedy, historical, romance - I *was* offered all of *those* lists on
my phone.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Movies_%26_TV>
<https://play.google.com/store/movies/>
<https://www.google.com/search?q=Korean+movies+site%3Aplay.google.com%2Fstore%2Fmovies%2F>
<https://play.google.com/store/movies/collection/movies_clusters_dora_cluster_d6c1_horror_films___korean_films__d6_korean_films>

The sites that come closest - to offering speculative K-dramas under
free with ads or subscription business models - are two with far
fewer Korean movies:

9) iTunes is said to be working on a subscription service. As things
are, though, it's the only one that rents or sells K-dramas: iTunes
Canada has at least two. (One is the <Boys Over Flowers> I hesitated
to recommend in the introduction; they call the other <Heartstrings>.
Neither is speculative, though <Boys> is structured like a fairy tale
with wealth substituting for magic.) I found no evidence of K-dramas
at iTunes US, UK, or Australia, but since iTunes won't let me browse
its store without buying hardware, my research abilities are limited.
I found today only ten Korean movies at iTunes US, four at iTunes UK.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Store>
<https://itunes.apple.com/>
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/genre/movies-korean-cinema/id4428>
<https://itunes.apple.com/gb/genre/films-korean-cinema/id4428> etc.

10) Vudu is mainly rent or buy, like most of these sites, but some of
its movies and shows are free with ads; none of those shows are
Korean, and I found no evidence they rent or sell K-dramas either,
but they do have at least seven Korean movies free with ads. (They
don't have their own URL listing these, and I may have missed a few.)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vudu>
<http://www.vudu.com/>
<https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/collection/content/International/25085#{%22minVisible%22:0}>
<Arang>, 2006; <The Ghost>, 2004; <A Hard Day>, 2014; <Oldboy>, 2003;
<The Red Shoes>, 2005; <Samaritan Girl>, 2004; and <Pieta>, 2012, the
only place I found it free or subscription.

I wrote up a catalogue of Korean movies at the following sites: Tubi,
Viewster, Viki, OnDemandKorea, AsianCrush, Crunchyroll, YouTube
(lawful uploads explained in that post), Kanopy and Vudu. It is, of
course, already getting outdated, but I wrote it in late November, so
it isn't hopeless yet; I have no interest in updating it, nor in
extending it to sites other than Kanopy that don't do the free or
subscription business models. (I'd be willing to extend it to
Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. if someone sent me their lists.) It's
handwritten. If people request it, I'll type it up and send it out,
*after* I've finished posting the researched posts of this thread. I
may feel like indicating on the typed version which movies I
understand to be speculative.

[Joe Bernstein]

I found five sites I thought worth covering here in more detail (and
cover a mistake I made by listing a sixth). My coverage of these is
heavily US- or at best North America-focused. Sorry!


VIEWSTER

<http://www.viewster.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewster>
<https://www.viewster.com/genre/50/korean-drama/>

I have no background with this site.

English Wikipedia is just one of a number of sources that say it
carries Korean dramas. In fact, one of those sources is its own
front page. But the "Korean drama" page at Viewster as seen in the
US lists thirteen *movies*. I saw the same list of movies while
posing as British; I don't know whether that's because Viewster saw
through the pose (VPN) or because it really doesn't have K-dramas.
Viewster is usually mentioned with regard to K-dramas in a European
context, so if you're there, you *might* want to see if you get the
same results I did. I didn't check this site as from Singapore or
Australia.

If you can get past the false advertising, the movies range 1954-2006
(not *remotely* typical of other sites) and are an interesting group,
clearly curated - more movies from Korean cinema's top periods, the
1960s, 1990s and 2000s, than other times. Several look speculative.
I found only two available elsewhere.


YAHOO! VIEW

<https://view.yahoo.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_View>
<https://view.yahoo.com/browse/tv/genre/international/korean/shows>
<https://view.yahoo.com/browse/movies/genre/international/movies>

Three sites described in this post got K-dramas from DramaFever, the
K-drama site which closed unexpectedly in October. Two seem to have
found alternative sources; one now lists seven K-dramas, the other
thirty-five (though all but four are Web dramas).

Yahoo! View is the exception.

It was originally hived off as essentially Hulu's free tier when Hulu
went paywalled-only, and when I compared them in 2016 or 2017, they
had exactly the same seven K-dramas. But in summer 2018, when Hulu
still had seven, Yahoo! View only had four (though not just a subset
of Hulu's). And since DramaFever closed, Yahoo! View hasn't had any.
(Nor has it today any Korean movies.)

It won't talk to my phone, so even if I had any reason to think it
operated outside the US, I couldn't have checked for K-dramas in
other places.


THE INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE

<https://www.imdb.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMDb>

This site is only here because first I took a controversial position,
and then I made a mistake.

The controversial position is my claim in the introduction and
elsewhere that Korean Web dramas began in 2010; most people say 2012.
Both relevant video creations are speculative, but neither should be
listed here, because neither is now lawfully available with English
subtitles. Anyway, the 2010 one is usually described as a movie, and
it did appear on DVD in South Korea, which Web dramas since usually
haven't. But I ask you: four short parts, *always* called, in
English, "episodes", premiered on a website - is that a movie, or a
Web drama?

Anyway, the mistake is that I thought the copy of the first episode
that the IMDB carries was subtitled. It isn't. So I'll get back to
<The Influence>, 2010, in the last post. But since I said in the
introduction that I'd talk about it in *this* post, here the IMDB is,
without justification. Sorry.
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1688225/>

[Joe Bernstein]

HULU

<https://www.hulu.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulu>
<https://www.hulu.com/sitemap>
<https://www.hulu.com/genre/korean-0ad5098f-58aa-41ae-baf3-1292970bf8c8>

When I started looking into K-dramas online in 2012, Hulu was a major
site, not because it had a big subtitling operation of its own, but
because it partnered not only with DramaFever (which apparently got
software from it at the beginning), Crunchyroll and Viki, but also
with bunches of Korean sites, including the Big Three and even some
cable companies. They had *hundreds* of dramas. But I only watched
an episode or two there - the vast flocks of ads put me off.

Gradually it all fell away. I'm not sure when everything else ended,
but Hulu's break with DramaFever made the news. Maybe that's why
they've come out best, of the DramaFever-linked sites in the US, with
respect to K-dramas; or maybe they're just putting up a good front,
and if I *were* a member, their dramas wouldn't play.

I didn't attempt to reach Hulu while doing the VPN work, partly
because it's never been willing to say anything to my phone except
"SUBSCRIBE!!!", and partly because Wikipedia said it's US only.

These three dramas all have extremely detailed plot summaries at
English Wikipedia. In case you skipped the warning in the off-topic
part of the introduction, here it is again: EW has a policy against
caring about spoilers, and although many EW K-drama entries don't
spoil, you can't assume that. Usually, short plot summaries don't
spoil, so check the length of the summary before reading. I cite
English Wikipedia anyway because the articles are useful in many
*other* regards, including their links to Korean Wikipedia.

1. <The Legend of the Blue Sea>, SBS 2016-2017 (20 episodes)
Plot summaries of this drama conflict, but it involves both the past
("the Joseon era" = 1392-1910, the usual past of fantasy dramas) and
the present, and both a mermaid and a con man. The mermaid is played
by actress Jun Ji-Hyun, aka Gianna Jun, who's starred in several
speculative movies (<il Mare>, <The Uninvited>, <A Man Who Was
Superman>, <Blood: The Last Vampire>) and also a speculative drama
even more popular than this one, to be named later.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Legend_of_the_Blue_Sea>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Blue_Sea>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Legend_of_the_Blue_Sea.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5766194/>
<https://www.hulu.com/the-legend-of-the-blue-sea> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia).

2. <While You Were Sleeping>, SBS 2017 (32 half-episodes)
Several dramas focus on people who can foresee, and try to forestall,
the future. Here *three* people who can dream of the future, a
reporter, a prosecutor, and a police officer, try to prevent crimes
dreamt of from happening. Lee Jong-Suk (the prosecutor) has starred
in three other dramas I list, and had a memorable part in one more.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/While_You_Were_Sleeping_(2017)>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/While_You_Were_Sleeping_(2017_TV_series)>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_While_You_Were_Sleeping_-_2017.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6256484/>
<https://www.hulu.com/while-you-were-sleeping-tv> (paywalled)
Also at KoCoWa (paywalled), Viu (Singapore), and Viki (Americas, UK,
Australia).

3. <Descendants of the Sun>, KBS2 2016 (16 episodes)
I suppose its core plot is romance, but that romance is between a
military man and a military doctor who meet mainly in war zones and
who have very different views of life. The minimal novum is that
much of the story is set in a fictional country, Uruq, which some
confidently identify with Iraq while others put it in Central Asia.
A huge hit in Korea and Asia generally; just because it was "pre-
produced" (not "live shoot"), pre-production suddenly boomed.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Descendants_of_the_Sun>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descendants_of_the_Sun>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Descendant_of_the_Sun.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925000/>
<https://www.hulu.com/descendants-of-the-sun> (paywalled)
Also at KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide), Viki (Americas), Viu
(Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

Hulu appears to have maybe ten Korean movies. Since I can only
convince Hulu to talk to me at all when I can get to a free-range
desktop computer, I haven't really looked at these.

[Joe Bernstein]

AMAZON VIDEO

<https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video/b/?&node=2858778011>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Video>

I actually have paid for a Korean movie at this site, and watched it,
but don't remember enough about that to say anything useful about the
experience of watching Korean *dramas* at Amazon. I also don't have
whatever magic keys allow reliably *finding* K-dramas at Amazon,
which goes out of its way to make that difficult.

A site I've long relied upon for information about Netflix's K-dramas
covers Amazon and YouTube too. What it covers at Amazon is shows
available free with Prime membership for US members, which is pretty
exactly the second business model I described above. NeeNee in
<https://asianaddictsanonymous.com/lists/asian-dramas-with-english-subtitles-on-amazon-prime/>
as of October 28 listed 35 dramas, of which two are network, ?two
cable, and the rest Web dramas. (This is a dramatic increase from
March 11, 2018, which only listed six.) I list both cable dramas and
five of the Web ones. This introduces us to a stock of Web dramas I
didn't know about until recently, which reappears in AsianCrush and
OnDemandKorea (few of Amazon's *aren't* at ODK), and which has a
considerably lower proportion of speculative dramas than the stock I
knew of from Viki, DramaFever, Netflix and DramaWiki.

Since beginning this set of posts I've planned to sort the dramas at
the major sites more or less by topic or novum. Somewhat to my
surprise, it's working pretty well for smaller ones too, including
this one. Three of these dramas involve people with special powers.

4. <Thunder Store>, Tooniverse 2013-2014 (2 seasons, each 12 episodes)
This is a kids' show. A stationery store across from an elementary
school is struck by lightning. Somehow this results in a bunch of
kids at the school acquiring abilities which in the second season
they use to fight a villain. I've actually long been curious about
this series, which I've never found fully subtitled before.
The March 11 list included no dramas since dropped, and only this
of the dramas listed here.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Thunderstruck_Stationery>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Store_Struck_By_Lightning_Season_2.php>
<https://mydramalist.com/11800-store-struck-by-lightning>
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I67KCDI> (season 1, paywalled)
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I5P8C7Y> (season 2, paywalled)

5. <Teleport Love>, Naver 2014 (4 quarter-hour episodes)
A romance in which a man who can teleport uses this power to save his
beloved's life, only to discover that teleportation causes non-
teleporters amnesia. The actors playing these two had previously
appeared together in the first drama I list below for Tubi (#11).
<https://mydramalist.com/14822-teleport-love>
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DQSDSZ4/> (paywalled)
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas).

6. <Love, Lost in Memory>, Naver 2018 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
Our Hero can read minds, though Viki says this is through technology
rather than psionics. He uses this ability to help a woman who
witnessed a murder identify those involved, and you can guess ...
The 2013 drama also called <Love in Memory> is not speculative.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Love_In_Memory>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Love_in_Memory.php>
<https://mydramalist.com/27371-love-in-memory>
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D6DQ3Q9/> (paywalled)
Also at AsianCrush, OnDemandKorea, and Viki (as far as I know, all
Americas); the latter two also have the sequel <Love in Time>.

Three more involve ontologically different beings:

7. <Immortal Goddess>, Naver 2016 (8 quarter-hour episodes)
The leading lady is a vampire aging because she got AIDS from one of
her victims. (Vampires like most monsters are more sympathetic in K-
drama than in tradition, but may retain more of an edge of danger.
Korean folklore has no vampires, but they've been fairly common in K-
dramas since 2005 or earlier.) Apparently it's a romantic comedy.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Immortal_Goddess.php>
<https://mydramalist.com/18566-immortal-goddess>
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D2XV55V/> (paywalled)
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas).

8. <Irish Uppercut>, Naver 2017 (8 quarter-hour episodes)
Both leads die, and become reapers who meet in the titular pub. This
appears also to be available in Australia, which leads me to hope
Amazon has worldwide licenses for some or all of these.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Irish_Uppercut>
<https://mydramalist.com/24054-irish-uppercut>
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DH9NCC6/> (paywalled)
Also at AsianCrush and OnDemandKorea (both Americas).

9. <My Romantic Some Recipe>, Naver 2016 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
A college student brings home and puts up a poster of her favourite
idol boy band member, only for him to emerge from it. He's played
by idol Cha Eun-Woo, who's done well enough in acting to have starred
in three other dramas I list (*not* the norm for Web dramas' leads!).
<https://mydramalist.com/21657-my-romantic-some-recipe>
<https://www.amazon.com//dp/B07DYF35BH/> (paywalled)
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas).

Finally, I'm not sure one is speculative at all:

10. <Infinite Power>, ?CGV 2013 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
A man comes up with an engine that can generate infinite power, but
what the drama cares about is the job hunter who wants a secure
corporate position but winds up mixed up with the inventor. This may
be science fiction that doesn't bother to be science fiction.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Infinite_Power>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Infinite_Power.php>
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D1VHXFG/> (paywalled)
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), which ?misclassifies it as a Web
drama. I didn't look for this while doing the VPN work.

Once I figured out how, I found three Korean movies available free to
US Amazon Prime members. None is speculative; two are from 2001, one
from 2014; all are free at AsianCrush, so no incentive to join Prime
in North America.

[Joe Bernstein]

TUBI

<https://tubitv.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubi>
<https://tubitv.com/category/foreign_favorites/s/korean_drama>
<https://tubitv.com/category/foreign_films>

I have no time depth for or history with this site, but did recently
watch a test drama there.

MBC has aired new drama episodes in seven regular timeslots for more
than four years of the current decade: dailies in the morning (to
2018), early evening, and late evening (to 2017), evening weekend
dramas, and flagships Monday-Tuesday (formerly often devoted to long
historical dramas), Wednesday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/List_of_Dramas_aired_in_Korea_by_MBC>

MBC America used to point people wanting video on demand to Hulu.
Now it points them instead to Viki, DramaFever (still), and I don't
know who-all.
<http://www.mbc-america.com/en/default/Video_Drama.php>
But it actually disposes of its leftover subtitles *now* by selling
them to Tubi. 61 of Tubi's 71 K-dramas form long sequences from this
decade's MBC flagships (all schedules), weekend dramas, and late
evening dailies. The other ten are MBC dramas, mostly flagships,
from outside those sequences. Tubi's licenses appear to be narrower
than usual, possibly limited to the US, Canada and Mexico; when I
posed as Brazilian, I found only three dramas (though one appeared
ready to play). To find Tubi's K-dramas, pick "Foreign Favorites"
from the menu; once you've done so, one option is "Korean dramas",
and unlike Viewster, Tubi has actual Korean dramas behind that link.

I watched one episode of the test drama through Chrome on Android as
if at a computer; it worked fine, and had some ads. I watched the
rest of the show in Tubi's app. Under poor Wi-Fi for four episodes,
I got one screen dissolve and *no other problems* - this is
*excellent* for that spot! Tubi tries to fit ads in about every 9.75
minutes, but places them well (in fact ad breaks reliably foretell
scene breaks); although Tubi had, admittedly in the weekend after
Thanksgiving, far more ads than I've seen in aeons at the K-drama-
specific sites, it still visibly skipped many ad breaks.

Tubi has thirteen K-dramas I list here. More than half are broadly
historical, for decades one of MBC's strongest areas, mostly set in a
fictional, not clearly dated, version of the Joseon era. In my
experience, historicals are pretty reliably violent.

11. <The Moon Embracing The Sun> [sic], MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
The crown prince falls in love with one of his sister's companions.
But as shamans had already foreseen, his beloved is cursed by a rival.
Eight years later she returns to the palace a shaman herself, and the
rest follows. The prince is played by Kim Soo-Hyun, who also led,
opposite Jun Ji-Hyun, in the most popular speculative K-drama yet.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Moon_That_Embraces_the_Sun>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Embracing_the_Sun>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_The_Sun_and_the_Moon.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3143378/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/138/the_moon_embracing_the_sun>
Also at KoCoWa (paywalled), Viki (Americas), and Viu (Singapore), and
was at DramaFever.

12. <Arang and the Magistrate>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
This adapts a Korean folktale, in which the ghost of a murdered girl,
seeking justice, scares several officials to death before one who can
see and talk with ghosts comes to her aid. In this version, the
reaper concept figures. Both leads, Lee Joon-Gi and Shin Min-Ah,
have starred in three other speculative dramas listed in these posts;
one of his is shortly below, and I thought he did a good job in
another I've watched, while I love one of hers.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Arang_and_the_Magistrate>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arang_and_the_Magistrate>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Arang_and_the_Magistrate.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2216600/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/31/arang_and_the_magistrate>
Also at KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide), OnDemandKorea (Americas),
Viki (Americas), Viu (Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

13. <Dr. Jin>, MBC 2012 (22 episodes)
One of two dramas that year in which a doctor time-travels back to
the Joseon era, in this case the mid-19th century. Our doctor is a
cold surgeon who must Learn Better. English Wikipedia says he also
learns that his actions are affecting history, something usually not
noted about K-dramas in which a modern travels to pre-modern times.
Leading lady Park Min-Young, very beautiful, usually does historicals
and/or action shows (she was in <City Hunter>) to avoid looking
modern-feminine onscreen; I list three other dramas of hers, and four
more of leading man Song Seung-Heon, whom I haven't seen.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Dr._Jin>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Jin>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Dr_p__JIN.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2426396/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/121/dr_jin>
Also at Viki (Americas), Viu (Singapore), and was at DramaFever.
Park Min-Young in dresses:

14. <Gu Family Book>, MBC 2013 (24 episodes)
The first appearance in these posts of the gumiho, or nine-tailed fox,
traditionally a shape-changer who must eat the livers of a hundred
humans to become human herself, beautiful but pitiless, unlike the
more morally ambiguous Japanese kitsune. In dramas, though, they're
usually more sympathetic. In this, Our Hero is the son of a *male*
gumiho and a human woman, and the complicated plot set in the later
16th century seems to involve a fair amount of magic. Leading man
Lee Seung-Gi has starred in three other dramas I list, one I love and
one listed soon below.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Gu_Family_Book>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu_Family_Book>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Gu_Family_Book.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2816734/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/27/gu_family_book>
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), KoCoWa (paywalled), Viki (Americas),
Viu (Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

15. <The Night Watchman>, MBC 2014 (24 episodes)
A prince in a sort of exile can see ghosts. Learning of a monk's
plot to use a dragon artifact to take over, he re-forms an order
dedicated to fighting monsters and ghosts.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Night_Watchman>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watchman%27s_Journal>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Night_Watchman__s_Journal.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3922408/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/763/the_night_watchman>
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide),
and Viki (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

16. <Scholar Who Walks the Night>, MBC 2015 (20 episodes)
Another twisty plot, but this time most of the fantasy involves
vampires - a responsible one versus one who's already taken over
Korea. Features a cross-dressing heroine, reasonably common in
historicals because it lets the leading lady do more. The ~good
vampire is played by Lee Joon-Gi, from <Arang and the Magistrate>.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Scholar_Who_Walks_the_Night>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scholar_Who_Walks_the_Night>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Scholar_Who_Walks_the_Night.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846958/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/951/scholar_who_walks_the_night>
Also at AsianCrush (Americas), OnDemandKorea (Americas), KoCoWa
(paywalled), Viki (paywalled, Americas), and Viu (Singapore), and was
at DramaFever.

17. <Shine or Go Crazy>, MBC 2015 (24 episodes)
A prince of early Goryeo (an actual historical king, mid-10th century)
is exiled thanks to a prophecy, and meets an exiled princess of the
fallen kingdom of Balhae, also subject of a prophecy. You can
probably guess what's coming. Goryeo (918-1392) preceded Joseon;
Balhae (698-926), north of Silla (ended 935), preceded Goryeo.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Shine_or_Go_Crazy>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shine_or_Go_Crazy>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Shine_or_Go_Crazy.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4412610/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/952/shine_or_go_crazy>
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide),
Viki (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

[Joe Bernstein]

Not only does Tubi carry all these fantasy historicals, plus many non-
speculative historicals, it also has two *more* shows about royalty,
whose quite weak alternate history novum is a Korean monarchy in the
present day.

18. <The Princess Hours>, MBC 2006 (24 episodes)
The crown prince, in unrequited love, fulfills the marriage arranged
for him - to a commoner, who now faces not only the difficulties of
adjusting to royal life (and an at least initially loveless marriage),
but the machinations of others seeking the soon to be vacant throne.
Ju Ji-Hoon, playing the prince, has starred in, or will star in,
three other dramas I list; I've watched one, in which he acted well.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Goong>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Hours>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Princess_Hours.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0843195/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/135/the_princess_hours>
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), Viki (Americas), Viu (Singapore),
and was at DramaFever.

19. <The King 2 Hearts>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
The crown prince of *South* Korea (Lee Seung-Gi of <Gu Family Book>),
sent to a joint military exercise with the North, falls in love with
a Northern military leader. Then they face a terrorist plot together,
whose leader is a "magician" per Wikipedia.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_King_2_Hearts>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_2_Hearts>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_The_King_2_Hearts.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2346947/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/26/the_king_2_hearts>
Also at KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide), Viki (Americas), Viu
(Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

The rest, in decreasing order of fantastication:

20. <Possessed>, MBC 2009 (10 episodes)
A girl who's always been protected by her twin sister dies in a fire.
She now possesses her twin, giving the latter psychic powers and
strength. A criminal profiler finds out and uses her to seek justice.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Soul>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_HON_-_Soul.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2269311/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/134/possessed>
Also at Viki (Americas) and KoCoWa (paywalled).

21. <Mr. Baek>, MBC 2014 (16 episodes)
A Scrooge or Mr. Potter of seventy wakes up one morning in his
thirties, which exposes him to love and all that nonsense. Jang Na-
Ra, the leading lady, has starred in three other dramas I list (as
well as the test drama I chose for Tubi; she acts well).
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Mr._Back>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Back>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Mister_Baek.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4284152/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/759/mr_baek>
Was also at DramaFever.

22. <The Spring Day of My Life>, MBC 2014 (16 episodes)
South Korea has developed a unique fantasy plot, which unfortunately
it celebrates by using it over and over; this is the first version in
these posts. The plot is: A youngish person gets a heart transplant.
That person finds his or her personality changing to become more like
the donor's; simultaneously, that person meets the donor's beloved,
and you can guess what happens. The recipient this time is a young
woman played by a Girls' Generation member. We'll meet three more
iterations (the most praised is still ahead), but not two *more*.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Spring_Day_of_My_Life>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Spring_Days>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_My_Spring_Days.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3894602/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/764/the_spring_day_of_my_life>
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide),
and Viki (Americas).

23. <Missing 9>, MBC 2017 (16 episodes)
Probably about the only genre this story of an air disaster's
survivors *doesn't* include is speculative, but it was obviously an
answer to <Lost>, and I heard there was an "Infinity Necklace", and
anyway here I list it just in case. This is the only drama I list
offered me when I posed as Brazilian.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Missing_9>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_9>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Missing_9.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6237588/>
<https://tubitv.com/series/2395/missing_9>
Also at Viu (Singapore) and was at DramaFever.

Tubi doesn't offer a way to select its "foreign" films by language.
The 27 Korean movies I identified as such November 24 are actually a
pretty good selection 1999-2017, several speculative; since I feel in
charity with the site, here's a list, asterisked for speculation:
<Peppermint Candy>, 1999; <JSA>, 2000; <Bad Guy>, 2001; <Sympathy for
Mr. Vengeance>, 2002; <Oldboy> and * <The Uninvited>, 2003; <A Moment
to Remember>, 2004; <Lady Vengeance>, 2005; <Time> and * <The Host>,
2006; <Go Go 70>, 2008; * <Woochi>, * <Chawz> and <Closer to Heaven>,
2009; * <Haunters>, <Moss> and <I Saw the Devil>, 2010; <Sunny>,
<Quick>, * <Sector 7> and <Silenced>, 2011; <Howling>, 2012; <Cold
Eyes>, <Hide and Seek> and <Moebius>, 2013; <The Target>, 2014; and
<New Trial>, 2017. I found half nowhere else.

Tubi proudly has no paywalls. This is obviously good for the poorer
of us, but maybe not so good for movie viewers.


SONGS

I haven't watched any of the above listed dramas, so there's no song
A. Song B, from a speculative drama none of these sites carries:

"Lily Fever", composed by Kang Min-Kook, sung by Kim Hye-Joon and
Jung Yeon-Joo (but I don't know who did the guitar solo), not
released in the Korean music industry but used in the Web drama <Lily
Fever>, 2015, and provided for free download by a director of that
drama:

The download
link is in
<https://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=simock&logNo=220568536248>
but *where* in the page depends on your equpiment, so you may have to
experiment a little.

Song C. I don't actually have an IU music video for this post. You
get a music video featuring IU's voice, and/or an IU commercial; both
are speculative.

"247", composed by Jo Hyun-Joo, performed by his band variously known
in English as Three of the Gaze, Three Views, or Three Windows,
featuring IU, on the band's album <Part III>, 2009, video directed by
Fanny:

"Merry Christmas in Advance", composed by Shinsadong Tiger and Choi
Kyu-Sung, sung by IU featuring Thunder for her album <REAL>, 2010:

No, that isn't a commercial. It's one of IU's prettier songs, to
listen to *before* the commercial so you don't get stuck feeling like
the commercial's version is the original.

"I Hoppin U", composed by Shinsadong Tiger and Choi Kyu-Sung,
arranged by ?, sung by IU featuring Thunder, directed by ?, to
advertise Samsung Galaxy S Hoppin phones, 2011:

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

I screwed up on the subject line of the Amazon post, which is the one
I'm following up to. Sorry; the material is all there, just not the
right title. (And so the numbering is off thereafter; again, sorry.)

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This is an omission post.

SHUDDER

<https://www.shudder.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shudder_(streaming_service)>
<https://www.shudder.com/shudder-tv>

This horror site has two Korean Web dramas which used to be at
DramaFever; I only found out that it had them while doing searches
for the DramaFever post. Sorry. It should have preceded Hulu,
having one fewer speculative K-drama than that site.

It identifies the first I found as "Korean" on its page, so I did a
Google search: ' Korean site:shudder.com/series/watch/ ', which
turned up the other. If you simply search for the same word at the
site in general (' Korean site:shudder.com/ ') you get a bunch of
movies. Since, however, the site blocks browsing by non-subscribers
even more thoroughly than does Netflix, I'm not interested in looking
further into those movies.

The two dramas, neither of which is whole and English-subbed law-
abidingly anywhere else that I know of:

30. <Aftermath>, Naver 2014 (2 "season"s, 6 and 5 ten-minute episodes)
A precognitive trying to become a superhero. See #30 sv Netflix 1.
<https://www.shudder.com/series/watch/aftermath/2933910>
(paywalled)
Was at US Netflix and at DramaFever.

209. <Doll House>, Naver 2014 (12 6-minute episodes)
Check out any time you like, but you can never leave. See #209 sv
DramaFever 9.
<https://www.shudder.com/series/watch/doll-house/3004240>
(paywalled)
Was at DramaFever.

Since I'm not a subscriber, I don't, of course, know whether the site
has other speculative K-dramas that it just doesn't identify as
Korean, or that Google hasn't noticed. It's possible.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Joe Bernstein
This post covers miscellaneous video streaming sites which English-
speakers are likely to think of as "general purpose".
1) Facebook Watch

I remain unable to browse whatever they offer, and remain without
evidence that they have K-dramas.

Post by Joe Bernstein
2) Movies Anywhere

A site-specific Google search for "Korean" turned up at least
four Korean movies, none speculative.

Post by Joe Bernstein
3) Sony Crackle

A site-specific Google search for "Korean" turns up one Korean
movie, not speculative.

Post by Joe Bernstein
4) PlayStation Vue

It seems to have moved, but I'm not sure. I didn't see any Korean
networks while it was pressuring me to subscribe, and site-specific
searches under both old and new domain names produced nothing.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Four sites don't follow either business model, but do have Korean
5) FandangoNOW

66 again, and still largely sex, though there is *some* speculation.

Post by Joe Bernstein
6) Microsoft Movies | Films & TV

Over 100 results, so probably more movies than before, and plenty
of speculation. This was one of the few sites I found offering
Korean movies outside the US when I did the expanded VPN work; again,
I haven't revisited this.

Post by Joe Bernstein
7) Kanopy

Now 74 movies in the US.

Post by Joe Bernstein
8) Google Play

I'm just assuming they retain their lead - I'm not up to re-doing
this work, so didn't even bother to look - but in case you didn't
read further in this thread, a site covered under the miscellaneous
*East*-focused sites post, Asian Crush, had and probably still has
even more movies, and considerably more horror and speculation, and
operates entirely under free-with-ads and subscription models.

Post by Joe Bernstein
9) iTunes

As noted above, while I haven't yet found the magic keys to Apple
TV, I'm hoping they'll become much more findable when it launches
properly this autumn.

Post by Joe Bernstein
10) Vudu

And again, a site-specific search turned up bunches more.
<https://www.google.com/search?q=%22free+with+ads%22+Korean+site%3Avudu.com%2F>
I also identified more in the URL above, which still works; in
particular, <Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance>, 2002, is now there. I'm
not sure all those I listed are still there, but <Pieta> is, and
plenty more are.

Post by Joe Bernstein
VIEWSTER

English Wikipedia says it was acquired by Cinedigm in February of
this year. The Korean-specific URL no longer works, and the home
page announces "moving" and "a new Viewster". It may be too late to
watch their unusual set of movies, if you were meaning to.

Post by Joe Bernstein
YAHOO! VIEW

Folded at the end of June this year according to English Wikipedia.
When I tried the URL not long after I was redirected to a site
offering games.

Post by Joe Bernstein
SHUDDER
30. <Aftermath>, Naver 2014 (2 "season"s, 6 and 5 ten-minute episodes)
209. <Doll House>, Naver 2014 (12 6-minute episodes)

It still seems to have these two and no other K-dramas.

Post by Joe Bernstein
HULU

They now offer a Korean fantasy anime, <Blade & Soul>, as well as
the three speculative dramas I listed; they've added a drama since
July, so certainly since last year, but it isn't speculative.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Hulu appears to have maybe ten Korean movies. Since I can only
convince Hulu to talk to me at all when I can get to a free-range
desktop computer, I haven't really looked at these.

For some reason it'll now show my phone its Korean page. I see
nine movies; at least one is fantasy, at least two horror, and one is
martial arts so *may* be fantasy.

Oops, that was a week or two ago; now it's showing me eight movies.

Post by Joe Bernstein
AMAZON VIDEO

I can't properly update this post because I haven't been able to
find the shows I *know* are "free with Prime" in the "free with Prime"
lists, so I can't trust those lists to be complete. All I can find
is dropped shows, not added ones, in other words.

Post by Joe Bernstein
A site I've long relied upon for information about Netflix's K-dramas
covers Amazon and YouTube too. What it covers at Amazon is shows
available free with Prime membership for US members, which is pretty
exactly the second business model I described above. NeeNee in
<https://asianaddictsanonymous.com/lists/asian-dramas-with-english-subt
itles-on-amazon-prime/> as of October 28 listed 35 dramas, of which
two are network, ?two cable, and the rest Web dramas.

She hasn't updated this, and I can't say I blame her.

Post by Joe Bernstein
4. <Thunder Store>, Tooniverse 2013-2014 (2 seasons, each 12 episodes)
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I67KCDI> (season 1, paywalled)
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I5P8C7Y> (season 2, paywalled)

No longer offered. Why Amazon had to drop the only show it had
uniquely, I don't know; it kept everything else.
That said, it may not be unique after all. See the YouTube updates.
I suppose there's an outside chance Amazon was outbid for this,
and it'll turn up at Disney or something. We'll see.

Post by Joe Bernstein
TUBI
<https://tubitv.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubi>
<https://tubitv.com/category/foreign_favorites/s/korean_drama>
<https://tubitv.com/category/foreign_films>

Tubi changed from "Foreign Favorites" to "Foreign Language TV", and
when they did they forgot, or chose not, to keep the Korean drama URL,
which now works neither under the URL above nor under the equivalent
new URL. This makes their presentation of foreign TV - they now have
plenty of non-Korean shows - consistent with their presentation of
foreign movies: no language-specific info is offered. Shows'
individual pages also don't identify the language spoken, which means
site-specific searches of the kind I've used to find hidden Korean
material elsewhere won't work here. Anyway:

<https://tubitv.com/category/foreign_language_tv>

The majority of the non-Korean shows are broadly Chinese; based on
the cast names given, I *think* most are from Hong Kong. There are
also several titles featuring actors with Slavic names, very probably
Russian; a few Israeli; and a few probably European (in one case the
names are definitely Finnish; a few others look sort of French, but
don't strike me as much like what I'd think French TV would be like).

They've added only one Korean show, a non-speculative Web drama.
They've gotten rid of *no* Korean shows, which I interpret as strong
evidence that the MBC titles were a package deal.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Tubi doesn't offer a way to select its "foreign" films by language.
The 27 Korean movies I identified as such November 24 are actually a
pretty good selection 1999-2017, several speculative; since I feel in

I don't feel enough in charity with it to update their movies when
I'm not updating anyone else's.

Post by Joe Bernstein
SONGS
I haven't watched any of the above listed dramas, so there's no song
A.

Well, now I have, and there is one:

"Mask Dance", composed by MC Sniper, Suk Jae, and Na Eun-Jung,
chanted by MC Sniper with pretty strong evocation of traditional
Korean vocals, for the sound track and the soundtrack album of <Arang
and the Magistrate>, 2012:

Joe Bernstein

[k***@gmail.com]

NETFLIX

Sorry this is late. Eternal September hasn't let me post,
even to an internal test group, today; I don't know whether
that's a problem of theirs, or punishment for dominating
this thread. So back to my old posting agent... All URLs
verified as of this morning, but not again since.

<https://www.netflix.com/> (paywalled)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix>
<https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/68699> (paywalled)
<https://asianaddictsanonymous.com/lists/asian-dramas-streaming-on-netflix/>
<https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/5685> (*not* paywalled today,
imagine my surprise!)

Netflix used to be well known in K-drama circles for a superbly
curated list of dramas. Those days are now long past, and perhaps
it's for shame that Netflix won't let non-customers see that browsing
page. At any rate, I have to rely on an intermediary, who only
covers US availability; this intermediary links to the relevant
Netflix pages, which the company *does* show me, so I don't think I'm
giving you any false positives, but she may have missed stuff.

The intermediary is by the same NeeNee I cited for Amazon. It's just
what it says it is, an attempt at a full list, updated regularly for
years now, wow do I admire her. This is the page, of the three I
cite in this thread, that she most consistently updates.
Unfortunately, the most recent update (11/26) ignored K-drama changes,
so is actually as of 11/12 (the previous update) or earlier. I've
found drops since then by finding 404 pages, but don't know whether
Netflix has added speculative dramas (and it probably has).

I didn't save NeeNee's page when saving all sorts of other lists in
July, so gave this post time depth by reaching all the way back to
the Internet Archive's most recent copy in February.

I list nine cable dramas and ten web dramas Netflix currently carries;
one network drama, one cable drama and three web dramas it had
stopped carrying between February and November; and five web dramas
it dropped in November. As I said, it's *probably* added at least
speculative web dramas, if not other speculative dramas, since the
last time NeeNee's list was really updated. If a Netflix subscriber
sends me Netflix's list (genre 68699), I may be able to identify any
added speculative dramas. (Similarly for Netflix subscribers in
other countries.) But of course y'all could do it yourselves too.

Netflix's recent K-dramas, though not high-end, are reasonably
varied, so they group less well than Tubi's or Amazon's. Because
a fair number of Web dramas are widely agreed to be crap, I list each
group's dramas in what I think *probably* declining order of merit,
and will do the same for several streamers going forward.

Ontologically different beings (3):

24. <Black>, OCN 2017
A reaper (played by Song Seung-Heon of #13, <Dr. Jin>), looking for
his missing partner, finds a busy romance and mystery plot, involving
his own past too, that gets him into trouble with his bosses. This
sounds *really* K-drama-ish; if you're sure you won't watch this show,
read Wikipedia's synopsis to see what I mean by that.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Black>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Black.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7298976/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80214013> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore).

25. <Love Cells>, Naver 2014 and probably 2015 (2 seasons, 15 seven-
minute and 12 quarter-hour episodes) - dropped
I hadn't figured out how Netflix presents multiple seasons before
they dropped this, so am not sure how much of it they dropped.
Supposedly humans have "love cells" without which we become unable to
love, and if we go long enough without love, those cells die. Each
season features the same actress as a cat changed into human form by
stray love cells, trying to return those cells to their people. Both
seasons got relatively good reviews for web dramas.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Love_Cells>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Love_Cells.php>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Love_Cells_Season_2.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4269730/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80105767> (dead)
Both seasons were at DramaFever.

26. <Dream Knight>, Naver 2015 (12 quarter-hour episodes) - dropped
This is a promotion for a boy band, whose members play either
supernatural protectors for the orphan girl lead, or conventional
guys competing for her attention. Most reviews focus on how
wonderful it is to look at the boys for so many minutes. One focuses
on how bad the show actually is. Take your pick.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Dream_Knight>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Dream_Knight.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5376874/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80113060> (dead)
Also was at DramaFever.

Special powers (4), a relatively strong-looking set (meaning I know
no actual ill of the drama listed last)

27. <Strong Girl Bong-Soon>, JTBC 2017 (16 episodes)
Our Heroine is the latest member of a family whose women are
superhumanly strong as long as they only use that power for good.
(That's the novum.) She gets into the usual love triangle.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Strong_Woman_Do_Bong_Soon>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_Girl_Bong-soon>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Strong_Woman_Do_Bong-soon.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6263222/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80198001> (paywalled)
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), Viki (Americas, UK, Australia), Viu
(Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

28. <Cheo Yong> OCN 2014-2015 (2 seasons, each 10 episodes)
A detective who can see and interact with ghosts works with his
partner and an actual ghost.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Cheo_Yong>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheo_Yong>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Cheo_Yong_2p__The_Paranormal_Detective.php>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Cheo_Yong_2p__The_Paranormal_Detective_-_Season_2.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3186614/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80178209> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore).

29. <Oh My Ghost>, tvN 2015 (16 episodes)
A timid young woman who works as a chef and has a crush on the head
chef can also see ghosts. She gets possessed by the ghost of a young
woman who thinks her virginity is the reason she's still on Earth, so
is determined to lose it by proxy. The drama also brings in the
mystery of the ghost's recent death.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Oh_My_Ghost>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_My_Ghost_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Oh_My_Ghostess.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4799574/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80178259> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK), Viu (Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

30. <Aftermath>, Naver 2014 (2 "season"s, 6 and 5 ten-minute episodes) -
dropped
A high school student finds that he sees people intending murder as
blue-eyed, and those about to die (or only those about to be murdered?)
as red-eyed. He seeks to use these abilities to become a hero.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Aftermath>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Aftermath.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3591956/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80105866> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever.

[k***@gmail.com]

I just realised I forgot to check the casts of dramas not at
Wikipedia this morning for people to highlight. I'll try to
correct that for this (set of) post(s) tomorrow.

Curses and other problems (3)

31. <Secret Healer>, JTBC 2016 (20 episodes)
In a fantasticated late 16th century, a queen turns to shamans for
black magic help conceiving, so when she has twins, has to abandon
the girl. Shamans raise this girl, who is under a curse. She grows
up to be much younger than her male lead, but as a historical, this
is chaste enough that most weren't offended.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Mirror_of_the_Witch>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Healer>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Mirror_of_the_Witch.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5646548/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80197931> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and was at DramaFever.

32. <Spark>, Naver 2016 (12 quarter-hour episodes)
The arrogant leader of a boy band is arguing with a new crew member
when ?lightning strikes?. The next day, he shoots sparks off when he
touches anything metal or electrical - unless the unsatisfactory new
roadie girl is around. What do *you* think is behind door number one?
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Spark>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Spark.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6409112/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80158805> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, both paywalled).

33. <28 Moons>, Sohu 2016 (8 ten-minute episodes)
A man's fiancee dies. Amid his mourning, he stumbles on her exact
look-alike, who turns out to have been stalking him for some time.
She also has special powers. Somehow this doppelganger story turns
into a romance.
<https://mydramalist.com/14826-28-faces-of-the-moon>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80163409> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas).

Time travel (5)

34. <Nine: Nine Time Travels>, tvN 2013 (20 episodes)
A man gets the chance to avenge, or even recover, his dead father and
brother, through nine incense sticks that can carry him back 20 years.
But he gets tangled in paradoxes.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Nine:_Nine_Time_Travels>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Nine_2p__Time_Travelling_Nine_Times.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3215140/>
This got raves when new. A good review focusing on the time travel:
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/11/nine-series-review/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80178406> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore) and was at DramaFever.

35. <Operation Proposal>, TV Chosun 2012 (16 episodes)
A man and woman have been best friends for decades, each in love with
the other but neither ever admitting it. On the eve of her wedding,
he gets the chance to time travel to prevent it. He's played by Yoo
Seung-Ho, who's starred in three other dramas I list.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Operation_Proposal>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Proposal>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Operation_Proposal.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3211128/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/70251160> (paywalled)
Was also at DramaFever.

36. <My Only Love Song>, Netflix 2017 (20 half-hour episodes)
An arrogant actress runs away from her shoot in a van which takes her
back all the way to the 6th century, to the kingdom Goguryeo which
occupied North Korea and Manchuria. There she meets a greedy man,
but from that infertile soil you know perfectly well what blossoms.
Made for a Chinese site, but THAAD THAAD thud, and Netflix stepped in.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/My_Only_Love_Song>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Only_Love_Song>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_My_Only_Love_Song.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6125832/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80178566> (paywalled)

37. <One More Time>, Netflix 2016 (8 half-hour episodes)
The singer and leader of a declining indie band ("indie" in South
Korean popular music means "not idol") finds himself reliving a day
as in <Groundhog Day> - the day his girlfriend dies, unless ...
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_More_Time_(2016_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Day_After_The_Break_Up.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6212990/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80161606> (paywalled)

38. <To Be Continued>, Naver / MBC cable 2015 (12 quarter-hour
episodes) - dropped
A successful boy band time slips to just before their debut, which,
by an *astonishing* coincidence, is the state the boy band playing
them was in at the time. (That band includes Cha Eun-Woo of <My
Romantic Some Recipe>.) Further surprise, romance is involved.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/To_Be_Continued>
<https://web.archive.org/web/20170117211426/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Be_Continued_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_To_Be_Continued.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5212930/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80105851> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever. Part also at YouTube (nearly lawful
uploads).

Body switches (3)

39. <What in the World Happened?>, Naver 2015 (10 quarter-hour
episodes)
A 25-year-old man is courting a 40-year-old woman; they face both
general and specific social disapproval, so when her grandmother
gives her a card she can wish on, she wishes to be younger. The next
day, Our Hero finds a 10-year-old girl whose mother is missing.
<https://mydramalist.com/15808-exactly-whats-going-on>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80162133> (paywalled)

40. <My Runway>, MBC DramaNet and TV Chosun 2016 (6 20-minute
episodes)
A young woman who dreams of becoming a model meets a male supermodel
who judges her incapable. Soon, they switch bodies. Often called a
web drama; did the cable channels really originate it?
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/My_Runway>
<https://mydramalist.com/21924-my-runway>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80154767> (paywalled)

41. <The Miracle>, Naver 2016 (12 quarter-hour episodes)
One (fraternal) twin sister is an idol; the other, a reclusive (and
fat) podcaster who only leaves the house to visit a Tarot reader who
gives her a magic Tarot card each time. One day (when she collects
enough cards?) comes the body switch. *Lots* of Web dramas are to my
eye rudely, though normally not actually crudely, focused on women's
appearances, and unfortunately many of those are speculative and will
come up in this thread.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Miracle>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6703344/>
<https://mydramalist.com/21759-the-miracle>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80170832> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, both paywalled).

Magic items (2)

42. <9 Seconds Eternal Time>, Naver 2015 (7 quarter-hour episodes) -
dropped
A man and woman at a photo shop find a camera that can freeze time, of
course while using it fall in love, and face adversity with it.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_9_Seconds_-_Eternal_Time.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6954654/>
<https://mydramalist.com/16120-9-seconds-eternal-love>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80096083> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever.

43. <Magic Phone>, Sohu 2016 (10 ten-minute episodes)
A man who admires an actress gets a cellphone that enables him to
teleport, and is told to use it to protect her. Widely panned.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Cellphone>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Magic_Cellphone.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7162434/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80163502> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas) and YouTube (nearly lawful uploads).

[k***@gmail.com]

Miscellaneous (5), a stronger set

44. <Dramaworld>, Viki 2016 (10 quarter-hour episodes)
A white American college student, obsessed with a K-drama starring
her favourite actor, gets sucked into the phone she's watching it on,
and finds herself taking part. Viki calls this an American show, and
there must be lots of English, but most see it as a K-drama at least
by association; it sends up many K-drama cliches. A second season,
planned since 2015, now seems to have money involved.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Dramaworld>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramaworld>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Dramaworld.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5468694/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80099992> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (paywalled in Americas and probably elsewhere).

45. <Nightmare High>, Naver 2016 (12 quarter-hour episodes)
A girl notices that, after a new homeroom teacher's arrival, her
classmates have bad dreams and then vanish. (To spoil as little as
possible.) Sounds like a good horror idea executed with flaws.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Nightmare_Teacher>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Nightmare_Teacher.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6209442/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80158594> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and YouTube (lawful uploads).

46. <Under the Black Moonlight>, Sohu / SBS 2016 (9 ten-minute / 2
three-quarter-hour episodes)
I like Netflix's summary: "A college art club welcomes a new member
with a secret ability to smell death, who warns a fellow member to
leave her boyfriend ... or else." *Is* the new guy the hero?
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Under_the_Black_Moonlight>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7162436/>
<https://mydramalist.com/15154-under-the-black-moonlight>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80163268> (paywalled)
Also at YouTube (nearly lawful uploads).

47. <Never Die>, Naver 2015 (5 ten-minute episodes) - dropped
A woman saves a man from a traffic accident, with predictable
dramatic results. Except that she's got both immortality and
eternal youth. I'm not sure whether the problem is the contrast with
him, or some rule of her magic.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Never_Die.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5335382/>
<https://mydramalist.com/15861-she-is-200-years-old>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80097124> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever.

48. <After School: Lucky or Not> season 2, Sohu and DramaFever 2014 (12
quarter-hour episodes) - dropped
In season 1 (2013), a timid girl gets roped into a club (played by a
boy band *selected* for acting ability) assigned fantastical missions
every week. In this season, the girl is replaced, the band's leader
is missing, and a completely different set of websites premiered it.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/After_School_Bokbulbok>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_See_You_After_School_-_Drama.php>
(appears to cover only season 1)
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6921522/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80106051> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever.

Not very speculative (4)

3. <Descendants of the Sun>, KBS2 2016 (16 episodes) - dropped
Alternate geography. See #3 sv Hulu for more information, including
sites that still carry it.
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80123699> (dead)

49. <Peninsula>, TV Chosun 2012 (18 episodes) - dropped
Scientists from the two Koreas fall in love while working together,
but then he becomes the president of a shakily reunited Korea. Set
in the near future, but does anything else make this speculative?
That said, North Korea is usually unmentioned in K-dramas, so if you
get into them, this flaming exception should be worth seeing anyway.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Korean_Peninsula>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Peninsula_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Hanbando_-_Drama.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3750492/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80081660> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever.

50. <Beating Again>, JTBC 2015 (16 episodes)
The heart transplant plot again - see #22, sv Tubi. The recipient
this time is male and starts as a sociopathic corporate raider.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Falling_for_Innocence>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beating_Again>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Falling_For_Innocence.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4274682/>
<http://www.netflix.com/title/80092301> (paywalled)
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas) and was at DramaFever.

51. <Click Your Heart>, Naver 2016 (3 of 7 quarter-hour episodes) -
dropped
I watched this for stupid reasons. It's a high school story meant to
introduce members of a large boy band; they play the four guys,
another idol the girl they all pursue. (She can act, but not quite
offset being much older than her character and the boys.) She's
supposedly unlucky; one boy isn't what he seems; that's the
speculation. The show's selling point is that it's a mini-"Choose
Your Own Romance"; after each episode, you pick the next, each path
(1-2-4, 1-2-5, 1-3-6, 1-3-7) three episodes. It's an OK time-passer.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Click_Your_Heart.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6073266/>
<https://mydramalist.com/17065-click-your-heart>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80105478> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever. I wasn't looking for it when I did the VPN
work, but I sort of remember finding it twice, which would mean two
of Viki (UK), Viki (Australia), Viki (Singapore), and/or Viu
(Singapore). (Pretty certainly not both of the last two.) I will,
of course, try to fix this by the time of the Viu and Viki posts
next week.

[k***@gmail.com]

Forthcoming (2)

There was much ballyhoo when Netflix set out to create K-dramas its
own self, instead of just giving homes to orphaned ones. There has
been less ballyhoo as the seasons have passed.

52. <Kingdom>, Netflix 2019 or maybe later
Zombies invade Joseon Korea. Aside from promising big action, this
is notable as the return to speculative K-drama of Bae Doona, whose
first drama (<Angel's Kiss>, 1998) and first lead role in a drama
(<RNA>, 2000) were both speculative, but who has since only done
speculation everywhere else - Korean movies <The Host> and <Doomsday
Book>, Japanese movie <Air Doll>, American movies <Cloud Atlas> and
<Jupiter Ascending>, and American TV show <Sense8>. <Kingdom> is
actually scheduled for January, and a second season has been green-
lit, which strongly implies the first really will show up in 2019.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kingdom>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_(South_Korean_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Kingdom.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6611916/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80180171> (will be paywalled)

53. <Love Alarm>, Netflix 2019 or later
An app like Tinder or Grindr reads minds, no need to swipe. This is
set in a high school. It's currently spoken of as appearing sometime
in 2019, which I read as sometime before the millennium.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Love_Alarm>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Alarm>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Love_Alarm.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9145880/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80168068> (will be paywalled)

When to my amazement Netflix's Korean movie page showed me lists of
actual Korean movies instead of just a sign-in page, it showed me six
*horizontal* lists. The first one had 47 movies; the second led with
an animated movie not in the first, but everything else overlapped
the first list, so 48 total. The emphasis seems to be on crime and
mordancy, but there were *lots* I didn't recognise, so I'm not sure
how much speculation there is.

Two idols' songs for this idol-heavy post:

Song A: Fortunately <Click Your Heart> actually had one I liked:
"Thank You, My Love", composed by Kyun Woo, Jun Geun-Hwa and Han
Seung-Hoon, sung by Lee Jae-Yoon originally for the actual sound
track of <Click Your Heart>, later released on the soundtrack album
for <My Only Love Song>, 2017, which apparently also used this song:

This is a cover; for
the 2012 original, sung by M Signal (the first two composers listed,
as a duo), see

Song B: "OMG Duddy (Slow ver.)", composed by Kim Joon-Beom, Lee
Chang-Hee, Choi Jae-Woo and Yeo Ha-Kyeong, sung by an unidentified
choir for, and for the soundtrack album for, <Oh My Geum-Bi>, 2017:

Song C: "You and I", composed by Lee Min-Soo, sung by IU for her
album <Last Fantasy>, 2011, video directed by Hwang Soo-Ah:

I see the Japanese
version, same credits, for a 2012 single, as a sort of distant sequel:

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by k***@gmail.com
52. <Kingdom>, Netflix 2019 or maybe later
Zombies invade Joseon Korea. Aside from promising big action, this
is notable as the return to speculative K-drama of Bae Doona

but neglected to note that this is one of the speculative dramas I'd
already mentioned Ju Ji-Hoon, of <The Princess Hours> (#18 in Tubi 2),
as starring in.

That seems to be the only actor highlighting I missed in the Netflix
posts. Now for YouTube, for crying out loud - I keep forgetting.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

NETFLIX

This set of posts *replaces* the previous Netflix posts, not just
updates them. I'd relied for those posts on an intermediary whose
list allowed me to cover Netflix in the US only. For these posts,
I've still consulted the latest of that person's (NeeNee's) lists,
and another list covering Netflix in Greece, but have also used a
method of site-specific Google searches allowing me at least *some*
coverage in all the countries this thread is meant to cover. I have
no way of knowing how many dramas Netflix has added or dropped
recently outside the US, but the edits needed were still too
substantial to present as a set of updates.

In a nutshell, Netflix is much or all of what I'd sensed was missing,
not covered by DramaFever or Viki, in Europe, Australia and New
Zealand, is less essential but still significant in South Africa, and
is the competitor I thought Viki should be for Viu in Singapore.
This is, of course, not good news for poor people in those places,
but for others, it may well be.

This set of posts is the first in the series of updates to list new
dramas, so even if you don't subscribe to Netflix you may find it
worthwhile to read on. The thread had reached #219, so new dramas
listed here start from #220.

Because this post is a replacement, I've checked links (except for
Netflix links outside the US, which I can't) and revised the "Also
at" lines, unlike the rest of the updates. (Information on Viki in
the "Also at" lines is current to late July, except for the US,
current to August 19, and Singapore, current to today.)

<https://www.netflix.com/> (paywalled)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix>
<https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/68699> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/5685>

<https://asianaddictsanonymous.com/lists/asian-dramas-streaming-on-netflix/>
(US only; current to August 19; lists many dramas Netflix has
dropped)
<https://mydramalist.com/list/l4jMoPR3> (first of two pages; June 1;
Greece only)

This post's use of the US list stretches from February 2018 to August
2019. For the other countries covered, however, it relies on Google
searches, site specific to each country's Netflix, for "Korean TV
shows" or "Korean programmes". I list URLs returned by those
searches for each relevant country as of the date indicated:
United States - no country code in URL - 21 August (no hole-filling)
United Kingdom ("programmes") - gb - 22 August (hole-filling 8/23)
Canada - ca - 22 August (hole-filling 8/23)
Australia - au - 22 August (hole-filling 8/23)
South Africa - za - 23 August (hole-filling same day)
Ireland ("programmes") - ie - 23 August (hole-filling 8/26)
New Zealand - nz - 26 August (hole-filling 8/27, today)
Jamaica - jm - 23 August (hole-filling 8/26)
Singapore ("programmes") - sg - 27 August (today; no hole-filling)
Trinidad and Tobago - tt - 23 August (hole-filling 8/26)
Nigeria - ng - 26 August (hole-filling 8/27, today)
Netflix vigorously defends itself against VPNs and all other ways of
crossing international boundaries. As a result, I can't check any of
the non-US URLs.
Also, the Google searches are extremely lossy. The results repeat
again and again. I deliberately never asked for duplicative results.
Etc. They also have built-in latency; the fact that I found Google
cacheing a page on a date doesn't actually mean Netflix still offered
the drama in that country then, nor does my failure to find a page in
Google mean Netflix *didn't* offer the drama in that country then.
Once I saw patterns of carriage by country, I did drama-specific
searches, "hole-filling": I looked for all Netflix's US dramas at
Canada, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, and tried to make the lists
for each of these pairs match: UK and Ireland; Australia and New
Zealand; South Africa and Nigeria. But that didn't overcome all the
method's flaws.
So don't take any of this post as proving anything. If you
subscribe, you're probably best off going to whatever genre page
Netflix may offer, and going from there. (I don't know whether the
genre page listed in the first block of URLs works outside the US,
nor, if it doesn't, whether each country's Netflix has its own
equivalent genre page.) My point here is to give some idea of what
Netflix carries in each country, not to do for it the job its genre
page(s) would do if it didn't paywall the stupid thing(s).

In the previous version I wrote: "Netflix used to be well known in K-
drama circles for a superbly curated list of dramas. Those days are
now long past, and perhaps it's for shame that Netflix won't let non-
customers see that browsing page." I should clarify. One thing this
version makes clear is that Netflix doesn't get along with KoCoWa's
parent KCP; it does carry at least one network drama in Canada, which
would presumably go through that company, but it also carries that
drama in the UK and several other former colonies of that country,
so this may represent some creative licensing bypassing KCP.
The oldest archived version of NeeNee's list in fact is a superbly
curated set of dramas, not long after I'd started hearing about that:
<https://web.archive.org/web/20140326092632/https://asianaddictsanonymous.com/lists/asian-dramas-streaming-on-netflix/>
(The site exists as a WordPress blog, and probably so originated, but
the Archive has nothing earlier there either.) A list from two years
later is similar:
<https://web.archive.org/web/20160407171100/http://asianaddictsanonymous.com/lists/asian-dramas-streaming-on-netflix/>
Contrast one from six months later, the first time I really looked
into it, soon after KCP's creation although before KoCoWa:
<https://web.archive.org/web/20161124160251/https://asianaddictsanonymous.com/lists/asian-dramas-streaming-on-netflix/>
Most of the network dramas are gone; the few Web dramas in the
previous version have become many. This process *plus* a shrinking
number of cable dramas seems to have continued to a low point last
fall. Today there's something of a comeback; while Netflix evidently
continues to carry network dramas in the Old World, if not the
classics it used to offer in the US, at least in the New World (and
*also* the Old) it's gotten rather more cable dramas than it had last
year. (Though it's also dropped some of those it did have then.)

In several countries, Netflix also carries a whole bunch of Korean
children's shows which are obviously more or less fantasticated.
However, each one I looked at turned out to be a cartoon, and I
didn't see plausible titles for any of the live-action Korean kids'
dramas known to me, so I don't list them here.

As in the previous version, I try to list dramas in order of
expected quality, best to worst, in each category, but I also put
newly listed dramas (#220 and up) first in their categories and use
numerical order for cross-references to dramas I don't know much
about.

I keep the same categories (except adding one with only cross-
references) so as to keep the entries you've already seen in the
same order. This also means the "forthcoming" shows, both of which
are now released, are after all the other categories as they were
before. Also, I'm grouping the posts; Netflix 1 is replaced by 1A,
1B, etc., and so on. This is so the original cross-references back
to those posts can still, more or less, be followed.

[Joe Bernstein]

Ontologically different beings (from 3 to now 13):

220. <A Korean Odyssey>, tvn 2017-2018 (20 episodes)
This is a substantial reworking of the Chinese novel <Journey to the
West>; here, the monkey king is tasked with protecting a *woman*, and
maybe you can guess what follows. The monkey king is played by Lee
Seung-Gi, of #14 sv Tubi 1 (<Gu Family Book>), #19 sv Tubi 2 (<The
King 2 Hearts>), and above all #161 sv Viu 2 (<My Girlfriend Is a
Gumiho>). This has the same scriptwriters as #161, and I hear in
English Wikipedia's detailed plot summary a stronger version of that
one's moral dilemmas, so I'm looking forward to watching it.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/A_Korean_Odyssey>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Korean_Odyssey>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_A_Korean_Odyssey.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7099334/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80214405> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80214405> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80214405> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80214405> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80214405> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80214405> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas).

161. <My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho>, SBS 2010 (16 episodes)
See #161 sv Viu 2. KoCoWa has picked this show up recently,
Americas, paywalled.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70215462> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/70215462> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/70215462> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/70215462> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/70215462> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/70215462> (paywalled)

221. <Immutable Law of First Love>, Naver 2015 (11 ten-minute
episodes)
I've now read enough reviews of this to know that saying much about
its plot, except that that plot is confusing, is spoilerish; even my
classification is pushing it. It does *not*, as various careless
synopses imply, involve teacher-student romance, which would be
*extremely* odd in the age-obsessed K-drama universe. It does
involve romance, but I'm not sure it is a romance. I'm sorry I
missed my chance to watch it law-abidingly.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Immutable_Law_of_First_Love>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Immutable_Law_of_First_Love.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6352758/>
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80116691> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80116691> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80116691> (paywalled)

24. <Black>, OCN 2017 (18 episodes)
A reaper (played by Song Seung-Heon of #13, <Dr. Jin>), looking for
his missing partner, finds a busy romance and mystery plot, involving
his own past too, that gets him into trouble with his bosses. This
sounds *really* K-drama-ish; if you're sure you won't watch this show,
read Wikipedia's synopsis to see what I mean by that.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Black>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Black.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7298976/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80214013> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80214013> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80214013> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80214013> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80214013> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/jm/title/80214013> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80214013> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore).

12. <Tale of Arang>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
See #12 sv Tubi 1. I've now watched this.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70278873> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/70278873> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/70278873> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/70278873> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/70278873> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/70278873> (paywalled)

14. <Kangchi, the Beginning>, MBC 2014 (24 episodes)
See #14 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80031737> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80031737> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80031737> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80031737> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/80031737> (paywalled)

16. <The Scholar Who Walks the Night>, MBC 2015 (20 episodes)
See #16 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81003025> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81003025> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/81003025> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/81003025> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/81003025> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81003025> (paywalled)

65. <Blood>, KBS 2015 (20 episodes)
See #65 sv YouTube 3.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80145361> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80145361> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80145361> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80145361> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80145361> (paywalled)

142. <Orange Marmalade>, KBS 2015 (12 episodes)
See #142 sv KoCoWa 5.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80116920> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80116920> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80116920> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80116920> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80116920> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/80116920> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80116920> (paywalled)

162. <Goblin>, tvN 2016-2017 (16 episodes)
See #162 sv Viu 2.
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81012510> (paywalled)

83. <Hi! School - Love On>, KBS 2014 (20 episodes)
See #83 sv YouTube 5.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80986993> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80986993> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80986993> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80986993> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80986993> (paywalled)

25. <Love Cells>, Naver 2014 and probably 2015 (2 seasons, 15 seven-
minute and 12 quarter-hour episodes) - dropped in US during 2018
I hadn't figured out how Netflix presents multiple seasons before
they dropped this, so am not sure how much of it they dropped.
Supposedly humans have "love cells" without which we become unable to
love, and if we go long enough without love, those cells die. Each
season features the same actress as a cat changed into human form by
stray love cells, trying to return those cells to their people. Both
seasons got relatively good reviews for web dramas.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Love_Cells>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Love_Cells.php>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Love_Cells_Season_2.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4269730/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80105767> (dead)
Both seasons were at DramaFever, and are now at Viki (all countries
I'm tracking except Singapore).

26. <Dream Knight>, Naver 2015 (12 quarter-hour episodes) - dropped
in US during 2018
This is a promotion for a boy band, whose members play either
supernatural protectors for the orphan girl lead, or conventional
guys competing for her attention. Most reviews focus on how
wonderful it is to look at the boys for so many minutes. One focuses
on how bad the show actually is. Take your pick.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Dream_Knight>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Dream_Knight.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5376874/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80113060> (dead)
Also was at DramaFever.

[Joe Bernstein]

Special powers (from 4 to now 10)

222. <Arthdal Chronicles>, tvN 2019 (12 episodes so far, with six
more due in September; a very unusual K-drama schedule)
This was drama K in my forthcoming-dramas post in January; that post
named a different cable channel, but that was entirely my error, not
an actual change. The makers did change one thing; they moved it
from Korean pseudo-history to an invented Bronze Age landscape (but
they didn't file all the serial numbers off, so some people still
site it in Korea BC). It's about competing kingdoms and competing
royals, like many historicals, but the fantasy element is that a
major character is the last living "Neantal", which I called "elves",
and which apparently does give him powers. Netflix is premiering it
simultaneously with tvN, so presumably has at least near-world rights.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Arthdal_Chronicles>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthdal_Chronicles>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Arthdal_Chronicles.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8750956/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/jm/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/tt/title/81028895> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/81028895> (paywalled)

223. <Possessed>, OCN 2019 (16 episodes)
A policeman who can see ghosts teams up with a psychic who can do
quite a bit more, trying to banish a murderer's murderous ghost. I
read the summary and thought "Ho-hum, yet another OCN police story
featuring a psychic", but most of what I'm seeing online is praise,
so maybe this is a good example of the type. This was B in the list
of forthcoming spec-ficnal dramas I posted in January.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Possessed>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possessed_(TV_series)>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Possessed.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9537306/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/81087764> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81087764> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81087764> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81087764> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/81087764> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/81087764> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81087764> (paywalled)
This has nothing to do with MBC's 2009 drama <Soul> which idiots
have retitled <Possessed>. So no, this one isn't at KoCoWa or Viki.

27. <Strong Girl Bong-Soon>, JTBC 2017 (16 episodes)
Our Heroine is the latest member of a family whose women are
superhumanly strong as long as they only use that power for good.
(That's the novum.) She gets into the usual love triangle.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Strong_Woman_Do_Bong_Soon>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_Girl_Bong-soon>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Strong_Woman_Do_Bong-soon.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6263222/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80198001> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80198001> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80198001> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80198001> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80198001> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80198001> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80198001> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80198001> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand), Viu
(Singapore), and was at DramaFever. (It also was at OnDemandKorea,
Americas, and still is, but thereon hangs a tale.)

28. <Cheo Yong> OCN 2014-2015 (2 seasons, each 10 episodes) - dropped
in US *since* December 2018
A detective who can see and interact with ghosts works with his
partner and an actual ghost.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Cheo_Yong>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheo_Yong>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Cheo_Yong_2p__The_Paranormal_Detective.php>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Cheo_Yong_2p__The_Paranormal_Detective_-_Season_2.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3186614/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80178209> (dead)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80178207> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/tt/title/80178207> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/80178207> (paywalled)
Was also at Viu (Singapore), but no longer.

29. <Oh My Ghost>, tvN 2015 (16 episodes)
A timid young woman who works as a chef and has a crush on the head
chef can also see ghosts. She gets possessed by the ghost of a young
woman who thinks her virginity is the reason she's still on Earth, so
is determined to lose it by proxy. The drama also brings in the
mystery of the ghost's recent death.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Oh_My_Ghost>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_My_Ghost_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Oh_My_Ghostess.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4799574/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80178259> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80178404> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80178404> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80178404> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80178404> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80178404> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand), Viu
(Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

15. <Diary of a Night Watchman>, MBC 2014 (24 episodes)
See #15 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80145282> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80145282> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80145282> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80145282> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80145282> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/80145282> (paywalled)

117. <I Hear Your Voice>, SBS 2013 (18 episodes)
See #117 sv KoCoWa 2.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80039909> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80039909> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80039909> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80039909> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80039909> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80039909> (paywalled)

118. <The Girl Who Sees Scents>, SBS 2015 (16 episodes)
See #118 sv KoCoWa 2.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80998965> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80998965> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80998965> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80998965> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80998965> (paywalled)

128. <The Master's Sun>, SBS 2013 (17 episodes)
See #128 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80039906> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80039906> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80039906> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80039906> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80039906> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80039906> (paywalled)

30. <Aftermath>, Naver 2014 (2 "season"s, 6 and 5 ten-minute episodes) -
dropped in US during 2018
A high school student finds that he sees people intending murder as
blue-eyed, and those about to die (or only those about to be murdered?)
as red-eyed. He seeks to use these abilities to become a hero.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Aftermath>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Aftermath.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3591956/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80105866> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever.

[Joe Bernstein]

Curses and other problems (from 3 to now 6, 2 of which are listed in
the last of these posts)

31. <Secret Healer>, JTBC 2016 (20 episodes)
In a fantasticated late 16th century, a queen turns to shamans for
black magic help conceiving, so when she has twins, has to abandon
the girl. Shamans raise this girl, who is under a curse. She grows
up to be much younger than her male lead, but as a historical, this
is chaste enough that most weren't offended.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Mirror_of_the_Witch>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Healer>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Mirror_of_the_Witch.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5646548/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80197931> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80197931> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80197931> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80197931> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80197931> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80197931> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80197931> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) and was
at DramaFever.

11. <The Moon Embracing the Sun>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
See #11 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80031790> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80031790> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80031790> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80031790> (paywalled)

32. <Spark>, Naver 2016 (12 quarter-hour episodes)
The arrogant leader of a boy band is arguing with a new crew member
when ?lightning strikes?. The next day, he shoots sparks off when he
touches anything metal or electrical - unless the unsatisfactory new
roadie girl is around. What do *you* think is behind door number one?
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Spark>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Spark.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6409112/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80158805> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80158803> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80158803> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80158803> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80158803> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Ireland, all paywalled).

33. <28 Moons>, Sohu 2016 (8 ten-minute episodes)
A man's fiancee dies. Amid his mourning, he stumbles on her exact
look-alike, who turns out to have been stalking him for some time.
She also has special powers. Somehow this doppelganger story turns
into a romance.
<https://mydramalist.com/14826-28-faces-of-the-moon>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80163409> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80163409> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80163409> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80163409> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80163409> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80163409> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80163409> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/jm/title/80163409> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/tt/title/80163409> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/80163409> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas).

Time travel (from 5 to now 8)

34. <Nine: Nine Time Travels>, tvN 2013 (20 episodes) - dropped in
US since December 2018
A man gets the chance to avenge, or even recover, his dead father and
brother, through nine incense sticks that can carry him back 20 years.
But he gets tangled in paradoxes.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Nine:_Nine_Time_Travels>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Nine_2p__Time_Travelling_Nine_Times.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3215140/>
This got raves when new. A good review focusing on the time travel:
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/11/nine-series-review/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80178406> (dead)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80178276> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore) and was at DramaFever.

35. <Operation Proposal>, TV Chosun 2012 (16 episodes)
A man and woman have been best friends for decades, each in love with
the other but neither ever admitting it. On the eve of her wedding,
he gets the chance to time travel to prevent it. He's played by Yoo
Seung-Ho, who's starred in three other dramas I list.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Operation_Proposal>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Proposal>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Operation_Proposal.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3211128/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/70251160> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70251160> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/70251160> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/70251160> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/70251160> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/jm/title/70251160> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/70251160> (paywalled)
Was also at DramaFever.

36. <My Only Love Song>, Netflix 2017 (20 half-hour episodes)
An arrogant actress runs away from her shoot in a van which takes her
back all the way to the 6th century, to the kingdom Goguryeo which
occupied North Korea and Manchuria. There she meets a greedy man,
but from that infertile soil you know perfectly well what blossoms.
Made for a Chinese site, but THAAD THAAD thud, and Netflix stepped in.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/My_Only_Love_Song>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Only_Love_Song>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_My_Only_Love_Song.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6125832/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80178566> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80178564> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80178564> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80178564> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80178564> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80178564> (paywalled)

98. <Saimdang, Memoir of Colors>, SBS 2017 (28 episodes)
See #98 sv OnDemandKorea 2.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80118179> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80118179> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80118179> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80118179> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80118179> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80118179> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80118179> (paywalled)
So this is the network drama I list at Netflix Canada.

131. <Rooftop Prince>, SBS 2012 (20 episodes)
See #131 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70278876> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/70278876> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/70278876> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/70278876> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/70278876> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/70278876> (paywalled)

134. <Hit the Top>, KBS 2017 (32 half-episodes)
See #134 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81093321> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81093321> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/81093321> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/81093321> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81093321> (paywalled)

37. <One More Time>, Netflix 2016 (8 half-hour episodes)
The singer and leader of a declining indie band ("indie" in South
Korean popular music means "not idol") finds himself reliving a day
as in <Groundhog Day> - the day his girlfriend dies, unless ...
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Day_After_We_Broke_Up>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_More_Time_(2016_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Day_After_The_Break_Up.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6212990/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80161606> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80161700> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80161700> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80161700> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80161700> (paywalled)

38. <To Be Continued>, Naver / MBC cable 2015 (12 quarter-hour
episodes) - dropped in US during 2018
A successful boy band time slips to just before their debut, which,
by an *astonishing* coincidence, is the state the boy band playing
them was in at the time. (That band includes Cha Eun-Woo of <My
Romantic Some Recipe>.) Further surprise, romance is involved.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/To_Be_Continued>
<https://web.archive.org/web/20170117211426/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Be_Continued_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_To_Be_Continued.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5212930/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80105851> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever. Part also at YouTube (nearly lawful
uploads).

[Joe Bernstein]

Body switches (from 3 to now 9)

224. <Abyss>, tvN 2019 (16 episodes)
Discussed in my January forthcoming-dramas post, in which it was J.
A beautiful prosecutor and her rich but plain friend both die, and
find themselves reincarnated with memories intact, by the titular
celestial something-or-other, in bodies that represent their souls:
she's plainer, he's much more attractive. Since she was murdered,
the show apparently focuses on her murder mystery rather than on
the fantasy. Netflix reputedly has world rights for this.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Abyss>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyss_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Abyss.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10055734/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/81087762> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81087762> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81087762> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81087762> (paywalled)
Google didn't find it at Netflix South Africa, but it should be
there anyway.
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/81087762> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/81087762> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/jm/title/81087762> (paywalled
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81087762> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/tt/title/81087762> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/81087762> (paywalled)

163. <49 Days>, SBS 2011 (20 episodes)
See #163 sv Viu 3.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70251161> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/70251161> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/70251161> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/70251161> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/70251161> (paywalled)

125. <Big>, KBS 2012 (16 episodes)
See #125 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80039907> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80039907> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80039907> (paywalled)

126. <Two Cops>, MBC 2017-2018 (32 half-episodes)
See #126 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81042310> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81042310> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/81042310> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/81042310> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/Title/81042310> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81042310> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/81042310> (paywalled)

165. <Beauty Inside>, JTBC 2018 (16 episodes)
See #165 sv Viu 3.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81029990> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81029990> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/81029990> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/81029990> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81029990> (paywalled)

39. <What in the World Happened?>, Naver 2015 (10 quarter-hour
episodes)
A 25-year-old man is courting a 40-year-old woman; they face both
general and specific social disapproval, so when her grandmother
gives her a card she can wish on, she wishes to be younger. The next
day, Our Hero finds a 10-year-old girl whose mother is missing.
<https://mydramalist.com/15808-exactly-whats-going-on>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80162133> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80162131> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80162131> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/Title/80162131> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80162131> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80162131> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/jm/title/80162131> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80162131> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/tt/Title/80162131> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/80162131> (paywalled)

40. <My Runway>, MBC DramaNet and TV Chosun 2016 (6 20-minute
episodes)
A young woman who dreams of becoming a model meets a male supermodel
who judges her incapable. Soon, they switch bodies. Often called a
web drama; did the cable channels really originate it?
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/My_Runway>
<https://mydramalist.com/21924-my-runway>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80154767> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80154689> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80154689> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80154689> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80154689> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80154689> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80154689> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/TITLE/80154689> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/tt/title/80154689> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/80154689> (paywalled)

124. <Secret Garden>, SBS 2010-2011 (20 episodes)
See #124 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/70215459> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/70215459> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/70215459> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/70215459> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/70215459> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/70215459> (paywalled)

41. <The Miracle>, Naver 2016 (12 quarter-hour episodes)
One (fraternal) twin sister is an idol; the other, a reclusive (and
fat) podcaster who only leaves the house to visit a Tarot reader who
gives her a magic Tarot card each time. One day (when she collects
enough cards?) comes the body switch. *Lots* of Web dramas are to my
eye rudely, though normally not actually crudely, focused on women's
appearances, and unfortunately many of those are speculative and will
come up in this thread.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Miracle>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6703344/>
<https://mydramalist.com/21759-the-miracle>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80170832> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80170688> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80170688> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80170688> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80170688> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80170688> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80170688> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Ireland, all paywalled).

Magic items (still 2)

42. <9 Seconds Eternal Time>, Naver 2015 (7 quarter-hour episodes) -
dropped in US during 2018
A man and woman at a photo shop find a camera that can freeze time, of
course while using it fall in love, and face adversity with it.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_9_Seconds_-_Eternal_Time.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6954654/>
<https://mydramalist.com/16120-9-seconds-eternal-love>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80096083> (dead)
Was also at DramaFever.

43. <Magic Phone>, Sohu 2016 (10 ten-minute episodes)
A man who admires an actress gets a cellphone that enables him to
teleport, and is told to use it to protect her. Widely panned.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Cellphone>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Magic_Cellphone.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7162434/>
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80163502> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80163277> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80163277> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80163277> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80163277> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/80163277> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/jm/title/80163277> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80163277> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/80163277> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/tt/title/80163277> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/80163277> (paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas) and YouTube (nearly lawful uploads).

Robots and such (now 2)

140. <I'm Not a Robot>, MBC 2017-2018 (32 half-episodes)
See #140 sv KoCoWa 5.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81042328> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81042328> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/81042328> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/81042328> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81042328> (paywalled)

167. <Are You Human>, KBS 2018 (36 half-episodes)
See #167 sv Viu 3.
<https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81093162> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/au/title/81093162> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/za/title/81093162> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/81093162> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/81093162> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/sg/title/81093162> (paywalled)
<https://www.netflix.com/ng/title/81093162> (paywalled)

[Ubiquitous]

Post by Joe Bernstein
People who've already read my posts on this topic in rasf.written,
hello again. People who haven't, hi. This post is my first in the
correct newsgroup on something I've been researching for years.
Since 2012, South Korean TV has included an astonishing boom of live
action speculative shows. I've planned a series of posts to this
newsgroup about South Korean speculative shows also since 2012, but
various problems and plenty of pie-in-the-sky ambition have delayed
it endlessly. Now I think I've ethically failed in this regard,
because one of the main websites through which English-speakers could
watch these shows shut down in October. It's not that my advocacy
would've driven enough traffic to them to reverse that decision,
which was mainly about business strategy on the part of a new owner
anyway. Rather, I didn't give y'all the information I had, which
might have encouraged you to watch some shows that have now become
inaccessible, for an unknown length of time, some perhaps permanently,
to some law-abiding viewers.
So this is a quick and dirty introduction to South Korean live action
speculative TV that's legally available *right now*, or has *recently*
been available, for watching online *with English subtitles*. All
fictional live action South Korean TV is normally called in English
"K-drama", so going forward, "speculative K-dramas". I've pulled
this set of posts together in a few weeks, working from the scraps of
previous efforts that have survived various disasters, from the
methods I learnt in those efforts, but not now seeking perfection.
(Disclaimer: I know very little about South Korean animated TV shows,
and didn't even know until working on this set of posts that any were
available in English, whether subtitled or dubbed. They seem to have
been booming too, so if nobody else steps forward by the time I feel
foolishly confident enough, I may try to say something. North Korean
TV is not researchable outside Korea and without knowing Korean -
I've tried, and think it includes speculative shows both live action
and animated, but don't have good evidence even for that much. So
henceforth South Korean and live action, thus K-dramas.)
By tomorrow's end I'll have watched ninety K-dramas, of which fifty-
six are longer than three hours, thirty-four shorter. This is fewer
than have been made in any year in this century so far. Worse,
although most of the short dramas I've watched are speculative, most
of the longer ones aren't. So why do I think I can write about
speculative K-dramas? Because I've been researching the topic for so
long. Much of my work has been lost in a laptop theft and other
vicissitudes, but enough remains that I've been able to throw this
set of posts together; and anyway, it's not as though anyone else has
been telling y'all about these shows, and in the land of the blind,
the one-eyed TV viewer is king.
The following general pronouncement may not hold once I've watched
more speculative K-dramas, but I suspect it will: Few K-dramas have
stretched the boundaries of speculation for me, have done genuinely
unexpected genre things. (In fact only one I've watched so far. [1])
Also, *no* K-drama I've watched has really excelled in special
effects, has gotten my Western-trained eyes to say "Wow!" Finally,
speculative K-drama has a strongly mundane tilt: I know of no
1) secondary-world K-drama (there may have been one in 2015, but
if so, it's untranslated and only two hours long);
2) K-drama set in space, let alone featuring battles there (one
without battles, <City of Stars>, a director's passion project,
has gone nowhere for years);
3) or genuinely surreal K-drama (I've watched a short one that
takes baby steps that way and list it in this thread, but have
heard of none that go farther).
K-dramas' appeal is largely in making older story ideas (especially
from screwball comedy and the melodrama tradition) look realistic, so
this avoidance of the most blatant forms of speculation makes sense,
but still offers less to the interested viewer. Still, the flipside
is that it can also apply that realism to superpowers and monsters.
So I'm not saying you should rush out and watch all these shows
tomorrow. Rather, I'm saying that *if* you decide you're interested
in K-dramas - out of curiosity, or because Koreans of an appropriate
gender attract you, or because someone who matters to you (maybe
yourself) *is* Korean, or because you're some sort of completist, or
because you like K-dramas' conservative style [2] - you may want
information about which ones are speculative, and that's what I'm
offering. More to the point, speculative K-dramas are on-topic here,
and it's about time something was said about them here. Some, even
without being great works of speculation, are good to great works of
art and/or entertainment, worth experiencing.
You may object: "Why K-dramas? Why not dramas from China, Japan,
Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, Egypt, ...? Do
no other TV industries do more or better speculation than South
Korea's?" 1) Chinese TV, at least, does; an enormous Chinese genre
across many media, called wuxia, is by default fantasy, and I've seen
and loved one example. But 2) I couldn't research it, beyond the
minimal information available in English. No language is easy to
learn, but some scripts are easier than others, and Hangul (the usual
Korean script) is *much* easier than Chinese or Japanese, or for that
matter Thai or Arabic. Finally, 3) K-dramas *work* for me; I've
loved many, I can research them and enjoy doing so, hence for example
these posts. Japanese dramas may have a more interesting tradition
of speculation, and someone who knows them, and maybe knows Japanese,
should write about that; someone who knows Chinese, about TV wuxia;
and so forth, but none of that means I shouldn't write about
speculative K-dramas.
I plan twelve notional posts in this thread, one per weekday,
starting with this preface. Most cover the shows available *at one
11/30 Introduction
12/03 Miscellaneous West-focused sites (Tubi, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and
others)
12/04 Netflix (as seen from the US)
12/05 YouTube (restricted to shows uploaded lawfully or nearly so [3];
as seen from the US and the UK)
12/06 Miscellaneous East-focused sites (AsianCrush, Naver, and others)
12/07 OnDemandKorea (Americas only)
12/10 KoCoWa (as seen from the US; may be Americas only, or worldwide)
12/11 Viu (as seen from Singapore)
12/12 DramaFever (as formerly seen from the US)
12/13 Viki (as seen from the US, the UK, Australia and Singapore)
12/14 Beyond law-abiding subtitled streaming sites
To make the posts less intimidatingly long, I expect to split most,
but still post all parts on the same day.
Joe Bernstein
[1] The show that pushed the boundaries of speculation for me has not,
to my knowledge, been Englished, which is why I'm vague about it here.
I'll identify it properly, and point to places to watch it, in the
last post listed above.
[2] What I mean by saying K-dramas have a conservative style is
partly addressed in the next post, the introduction.
[3] "Nearly" lawful uploads to YouTube are explained in the relevant
post, but you'll also need to have read the next post.

That's nice; what is "speculative Korean TV"?

[Joe Bernstein]

[snip most of my post to get to where I sort of failed to answer the
question here asked]

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Joe Bernstein
So this is a quick and dirty introduction to South Korean live action
speculative TV that's legally available *right now*, or has *recently*
been available, for watching online *with English subtitles*.

[more snip]

Post by Ubiquitous
That's nice; what is "speculative Korean TV"?

I assume your issue is with the last word. "I'm going to watch TV
now" is the sense I was going for: speculative Korean TV is composed
of speculative shows in Korean. [1] I wasn't referring to the
physical object a television is. "Here's a speculative Samsung
27-inch LED" - no.

Hope that helps.

Joe Bernstein

[1] Well, most of the shows I've listed are mostly in Korean - quite
a lot have English lines, more or less comprehensible, and some have
lines meant to be Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, or what have you,
which people of those ethnicities usually say snottily is barely if
at all comprehensible. I've also listed two shows (I think they'll
be the only two) that as I understand it are probably largely in
English, but linked to K-dramas by cliches they share, at least some
Korean dialogue, and being produced by and for sites that specialise
in K-drama. If you care, those shows are <Dramaworld> in the Netflix
post (made by Viki), and <Oh My Grace> in the YouTube post I'm about
to start posting (but made by DramaFever).

[David Johnston]

Post by Ubiquitous

Post by Joe Bernstein
People who've already read my posts on this topic in rasf.written,
hello again. People who haven't, hi. This post is my first in the
correct newsgroup on something I've been researching for years.
Since 2012, South Korean TV has included an astonishing boom of live
action speculative shows. I've planned a series of posts to this
newsgroup about South Korean speculative shows also since 2012, but
various problems and plenty of pie-in-the-sky ambition have delayed
it endlessly. Now I think I've ethically failed in this regard,
because one of the main websites through which English-speakers could
watch these shows shut down in October. It's not that my advocacy
would've driven enough traffic to them to reverse that decision,
which was mainly about business strategy on the part of a new owner
anyway. Rather, I didn't give y'all the information I had, which
might have encouraged you to watch some shows that have now become
inaccessible, for an unknown length of time, some perhaps permanently,
to some law-abiding viewers.
So this is a quick and dirty introduction to South Korean live action
speculative TV that's legally available *right now*, or has *recently*
been available, for watching online *with English subtitles*. All
fictional live action South Korean TV is normally called in English
"K-drama", so going forward, "speculative K-dramas". I've pulled
this set of posts together in a few weeks, working from the scraps of
previous efforts that have survived various disasters, from the
methods I learnt in those efforts, but not now seeking perfection.
(Disclaimer: I know very little about South Korean animated TV shows,
and didn't even know until working on this set of posts that any were
available in English, whether subtitled or dubbed. They seem to have
been booming too, so if nobody else steps forward by the time I feel
foolishly confident enough, I may try to say something. North Korean
TV is not researchable outside Korea and without knowing Korean -
I've tried, and think it includes speculative shows both live action
and animated, but don't have good evidence even for that much. So
henceforth South Korean and live action, thus K-dramas.)
By tomorrow's end I'll have watched ninety K-dramas, of which fifty-
six are longer than three hours, thirty-four shorter. This is fewer
than have been made in any year in this century so far. Worse,
although most of the short dramas I've watched are speculative, most
of the longer ones aren't. So why do I think I can write about
speculative K-dramas? Because I've been researching the topic for so
long. Much of my work has been lost in a laptop theft and other
vicissitudes, but enough remains that I've been able to throw this
set of posts together; and anyway, it's not as though anyone else has
been telling y'all about these shows, and in the land of the blind,
the one-eyed TV viewer is king.
The following general pronouncement may not hold once I've watched
more speculative K-dramas, but I suspect it will: Few K-dramas have
stretched the boundaries of speculation for me, have done genuinely
unexpected genre things. (In fact only one I've watched so far. [1])
Also, *no* K-drama I've watched has really excelled in special
effects, has gotten my Western-trained eyes to say "Wow!" Finally,
speculative K-drama has a strongly mundane tilt: I know of no
1) secondary-world K-drama (there may have been one in 2015, but
if so, it's untranslated and only two hours long);
2) K-drama set in space, let alone featuring battles there (one
without battles, <City of Stars>, a director's passion project,
has gone nowhere for years);
3) or genuinely surreal K-drama (I've watched a short one that
takes baby steps that way and list it in this thread, but have
heard of none that go farther).
K-dramas' appeal is largely in making older story ideas (especially
from screwball comedy and the melodrama tradition) look realistic, so
this avoidance of the most blatant forms of speculation makes sense,
but still offers less to the interested viewer. Still, the flipside
is that it can also apply that realism to superpowers and monsters.
So I'm not saying you should rush out and watch all these shows
tomorrow. Rather, I'm saying that *if* you decide you're interested
in K-dramas - out of curiosity, or because Koreans of an appropriate
gender attract you, or because someone who matters to you (maybe
yourself) *is* Korean, or because you're some sort of completist, or
because you like K-dramas' conservative style [2] - you may want
information about which ones are speculative, and that's what I'm
offering. More to the point, speculative K-dramas are on-topic here,
and it's about time something was said about them here. Some, even
without being great works of speculation, are good to great works of
art and/or entertainment, worth experiencing.
You may object: "Why K-dramas? Why not dramas from China, Japan,
Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, Egypt, ...? Do
no other TV industries do more or better speculation than South
Korea's?" 1) Chinese TV, at least, does; an enormous Chinese genre
across many media, called wuxia, is by default fantasy, and I've seen
and loved one example. But 2) I couldn't research it, beyond the
minimal information available in English. No language is easy to
learn, but some scripts are easier than others, and Hangul (the usual
Korean script) is *much* easier than Chinese or Japanese, or for that
matter Thai or Arabic. Finally, 3) K-dramas *work* for me; I've
loved many, I can research them and enjoy doing so, hence for example
these posts. Japanese dramas may have a more interesting tradition
of speculation, and someone who knows them, and maybe knows Japanese,
should write about that; someone who knows Chinese, about TV wuxia;
and so forth, but none of that means I shouldn't write about
speculative K-dramas.
I plan twelve notional posts in this thread, one per weekday,
starting with this preface. Most cover the shows available *at one
11/30 Introduction
12/03 Miscellaneous West-focused sites (Tubi, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and
others)
12/04 Netflix (as seen from the US)
12/05 YouTube (restricted to shows uploaded lawfully or nearly so [3];
as seen from the US and the UK)
12/06 Miscellaneous East-focused sites (AsianCrush, Naver, and others)
12/07 OnDemandKorea (Americas only)
12/10 KoCoWa (as seen from the US; may be Americas only, or worldwide)
12/11 Viu (as seen from Singapore)
12/12 DramaFever (as formerly seen from the US)
12/13 Viki (as seen from the US, the UK, Australia and Singapore)
12/14 Beyond law-abiding subtitled streaming sites
To make the posts less intimidatingly long, I expect to split most,
but still post all parts on the same day.
Joe Bernstein
[1] The show that pushed the boundaries of speculation for me has not,
to my knowledge, been Englished, which is why I'm vague about it here.
I'll identify it properly, and point to places to watch it, in the
last post listed above.
[2] What I mean by saying K-dramas have a conservative style is
partly addressed in the next post, the introduction.
[3] "Nearly" lawful uploads to YouTube are explained in the relevant
post, but you'll also need to have read the next post.

That's nice; what is "speculative Korean TV"?

Context really should have told you that it was a blanket term for
science fiction and fantasy.

[Joe Bernstein]

[quoting me, but I'm sure we don't need that any more]

Post by David Johnston

Post by Ubiquitous
That's nice; what is "speculative Korean TV"?

Context really should have told you that it was a blanket term for
science fiction and fantasy.

Oh, it didn't even *occur* to me that that could be the question.

I'm also including alternate history, "alternate geography" (the
equivalent of Ruritania), horror (as explained in the introduction),
and *lots* of border stuff. I figure if something is Todorov's
fantastique (on the border between speculative fiction and realistic
fiction), it belongs. Same with the "uncanny" - if something gives
off the vibe "This is disturbingly weird", I mean to include it,
though I don't always for various reasons.

I include a few dramas that are, to the present generation, iconic
representations of traditional or historical Korean stories, where
the stories are fantastical, but the dramas aren't. I just haven't
gotten to any of those yet; they're mostly older, not at the Western
oriented sites I started with.

The posts I just put up include a drama about a fifteenth-century
scholar who invented a bunch of stuff, just because I thought it
might interest a hypothetical reader or three.

Finally, one streaming site has a weird definition of fantasy, and
includes in it about half a dozen dramas that I don't think belong -
but they're mostly dramas I thought long and hard about before excluding
them, so with KoCoWa voting them in, I went with it. I don't think
any of those have come up yet either.

I'm trying to make it clear when I'm edging toward the mainstream,
but I'm not going to apologise for doing it, because I don't know
that I'll ever finish the more complete version I've worked on for
years. So this may be the only time someone examines the corpus of
K-drama with speculation in mind, and it's *much* better to include
false positives than, by excluding them, to close the door on ever
considering them in that light.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

YOUTUBE

<https://www.youtube.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube>

YouTube is, of course, home to many illicit uploads, among which,
over time, have been episodes of most K-dramas, often English-subbed.
However, YouTube is also home to more legitimate uploaders.

KBS has aired new drama episodes in seven regular timeslots for more
than four years of the current decade. At KBS1, an evening daily and
(2010-2016) a weekend flagship, always historical. At KBS2, dailies
in the morning (since 2011) and the early evening (since 2012); early
evening weekend dramas; Monday-Tuesday and Wednesday-Thursday
flagships. In addition, KBS2 has run a variety of weekend schedules;
several, including the most durable, late Sunday nights, have been
used for short dramas.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/List_of_Dramas_aired_in_Korea_by_KBS2>
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/List_of_Dramas_aired_in_Korea_by_KBS1>

KBS earlier in this decade ran its own streaming service, mVIBO.
This started out all-paywalled, I *think*, and certainly always
required registration; at any rate, I never wanted much to do with it.
It closed abruptly, I'm not sure when, but its Facebook page died in
2016. By then, KBS World had been uploading to YouTube, with English
subtitles, huge chunks of KBS's schedule - both evening dailies and
the weekend dramas, plus some flagships and a few from other slots -
since 2013, and in 2014 added many older "Drama Special" short dramas
and started keeping current with those. I found twenty-one KBS
dramas that I know to be, or suspect of being, speculative, at
YouTube in KBS World uploads, and fully expect more as time passes.

I've watched a bunch of KBS World uploads - a Drama Special and much
of a weekend drama that starred IU (on whom, at one time, I wrote
voluminously). The ads were frequent but very well placed, the
subtitles were good, really, there wasn't anything to dislike. For
this post I watched two more Drama Specials, and am sorry to report
that for the more recent (hot off the presses, in fact), the ads were
considerably less well placed, though I suspect not quite arbitrary.
Some recent KBS World uploads are subtitled in other languages as
well as English.

Speaking of Drama Specials. Tag lines for each tend to be repeated
from site to site, and because they very often try to provide an air
of mystery, they often sound like they *could* be speculative. Here
are such lines for the two I watched the other day:

"Bang Joon Sung is a man of uncertain income, living trapped in his
room like a snail who has little idea what really happens outside of
his own world. Hijinks ensue when a four-dimensional woman, Mi Ryu,
gets into the male-only goshiwon where he's staying."

"Story follows people, including detective Ji Wook, who escape into
dreams to forget the pain of reality."

Which of those two has enough fantasy for a drama ten times as long,
and which is entirely realistic with the merest fig leaf of fantasy?
Read on to find out.

A different branch of KBS has uploaded two episodes of another drama
subtitled; since I would've listed one subtitled episode of <The
Influence>, I list that KBS show. [1]

At the opposite end of the totem pole, remember how I said web dramas'
makers desperately seek attention? One common method is to upload
the drama to YouTube - and usually, while doing so, to add English
and maybe other subtitles. That said, not all the Web dramas I list
in this post are actually uploaded by their makers. Several are from
the streaming site Viki, which in fact offers free at YouTube some
dramas it paywalls, at least in the US, at its own site. One web
drama I list has been uploaded by its lead actor.

I'm not sure about the legality of that last, but I mean something
else by "nearly lawful" uploads of Web dramas to YouTube. YouTube is
central to the idol ecosystem. Fans of different acts compete to
prove their love not only by uploading, but by translating (into many
languages) everything their favourite idols do - and that sometimes
includes their Web dramas. I figure Web drama makers have to know
this happens, and take it into account in their calculations, and
they do have recourse if they don't like it, so I have no compunction
about listing this sort of upload here.

The upshot is that eighteen complete Web dramas I list are at YouTube
in uploads I list here, plus two incomplete ones (again, cf. <The
Influence>). In contrast, only twelve Web dramas I'd list are there
only in uploads so obviously far from lawful that I'm not listing
them. Over twenty just aren't there at all. Sometimes this seems to
be because someone like Netflix wants it so; sometimes, because noone
cares - a few dramas are lawfully there but without subtitles in any
language - but also, not all Web drama makers like YouTube.

It's pretty certain that I've missed some English-subtitled
speculative Korean Web dramas at YouTube. The only question is
how many digits there are in the *number* I've missed.

I didn't look for any dramas other than KBS and Web dramas. I've
only heard of one flagship being uploaded with English subtitles in
full by its (non-network) makers, and it isn't there any more; I saw
no point in seeking a needle in square miles of hay.

NeeNee's YouTube list follows a similar logic, but she refuses to
list fan uploads because she doesn't expect them to be stable. (In
fact some cable dramas that used to be at YouTube as fan uploads, and
helped convince me on this subject, are now there only as patently
unlawful uploads - the girl group involved broke up.) So NeeNee's
list is KBS World uploads and Viki's few. The list's links go all
sorts of strange places in KBS's playlists - quite a few, to the
*last* episode - but the list (ideally used in conjunction with
DramaWiki's schedule pages, URLs above) is still the best guide known
to me to the series in KBS World's massif.
<https://asianaddictsanonymous.com/lists/asian-dramas-on-youtube-with-english-subtitles/>
However, NeeNee doesn't list the short dramas. For those, start with
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special> and
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_Series> and links therein,
and remember that not all pre-2015 dramas are uploaded.

I wanted to find out whether any of DramaFever's playlists, now all
private videos, contained dramas, but I haven't been able to find an
older version of NeeNee's list to see if it'll tell me. In general,
though, DramaFever didn't do much of that kind of thing; what few
references I find to its YouTube uploads (other than to their recent
disappearance) describe them as various kinds of fanservice. The
only one I watched was excerpts from a musical movie, giving three
minutes of each main song.

I checked many, but not all, of the YouTube uploads while posing as
British in a VPN. I was very surprised later to find out two won't
play in the US. No idea whether any other countries are geoblocked
for any of them, but at least the Brits seem to have full access.

[1] SBS has aired new drama episodes in six regular timeslots for
more than four years of the current decade: morning and (to 2017)
evening dailies; weekend dramas; and Monday-Tuesday, Wednesday-
Thursday, and (to 2016) Saturday-Sunday flagships.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/List_of_Dramas_aired_in_Korea_by_SBS>
Since SBS is a private company, and private companies are well known
to be nimbler, more aggressive, and in every way better than public
ones, SBS International must have a dump for old SBS America subs
that's *far* better than MBC's Tubi or KBS's YouTube. But, strangely,
I can't find any evidence of this SBS nirvana's *existence*, let
alone its location. Maybe I'm just not good enough - specifically,
rich enough - to be told of it, but that seems hard on anyone richer
who relies on me for information. SBS does have a program in which
it charges $13 per month to subscribe to its multiple English-subbed
channels, but doesn't say anything about those channels' archives.
<https://www.sbs-int.com/>
Oh. KBS World ~ MBC Global ~ SBS International.

[Joe Bernstein]

In this strangely bifurcated list, I generally take for granted that
all KBS shows are better than all Web dramas, when sorting by
predicted quality.

Special powers (4) - a stronger set:

54. <Lucifer>, KBS 2007 (20 episodes)
The title refers to the divided souls of both leading men in a murder
mystery, but the novum is the psychic ability of the Woman, played by
Shin Min-Ah (of <Arang and the Magistrate>) in her first speculative
drama.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Devil>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Devil.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1820124/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMfcwTRZwJwdT79qVLI1okhFs5YCp5iQX>
Also at KoCoWa (paywalled), Viki (Americas, paywalled), and Viu
(Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

55. <Dreaming Man>, KBS 2014 (1 episode)
A man who gets prophetic dreams of people's deaths (cf. #2 sv Hulu)
unfortunately meets and falls in love with a woman of his dreams.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2014#Dreaming_Man>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Dreaming_Man.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9019938/>

Also at Viki (but not in the US, and I'm not sure where) and
OnDemandKorea (Americas).

56. <Love for a Thousand More>, Naver 2016 (10 twenty-minute episodes)
A *very* old woman has sworn off love for herself, and instead uses
her experience to work as an advice columnist. Then a young musician
moves in upstairs and starts blasting day and night. The tough
graders at the Fangirl Verdict praised this romance. Maker uploads.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Love_for_a_Thousand_More>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_for_a_Thousand_More>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Love_for_a_Thousand_More.php>
Review:
<https://thefangirlverdict.com/2016/12/29/flash-review-love-for-a-thousand-more/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkLimRXN6NKxh-9dN7MFhWLAp1xJpXs6C>

57. <Top Management>, 2018 YouTube (16 half-hour episodes)
A new manager at an entertainment agency tries to use her inherited
foresight to succeed. A YouTube original.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Management_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Top_Management.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9284162/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLID4CZACkMJR_9IfIgogtTueKYIiPTEH5>
(paywalled)

The business purpose of Drama Specials is as a proving ground for new
directors and writers, which would seem to suggest they'd get enough
rope to hang themselves with. But someone at KBS sure seems partial
to ghosts; I know of two more that aren't listed here, too.

Ghost stories (4):

58. <Don't Worry, I'm a Ghost>, KBS 2012 (1 episode)
A man amnesiac from an accident meets a woman who says she's a ghost.
Her being right about that is only the first unfortunate thing.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Don%27t_Worry,_I%27m_a_Ghost>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Don__t_Worry_v__It__s_a_Ghost.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3273286/>

Also at Viki (but not in the US, and I'm not sure where).

59. <The Strange Cohabitation>, KBS 2013 (1 episode)
A man moves within his housing complex to leave behind memories of
his raped and murdered wife. There he meets a ghost, who proves to
have died similarly; soon, more neighbours die.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Strange_Cohabitation>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_A_Strange_Relationship.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9019862/>

60. <Vengeful Spirit>, KBS 2014 (1 episode)
In Japanese-occupied Korea, a collaborator - torturer, in fact - gets
sent to a rural house for safety. Safety is not quite what happens.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2014#Vengeful_Spirit>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Revengeful_Spirit.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9020000/>

61. <What Is the Ghost Doing?>, KBS 2015 (1 episode)
A bored slacker gets a visit from the first love who long ago dumped
him - but she's a ghost - who wants him to find her recent boyfriend.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2015#What_is_the_Ghost_Doing?>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_What_is_the_Ghost_Doing_i_.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4948038/>

Also at Viki (but not in the US, and I'm not sure where) and
OnDemandKorea (Americas).

[Joe Bernstein]

Curses and other problems (3):

62. <Blade Man>, KBS 2014 (18 episodes)
A chronically angry man starts to bristle with blades emerging from
his skin whenever he indulges that character trait. I think the show
treats this as a problem, not a superpower. His love interest is
played by Shin Se-Kyung; it was her first speculative drama in a
decade of acting, but she's since done three more I list.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Blade_Man>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Man>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Blade_Man.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4016612/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLavoXGopTLnmjF0FkWGj5E47C1X_Fgqse>
Was also at DramaFever.

63. <The Girl Who Became a Photo>, KBS 2014 (1 episode)
A developer, the day before breaking ground on replacing an old
neighbourhood, gets surprising news about the girl he's doing it to
leave a legacy for.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2014#The_Girl_Who_Became_a_Photo>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_The_Girl_in_the_Frame.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9019998/>

64. <Loss:Time:Life>, Naver 2015 (9 quarter-hour episodes; broadcast
by KBS in *2016* in 2 episodes)
Beings appear to people on the verge of dying, with a clock showing
how long they have, so they can decide how to spend that time.
Somehow I doubt it's quite that simple. Playlists vary in sequence
because the episodes come in two sets plus one belonging to neither
set. Maker uploads.
<https://mydramalist.com/14970-losstimelife>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1hGBUEZS7RQsdz2Xb62Noqfs9rWvITcL>
Also at Naver.

Vampires (2):

65. <Blood>, KBS 2015 (20 episodes)
Sounds like a pretty typical hospital K-drama - a male and a female
doctor with contrasting personalities and work approaches have the
same supervisor - except that the male surgeon is also a vampire.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Blood>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Blood.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4343108/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMf7VY8La5RF-2cCzwW17YxBs9XCkUgpJ>
(blocked in the US)
Also at KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide) and Viki (Americas), and
was at DramaFever.

66. <Flower of the Vampires>, Naver 2014 (6 ten-minute episodes)
A young vampire who doesn't drink blood (huh?) seeks the Vampire
Flower which would confer rule on him, and thinks a young human woman
can guide him to it (-> romance), but there's also conflict with evil
vampires who *do* drink blood. So this is a real if low-expectations
fantasy. Half a boy band star. Upload *maybe* from a boy band fan.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Vampire_Flower>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Vampire_Flower.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3915552/>

Near future (2):

67. <Contract Man>, KBS 2015 (1 episode)
Our Hero, in 2025, works for a company that helps the police state
by monitoring people. He is now to monitor the head of a mental
hospital, who may be his match.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2015#Contract_Man>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Contract_Man.php>
(HanCinema has a good but spoilery review, to read after watching.)
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9020044/>
Review:
<https://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-drama-special--contract-man-88990.html>

Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas).

68. <Missing Korea>, Naver 2015 (6 ten-minute episodes)
In 2020, a beauty pageant brings North and South Korea together.
Maker uploads.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Missing_Korea>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Missing_korea.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6926280/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSwC8jEDKc0PzOZflRf9GTNUpyxNi6ylY>
Was also at DramaFever.

The makers who uploaded <Missing Korea> also uploaded a confusingly
presented set of <Loss:Time:Life> episodes, and two more Web dramas.
They've made <Choco Bank>, 2016, not speculative, private. I don't
know whether <Sundays>, ?2016, is speculative; they give it an
English title, but haven't subtitled it, and it's little known.

[Joe Bernstein]

Robots and other gadgetry (3):

69. <My Happy Home>, KBS 2016 (1 episode)
A genius scientist has solved marital disputes by erasing her
husband's memory and turning him into a cyborg. For some reason, his
old friends object.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2016#Home_Sweet_Home>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Home_Sweet_Home.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6382272/>

Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

70. <I Am> aka <I Am...>, Naver 2017 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
An inventor creates android girl Annie, and entrusts her to his adult
daughter, a schoolteacher, who therefore brings her to school. This
was distributed to schools by a science and technology foundation.
Viki uploads (first) *and* uploads from girl group fans (second).
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/I_Am>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7221514/>
<https://mydramalist.com/24625-i-am>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlH-Fr3fGKJAJ0L4xVHxdxniXsNKTQpxI>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1dbtp3L_DPj59N09wbNrItr1xRIkbuLf>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and OnDemandKorea (Americas).

71. <109 Strange Things>, Naver 2017 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
A future robot comes back in time to protect, um, a job-hunting
philosophy major. Conveniently, one is male, the other female, oh,
and they're both idols. But the review I read complained instead
about an overstuffed story. Uploads from girl group fans.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/109_Unusual_Things_Have_Happened>
<https://mydramalist.com/21779-109-strange-things>
Review:
<https://kdramakisses.com/2018/06/15/109-strange-things-korean-drama-review/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1dbtp3L_DPgx57MnDr_k1YUF8OdjkYxT>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia).

Magic items (6):

72. <Seohyun Web Drama>, more usually known as <Ruby Ruby Love>,
Naver / OnStyle 2017 (5 quarter-hour episodes / 1 episode)
A reclusive jewelry designer gets a magic ring which she uses to help
herself break out of her shell. A review by a man damns it with
faint praise, but genuinely means that praise. Upload from girl
group fans.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Ruby_Ruby_Love>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ruby_Love>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Ruby_Ruby_Love.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6385770/>
Review:
<https://www.kdramastars.com/articles/115759/20170129/drama-review-ruby-ruby-love.htm>

73. <Traces of the Hand>, Naver and/or Viki 2017 (17 seven-minute
episodes)
First of three dramas involving a phone app, T-Scope, that enables
the user to see other people's messages. (So spyware as novum.
Whatever.) Ryu Hwa-Young plays the leading lady in each; she's
appeared but not starred in two more speculative dramas. Here, in
college, she's way out of Our Hero's league, and he tries to use T-
Scope to even the score. Viki uploads. Several informational sites
cover this but not the other two.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Trace_of_the_Hand>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Traces_of_the_Hand.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6899028/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlH-Fr3fGKJBzR8bhSswCoN4CvaqYHgzo>
Also at Viki (paywalled in Americas, UK, Australia).

74. <Girl's War>, Naver and/or Viki 2017 (14 ten-minute episodes)
Second in the T-Scope trilogy. A young woman who's always dreamt of
idolhood, but had to work instead, gets a second chance through a
contest. (This really happens, every few weeks, in South Korea,
though few winners, especially older ones, actually get far.) Anyway,
someone's using T-Scope against her. Viki uploads.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Girl%27s_War>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlH-Fr3fGKJCOpm4lKpjD9IZhAkP2aUb9>
Also at Viki (paywalled in Americas, UK, Australia)

75. <Fortuneteller's Secret Recipe>, Naver and/or Viki 2017 (3 ten-
minute episodes)
Third in the T-Scope trilogy. A woman who'd suddenly gained
precognition and set up as a fortuneteller finds her power fading
and tries to use T-Scope to compensate. Viki uploads.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Fortuneteller%27s_Secret_Recipe>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlH-Fr3fGKJA_3WU9ooFupzpDrSiJOtmM>
Also at Viki (paywalled in Americas, UK, Australia)

76. <Magic Bottle>, Naver 2015 (3 eight-minute episodes)
A romance in which the man has the titular, which grants three wishes.
Uploads from boy band fans.
<https://mydramalist.com/15839-magic-bottle>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxevgFrMeZBdkp3wmIGEpSf0TahfqD737>

43. <Magic Cellphone>, Sohu 2016 (10 ten-minute episodes)
See #43 in the Netflix 2 post. Uploads from boy band fans.
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIh7Bl9YQEnL8S76uEkkPGK76zYEQu9f2>

[Joe Bernstein]

Miscellaneous speculation (11):

77. <Dreamers>, KBS 2018 (1 episode)
This is the full fantasy whose confusing summary I quoted above. A
policeman whose beloved killed herself six months ago spends as much
time as he can asleep, because he understands that only in dreams can
the dead speak. As the drama begins, he's starting to encounter
problems with this, both in the real world and in the dream one.
The ending doesn't entirely make sense to me, but it's pretty close
to a thriller on the way there, with, as I said, fantasy images all
over the place, and well worth watching.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2018#Dreamers>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Dreamers.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9241028/>

78. <A 400-Year-Old Dream>, KBS 2011 (2 episodes)
A man and a woman dealing with a newly discovered mummified body
think they're just attracted to each other until they correlate their
reactions with weird stuff going on, probably linked to past lives.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Dream_of_400_Years>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Dream_of_Four_Hundred_Years.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3022024/>

and

79. <Kopa's Mysteries>, KBS 2013 (24 half-hour episodes)
This is a live action kids' show in which many of the actors are in
costume. KBS's cable branch, KBS N, not KBS World, has uploaded
episodes 3 and 4 with English subtitles; the title in those subs,
<Chief Kopa's Story Investigation Unit>, makes the idea clearer:
this is <The Eyre Affair> for little kids.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Detective_Copa.php>

- episode 3

- 4

80. <Let Us Meet>, KBS 2017 (1 episode)
"What if a marriage bureau existed in the 1930s?" Alternate history
K-dramas are starting to move beyond "What if the Korean monarchy
survived?" by instead asking questions like this. KBS1 has run a 2-
episode show, <Joseon Beauty Pageant>, also focusing on differences
between present and quite recent mores about relations of the sexes
and roles of women, but that January 2018 show seems yet untranslated.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2017#Let_Us_Meet,_Joo_Oh>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Let__s_Meet_v__Joo-oh.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9020086/>

Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas).

81. <Lily Fever>, Naver 2015 (9 five-minute episodes - start at "Prologue")
This depicts the beginning of a lesbian seduction, the first anywhere
*near* South Korean TV, but its mildly surreal elements also make it
matter to the history of fantastical K-drama. Billed as a pilot, but
no more was made; censors kicked it off Naver, though it remains #27
on a list of the most popular Web dramas. Maker uploads.
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6300844/>
<https://mydramalist.com/16152-lily-fever>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdBvEUNP7RyeLcb8WCKDnRjOxqTW00fun>

<http://www.constv.co.kr/ranking_list.php?gb=all> (list, in Korean)
I've now downloaded this site's *entire* list of Web dramas, which
includes 219. I'm pretty sure it omits things uncontroversially
considered Web dramas, but it's by far the most comprehensive I've
seen, and gives me hope that there may not, in fact, be thousands
unknown to me.

<Lily Fever>'s sequel substitute, <Green Fever>, 2017, premiered as a
movie to evade censors. The lead actresses from <Lily Fever> appear,
but I doubt their characters do. It played at a Korean "fantastic
film festival". I don't know of English subtitles.
<https://mydramalist.com/25205-green-fever>
The makers have a mini-media empire at YouTube. Very little more
is subbed, to wit one gay male romance drama, one straight. <The Boy
Next Door>, 2017, much tamer than <Lily Fever>, actually "gay tease",
is still on Naver (#38 on that list). It has many more fantastical
visual touches than <Lily Fever>; but the strange never reaches the
plot or dialogue as in the earlier show. Its music is excellent.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Boy_Next_Door>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Flirty_Boy_and_Girl_-_2017.php>
<https://mydramalist.com/22187-the-boy-next-door>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdBvEUNP7RyfAJzQc-D0Poiwn9vc6umez>
<Our Love Story>, 2017, although very unlike most K-dramas in form,
entirely lacks fantastical features. No usual site documents it in
English *or* Korean, near as I can tell, Korean title hard to find.
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdBvEUNP7RyfGCYvvLnpFEYEbLFCK1GTJ>

45. <Nightmare Teacher>, Naver 2016 (12 quarter-hour episodes)
Horror. See #45 in the Netflix 3 post. Viki uploads.
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlH-Fr3fGKJDfEYu3_nDWiJWHYgcWQYUh>

82. <Oh My Grace>, DramaFever 2017 (7 ten-minute episodes)
DramaFever paid tribute to Viki's <Dramaworld> (#44, Netflix 3) by
loose imitation in *their* first (only) original web drama. Another
young white American woman (from the opposite coast) stumbles not
into her favourite drama, but into the Hudson, only to get fished out
of the Han in Seoul. Maker uploads of only 3 episodes.
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7736096/>
<https://mydramalist.com/26514-oh-my-grace>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc4B7pgHK0YUX79p11lRuGIWCBHpk0mBq>
Was also at DramaFever, of course, and in this case I think I can
actually be pretty sure their license reached beyond the Americas.

46. <Under the Black Moonlight>, Sohu / SBS 2016 (9 ten-minute / 2
three-quarter hour episodes)
Thriller? See #46 in the Netflix 3 post. Uploads from boy band fans.
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIh7Bl9YQEnLsq_KMzzjeAb34UG73nJLO>

83. <Hi! School Love On>, KBS 2014 (20 episodes, aired weekly Friday
evenings)
An angel (actually a reaper with different imagery) screws up and
saves the boy she was to guide onward; she's punished by becoming
mortal. She gets into a school love triangle. The casting led this
to feature two 23-year-old actors and a 14-year-old actress, though
her *character* is by far the eldest. Oops.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/High_School_-_Love_On>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi!_School:_Love_On>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_High_School_-_Love_On.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4119504/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXEsKmBl4Lm5Ez7s8lacVuLCubR-mTh_p>
Also at KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide) and Viki (Americas), and
was at DramaFever.

84. <Seven First Kisses>, Naver 2016 (8 ten-minute episodes)
The only Web drama so far featuring Choi Ji-Woo, formerly "Queen of
Tears" for melodramas like <Truth>. She's the fairy godmother who
grants a wallflower the titular, from seven hot men, one per episode.
Sponsor uploads.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Seven_First_Kisses>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_First_Kisses>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Seven_First_Kisses.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6353134/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0XSe4yKw28MO0x6xLpX8ayRQpxphAEYE>

38. <To Be Continued>, Naver 2015 (12 quarter-hour episodes)
Time travel within modernity. See #38 in the Netflix 2 post.
Uploads from boy band fans of only three episodes.
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9mwxqZ7KLQ-p6t3uLYp9MUNfgzTifkKg>

[Joe Bernstein]

Not very speculative (6) - a stronger set:

85. <Healer>, KBS 2014-2015 (20 episodes)
This is basically an action show: a rookie reporter has inherited
trouble (of course she's played by Park Min-Young of <Dr. Jin>, #13
sv Tubi 1), and both a senior reporter and the title character, as a
bodyguard for hire, seek to protect (implicitly, to court) her.
Healer is consistently described as "from the 22nd century", but none
of the voluminous talk I've read about the show says what this sfnal
claim means, or has to do with anything.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Healer>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healer_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Healer.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4284216/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMf7VY8La5RGCfKMmBCGBopnZGhhB3QVT>
(blocked in the US)
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), KoCoWa (paywalled), and Viki
(Americas).

86. <Jang Youngsil>, KBS 2016 (24 episodes)
This is a historical about a man claimed as the greatest scientist of
the Joseon period. I don't know it to have any speculative content,
but thought it might interest some of these posts' potential readers.
This was the last series run in KBS1's weekend historicals timeslot.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Jang_Young_Shil>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jang_Yeong-sil_(TV_series)>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jang_Yeong-sil> - the historical man
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Jang_Yeong-sil.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5321584/>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMf7VY8La5RHivjCpxGwgBKIYM3_bInq_>
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas) and Viu (Singapore).

87. <Snail Study Dorms>, KBS 2010 (1 episode)
This is the fig leaf one whose (somewhat inaccurate) plot summary I
quoted above; it's fun and feelgood but all the trivial speculative
content (none of which has anything to do with dimensionality) is in
the first and last minutes.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Snail_Boarding_House>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Snail_Gosiwon.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6631018/>

Also at Viki (but not in the US, and I'm not sure where).

88. <A Dance from Afar>, KBS 2016 (1 episode)
A director kills himself; his father asks his old friend, the writer
of the play they were working on, to take care of things. The play
is about robots, but I don't know how much of it is in this drama.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2016#Dance_from_Afar>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_Dance_From_Afar.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6395934/>

Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

89. <You Are Closer Than I Think>, KBS 2017 (1 episode)
A story of a runaway bride that's said to offer a supernatural
explanation.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Drama_Special_2017#You’re_Closer_Than_I_Think>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Drama_Special_-_You__re_Closer_Than_I_Think.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9020088/>

Probably also at OnDemandKorea (Americas).

90. <6 Persons Room>, Naver 2014 (5 quarter-hour episodes)
In this drama sponsored, IIRC, by South Korea's occupational safety
agency, a man who takes a risk on the job wakes in a hospital room,
with five women - and one little girl - as roommates. This is your
clue that Things Are Not as They Seem, and why I list the drama,
recommended by at least one thoughtful reviewer. Lead actor uploads.
<https://mydramalist.com/14230-6-persons-room>
Completely spoiling review, to read if you are, like the original
intended readers, still confused at drama's end, or if you want to
appreciate someone else's explanation:
<http://www.kdramalove.com/6PersonRoom.html>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp2X-1CYOE0QjZkE-GP0BpZzTJpVbS40t>
(the last third of the list)

Two YouTube-uploaded songs for YouTube's post:

Song A. "Dear J", written and performed by Unisexasaurus, sung by an
unidentified, probably American, friend of his, for his album <Love
is in the ear>, 2012, later used in the sound track of <Lily Fever>,
2015:

Song B. "A Pier Alley", composed, probably sung, and possibly partly
performed (piano and/or violin) by Kang Hye-Kyoung, on the second
disc of Can's album <Can with Piano>, 2001, which disc was the
soundtrack album of <Piano>, 2001, in whose sound track the song also
appears:

Song C. "Twenty-Three", composed by Lee Jong-Hoon, Lee Chae-Kyu and
IU, sung by IU, for her album <Chat-Shire>, 2015, video directed by
Lumpens:

<Chat-Shire> deserves a note. It's the first album IU produced, and
for which she wrote all lyrics; it's meant as a tribute to her
favourite books, at least five of which are speculative. So yes, you
saw the video right. The album is probably all subtitled at YouTube,
but not so playlisted; I'll probably create such a playlist when done
researching this thread.
<https://www.joinusworld.org/community/6482-iu%E2%80%99s-fourth-mini-album-%E2%80%98chatshire%E2%80%99-and-the-controversy-over-it/>
A bonus track on the CD version of the album is called "Twenty Three",
the hyphen the only recognised distinction from the English title of
the lead single. For the un-hyphenated song, composed by PJ and Lee
Jong-Hoon, see

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This is an omissions post for yesterday's YouTube 6 post.
Should be 7, and not so strong.

Post by Joe Bernstein
90. <6 Persons Room>, Naver 2014 (5 quarter-hour episodes)
[snip]
(the last third of the list)

New paragraphs *here*.
New paragraphs:

93. <Man in the Shower>, Naver 2017 (8 five-minute episodes)
An unclear story (probably driven more by sponsors and imagery than
storytelling) whose protagonist talks with a "Shampoo Fairy" after
his showers. Since that being can make others appear and vanish,
it's technically speculative. Maker uploads.
Not much documented in English, near as I can tell; I had to watch it
to write the above.
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkXbROZgxx7Hsz54vRJxP3gZwTNNtMUJF>
Also at AsianCrush and OnDemandKorea (both Americas).

<https://www.youtube.com/user/KoreanFilm/videos>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Film_Archive>

The Korean Film Archive is associated with the Korean Movie Database,
which has an extensive video on demand library. The KFA has been
posting movies from this library at YouTube, then giving them English
subtitles, for the past six and a half years. They range from 1934
to 2000, and include lots of movies from director Im Kwon-Taek (the
2000 is his most famous, <Chunhyang>); they include most of the films
I've *heard* of from their date range. The only overlap with other
sites I looked at is that Viewster also has two of these movies.

All the earlier uploads and a fair number of later ones require you
to log in to YouTube, apparently meant as proof of age. I haven't
tried this myself so am not sure how it works.

YouTube doesn't provide good guidance to this collection, and I don't
know of outside pages that do. The uploads themselves mostly feature
very full, very spoiling plot synopses. So I've heroically read all
those - and boy are they depressing - so you won't have to, to find
the few speculative movies the Archive has so far uploaded:

minimally <Yang san Province>, 1955 (sign-in required because it was
one of the first uploads)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangsan_Province>
(The YouTube synopsis includes a single fantastical incident.)

<Madame White Snake>, 1960
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391780/>

<A Bloodthirsty Killer>, 1965
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Devilish_Homicide>
(which has its own spoiling synopsis)

<A Public Cemetery of Wol-ha>, 1967
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Cemetery>

<Thousand Years Old Fox>, 1969 (sign-in required because it was an
early upload, but it may also actually contain sensitive content)
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388831/>
(They *don't* have the 1994 movie usually called in English <The Fox
with Nine Tails>, which I also didn't find lawfully available, under
any business model, anywhere else online, except in DVD sales.)

possibly <Transgression>, 1974
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgression_(1974_film)>
(The synopsis sounds like a definitely fantastical Korean tale, but
that doesn't mean the movie is fantasticated.)

<The Ginko Bed>, 1995 (sign-in required because it was singled out)
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141122/>

(They've also uploaded several animated movies, which I didn't list,
but they're currently among the most recent uploads.)

Whew. I hope today's posts aren't so spectacularly incomplete.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This is an omission post.
Later, anent <Man in the Shower>, #93 sv previous corrections to this
post, I changed the number to 7 and took back "stronger". Now it
becomes 8. (Probably still an underestimate.)

219. <Oh! Dear Goddesses of Basement>, Naver 2017 (10 quarter-hour
episodes)
Better known as <Oh! Dear Half-Basement Goddesses>. Four minor Greek
goddesses, bored with their bit parts on Olympos, set out to spread
peace and love somewhere on Earth, of course picking Seoul, whose
cost of living shocks them into the half-basement fish-out-of-water
sitcom start. It slowly coheres just enough for the predictable
ending, and gets just fantastical enough to list here. Made by CJ
channel OnStyle, but I'm pretty sure it was online before the cable
premiere DramaWiki notes; maker uploads.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Oh!_Dear_Half-Basement_Goddesses>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8421736/>
<https://mydramalist.com/25480-oh-dear-half-basement-goddesses>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkLimRXN6NKxcmI3OCrbGMj4BY4oI2d8n>

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Joe Bernstein
84. <Seven First Kisses>, Naver 2016 (8 ten-minute episodes)
The only Web drama so far featuring Choi Ji-Woo, formerly "Queen of
Tears" for melodramas like <Truth>. She's the fairy godmother who
grants a wallflower the titular, from seven hot men, one per episode.
Sponsor uploads.

I neglected to mention that two of the men are ones I'm already
tracking, Lee Jong-Suk of (so far) <While You Were Sleeping> (#2 sv
Amazon) and Lee Joon-Gi of (so far) <Arang and the Magistrate> (#12
sv Tubi 1) and <Scholar Who Walks the Night> (#16, same post). Also,
it's kind of cheating, but *if* I include his stint in this drama
(where he's only a lead temporarily), Ok Taec-Yeon needs tracking.
Since I was probably going to name him with regard to one of his
dramas anyway, I'll stretch that point. He grew up in Massachusetts
from ages 10 to 17.

I'm also going to cheat a little more, but only in this post. I also

Post by Joe Bernstein
87. <Snail Study Dorms>, KBS 2010 (1 episode)
This is the fig leaf one whose (somewhat inaccurate) plot summary I
quoted above; it's fun and feelgood but all the trivial speculative
content (none of which has anything to do with dimensionality) is in
the first and last minutes.

The woman stupidly decribed as "four-dimensional" in this drama's
often quoted description is Seo Ji-Hye. Now, my criterion has mostly
been that someone needs to have *starred in* - first or second name
on the list - four dramas I list, before I'll mention them. (Bae
Doona and a few other people are exceptions.) This is because a
previous version bogged down in way too many names - I was using a
criterion of simply appearing in the regular cast of three dramas.
But it's hard on the best-looking actors, because Wrong Men and Wrong
Women, usually third and fourth, are normally supposed to appear much
more attractive than the leads. And Seo Ji-Hye has been Wrong Woman
in two dramas I list, <Black Knight>, 2017, and <49 Days>, 2011, and
one more that's Englished and speculative but hasn't, in my time,
been at a law-abiding streaming site, <Ice Girl>, 2005. As this
suggests, she's awful purty. (I'd remembered her as such from an
entirely non-speculative drama she starred in, but without
remembering her name or even her face.) So with the excuse that I'm
illustrating this K-drama norm, I'll mention her here, but not when
we get to those two dramas.

On another note, it's quite unfair of me to be doing this with actors
but not with directors and writers, who are probably much more
integral to the speculative boom in South Korean TV. It's just that
my computer access situation makes directors and writers harder for
me to cover in such a way. I'll try to make it up to them in a
pendant post sometime this month, but after next week, when it may be
a bit easier to get the access.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This is an error and omissions post for yesterday's YouTube 5 post.
Since YouTube's was the first of the really big posts, I'm now kinda
worried. *All* the posts after today are really big; will I screw up
this badly on all of them?
Should be 13.

Post by Joe Bernstein
81. <Lily Fever>, Naver 2015 (9 five-minute episodes - start at "Prologue")
The makers have a mini-media empire at YouTube. Very little more
is subbed, to wit one gay male romance drama, one straight.

This just isn't true; my search strategy failed, is all.

<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9_XmEfjzwIsXLehscbhbmw/playlists>

is part of "Dingo K-Drama", the channel into which they put most of
their subtitled material, including extra playlists for the two shows
the quote refers to, <The Boy Next Door> and <Our Love Story>. I
think <Miss Independent Jieun>, <No Time for Love>, and at least the
separate seasons of <Real Life Love Story> probably *are* dramas; so
might be the last uploads of "Grab Your Tissue" (<Farewell Taxi>) and
the last upload of "Most Liked Comments" (title unclear). The
playlist "Dingo and Chill" has most of these as omnibus uploads. I
don't actually think any of these will turn out to be speculative,
but I shouldn't have said that about their subtitling.

I put <Lily Fever> first among the Web dramas here because I think
its attempt to expand K-dramas' speculative vocabulary is really
important even if not much heard. I completely forgot about another
drama that, *as far as I now know*, expands K-dramas' speculative
vocabulary in a direction less interesting to me, but much likelier
to encourage serious special effects efforts in K-dramas. It and
the other two dramas these corrections posts will add were on my
lists, but on a page I'd forgotten when writing the post. Sorry.

91. <Legend Heroes>, EBS 2016 (50 half-hour episodes)
South Korea does battle suits! Or I guess fans prefer the Japanese
term tokusatsu. Apparently the character names reference the Three
Kingdoms period of China, still a preferred locus for Korean as well
as Chinese legendry, but the setting is modern. Maker uploads.
<https://mydramalist.com/21798-legend-hero>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8lZeURETyi1ITXZX1_x35-TTNnMRCZwn>

EBS is a South Korean network whose live action dramas get little
attention because they're for kids. (DramaWiki covers a few, only
*non*-speculative ones.) A Korean site's entry for this drama may
give me a key to finding other EBS live action dramas, and although
kids' K-dramas don't get subtitled much, I may find other exceptions
to come tell y'all about.

92. <Horror Delivery Service>, Naver 2016 (7 four-minute episodes)
AsianCrush (which uploaded it to YouTube) says "While on a camping
trip, two girls watch a series of creepy online videos that hit a
little too close to home." I'm not sure whether the girls are the
frame story or the main plot.
Not found at the usual informational sites (something that happens
repeatedly in the next few posts).
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjYNvL189bCYohj3ay_2yjpewvpzvOp7h>
Also at AsianCrush and OnDemandKorea (both Americas).

Post by Joe Bernstein
45. <Nightmare Teacher>, Naver 2016 (12 quarter-hour episodes)

OK, that's the error and omissions I already know about for that post,
now on to the next.

Joe Bernstein

[Jack Bohn]

Post by Joe Bernstein
91. <Legend Heroes>, EBS 2016 (50 half-hour episodes)
South Korea does battle suits! Or I guess fans prefer the Japanese
term tokusatsu.

Yes, the way to get a response on USENET is to post something wrong!

"Tokusatsu" is "special filming," or special effects. At the risk of sounding like a Logic 101 course, all battle suits are tokusatsu, but not all tokusatsu are battle suits; it includes kaiju eiga ("monster movies," including daikaiju - Great or Giant Monsters, but daikaiju are still kaiju), disaster movies, and even historical war movies that require battle footage beyond what was in newsreels.

Battle suits, power armor, (power loaders if you want to pretend they are only industrial,) and giant fighting robots are either mecha or mekka. Well, actually, they are both. One term (I forget which) refers specifically to them, while the other to a focus on the mechanical aspects of any device, like guns, planes, cars, or even trains, whether existing or speculative, so that includes ambulatory fighting machines.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Apparently the character names reference the Three
Kingdoms period of China, still a preferred locus for Korean as well
as Chinese legendry, but the setting is modern. Maker uploads.
<https://mydramalist.com/21798-legend-hero>
<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8lZeURETyi1ITXZX1_x35-TTNnMRCZwn>

I hadn't yet zoned out by this point in your post. So, imagining I could still understand what you were talking about, I did a search for this on YouTube. I agree with you... it exists.

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Jack Bohn

Post by Joe Bernstein
91. <Legend Heroes>, EBS 2016 (50 half-hour episodes)
South Korea does battle suits! Or I guess fans prefer the Japanese
term tokusatsu.

Yes, the way to get a response on USENET is to post something wrong!
"Tokusatsu" is "special filming," or special effects.

Um, OK, but the fact is that fans of <Legend Heroes> call it
tokusatsu, and don't call it battle suits. So thanks for the info,
and yeah, I had assumed a narrower definition of tokusatsu than is
correct, but I don't think I was quite wrong.

I snipped a couple of URLs that discuss the show in more detail than
MyDramaList does (both with outright spoilers, which is one reason I
snipped 'em). One is at "TokuNation", and I *think* the other has
tokusatsu in the URL too.

Post by Jack Bohn
I hadn't yet zoned out by this point in your post. So, imagining I
could still understand what you were talking about, I did a search for
this on YouTube. I agree with you... it exists.

Believe it or not, these words of yours reassure me. Maybe I'm
confusing and boring people, but at least one person has actually
read at least one of the posts that list actual dramas. It may not
be success, but it's a lot closer than I had evidence for.

Joe Bernstein

[Jack Bohn]

Joe Bernstein wrote:>

Among the things Joe Bernstein wrote: 
 

91. <Legend Heroes>, EBS 2016 (50 half-hour episodes) 
South Korea does battle suits!  Or I guess fans prefer the Japanese 
term tokusatsu. 

 
Yes, the way to get a response on USENET is to post something wrong! 
 
"Tokusatsu" is "special filming," or special effects. 

Um, OK, but the fact is that fans of <Legend Heroes> call it 
tokusatsu, and don't call it battle suits.  So thanks for the info, 
and yeah, I had assumed a narrower definition of tokusatsu than is 
correct, but I don't think I was quite wrong. 

OK, not wrong. It is tokusatsu, and fans would call it tokusatsu as probably the primary reason to watch it. That's a feature of it, though, not the genre. (As a "Jimmy Stewart movie" could be a comedy, or a western, or a biopic, or a "Hitchcock movie," to use a more indicative feature.) If I had to guess a genre from the fist episode, it'd be what the Japanese call "super sentai;" a bit closer go that than US Saturday morning kid superhero team show.

[Joe Bernstein]

This post concerns miscellaneous streaming sites that focus on East
Asian entertainment with varying degrees of specific interest in
South Korea. The selection of sites looks weird to me, so will
probably look *really* weird to anyone who focuses on Chinese or
Japanese movies and TV, but anyway this is what I came up with. For
speculative Korean dramas, it isn't much.


CRUNCHYROLL

<https://www.crunchyroll.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crunchyroll>

Crunchyroll, like Hulu, used to be a player in the K-drama world, but
no longer is. Also like Hulu, it's all paywalled.

When I started looking, they had a collection of K-dramas smaller
than Viki's or DramaFever's, but reasonable. It expanded, and in
2014 they turned it into a separate site. A few months later they
acquired the important K-entertainment forum site Soompi. A few
months after *that*, they re-branded their K-drama site as SoompiTV.
This site had rapidly become my favourite in my early days of online
watching, but that was because it had very few ads. So a few months
after the re-branding, Crunchyroll sold Soompi and all its K-dramas
to Viki. If you go through Viki's Korean TV collection by date added,
around the middle you'll find a huge bunch of older dramas, mostly
from MBC, all bunched together between newer ones - those are what
survives, besides Soompi itself, of the Soompi purchase and of
Crunchyroll's K-drama ambitions.

All this time, Crunchyroll proper had kept a few K-dramas, along with
their more extensive Japanese drama collection, and those stayed
there after the sale. But eventually, it looks like they too made a
deal with DramaFever, just like Amazon and Hulu, and with a worse
result: Now they don't have a single K-drama.

As of 11/28, they still had fourteen Korean movies from 2005-2010,
five of which I hadn't found anyone else streaming. But as of today,
they don't have those, or any other Korean movies. (They seem to
have sold the uniques, at least, to Tubi. None are speculative.)

Of the niche streamers AT&T bought with Time Warner, Crunchyroll
still survives; I don't know how many others do. Maybe it makes too
much money to shut down peremptorily, but maybe anime fans should
start to worry, or even organise, to make sure it stays that way.


HANCINEMA

<https://www.hancinema.net/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HanCinema>

HanCinema is primarily an informational site about Korean movies and
dramas. It is image-rich and supported by advertising, which is
extensive, or subscription fees to avoid that advertising. In my
experience (during most of which I've admittedly been biased against
it due to things probably outside its control), it's useful primarily
for two purposes:

1) Its images make identifying actors much easier than elsewhere
(its extensive cast lists, longer than any other English-language
site's, really help), and its focus on both Korean movies and dramas
makes it the best place to research most Korean actors once you've
identified them.

2) It's an informational site in general. I'm not that impressed
with its coverage of other topics, but when the sites I prefer omit
a drama, HanCinema is a great deal better than nothing. (Or the IMDB,
come to that.)

Google video searches surprised me a great deal, when working on the
YouTube post, by insisting that HanCinema *also* had video of many
Drama Specials and such. It does, but the video in question is
embedded from YouTube. One drama that turned up in those searches,
but wasn't *at* YouTube, had been at DramaFever, and HanCinema no
longer offers video of that drama. I don't see any point in trying
to list the speculative YouTube videos you can watch at HanCinema.


KBS WORLD

<http://kbsworld.kbs.co.kr/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBS_World>

KBS World at one time had its own video streaming software. I tried
it once, irritated at YouTube's ads, I think, but found it clunky and
unreliable. Evidently others felt similarly, so although KBS World
continues to offer video at its site, it's now embedded YouTube
video. Of course, KBS World *is* primarily about streaming video,
unlike HanCinema, but I still don't see the point in repeating
yesterday's YouTube post with a bunch of different URLs.

Over the years, KBS World has provided live video of one or more of
its TV channels on YouTube, usually for a month or two before closing
or relocating or geoblocking the stream, and with varying levels of
subtitling. I noticed it appearing in a lot of YouTube
recommendations while working on yesterday's post, so maybe it's
gotten more consistent. But before rearranging your schedule so as
to catch KBS World's dramas, bide your time a while to estimate the
chances you'll be able to finish before they skedaddle again.

- when I tried it just
now, I got what looked like scrambling, but that may be the
computer rather than KBS's doing.

[Joe Bernstein]

NAVER TV

<https://tv.naver.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naver#Naver_TV_Cast>

English Wikipedia has only the equivalent of a stub, but lots of
other articles in English mention Naver TV; these are often about why
everyone should use VPNs, in which argument Naver is a poster child.
According to these articles, nothing at Naver can be watched unless
you're in South Korea, or using a VPN to pretend you are. Since
Naver is by far the dominant platform for Korean Web dramas, that
could be a real problem.

But isn't true. About half the Naver Web dramas I've looked into are,
in fact, geoblocked to me in the US at Naver. The other half aren't.
Of course, they aren't subtitled ... But weirdly enough, two
speculative Korean Web dramas *are*, on this unequivocally Korean
site, subtitled in English.

I didn't spend any VPN bytes on Naver, so don't know whether either
of these dramas is geoblocked anywhere *else*, nor whether Naver's
geoblocks are as global as the VPN advocates claim, or in some cases
at least US-specific. For all I know British or Australian viewers
could watch even more subtitled Web dramas at Naver.

64. <Loss:Time:Life>, Naver 2015 (9 quarter-hour episodes; broadcast
by KBS in *2016* in 2 episodes)
Death warnings. See #64 sv YouTube 3.
<https://tv.naver.com/losstimelife/home>

94. <Wharf Roach>, Naver 2017 (4 quarter-hour episodes)
This should probably have been a movie. It depicts at least three
men who wake, separately, on a rocky island, in bodies not their own,
after having been in prison in 2031, ten years after "birds" went
extinct. All react with violent anger; the only one to seek ways to
survive is ?first to die. It isn't wordless, but has little dialogue.
The video and music are movie-quality, and I suspect the makers used
web drama episode structure to confuse the chronology even more.
I found it at no informational site, even in Korean, hence the more
detailed description.
<https://tv.naver.com/studiovs/home>
This serves you episode 4 by default. Look at the list of videos
below the main window and it should be clear which is episode 1.
Also at OnDemandKorea (Americas), which is where I actually watched
it. I got the Korean title by telling ODK to serve me the page in
Korean, but of course Naver also has it.

[Joe Bernstein]

ASIANCRUSH

<https://www.asiancrush.com>
<https://www.asiancrush.com/browse/tv-series/korean/>
<https://www.asiancrush.com/browse/korean/>

AsianCrush is unlike most of the sites I'm talking about in that it's
never been an independent company. It's a brand of Digital Media
Rights, a privately held company whose founders both have East Asian
surnames but not given names. DMR has many other brands, and cross-
advertises them heavily on each other; I haven't found any that have
South Korean content AsianCrush *doesn't* have, but I also haven't
tried KMTV, for which I'd have to install an app. DMR started in
2010; AsianCrush came out of beta in 2016.

People writing about AsianCrush have complained that it's mostly
Korean material. This isn't actually true; South Korean stuff is a
plurality, but not quite a majority, of the total. That said, not
much of that stuff is drama, and it's the same sort of mix of a few
real dramas and a bunch of Web dramas that we saw with all the West-
oriented sites - but with a surprise at the end.

16. <Scholar Who Walks the Night>, MBC 2015 (20 episodes)
Vampires in politics. See #16 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.asiancrush.com/series/012481s/scholar-walks-night/>

92. <Horror Delivery Service>, Naver 2016 (7 five-minute episodes)
See #92 sv the corrections to YouTube 5.
<https://www.asiancrush.com/series/023986s/horror-delivery-service/>

8. <Irish Uppercut>, Naver 2017 (8 quarter-hour episodes)
Reapers. See #8 sv Amazon.
<https://www.asiancrush.com/series/024103s/irish-uppercut/>

93. <Man in the Shower>, Naver 2017 (8 five-minute episodes)
Fairy. See #93 sv the corrections to YouTube 6.
<https://www.asiancrush.com/series/022840s/man-in-the-shower-subbed/>

6. <Love, Lost in Memory>, Naver 2018 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
Technological telepathy. See #6 sv Amazon.
<https://www.asiancrush.com/series/024152s/love-lost-in-memory/>

See, the reason for this pathetic showing is that AsianCrush's Korean
collection is almost entirely *movies*. I'll go into more detail
about this later, but I'm just about positive that AsianCrush has the
two dramas unique to it precisely because it saw them as movies.
They premiered as "MBN TV Movie"s of two episodes each, back to back
at that, but were later released in theatres.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/MBN_TV_Movie>

95. <Knock>, MBN 2012 (2 episodes)
A young woman inherits a mask, and finds herself compelled to make
art related to the mask, while people start dying. This is the only
K-drama I've downloaded via Bittorrent (on my since-stolen laptop), I
was so desperate to find it. Silly me.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Knock.php>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Knock_-_The_Movie.php>
(This suggests that what AsianCrush has isn't exactly the same as the
TV shows, but the TV versions came first, so the movies are at least
strongly related to the dramas.)
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3342830/>
<https://www.asiancrush.com/video/003822v/knock/>
Tubi seems to be getting aggressive about Korean movies, and now has
these too:
<https://tubitv.com/movies/339525/knock>

96. <Natural Burials>, MBN 2012 (2 episodes)
I've paid considerably less attention to this one because it looked
non-speculative, but it *is* horror, and you never know. (Well,
actually I know now. I was wrong, and it is speculative. See how
that works?) An amnesiac woman deals with the aftermath of her
fiance's murder.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Natural_Burials.php>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Natural_Burial_-_The_Movie.php>
<https://mydramalist.com/4816-natural-burials>
<https://www.asiancrush.com/video/003838v/natural-burials/>
and, yes,
<https://tubitv.com/movies/342549/natural_burials>

So yeah, movies. AsianCrush is the champion of Korean movies under
free with ads or subscription business models, and it even beats
Google for sheer numbers, somewhere near 300. The site's sorting
software is severely buggy if you choose the offered alphabetical
or release year sorts, but works fine if you stick with the default
acquisition date sort, which means listing those movies (and finding
<Knock> and <Natural Burials>) was a tour of the site's acquisition
history. You can't amass hundreds of movies by being picky, but it's
pretty obvious that the site started with a *focus* on fulfilling its
name by getting darkly sexy movies. Then in the second hundred or so,
the focus shifts to horror, actually rather strongly - there are
*lots* of consecutive horror movies. And the most recent group seem
to show that the site's buyers realised they'd pulled so far ahead,
and wanted to diversify; most of the site's more cheerful movies were
acquired relatively recently. So Google is probably still the better
choice for family fare, but considering the close links between
horror and speculation in Korean film, AsianCrush is the clear victor
in speculative movies. The date range was, as of 11/27, 1996-2017.

So that's all the good news; now for the problems. The bugs are by
no means limited to sorting software. I watched a test drama at the
site and had tons of problems; I had to reinstall the app twice.
Reviews of the Android app are full of complaints about it stalling
(my main problem), kicking people out, showing ads to people who'd
paid to get rid of them, and on and on. I've also seen glitches at
the desktop site. All in all, I think AsianCrush has given way too
much attention to acquisition, and way too little to delivery.

A moderate percentage of AsianCrush's movies are paywalled. (By
a strange coincidence, these movies are over-represented in the
site's overlap with Tubi, which has no paywalls.) AsianCrush prefers
to incentivise subscribers not by paywalling movies, but by making
*not* paying rather unpleasant. It does so by running ads every
eight minutes *whether or not it has any to run*, because even if
nobody is paying it, it can run ads *for itself*, or for one of the
other Digital Media Rights sites. Real ads are shorter, but AC's
self ads take up two minutes out of every ten when they run, thus
adding 25% to the length of a show or movie - even if nothing else
goes wrong. AsianCrush's price seems to have been $5 per month for
years; I've confirmed at the site that that's the current price, but
it wasn't easy and I can't right now give a URL. As I understand it,
that subscription does *not* subscribe you to all the other DMR
sites you saw advertised before you started paying.

AsianCrush is already a huge presence in Korean movie access in
America; but I'm not sure it can keep that position without tending
better to its knitting.

Oh. Yes, I tried this site internationally. The TV shows offered
when I posed as British were the same; I didn't look at the movies
from there. From Australia, I couldn't reach the site, and I
didn't try from Singapore.

[Joe Bernstein]

A jumble of songs for this jumble of sites.

Song B. Songs in <Twin Rocks>, KBS 1996, probably some traditional
and arranged by, some composed by, either Im Taek-Soo or Im Hyo-Taek
(who wrote most of the music for the omnibus to which <Twin Rocks>
belongs), at least one and possibly all sung by Kim Jung-Min, who
also played the leading lady.

That URL points to an unlawful upload of <Twin Rocks>. If your
ethics are stronger than mine, you may wish not to watch that. Even
if that isn't an issue for you, KBS will sooner or later get that
upload erased. See the last post for how to find other copies of the
drama, both lawful and un.

On the whole, I'd suggest you watch the whole thing, if you choose to,
because the songs fill much of the running time, and the last three
out of five feature spoilers in the video. The drama is essentially
a tragedy, more or less Greek in nature. If you just want pointers
to the songs, though, use the following URLs:
http://youtu.be/EwCUkFiUwVY
http://youtu.be/EwCUkFiUwVY
http://youtu.be/EwCUkFiUwVY
http://youtu.be/EwCUkFiUwVY
http://youtu.be/EwCUkFiUwVY

If you read this after KBS takes the video down, or wish not to watch
that copy, alternatively watch Kim singing twenty years later, in

That's a traditional
genre called pansori, in which the singer sings a long story. Three
of the "surviving" stories of pansori (including the one she sings in
that upload) are fantasy, as are several of the "lost" ones.
Translations of the survivors are at:
<http://www.sorifestival.com/2011html/_data/geditor/1202/Pansori_PDF.zip>
and the fantasy ones are "Simcheong", "Heungboga" (that's what Kim
sings, and is in fact recognised as a top expert in) and
"SeaPalacesong".
<http://www.kimjungmin.co.kr/eng/>

Song C. I'm doing what I did in the parallel West-centred post, and
offering you a song IU collaborated on, or something else that's
just her.

"Not Spring, Love or Cherry Blossoms", composed by Lee Jong-Hoon and
Lee Chae-Kyu, sung by IU and High4, for their 2014 single; I'll see
if I can dig up the name of the director in time for the corrections
post:

"Cruel Fairytale", composed by Saint Binary, sung by IU for her album
<Real+>, 2011, here as sung on the "Real Fantasy" tour, and released
on the DVD of that tour, both 2012:

There used to be Web pages about how many fairy tales Kim Ea-Na (who
also wrote the lyrics of several of IU's other early hits, including,
so far, "You and I") had worked into the lyrics of that song, but I
can't find them now.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This is an omission post.

COOL2VU

<http://www.cool2vu.com/>

cool2vu was founded as Maaduu in Malaysia in 2010. It was purchased
in 2014 by SyQic, also apparently Malaysian, and renamed in 2015,
when a partnership with Viki was also announced. Very little
information about it online is more recent than 2015, when in
particular this page:

<http://www.contentasia.tv/features/platforms-cool2vu>

said it had 44 dramas in Malaysia, the same number in Indonesia, 21
in the Philippines, and 22 in Singapore, the only country they were
then in that overlaps my remit. That page also said they planned to
expand "into North America and Australasia" in 2015; but in the US
and Australia today they offer no dramas. I left cool2vu out not
because I hadn't heard of it, but because I'd simply assumed it was
part of Viu's history, and only found out the truth when researching
the latter.

Their list in Singapore, then, is all that matters here, and today as
in 2015 it includes 22 shows. All are claimed as "Korean TV Drama",
but several are reality shows, including one vlog unrelated to Korean
TV channels at all, but originated on Viki. Long before I knew
anything about VPNs, I was endlessly curious what was hidden behind
Maaduu's gates. Well, now I know. Still, the list includes a few
speculative dramas, so:

114. <Sweden Laundry>, MBC cable (several channels) 2014-2015 (16
episodes premiered weekly early Friday evenings)
Depicts a woman whose empathy apparently operates through contact
with people's clothes, so she opens a laundry.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Sweden_Laundry>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Laundry>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Swedish_Laundry.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5686448/>
<http://www.cool2vu.com/korean-drama/sweden-laundry>
Also at Viki (UK, Australia and Singapore) and was at DramaFever.

115. <Midnight's Girl>, Naver / MBC Every1 2015 (cable; 8 quarter-
hour episodes / ?probably 2 episodes)
A man who's tried and so far failed to become an idol works managing
a karaoke joint. This brings him into contact with the ghost of a
young woman which shows up every midnight.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Midnight%27s_Girl>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Girl_at_0_O__Clock.php>
<https://mydramalist.com/14047-girl-of-0am>
<http://www.cool2vu.com/korean-drama/midnights-girl>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia and Singapore).

116. <The Facetale: Cinderia>, Daum 2016 (10 seven-minute episodes)
Beautiful woman A sends her plain friend B to fulfill a blind date
for her, but the guy attracts both A and B strongly. So B uses a
magic compact that summons "makeup fairies" to help her, but only
eight times. See my comments on <The Miracle> sv Netflix 2. No
other K-drama with "Cinderella" in its title is actually fantasy.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Facetale:_Cinderia>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6917392/>
<https://mydramalist.com/21860-the-facetale-season-1-cinderia>
<http://www.cool2vu.com/korean-drama/the-facetale-cinderia>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia all paywalled; free in
Singapore, and now I know why).

Note that this last shows that the list can't be the same shows as
that site saw in 2015, just the same number of shows.

What I do when testing URLs is copy them into a browser. For
cool2vu's that won't work; but when I did it anyway, I got "not in
your country", not a 404 (I elicited one of those just to make sure).
Similarly, I haven't watched any test drama there. cool2vu didn't
have a subscription tier in 2015, and in this respect, as in others,
it seems not to have changed since.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Joe Bernstein
KBS WORLD
Over the years, KBS World has provided live video of one or more of
its TV channels on YouTube, usually for a month or two before closing
or relocating or geoblocking the stream, and with varying levels of
subtitling. I noticed it appearing in a lot of YouTube
recommendations while working on yesterday's post, so maybe it's
gotten more consistent. But before rearranging your schedule so as
to catch KBS World's dramas, bide your time a while to estimate the
chances you'll be able to finish before they skedaddle again.
http://youtu.be/KkXq2sv6Tos - when I tried it just
now, I got what looked like scrambling, but that may be the
computer rather than KBS's doing.

It was the computer. Now that I can check it on my phone, no
scrambling.

But it turns out to be their 24-hour news channel, no dramas (and no
subtitles). This is a pity, because what the real KBS World has
scheduled for today includes *two* fantasy dramas.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This is an omission post.

DAEHANDRAMA

<http://www.daehandrama.com/>

This site bills itself as the "#1 UK destination for Korean TV series",
and certainly has a reasonable collection of news, reviews, and
whatnot. Near as I can tell, it's recently begun streaming dramas
(presumably with UK or European licenses), and when I did the VPN
work, it expected to have a page listing those dramas sometime soon.
An ad seen at the site *suggested* that it might already have <Secret
Garden>, 2010, but since I couldn't confirm this, I'll introduce that
drama with KoCoWa on Monday as originally planned.

Sorry; I just forgot about this site.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Most of this thread so far has been written in advance by a day or
two, but the YouTube post used up all my aheadness (and the
corrections to it even got me behind). So yesterday's post was
written almost entirely yesterday, and I'm writing OnDemandKorea's
today. Which would be fine except that the libraries I'm writing in
and posting from close at 6 pm today because it's Friday. I'm not
writing fast enough to finish, check all the URLs, and post by then.

Also, I was going to watch a test drama for ODK, but instead watched
a bunch of Web dramas these last two days, There obviously won't be
time for ODK's test before posting time today, but plenty by tomorrow.

So expect the OnDemandKorea post tomorrow. I should be back on track
Monday with KoCoWa (whose test I watched weeks ago), but may slip
again as soon as Tuesday with Viu, even though it doesn't get a test.
I won't have posting ability 12/15 and 12/16, so will try to avoid
any sustained delays next week.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

ONDEMANDKOREA

<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnDemandKorea>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/drama>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/web-drama>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/movie>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/pay-per-view>

My inference: OnDemandKorea exists to serve YOU, because YOU are a
Korean immigrant to the US or Canada who wants TV just like back home.
It also serves your little kids with cartoons in Korean, and provides
English subtitles on some of its material for your older kids who,
growing up before ODK existed, didn't learn Korean properly.
Reality check: I very much doubt ODK's fairly large subtitling
operation is supported entirely for the older children of its base
audience. Also, although ODK doesn't subtitle in Portuguese or
French, and has barely started in Spanish, its licenses are normal
Americas-wide, not truncated like Tubi's. Otherwise, actually, I
think this one is close to true.

ODK, so claims English Wikipedia, started in 2012. Its early years
are well documented by the Internet Archive, so even though I only
found out about it in late 2016, I can tell you it had no English
subtitles until 2014. Nevertheless, at the end of 2016 it had more
subtitled dramas from that year than Viki, let alone DramaFever. The
reason those sites were able to keep going under this onslaught is
that a substantial number of ODK's subtitled dramas, even from 2016,
are daily and weekend dramas that the other sites, by and large,
don't care about. Nevertheless, there are only so many such dramas,
since each normally runs half a year, so ODK was also nabbing many
flagships and cable shows.

Then came KoCoWa. I have no inside knowledge of how KoCoWa has
affected the other streamers, but can infer based on what's happened.
ODK pursued a middle course - it hasn't cozied up to KoCoWa as Viki
has, nor has it clearly defied it as DramaFever did. One thing I
noticed about KoCoWa right away was that it revived two dramas that
hadn't been at law-abiding sites since I'd started looking - and that
I'd watched (one on DVD, the other unlawfully). Well, ODK now has
both; I list the DVD one below, while the other is near the top of
its current popularity listings. (They call it <The Accidental
Couple>, and I hesitated to recommend it in the introduction - but do
recommend it to other middle-aged men like me.) So obviously ODK has
had something to do with KoCoWa. But one thing it did after KoCoWa
came was acquire tons of Web dramas, most of which it's subtitled;
another was *drastically* slow its English subtitling of pretty much
everything else. ODK has acquired over seventy real (not Web) dramas
since the early-2018 cable show I'm watching as a test, but has
subtitled *none* of them. I don't know enough about the business to
know whether ODK even *deals* with KoCoWa for its unsubbed dramas, or
directly with the networks. In any event, this is clearly a cost-
cutting move (not just saving on subtitlers' pay, but on licenses,
since a license to show a drama English-subbed in the Americas must
cost a lot more than to show it unsubbed), but I can't help thinking
it also represents a subtler version of DramaFever's network
avoidance in the wake of KoCoWa.

ODK has a vast range of material, by no means confined to these sites'
usual fare of dramas, variety shows and movies. It has news shows,
religious shows, cooking shows, you name it; it really does try to
bring Korean TV en masse to its immigrant base. None of those three
categories, nor sports shows, are subtitled, and only one kids' show,
<Ghost Messenger>, animated fantasy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Messenger>
It also carries lots and lots of music videos, some subtitled.

And yes, it carries dramas, some subtitled. I see 525 under the main
heading, and 86 listed as Web dramas. (Web dramas that've reappeared
on broadcast or cable are under the main heading.) However, once you
narrow it down to English subtitled ones, the story changes: 76 Web
dramas, and 176 under the main heading (a few may actually be Chinese-
language). ODK's vast range of unsubbed dramas comes up again in the
last post.

So what's it like to watch ODK? ODK is a big part of why I watched
test dramas. It wasn't to find glitches like AsianCrush's. It was
to find the ads. In summer I re-watched <The Accidental Couple> and
saw practically none. I watched test *episodes* last month at ODK,
KoCoWa and Viki - one episode each desktop and in-app - and the same
held. Only now in December can I tell you that ODK still prefers to
run ad breaks every twelve minutes (the longest between breaks of any
site I've tried); that it doesn't run long ads; and that when I
watched through Chrome rather than the app, most of the ads it served
me were in Japanese. I've never encountered ad-related glitches at
ODK such as I got for years from DramaFever and have lately seen at
Viki. (But not, faint praise where it's due, at AsianCrush, nor
KoCoWa or Tubi.) ODK can seamlessly skip ad breaks where it thinks
that's appropriate, as it usually did while I watched <Wharf Roach>
(so how does it make any money on all those Web dramas?), but its ad
placement is arbitrary, even cutting words in half. In-app, in
December, on Friday night it got, and on Saturday night it probably
will get, good national 15-second ads for every break; but it skipped
a few on Saturday afternoon.

Since ODK's ads cause less suffering than anyone else's, you'd expect
them to paywall lots of stuff to compensate. Nope. Only one of the
dramas I list below is paywalled, though admittedly I don't know
whether the dropped Web dramas were too. ODK's paywalls in general
tend to be weirdly placed - for example, once in a while they paywall
a daily once they finish subtitling it. They do paywall many movies,
but that's normal. (Less normally, they also have dozens of movies
pay per view, the only rental business model any of these drama-
focused sites have, to my knowledge.) At any rate, their paywalls
cost $7 per month to remove; that gets you the sexier movies (ODK's
movie paywalls are positively prudish) but not the PPV ones, no ads
to worry about, and maybe something I'll save for later.

ODK's subtitles are professional. I've noticed them flickering a lot,
appearing briefly before or after their main appearance; this hasn't
so far cost me much of the test drama's dialogue, but does make me
pay more attention to the bottom of the screen than I'm used to.

[Joe Bernstein]

ODK doesn't have central pages for each show. Of the K-drama focused
sites, it provides the least metadata on shows (though that still
means it says more about the dailies than anyone else), and what it
provides is on every episode page. So the URLs I provide all point
to the first episode, or for the Drama Specials, to the only episode;
and the episodes *start playing* soon after the page loads, unless
you hit pause right off. (I've found this to be slower on my phone
than on computers.) ODK also thinks the only thing you could want to
do after an episode is watch the next, and after a drama to start
over again; you have to interrupt this to take a break.
Presumably because it has to deliver video each time, ODK keeps
timing me out as I test its URLs, so I gave up already at #98, not
far ahead. My apologies if any of the links are in fact broken.
This shouldn't be an issue with the informational links.

From here on out, in each post, there're going to be a *lot* of cross
references in these lists of dramas. I normally try to highlight the
newly introduced dramas, but also to sort each category at least to
some extent in order by estimated quality.

Ontologically different beings (3):

97. <Padam Padam - The Sound of His and Her Heartbeats>, JTBC 2011-
2012 (20 episodes)
A man released from prison for a murder he didn't commit falls in
love with the murder victim's niece and tries to prove his innocence.
The novum is that in prison and afterward a guardian angel helps him.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Padam_Padam...
_The_Sound_of_His_and_Her_Heartbeats>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padam_Padam>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Padam_Padam_p__p__p__The_Sound_of
_His_and_Her_Heartbeats.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2303867/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/padam-padam-the-sound-of-his-and-her-
heartbeats-e01.html>
Also was at DramaFever.

61. <What's the Ghost Doing>, KBS 2015 (1 episode)
Ghost story. See #61 sv YouTube 2.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/kbs-drama-special-2015-e08.html>

9. <My Romantic Some Recipe>, Naver 2016 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
Man emerges from poster. See #9 sv Amazon.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/my-romantic-some-recipe-e01.html>

ODK's audience just loves historicals; perforce, then, so does ODK.
Historicals (7):

98. <Saimdang, Light's Diary>, SBS 2017 (28 episodes)
This drama has two story lines, about an art historian in the present
and an artist in the past, both played by the same actress; but
unlike some such stories, these two meet thanks to time travel. The
return to acting after twelve years of Lee Young-Ae, star of <Lady
Vengeance> and <Dae Jang Geum>, who plays the two women.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Saimdang,_Light%27s_Diary>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saimdang,_Memoir_of_Colors>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Saimdang_2p__Light__s_Diary.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5220316/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/saimdang-lights-story-e1.html>
Also at Viki (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

12. <Arang and the Magistrate>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Ghost story. See #12 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/arang-and-the-magistrate-e01-1.html>

14. <The Gu Family Book>, MBC 2013 (24 episodes)
Gumihos. See #14 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/gu-family-book-e01.html>

15. <The Night Watchman's Journal>, MBC 2014 (24 episodes)
Ghosts. See #15 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/the-night-watchmans-journal-e01.html>

16. <Scholar Who Walks the Night>, MBC 2015 (20 episodes)
Vampires. See #16 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/scholar-who-walks-the-night-e01.html>

17. <Shine or Go Crazy>, MBC 2015 (24 episodes)
Prophecies or curses. See #17 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/shine-or-go-crazy-e01.html>

99. <Splash Splash Love>, Naver / MBC 2015 (10 ?ten-minute episodes /
2 episodes)
A girl frightened of math flees the crucial end-of-high-school test,
and stumbles into a puddle which proves a time portal to the Joseon
period. There, her knowledge (South Korean high school being what it
is) makes her the kingdom's greatest scientist, and brings her to the
attention of the King.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Splash_Splash_Love>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_Splash_Love>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_South_Korea#High_school>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Splash_Splash_Love.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5290026/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/splash-splash-love-e01.html>
Also at KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide) and Viki (Americas, UK,
Australia).

Vampires (2, plus one historical listed above):

100. <Vampire Idol>, MBN 2011-2012 (79 half-hour episodes, premiered
middays daily)
A prince from Vampire Planet comes to Earth to a concert of a girl
group he likes. He and his entourage get stuck here, so he tries to
become an idol himself. Possibly not the most serious drama I list.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Vampire_Idol>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Idol>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Vampire_Idol.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2457406/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/vampire-idol-e01-1.html>

7. <Immortal Goddess>, Naver 2016 (8 quarter-hour episodes)
Vampire story. See #7 sv Amazon.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/immortal-goddess-e01.html>

[Joe Bernstein]

Repost because I forgot to kill Xnews's word wrap. Sorry.

ODK doesn't have central pages for each show. Of the K-drama focused
sites, it provides the least metadata on shows (though that still
means it says more about the dailies than anyone else), and what it
provides is on every episode page. So the URLs I provide all point
to the first episode, or for the Drama Specials, to the only episode;
and the episodes *start playing* soon after the page loads, unless
you hit pause right off. (I've found this to be slower on my phone
than on computers.) ODK also thinks the only thing you could want to
do after an episode is watch the next, and after a drama to start
over again; you have to interrupt this to take a break.
Presumably because it has to deliver video each time, ODK keeps
timing me out as I test its URLs, so I gave up already at #98, not
far ahead. My apologies if any of the links are in fact broken.
This shouldn't be an issue with the informational links.

From here on out, in each post, there're going to be a *lot* of cross
references in these lists of dramas. I normally try to highlight the
newly introduced dramas, but also to sort each category at least to
some extent in order by estimated quality.

Ontologically different beings (3):

97. <Padam Padam - The Sound of His and Her Heartbeats>, JTBC 2011-
2012 (20 episodes)
A man released from prison for a murder he didn't commit falls in
love with the murder victim's niece and tries to prove his innocence.
The novum is that in prison and afterward a guardian angel helps him.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Padam_Padam..._The_Sound_of_His_and_Her_Heartbeats>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padam_Padam>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Padam_Padam_p__p__p__The_Sound_of_His_and_Her_Heartbeats.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2303867/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/padam-padam-the-sound-of-his-and-her-heartbeats-e01.html>
Also was at DramaFever.

61. <What's the Ghost Doing>, KBS 2015 (1 episode)
Ghost story. See #61 sv YouTube 2.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/kbs-drama-special-2015-e08.html>

9. <My Romantic Some Recipe>, Naver 2016 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
Man emerges from poster. See #9 sv Amazon.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/my-romantic-some-recipe-e01.html>

ODK's audience just loves historicals; perforce, then, so does ODK.
Historicals (7):

98. <Saimdang, Light's Diary>, SBS 2017 (28 episodes)
This drama has two story lines, about an art historian in the present
and an artist in the past, both played by the same actress; but
unlike some such stories, these two meet thanks to time travel. The
return to acting after twelve years of Lee Young-Ae, star of <Lady
Vengeance> and <Dae Jang Geum>, who plays the two women.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Saimdang,_Light%27s_Diary>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saimdang,_Memoir_of_Colors>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Saimdang_2p__Light__s_Diary.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5220316/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/saimdang-lights-story-e1.html>
Also at Viki (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

12. <Arang and the Magistrate>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Ghost story. See #12 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/arang-and-the-magistrate-e01-1.html>

14. <The Gu Family Book>, MBC 2013 (24 episodes)
Gumihos. See #14 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/gu-family-book-e01.html>

15. <The Night Watchman's Journal>, MBC 2014 (24 episodes)
Ghosts. See #15 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/the-night-watchmans-journal-e01.html>

16. <Scholar Who Walks the Night>, MBC 2015 (20 episodes)
Vampires. See #16 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/scholar-who-walks-the-night-e01.html>

17. <Shine or Go Crazy>, MBC 2015 (24 episodes)
Prophecies or curses. See #17 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/shine-or-go-crazy-e01.html>

99. <Splash Splash Love>, Naver / MBC 2015 (10 ?ten-minute episodes /
2 episodes)
A girl frightened of math flees the crucial end-of-high-school test,
and stumbles into a puddle which proves a time portal to the Joseon
period. There, her knowledge (South Korean high school being what it
is) makes her the kingdom's greatest scientist, and brings her to the
attention of the King.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Splash_Splash_Love>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_Splash_Love>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_South_Korea#High_school>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Splash_Splash_Love.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5290026/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/splash-splash-love-e01.html>
Also at KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide) and Viki (Americas, UK,
Australia).

Vampires (2, plus one historical listed above):

100. <Vampire Idol>, MBN 2011-2012 (79 half-hour episodes, premiered
middays daily)
A prince from Vampire Planet comes to Earth to a concert of a girl
group he likes. He and his entourage get stuck here, so he tries to
become an idol himself. Possibly not the most serious drama I list.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Vampire_Idol>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Idol>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Vampire_Idol.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2457406/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/vampire-idol-e01-1.html>

7. <Immortal Goddess>, Naver 2016 (8 quarter-hour episodes)
Vampire story. See #7 sv Amazon.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/immortal-goddess-e01.html>

[Joe Bernstein]

Special powers (3):

27. <Strong Woman Do Bong-soon>, JTBC 2017 (16 episodes)
Magical strength. See #27 sv Netflix 1.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/strong-woman-do-bong-soon-e1.html>

55. <A Dreaming Man>, KBS2 2014 (1 episode)
Death portents. See #55 sv YouTube 2.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/kbs-drama-special-a-dreaming-man.html>

5. <Teleport Love>, Naver 2014 (4 quarter-hour episodes)
See #5 sv Amazon.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/teleport-love-e01.html>

Heart transplants (2):

22. <The Spring Day of My Life>, MBC 2014 (16 episodes)
Heart transplant. See #22 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/the-spring-day-of-my-life-e01.html>

50. <Falling for Innocence>, JTBC 2015 (16 episodes)
Heart transplant. See #50 sv Netflix 3.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/falling-for-innocence-e01.html>

Reapers (2, but the first step's a doozy):

"Three Color Fantasy", Naver / MBC
A trilogy called "Three Color Fantasy" was co-produced by MBC and (so
claims English Wikipedia, but I'm dubious) Naver itself (as opposed
to an independent production company *using* Naver). So each week,
some premiered on Naver, some on MBC, as against the usual pattern in
which a Web drama already completed on Naver is picked up by a
network or cable channel. I'm not clear on what's supposed to link
the trilogy together otherwise, except that they're all fantasy and
all romance, which differentiates them from probably over 10% of all
other dramas. Anyway, ODK had them in July, but doesn't now, and
since the only URL I had was a joint one, I have to begin this way.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Three_Colors_of_Fantasies>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Color_Fantasy>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/three-color-fantasy-star-of-the-universe-teaser.html>
(dead)

101. <Star of the Universe>, Naver / MBC 2017 (21 ten-minute episodes
/ 6 half-episodes) - dropped
First of "Three Color Fantasy". The romance is between a musician
and a girl who, having died, has become a reaper.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Star_of_the_Universe>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Universe%27s_Star>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Three_Color_Fantasy_-_The_Stars_In_Space.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6212758/>

8. <Irish Uppercut>, Naver 2017 (8 quarter-hour episodes)
Reapers. See #8 sv Amazon.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/irish-uppercut-e01.html>

Magic items:

72. <Ruby Ruby Love>, Naver / OnStyle 2017 (5 quarter-hour episodes /
1 episode)
Magic ring. See #72 in YouTube 4.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/ruby-ruby-love-e1.html>

102. <Queen of the Ring>, Naver / MBC 2017 (21 ten-minute episodes /
6 half-episodes) - dropped
Third of "Three Color Fantasy". A girl believes herself ugly until
she gets a magic ring. In other words, it imitates the two-months-
earlier <Ruby Ruby Love>.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Queen_of_the_Ring>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_the_Ring_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Three_Color_Fantasy_-_Queen_of_the_Ring.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6212842/>

103. <Sweet Revenge>, season 2, XtvN 2018 (16 or 32 episodes)
A teenaged girl finds an app that, when given a name, "takes revenge"
on the person named. This is a different teenager, played by a
different young actress, from the first season, suggesting that we
could be facing an epidemic of powerful and unchecked teenaged girls
if the series continues.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Revenge_2>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Revenge_Note_2.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9243894/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/sweet-revenge-season-2-e01-1.html>

Miscellaneous (7):

67. <Contract Man>, KBS2 2015 (1 episode)
Police state in the near future. See #67 sv YouTube 3.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/kbs-drama-special-2015-e18.html>

104. <Romance Full of Life>, Naver / MBC 2017 (21 ten-minute episodes
/ 6 half-episodes) - dropped
Second of "Three Color Fantasy". Our Hero is good-looking but keeps
flunking the exam to become a policeman. An experiment he signs up
for turns him into a superhero, which changes his romantic luck.
Note that this is presented as fantasy rather than as science fiction.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Romance_Full_of_Life>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_Full_of_Life>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Three_Color_Fantasy_-_Vivid_Romance.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6212814/>

94. <Wharf Roach>, Naver 2017 (4 quarter-hour episodes)
Body switches, near future, who knows what. See #94 sv Naver.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/wharf-roach-e01.html>

70. <I Am>, Naver 2017 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
Robot. See #70 sv YouTube 4.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/i-am-e01.html> (paywalled)

92. <Horror Delivery Service>, Naver 2016 (7 four-minute episodes)
See #92 sv the corrections to YouTube 5.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/horror-delivery-service-e01.html>

6. <Love, Lost in Memory>, Naver 2018 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
Technological telepathy. See #6 sv Amazon.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/love-lost-in-memory-e01.html>

105. <Love in Time>, Naver 2018 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
This is the sequel to <Love in Memory> or <Love, Lost in Memory>,
Naver 2018 (as opposed to <Love in Memory> 2013). The couple from
that drama are happy until the woman gets into an accident; the man
time travels to try to prevent it.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Love_in_Time.php>
<https://mydramalist.com/28693-love-in-time>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/love-in-time-e01.html>

[Joe Bernstein]

Not very speculative (15):

106. <Oh My Geum-bi>, KBS2 2016-2017 (16 episodes)
A girl with Niemann-Pick disease type C (sometimes called childhood
Alzheimer's), abandoned by a guardian to her reputed father, finds
ways to change several lives before the darkness closes in. True
Tarot readings and shared dreams are enough to make this borderline
speculative; we also see those dreams, vividly fantasticated, hear
from doctors, and in general everything, including both science and
fantasy, gets woven together into one enormous (and mostly un-
sentimentalised) myth. This is one of the two dramas I recommend to
just about everyone that I also consider speculative.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Oh_My_Geum_Bi>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Fair_Lady_(2016_TV_series)>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niemann%E2%80%93Pick_disease>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Oh_My_Geum-bi.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6234398/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/my-fair-lady-e1.html>
Also at Viki (Americas), Viu (Singapore) and was at DramaFever.

Aside from its other virtues, <Oh My Geum-bi> is my best chance in
these posts to bring up Kim Kyu-Chul, who's something of a hero of
South Korean speculative TV. This starts with the 1996 season of
"Hometown Legends", a mostly speculative anthology series, the same
one <Twin Rocks> appeared in. Kim starred in three episodes/dramas
of that year's season, and returned thereafter in at least 1997, 2008,
and 2009, when he got an award from KBS for his services to the show.
He's also done other speculative short dramas, including <The Return
of Shim Chung>, 2007; kids' shows including <Magic Kid Masuri>, 2002-
2004, and <Hwarang Fighter Maru>, 2006; and flagships including <The
Devil> (#54 sv YouTube 2), <Padam Padam> (#XX above), <Blade Man>
(#62 sv YouTube 3), and two I haven't reached yet. In this one, he
plays a good mad scientist. I've seen him in the three '96 "Hometown
Legends" episodes, one of which I consider among the best of that
season mainly on the strength of his performance, this drama, and a
non-speculative one in which he played a friendly villain, and he's
always been good. More about him in the last post.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kim_Kyu_Chul>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Kyu-chul>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_Kim_Gyoo-cheol.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453588/>

18. <Princess Hours>, MBC 2006 (24 episodes)
Minimal alternate history. See #18 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/princess-hours-e01.html>

107. <Jumong>, MBC 2006-2007 (81 episodes)
A tremendously popular account of the founding of Goguryeo in the
last century BC. The histories make Jumong a figure of fantasy, but
this drama appears entirely non-speculative. Goguryeo was where
North Korea and Manchuria now are, and would be conquered by Silla
allied with Tang China in AD 668.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Jumong>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumong_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Jumong.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978061/>
The myth:
<http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2007/06/some-inaccurate-ancient-history.html>
<http://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/MythofJumong/5395>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/jumong-e01.html>
Also at Viki (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

108. <Time Between Dog and Wolf>, MBC 2007 (16 episodes)
The drama <City Hunter>, SBS 2011, recommended in the introduction,
imitated. Much darker and strongly male-oriented (which means less
violence against women, many of whom are shown as buxom). The hero,
played by Lee Joon-Gi of <Arang and the Magistrate> (#12 sv Tubi 1),
seeking vengeance for his murdered mother, infiltrates the Thai drug
gang whose boss pulled the trigger, only to become, while amnesiac,
that boss's right-hand man. Only a drug given him in a later episode
makes it just barely science fictional. This is the long-abandoned
one I watched on DVD, as mentioned above, and I recommend it strongly
to anyone who wants to watch a show that harsh.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Time_Between_Dog_and_Wolf>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Between_Dog_and_Wolf>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Time_Between_Dog_and_Wolf_-_Drama.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1559296/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/time-between-dog-and-wolf-e01.html>

109. <The End of the World>, JTBC 2013 (12 episodes)
About an effort to contain a highly contagious virus. Apparently
after the show got cut for poor ratings it may have edged closer to
speculation, but a reviewer I respect wrote: "a gritty, harsh-light-
of-day story about real people working against impossible odds to
prevent a horrible tragedy."
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_End_of_the_World>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_At_The_End_Of_The_World.php>
Review:
<http://outsideseoul.blogspot.com/2013/06/drama-review-end-of-world-2013.html>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/the-end-of-the-world-e01.html>

110. <Hong Gil Dong>, KBS2 2008 (24 episodes)
Hong Gil Dong is often described as the Korean Robin Hood, but he's
much more successful, founding his own kingdom, much less historical,
and much more fantasticated, a powerful magician. This drama takes
even more liberties with its story than <Jumong>, turning it into a
fairly typical pseudo-historical K-drama complete with love triangle.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Hong_Gil_Dong_(2008)>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Gil-dong_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Hong_Gil_Dong.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2511504/>
The legend:
<https://archive.org/details/koreantalesbein00allegoog/page/n184>
<http://koreabridge.net/post/legend-hong-gil-dong-breeze>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/hong-gil-dong-e01.html>
Also at Viu (Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

[Joe Bernstein]

Not very speculative (continued from OnDemandKorea 4)
In this list I largely had to let my estimate of how speculative a
show actually is substitute for my estimate of its probable quality.

3. <Descendants of the Sun>, KBS2 2016 (16 episodes)
Fictional country. See #3 sv Hulu.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/descendants-of-the-sun-e01.html>

85. <Healer>, KBS2 2014-2015 (20 episodes)
Possible visitor from the future. See #85 sv YouTube 6.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/healer-e01.html>

86. <Jang Yeong-sil>, KBS 2016 (24 episodes)
Scientist. See #86 sv YouTube 6.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/jang-yeong-sil-e01.html>

111. <Lookout>, MBC 2017 (32 half-episodes)
About a group of citizens, each of whom has lost a loved one "to
crime", who become a team of vigilantes. One member is a "genius
hacker", so I figure there's a chance of something speculative.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Lookout>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardians_(South_Korean_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Lookout.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6824350/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/lookout-e1-1.html>
Also at KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide), Viki (Americas), Viu
(Singapore), and was at DramaFever.

112. <Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People>, MBC 2017 (30 episodes)
Another very liberal reinterpretation of Hong Gil-Dong. I know of no
reason to expect anything speculative in it.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Rebel:_Thief_Who_Stole_the_People>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rebel_(South_Korean_TV_series)>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Rebel_Hong_Gil-dong.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6256694/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/rebel-thief-who-stole-the-people-e1.html>
Also at KoCoWa (free, possibly worldwide), Viki (Americas), and was
at DramaFever.

113. <Madam Antoine>, JTBC 2016 (16 episodes)
A fortuneteller with no genuine psychic ability has a shop with the
series title as its name. A psychologist who believes love doesn't
exist opens an office upstairs with the same name, and uses the
resulting conflict to rope the fortuneteller into his experiment.
I'm pretty sure it's non-speculative, but not sure enough to omit it.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Madame_Antoine>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Antoine:_The_Love_Therapist>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Madam_Antoine.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5332172/>
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/madam-antoine-e01.html>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and Viu (Singapore), and was
at DramaFever.

88. <Dance from Afar>, KBS 2016 (1 episode)
Creating a play about a robot. See #88 sv YouTube 6.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/2016-kbs-drama-special-e9.html>

10. <Infinite Power>, ?CGV 2013 (6 quarter-hour episodes)
Possibly sf. See #10 sv Amazon.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/infinite-power-e01-1.html>

93. <Man in the Shower>, Naver 2017 (8 five-minute episodes)
Fairy. See #93 sv YouTube 6.
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/man-in-the-shower-e01.html>


OnDemandKorea had on November 27 109 English-subtitled Korean movies,
44 of which I found streaming under subscription or free with ads
nowhere else (but at that time I didn't yet have Netflix's list).
They ranged 1998-2017, heavily biased toward the latter end. They
overlapped mainly with Viki, which competes for the same relatively
hot newer titles. On November *24*, I found 114, of which 49 were
paywalled, 65 free with ads. Many of the movies' thumbnails show
either women with large breasts, or large expanses of female skin, or
both; all of these were paywalled. As this suggests, ODK's emphasis
in free with ads or subscription movies is emphatically not on horror
nor on speculation; but I haven't studied the pay per view collection.


I didn't choose the songs for this post with any particular meaning.

Song A. "Foolish Heart", composed by Dokkun, sung by Isu for the
sound track and the soundtrack album for <Time Between Dog and Wolf>,
2007:

(Isu married
the singer of Song A in the next post in 2014.)

Song B. "Never Cry", composed by Shin In-Chul, sung by Lee Jung-Eun
for the sound track and the soundtrack album for <Freeze>, 2006:

Song C. "Monday Afternoon", composed by James Harris III, Terry
Lewis and John Jackson, sung by IU for her 2013 single, video
directed by Digipedi:

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This is a portmanteau omissions post for the OnDemandKorea subthread;
this is where I'm catching up on leading actors and actresses. We're
really running out of room for more additions, but there's one in
this subthread, and I cheat on another.

Post by Joe Bernstein
97. <Padam Padam - The Sound of His and Her Heartbeats>, JTBC 2011-
2012 (20 episodes)
A man released from prison for a murder he didn't commit falls in
love with the murder victim's niece and tries to prove his innocence.
The novum is that in prison and afterward a guardian angel helps him.

The niece is played by Han Ji-Min. Although that was her first
speculative drama at all, she's since starred in three more dramas I
list.

Post by Joe Bernstein
98. <Saimdang, Light's Diary>, SBS 2017 (28 episodes)
This drama has two story lines, about an art historian in the present
and an artist in the past, both played by the same actress; but
unlike some such stories, these two meet thanks to time travel. The
return to acting after twelve years of Lee Young-Ae, star of <Lady
Vengeance> and <Dae Jang Geum>, who plays the two women.

Opposite the past woman is Song Seung-Hun of <Dr. Jin> (#13 sv Tubi 1).

Post by Joe Bernstein
106. <Oh My Geum-bi>, KBS2 2016-2017 (16 episodes)
A girl with Niemann-Pick disease type C (sometimes called childhood
Alzheimer's), abandoned by a guardian to her reputed father, finds
ways to change several lives before the darkness closes in.

It would be silly to hold this drama's star, Heo Jung-Eun, to my
usual criterion; at eleven, she's already an exceptional actress,
worth seeing, and she's *in* at least two other dramas I list, still
ahead, plus credited at DramaWiki with bit parts in two more, also
still ahead.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Joe Bernstein
ONDEMANDKOREA

to which this is sort of an errors post, but a bit more wide-ranging.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Also, although ODK doesn't subtitle in Portuguese or
French, and has barely started in Spanish, its licenses are normal
Americas-wide, not truncated like Tubi's.

This turns out not to be entirely true. I downloaded a bunch of VPN
programs with looser restrictions in the past couple of days, and one
thing I used them for was to see ODK's out-of-area message again. It
turned out to say that for some shows, specifically ones from CJ
Entertainment's many cable channels, South America is *not* included.
This should affect:

Possibly <Ruby Ruby Love>, since it appeared on OnStyle after its
initial run on Naver.

<Sweet Revenge> season 2, XtvN

Possibly <Infinite Power>, if it ran on CGV, and certainly if it
really originated there.

And huh, that's it. All Web dramas, more or less, so no great loss
to English-reading Brazilians. (Also, while Jamaica and Trinidad are
unequivocally in "the Americas", I'm not so sure they're in "North
America" as these licenses interpret that.) Of course, I don't know
(and won't without rather more VPN use) what other shows might be
missing down south.

Post by Joe Bernstein
Then came KoCoWa.

One thing I've used the VPNs to settle is the internal argument among
pages at KoCoWa as to how far its reach extends. So. *Maybe* the
terms of service are telling the truth, and there are places around
the world that can get KoCoWa's free with ads tier, but they don't
include the UK, Australia, South Africa (which I can now reach by VPN),
Ireland, New Zealand or Singapore. And in much more prominent places
KoCoWa now says its service area extends only to the Americas. More
on this tomorrow, of course, but I figured now that it's rather too
late I should answer all those notes saying "possibly worldwide".

Post by Joe Bernstein
So what's it like to watch ODK? ODK is a big part of why I watched
test dramas. It wasn't to find glitches like AsianCrush's. It was
to find the ads. In summer I re-watched <The Accidental Couple> and
saw practically none. I watched test *episodes* last month at ODK,
KoCoWa and Viki - one episode each desktop and in-app - and the same
held. Only now in December can I tell you that ODK still prefers to
run ad breaks every twelve minutes (the longest between breaks of any
site I've tried); that it doesn't run long ads; and that when I
watched through Chrome rather than the app, most of the ads it served
me were in Japanese. I've never encountered ad-related glitches at
ODK such as I got for years from DramaFever and have lately seen at
Viki. (But not, faint praise where it's due, at AsianCrush, nor
KoCoWa or Tubi.) ODK can seamlessly skip ad breaks where it thinks
that's appropriate, as it usually did while I watched <Wharf Roach>
(so how does it make any money on all those Web dramas?), but its ad
placement is arbitrary, even cutting words in half. In-app, in
December, on Friday night it got, and on Saturday night it probably
will get, good national 15-second ads for every break; but it skipped
a few on Saturday afternoon.

Well, I've now watched twice as much ODK this weekend as I had when I
wrote that. It did *not* get *any* ads Saturday evening, and very
few as I watched the second half of the drama, six episodes, this
afternoon and early evening. Also, it clearly *wanted* ads, was not
just rewarding me as a faithful viewer - it blanked the screen to
prepare for ads a whole bunch of times, only to return me to the
drama.

So another reason to pay ODK's membership fee, besides getting access
to its girlie movies, is to contribute a little to its continued
existence. The last post goes into more reasons why one might want
to do that.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Joe Bernstein
ONDEMANDKOREA
But one thing it did after KoCoWa
came was acquire tons of Web dramas, most of which it's subtitled;
another was *drastically* slow its English subtitling of pretty much
everything else. ODK has acquired over seventy real (not Web) dramas
since the early-2018 cable show I'm watching as a test, but has
subtitled *none* of them. I don't know enough about the business to
know whether ODK even *deals* with KoCoWa for its unsubbed dramas, or
directly with the networks. In any event, this is clearly a cost-
cutting move (not just saving on subtitlers' pay, but on licenses,
since a license to show a drama English-subbed in the Americas must
cost a lot more than to show it unsubbed), but I can't help thinking
it also represents a subtler version of DramaFever's network
avoidance in the wake of KoCoWa.

I've now checked more carefully. ODK was already subtitling two
daily dramas and at least one flagship when KoCoWa opened in July
2017. It has finished all of those, but has not completed English
subtitles on *any* network K-drama that started after KoCowa opened.
It's done one cable show, the one I watched (<Yeonnam-dong 539>), two
Web dramas that it classifies as regular dramas (<Sweet Revenge>
season 2 and <Do Dream>), and who knows how many Web dramas that it
classifies as Web dramas, movies, variety shows, or whatever.

I mentioned re KoCoWa its parent company at <https://www.kcpglob.com/>.
Well, that page lists KCP Global's "partners", including Viki,
OnDemandKorea, and a site I haven't really introduced, not a streamer,
Dramabeans. (The Internet Archive doesn't have copies, so I don't
know whether it used to list DramaFever.) If ODK is still subtitling
variety shows, it would need to deal with KoCoWa for those, and it
might need to for the dramas it shows without subtitles, but it
certainly doesn't look like an enthusiastic partner. Of course, this
all could reflect budgets rather than attitudes; maybe taking the
deep plunge ODK did, only to have a well-funded competitor open in
its hour of triumph, simply strained its resources too much. That
would also explain better how few cable dramas it's subtitled lately.

Joe Bernstein

PS Viu is finished except for link-checking, and I've begun
DramaFever. I hope to post both this week.

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Joe Bernstein
PS Viu is finished except for link-checking, and I've begun
DramaFever. I hope to post both this week.

Won't happen. I'd forgotten just how *many* shows DramaFever had
that I list. (The streamers are actually arranged that way, more
shows I list, later in the sub-thread, given the basic division West-
or East-focused sites. I think YouTube, with the most shows among
the West-focused ones, and OnDemandKorea, with the fewest among the
main East-focused, are about equal.) Separately, a situation beyond
my control keeps me from the place where I check links until next
Thursday.

I'll be without posting access, and indeed without the ability to
work on this project much at all, now that Viki's test drama is done,
for four days after today. I can't see any reason DramaFever should
take longer than next week offers, nevertheless, and expect to post
Viu Thursday 12/27 and DramaFever Friday.12/28, unless I see posts or
e-mails asking me to delay further.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Joe Bernstein
ONDEMANDKOREA
<https://www.ondemandkorea.com/movie>
ODK's subtitles are professional. I've noticed them flickering a lot,
appearing briefly before or after their main appearance; this hasn't
so far cost me much of the test drama's dialogue, but does make me
pay more attention to the bottom of the screen than I'm used to.
OnDemandKorea had on November 27 109 English-subtitled Korean movies,
44 of which I found streaming under subscription or free with ads
nowhere else (but at that time I didn't yet have Netflix's list).
They ranged 1998-2017, heavily biased toward the latter end. They
overlapped mainly with Viki, which competes for the same relatively
hot newer titles. On November *24*, I found 114, of which 49 were
paywalled, 65 free with ads. Many of the movies' thumbnails show
either women with large breasts, or large expanses of female skin, or
both; all of these were paywalled. As this suggests, ODK's emphasis
in free with ads or subscription movies is emphatically not on horror
nor on speculation; but I haven't studied the pay per view collection.

I just finished watching <Arang and the Magistrate>, #12 sv Tubi 1,
at ODK, and have looked into other things there while doing so.

The movies are now *all but one* paywalled. (That one is a recent
movie that Viki paywalls.) Sorry!

The subtitles still flicker. On the other hand, this is the first of
several dramas I've watched there for which I noticed something
others have mentioned, that is, strongly colloquial English. From
what I could tell, this was used mainly by Arang, whose character had
been a sheltered noble's daughter in life, but then had spent three
years scrapping with other ghosts, so it *might* have been
characterisation, and I chose to see it that way, but it also might
have been a subtitler who didn't know another way to write English.
Anyway, I liked the effect. This subtitler also had amazingly good
knowledge of American English idioms.

ODK still hasn't resumed subtitling dramas. I hope they're keeping
that subtitler busy with movies, Web dramas, or whatever, and haven't
laid him or her off.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This week always threatened to become un-doable, and it's now obvious
that it will be. I should have posted KoCoWa by now; I certainly
should be on my way to the computer with open net access where I
check the URLs. Instead, working in chronological order, I'm not yet
done with 2015; the torrents of the past three years, including
dramas I don't *have* URLs for yet because they're new, remain.

So KoCoWa tomorrow, Viu later, and although DramaFever and Viki
should actually be *smaller* jobs because so many of the dramas will
already have been listed, I'm not going to try to predict when I'll
get them posted. The "last post", covering methods of access to
K-dramas other than law-abiding streaming sites with English
subtitles, was always going to be much the toughest; it won't come
this week and may not make it into next week either.

It is, of course, holiday season. Please feel free to e-mail me your
preference as to what date in December I should stop posting, and
wait for January; I don't expect remotely enough e-mails that I'd be
likely to disappoint anyone who writes.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

KOCOWA

<https://www.kocowa.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kocowa>
<https://www.kocowa.com/catalog/All%20Drama>
<https://www.kocowa.com/search?query=%20Fantasy>

My inference: KoCoWa exists to serve YOU, because YOU are a better
kind of K-drama fan: geographically correct (KoCoWa's extensive
paywalls only come down in a small, shifting set of countries),
economically correct (to pay to bring those paywalls down), and above
all aesthetically correct (preferring broadcast dramas over those
shoddy new-fangled cable and Web things). Once you're that perfect
kind of K-drama fan, you'll never want to be anywhere else!
Reality check: KoCoWa's paywalls have shrunk spectacularly since
they started. In whatever way its owners may *want* to change K-
drama fandom, they haven't gotten very far and seem to be resigned to
that. Except that they may have succeeded in *shrinking* K-drama
fandom, or anyway the law-abiding part of it.

Late in 2016, the Big Three - KBS, MBC and SBS - formed a joint
venture to handle licensing their shows in the Americas, presumably
to increase their market power relative to the streamers there. This
venture, Korea Content Platform,
<https://www.kcpglob.com/>
immediately started building a site to *compete* with those streamers,
eventually named KoCoWa (Korean Content Wave), and opened for
business mid-2017. Supine antitrust regulators in the US under both
Obama and Trump let them get away with this, but I wonder whether the
site's continuing failure to expand beyond the Americas reflects more
competent antitrust enforcement elsewhere. It's now in Japan,
<https://www.kocowa.jp/>
but nowhere else, despite its terms of use claim to operate worldwide,
<http://help.kocowa.com/terms> - see 2 c.
and past attempts I remember, but now can't document, to sell
subscriptions in Australia, New Zealand and maybe the UK.

KoCoWa's advent was painful for K-drama fans in the Americas. Many
shows, some iconic, that Viki and DramaFever had carried free,
suddenly vanished, only to reappear behind paywalls at KoCoWa. The
streaming software was, I heard, originally buggy. I didn't try it
at the time, put off by the draconian paywall terms then stated:
"Members [as opposed to subscribers] can access limited content
released from 3 weeks to 1 year ago with subtitles and ads."
<http://help.kocowa.com/4365>, still up. Oh, and the subscription
price was *significantly* higher than anyone else charged, $10 IIRC.

Things are quite different now, a year and some months later. KoCoWa
has switched to the normal procedure by which some shows are free,
others paywalled, though they paywall many more shows than DramaFever
did, let alone the other streamers. So you can't watch the latest
hit's 4-week-old episodes, but can watch all of a drama that crosses
the 1-year line. KoCoWa keeps its list of dramas stable - it dropped
no speculative dramas between early July and early November, though
it did drop <City Hunter> - but I lack time depth on dramas becoming
paywalled or free, and don't know how often such changes happen.
KoCoWa's rate has come down - it's now $7 per month (or $70 per year
or, and I give them credit for doing this from getgo, $1 per day) -
and other rates, as we already saw with OnDemandKorea, have gone up.

Oh, and now that I have watched some there, its software is arguably
flawless. It has one especially nice feature: you have to take a
definite action to go from one episode to the next; KoCoWa doesn't
just blithely assume that its viewers lack bladders. Its most
annoying feature is the converse of this. KoCoWa is very picky about
connectivity; asked to stream through imperfect Wi-Fi, it'll show an
ad, then announce that it couldn't load the video. Extending this,
it responds to fluctuations in Wi-Fi quality that no other program I
use can see by pausing the video - and you have to take a definite
action to re-start it. KoCoWa's English subtitles are wholly
professional - this is one of their advertising points. I didn't
remember much about their ads from the test drama I watched before
Thanksgiving, so watched a couple of episodes Monday; the one around
noon showed me one ad at 20' in, the evening one, one at 50'. From
these data I'd *guess* that KoCoWa would show ads every ten minutes
if it had them to show, but I sure don't know. They're definitely
arbitrarily placed; the evening one sliced a word of dialogue in half.
That one, at about 8:30 pm my time, was half in English, half Chinese.

You can switch from English to Spanish or two forms of Chinese; but
the Spanish is very poorly carried through the site, and on the
episode I picked as a test, didn't reach the subtitles. KoCoWa's
summaries vary considerably: some are short but effective, but
others offer pretentious pseudo-philosophical explanations of what
the drama is supposedly about. Their other metadata *don't* include
the drama's title in Hangul or the network's name, but *do* include,
just as exotically, the names of director(s) and writer(s). (So to
identify a KoCoWa show efficiently, use DramaWiki, which has pages on
many such people.) Unlike OnDemandKorea, they have show pages, so
(again) you only start an episode by choice.

[Joe Bernstein]

Since these are all broadcast dramas, I haven't even tried to rank
them by quality within the groups. The "not very speculative" group
is ranked, as before, more by probability of speculation (but many
dramas are there because of KoCoWa's strange notion of fantasy or
strange ideas of my own, so equally non-speculative); other groups
have newly introduced dramas before cross-references.

Special powers (6):

117. <I Hear Your Voice>, SBS 2013 (18 episodes)
A public defender encounters a telepathic boy; with a cop, they work
for justice, which may be blind, but "can still hear your voice"
(English Wikipedia, if not plagiarising). Lee Jong-Suk, later to
star in <While You Were Sleeping> (#2 sv Hulu), plays the boy.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/I_Hear_Your_Voice>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can_Hear_Your_Voice>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_I_Hear_Your_Voice.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3141190/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/i-hear-your-voice/560246>
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and was at
DramaFever.

118. <The Girl Who Sees Smells>, SBS 2015 (16 episodes)
Various people whose lives have been affected by a serial killer
finally team up to find him. One is a young woman who'd emerged
from a car accident, on the night of her parents' murder, with the
ability to see and trace scents. (She's played by Shin Se-Kyung of
<Blade Man>, #62 sv YouTube 3.) This was on my maybe-speculative
list when I found it in KoCoWa's fantasy category; English Wikipedia
now confirms that it really is. Heo Jung-Eun of <Oh My Geum-Bi>,
#106 sv OnDemandKorea 5, has a bit part.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/A_Girl_Who_Sees_Smells>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Girl_Who_Sees_Smells>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Girl_Who_Sees_Smells.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4583316/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-girl-who-sees-smells/527435>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and was at DramaFever.

119. <Where Stars Land>, SBS 2018 (32 half-episodes)
Generally presented as a workplace drama set at Incheon Airport, but
the Korean title means "Fox Bride Star", and in the first episode,
per the Dramabeans recap, an airport employee displays superhuman
abilities.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Where_Stars_Land>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Stars_Land>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Fox_Bride_Star.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8991740/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/where-stars-land/1117127>
(paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (paywalled Americas, UK, free
Australia).

2. <While You Were Sleeping>, SBS 2017 (32 half-episodes)
Precognition. See #2 sv Hulu.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/while-you-were-sleeping/599203>
(paywalled)

20. <Possessed>, MBC 2009 (10 episodes)
Ghostly possession, leading to special powers. See #20 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/possessed/566655> (paywalled)

54. <The Lucifer>, KBS 2007 (20 episodes)
Psychic powers. See #54 sv YouTube 2.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-lucifer/537929> (paywalled)

Alternate history and geography (5):

120. <Prince Hours>, MBC 2007 (20 episodes)
Sort of the flip side of <Princess Hours>, #18 sv Tubi, but not really.
The commoner is a man, but he isn't marrying the monarch (a woman);
rather, he turns out to be royalty in disguise, and becomes crown
prince (loved by a commoner woman) in his own right. Not nearly as
praised nor as popular as its predecessor, and *not* a sequel.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Goong_S>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Hours>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Prince_Hours.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6357260/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/prince-hours/780312>
Also at Viki, and was at DramaFever.

121. <The Last Empress>, SBS 2018-2019 (48 half-episodes, 12 so far)
Political machinations in the usual alternate history, where South
Korea is a constitutional monarchy. The titular character - born a
commoner, of course - is played by Jang Na-Ra of <Mr. Back>, #21 sv
Tubi 2.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Last_Empress>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Empress_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Last_Empress.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9146104/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-last-empress/1205321> (paywalled)
It appears also to be at Viki (Americas) but is more recent than last
month's VPN work, and I haven't done this month's yet.

122. <Man Who Dies to Live>, MBC 2017 (24 half-episodes)
The king of Bodoantia offers his daughter to a count, as long as the
count first clears up this rumour that he has a long-lost daughter
back in his homeland, South Korea. Most of the drama then happens
there, but Bodoantia is so alternate in geography that people read
the Koran while drinking wine or wearing bikinis. Massive protests
led to an MBC apology; the network definitely cut the drama (the new
ending involves a vision), but I'm not sure what else was promised or
done. K-drama makers will probably remember for a while that Muslims
exist [1] and may even watch K-dramas, but the regularity with which
idols don blackface suggests the lesson won't really stick.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Man_Who_Dies_to_Live>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Who_Dies_to_Live>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Man_Who_Dies_to_Live.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7075142/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/man-who-dies-to-live/544971>
<https://www.allkpop.com/article/2017/07/10-unfortunate-incidents-of-blackface-in-korea>

[1] South Korea has actually had a small Muslim community ever since
Turkish troops made some converts during the Korean War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Korea>
Recently their numbers have been augmented by refugees, who are
reported to have a really hard time there.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_in_South_Korea>
<https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/06/south-korea-is-going-crazy-over-a-handful-of-refugees/>
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/06/world/asia/korea-refugees-syria.html>
I suspect someone along the way in this drama intentionally insulted
Islam by way of expressing an opinion about refugee acceptance, and
everyone else was just too clueless to notice until the show aired.

3. <Descendants of the Sun>, KBS2 2016 (16 episodes)
Alternate geography. See #3 sv Hulu.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/descendants-of-the-sun/542776>

19. <The King 2 Hearts>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Alternate history (Korean monarchy still here). See #19 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-king-2-hearts/549144>

[Joe Bernstein]

Gumihos (2):

123. <Grudge: The Revolt of Gumiho>, KBS2 2010 (18 episodes)
Begins with a gumiho woman, betrayed by her husband so unable to
change back into fox form, wandering with their daughter. My
impression from more detailed synopses than English Wikipedia's was
that in this one the real monsters are the humans.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Gumiho:_Tale_of_the_Fox%27s_Child>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grudge:_The_Revolt_of_Gumiho>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Grudge_2p__The_Revolt_of_Gumiho.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3215056/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/grudge-the-revolt-of-gumiho/1036189>
Also at Viki (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

14. <Kangchi, the Beginning>, MBC 2013 (24 episodes)
Gumiho story. See #14 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/kangchi-the-beginning/538895>
(paywalled)

Body switches, more or less (4):

124. <Secret Garden>, SBS 2010-2011 (20 episodes)
A romance in which the Man and Woman repeatedly body switch.
Everything unrelated to morality is done well here - acting, music,
special effects, you name it. Everything related to morality is done
badly here - plot holes, characters out of character, all this blamed
on its being a fantasy, Man sexually assaulting Woman, who takes it
as romantic, characters who learn nothing from their experiences, you
name it. Most viewers think the universe holds nothing better than
this drama; I loathe it.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Secret_Garden>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Garden_(South_Korean_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Secret_Garden.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1841321/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/secret-garden/583884>
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas, UK, Australia), and was
at DramaFever. (The ad at DaehanDrama that I thought suggested they
were streaming it was actually an ad for DramaFever.)

125. <Big>, KBS2 2012 (16 episodes)
There is a K-drama in which (as in the American movie <Big>) a boy
wishes to grow up and does, but this isn't that drama (which indeed I
don't list in this thread). Here, a car accident sends both a
teacher's fiance and the boy who's fallen for her into the river;
when the boy wakes up, he's in the fiance's body.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Big>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Big.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2441802/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/big/886887>
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas).

126. <Two Cops>, MBC 2017-2018 (32 half-episodes)
An upright policeman finds himself sharing his body with the spirit
of a con man whose own body is in a coma. They deal with the cop's
usual work, try to solve a mystery from the con man's life, and of
course get into a romance.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Two_Cops>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Cops_(TV_series)>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Two_Cops.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7525432/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/two-cops/685337>
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas).

127. <The Miracle We Met>, KBS2 2018 (18 episodes)
Two men born at the same time (see also #147 below) also have the
same name. Both get into car accidents at the same time, and the
reaper, unsure which is A, for whom he was sent, takes both. Once
things are sorted out, B's body has already been cremated, so his
soul gets put back into A's, the body meant to die. This much is
almost exactly the plot of a "Hometown Legends" episode from 1996
that I've watched, but the series unsurprisingly seems to do much
more with the premise.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Miracle_We_Met>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracle_We_Met>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Miracle_That_We_Met.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8083950/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-miracle-we-met/870297>
(paywalled)

Ghosts (4):

128. <Master's Sun>, SBS 2013 (17 episodes)
A woman begins seeing ghosts after an accident, and this wrecks her
life. She finds a man whose touch banishes the ghosts. Problem is,
he's the arrogant CEO of the company whose mall she cleans.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Master%27s_Sun>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master%27s_Sun>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Master__s_Sun.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3184674/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/masters-sun/545063>
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, UK, Australia), and was at
DramaFever.

129. <The Ghost Detective>, KBS2 2018 (32 half-episodes)
English Wikipedia appears to avoid the real story as a spoiler, and
if they can bring themselves to do that, who am I to disagree?
Suffice that there's lots of ghost to this ghost and crime story.
Heo Jung-Eun of <Oh My Geum-Bi> (#106 sv OnDemandKorea 5) plays in
this a major character as seen in flashbacks to childhood.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Ghost_Detective>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_Detective>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Today__s_Detective.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8784636/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-ghost-detective/1066746>
I'd noted in November that this was paywalled. Now it seems not
to be. One data point on that subject.
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas, paywalled - but we'll see
whether it still is).

12. <Tale of Arang>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Ghost / historical. See #12 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/tale-of-arang/537906>

15. <Diary of a Night Watchman>, MBC 2014 (24 episodes)
Ghosts and more; historical. See #15 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/diary-of-a-night-watchman/525570>

[Joe Bernstein]

Historicals and long-period time travel (5):

130. <The Great Doctor>, SBS 2012 (24 episodes)
See #13 sv Tubi 1. This is the *other* 2012 drama in which a doctor
from our times gets sent back to the pre-modern, in this case 14th
century Goryeo, just as Korea was coming loose from the Mongol empire.
She deals with politics, falls in love, and time travels some more
before the ending. This was the last collaboration between the
director and screenwriter who'd made *two* of the most highly praised
dramas in K-drama history (plus a previous fantasy drama; none of
those three is now streamed lawfully with English subtitles).
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Faith>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_(2012_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Faith.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2373094/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-great-doctor/601529> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas, paywalled), and was at
DramaFever.

131. <Rooftop Prince>, SBS 2012 (20 episodes)
Murders in the present prove to have their counterparts in murders in
the early 18th century. Apparently lots of people in modern Seoul
look identical to people living then, and the two groups have similar
sets of relationships. And of course the titular prince time travels
to the present trying to sort it all out. The modern woman who helps
him is played by Han Ji-Min of <Padam Padam>, #97 sv OnDemandKorea 2.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Rooftop_Prince>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooftop_Prince>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_The_Rooftop_Prince.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2401162/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/rooftop-prince/561223> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas paywalled; UK, Australia
free) and was at DramaFever.

11. <The Moon Embracing the Sun>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Shamanic magic, historical. See #11 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-moon-embracing-the-sun/526568>
(paywalled)

17. <Shine or Be Mad>, MBC 2015 (24 episodes)
Cursed historical figures. See #17 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/shine-or-be-mad/542819>

99. <Splash Splash Love>, Naver / MBC 2015 (10 ?ten-minute episodes /
2 episodes)
Time travel back a ways. See #99 sv OnDemandKorea 2.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/splash-splash-love/532377>

Time travel within the modern era (6):

132. <Marry Him If You Dare>, KBS2 2013 (16 episodes)
A woman gets the chance to time travel to warn her younger self not
to marry that man. Apparently the drama focuses on what happens when
the younger self heeds the warning.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Marry_Him_If_You_Dare>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marry_Him_If_You_Dare>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Marry_Him_If_You_Dare.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3357418/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/marry-him-if-you-dare/537747>
(paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, paywalled) and was at
DramaFever.

133. <God's Gift - 14 Days>, SBS 2014 (16 episodes)
A woman whose child has been kidnapped and murdered obtains the
ability to time travel two weeks to try to prevent it.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/God%27s_Gift_-_14_Days>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God%27s_Gift:_14_Days>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_God__s_Gift_-_14_Days.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3580170/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/gods-gift-14-days/532404>
(paywalled)
Also at Viki (paywalled Americas, free UK, Australia) and was at
DramaFever.

134. <Best Punch>, KBS2 2017 (32 half-episodes)
A pop "idol" travels in time from 1993 (when the South Korean idol
system had yet to begin) to 2017, where he tries to investigate his
disappearance in *1994*.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Best_Hit>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hit_the_Top>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Best_Hit.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6889072/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/best-punch/543404> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore) and was at DramaFever.

135. <Go Back Couple>, KBS2 2017 (12 episodes)
An unhappy couple, both 38, wake up one morning having time travelled;
they're both 20 and in college again. They decide to make different
choices this time. The woman is played by Jang Na-Ra of <Mr. Back>,
#21 sv Tubi 2, and <The Last Empress>, #121 above.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Go_Back_Couple>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession_Couple>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Go_Back_Couple.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7418578/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/go-back-couple/621833> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, paywalled) and was at
DramaFever.

136. <Manhole>, KBS2 2017 (16 episodes)
A slacker, who's never gotten up the courage (or self-respect) to
admit to his best friend that he loves her, finds a manhole that
allows him to travel back in time. So he uses it to try to prevent
her marrying someone else. (See also #35 sv Netflix 2.) Way back, I
said re #13 sv Tubi 1 that dramas about someone travelling to the pre-
modern past don't usually seem to worry about consequences (not that
I've watched *any* myself to say for sure). Dramas about travelling
to the recent past usually do, as here.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Manhole>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhole_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Man-Hole.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7094904/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/manhole/565180>
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

137. <Into the World Again>, SBS 2017 (40 half-episodes)
A boy of 19 (probably meaning 17 or 18 in Western terms) dies in an
accident - but then wakes up on the roof of his house, only to find
that it's twelve years later, but he's still 19. He's played by Yeo
Jin Goo, who at 21 has already acted for twelve years, and who has
starred in *four* other dramas I list already.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Reunited_Worlds>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunited_Worlds>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Reunited_Worlds.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7056766/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/into-the-world-again/544969>
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and was at
DramaFever.

[Joe Bernstein]

Science fiction or at least sci-fi (4):

138. <My Love From the Star>, SBS 2013-2014 (21 episodes)
An alien has been stranded on Earth since 1609, having to take new
identities each decade because he never ages. (He has many other
powers.) Three months before his next opportunity to go home, an
actress moves in next door, and he finds himself mixed up in her
melodramatic life. This is the most popular recent speculative drama,
which led me, in discussing #1 sv Hulu, to mention Jun Ji-Hyun, who
plays the actress, and re #11 sv Tubi 1, ditto Kim Soo-Hyun, playing
the alien, even though neither has done as many other speculative
dramas as I'm usually requiring. Critics I respect have said that
this actually is good as well as popular.
On KCP's front page, each network is represented by one drama.
KBS picked <Boys Over Flowers>, MBC <Dae Jang Geum>; SBS chose this.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/You_Who_Came_From_the_Stars>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Love_from_the_Star>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_My_Love_from_the_Star.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3469052/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/my-love-from-the-star/545040>
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, Australia, and paywalled UK),
and was at DramaFever.

139. <Borg Mom>, MBC 2017 (12 episodes premiered weekly Fridays at the
time flagships run the rest of the week)
A man whose wife died in childbirth happens to be an AI specialist,
so he creates a "humanoid Borg Mom" to care for the child. When the
kid starts at a hoity-toity kindergarten, the cyborg has to interact
with rich human mothers.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Borg_Mom>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Borg_Mom.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7340770/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/borg-mom/597174>
Also at Viki (Americas), which is where, at least in the US, the
Google search results claiming HanCinema has video actually go.

140. <I Am Not a Robot>, MBC 2017-2018 (32 half-episodes)
A rich man has an allergy that forbids human contact, so he arranges
to test a new servant robot. Problem is, the robot needs its battery
redesigned. So its maker, who'd modeled it after his then-girlfriend,
convinces her to go substitute for it. The man is played by Yoo
Seung-Ho of <Operation Proposal>, #35 sv Netflix 2.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/I%27m_Not_a_Robot>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Not_a_Robot>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_I__m_Not_a_Robot.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7521778/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/i-am-not-a-robot/689962>
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and was at
DramaFever.

141. <EXIT>, SBS 2018 (4 half-episodes)
A loan shark finds a flyer reading "Do you want to be happy?" So say
all the summaries. But the flyer turns out to come from a research
center. So I list it here.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Exit>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_(2018_TV_series)>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Exit.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8350736/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/exit/902624>
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas, UK, Australia).

Vampires (2):

142. <Orange Marmalade>, KBS2 2015 (12 episodes premiered weekly late
Friday nights)
We're in a world where humans peacefully co-exist with vampires, who
have stopped drinking human blood, but there's still conflict. A
vampire high school girl therefore passes for human, which becomes a
problem when she falls for a boy who proves bigoted against vampires.
He's played by Yeo Jin-Goo of <Into the World Again>, #137 above.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Orange_Marmalade>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Marmalade_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Orange_Marmalade.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4612952/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/orange-marmalade/528825>
Also at Vikis (Americas) and was at DramaFever.

65. <Blood>, KBS 2015 (20 episodes)
Vampire surgeon. See #65 sv YouTube 3.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/blood/553007>

[Joe Bernstein]

Miscellaneous (6):

143. <The Village Achiara's Secret>, SBS 2015 (16 episodes)
A peaceful, crime-free village gets a new English teacher. On her
first day there she finds a murdered corpse. Things go on from there;
I'm not sure this is speculative, but it looks like horror.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Village>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Village:_Achiara%27s_Secret>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Village_2p__Achiara__s_Secret.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5084004/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-village-achiaras-secret/598368>
Another that I'd noted as paywalled but no longer is.
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia).

144. <Moorim School>, KBS2 2016 (16 episodes)
A love triangle set at a mysterious school that apparently already in
the first episode signals that it isn't entirely mundane; but this
isn't Hogwarts. Far more summaries mention that the school trains
character as well as mind, than mention the more openly fantastical
events later in the plot.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Moorim_School>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorim_School:_Saga_of_the_Brave>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Martial_Arts_School.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5321652/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/moorim-school/527514>
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas) and was at DramaFever.

145. <The Black Knight>, KBS2 2017 (20 episodes)
A couple meet who turn out to reincarnate past lovers. Two women
who were involved in that past - two centuries ago - are still around,
cursed to wait for this to happen, and decide what to do about it.
They don't reach the same decision. Shin Se-Kyung of <Blade Man>,
#63 sv YouTube 3, and <The Girl Who Sees Smells>, #118 above, plays
the reincarnated woman.
(I think couples who reincarnate past couples and so Are Fated are
really creepy. It's the fantasy version of brain transplants, after
all. Would you want that? Maybe I'd side with the bad gal here, and
not just because she's awful purty. See also the last post.)
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Black_Knight>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Knight:_The_Man_Who_Guards_Me>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Black_Knight.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7608190/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/black-knight/698276>
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas).

146. <Feel Good to Die>, KBS2 2018 (32 half-episodes, 20 so far)
A woman's misogynistic and generally abusive boss dies in a traffic
accident. The next morning she finds it *isn't* the next morning;
she's caught in a time loop of the day of his death.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Feel_Good_To_Die>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feel_Good_to_Die>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Feel_Good_To_Die.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9143894/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/feel-good-to-die/1168113>
(paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas, paywalled).

147. <Lovely Horribly>, KBS2 2018 (32 half-episodes)
Two people born at the same time (as in #127 above, but this time
without the same name) are bound by fate to zero-sum lives:
happiness for one means misery for the other. But that's just the
backstory. When they start writing a screenplay together, says
Wikipedia, what they write starts happening in real life. This has
drawn complaints for not really being horror, but that doesn't mean
it isn't really fantasy.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Lovely_Horribly>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovely_Horribly>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Lovely_Horribly.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8628658/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/lovely-horribly/1036341>
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas).

83. <Hi! School Love On>, KBS 2014 (20 episodes, aired weekly Friday
evenings)
Angel (actually reaper). See #83 sv YouTube 5.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/hi-school-love-on/1081437>

[Joe Bernstein]

Not very speculative (15):

148. <History of the Salaryman>, SBS 2012 (22 episodes)
A story of skullduggery at a drug company before and after the murder
of its head. The McGuffin drug is the only novum known to me.
Wikipedia is fascinated with the show's analogies to China ca 200 BC.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/History_of_the_Salaryman>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_a_Salaryman>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Salaryman.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2509300/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/history-of-the-salaryman/598927>
(paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas paywalled; UK, Australia free) and was at
DramaFever.

149. <Mask>, SBS 2015 (20 episodes)
A thriller of sorts, which I've watched. In the first episode, a
woman literally finds a deer in her headlights and so finds herself
literally hanging from a cliff. [1] The rest of the drama stays in
the realm of the exciting *and* uncanny. The same woman had earlier
met a rich man's fiancee, her exact double (same actress); when the
fiancee dies (doppelganger, explicitly discussed in the dialogue),
the villain recruits Our Heroine to substitute. Recommended if
you're OK with well-acted character studies in place of a tight plot.
The rich man (one of those studies) is played by Ju Ji-Hoon of
<Princess Hours>, #18 sv Tubi 2, the forthcoming <Kingdom>, #52 sv
Netflix 4, and <The Devil>, #54 sv YouTube 2.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Mask>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_(2015_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Mask.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4714786/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/mask/526606>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and was at DramaFever.

[1] I owe this observation to a commenter at Dramabeans, a site I've
tried not to over-cite in this thread for fear of drowning you in
K-drama insider stuff. I see it as the commenting, critical, and
news peer of informational DramaWiki, each in its way K-drama Central.
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2015/05/mask-episodes-1-2/#comment-1786979>

22. <My Blooming Life>, MBC 2014 (16 episodes)
Heart transplant. See #22 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/my-blooming-life/601255>

150. <Pinocchio>, SBS 2014-2015 (20 episodes)
This drama has a ridiculously involved plot that seems to focus on
the irresponsibility of the media (a favoured topic in K-dramas).
All episodes have titles referencing stories, mostly fantasies, and
the leading lady is plagued by hiccups whenever she lies, which is
the nearest thing I know to an actual novum. This drama is the
single biggest reason I decided to include here the six that KoCoWa
in my view misclassifies as "fantasy" - because I won't really be
sure about this one myself until I watch it. (DramaWiki considers
fantasy its main genre, too.) It stars Lee Jong-Suk of <While You
Were Sleeping>, #2 sv Hulu, and <I Hear Your Voice>, #117 above.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Pinocchio>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio_(2014_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Pinocchio.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4201628/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/pinocchio/527470>
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and was at
DramaFever.

151. <Hyde, Jekyll, Me>, SBS 2015 (20 episodes)
A cold rich man who runs a theme park conflicts with the woman who's
just come back from Cirque du Soleil in North America to run the
park's failing circus. This is a problem for him, because when his
heart rate jumps, his alternate personality, a much nicer guy, takes
over. Another overlap between KoCoWa's "fantasy" and my "?". The
Woman is played by Han Ji-Min of <Padam Padam>, #97 sv OnDemandKorea
2, and <Rooftop Prince>, #131 above.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Hyde,_Jekyll,_Me>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Jekyll,_Me>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Hyde_v__Jekyll_and_I.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4357294/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/hyde-jekyll-me/812320>
Also at Viki (Americas) and was at DramaFever.

152. <Remember>, SBS 2015-2016 (20 episodes)
A man with perfect memory has a father with Alzheimer's, who's been
convicted of murder. The son tries to clear his name. I'm guessing
the perfect memory is, as seen by KoCoWa, the novum; another of their
mysterious fantasy claims. The son is played by Yoo Seung-Ho of
<Operation Proposal>, #35 sv Netflix 2, and <I'm Not a Robot>, #140
above; the leading lady is Park Min-Young of <Dr. Jin>, #13 sv Tubi 1,
and <Healer>, #85 sv YouTube 6.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Remember_(SBS)>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remember_(South_Korean_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Remember.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5260064/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/remember/538814> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and was at
DramaFever.

85. <Healer>, KBS 2014-2015 (20 episodes)
Possible time traveller. See #85 sv YouTube 6.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/healer/813585>
Another I'd noted as paywalled that isn't any more.

[Joe Bernstein]

153. <Cinderellaman>, MBC 2009 (16 episodes)
Essentially <The Prince and the Pauper>: the heir of a "fashion
empire" needs heart surgery and wants to keep that secret, so he
finds a lookalike to substitute for him while he's recuperating. I
know of no reason for calling this fantasy, but since KoCoWa does, I
list it.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Cinderella_Man>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_Man_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Cinderella_Man.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2273915/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/cinderellaman/623309>
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (the Americas), and was at
DramaFever.

154. <Ghost>, SBS 2012 (20 episodes)
Hoo boy. The title and involvement of hacking led me to list this,
but it turns out to feature lookalike leads played by the same actor
*too* - everything but actual speculation, it seems. A police
procedural, says Wikipedia, probably rightly.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Ghost_(2012)>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Ghost_-_Drama.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2398172/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/ghost/589406> (paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas paywalled; UK, Australia
free) and was at DramaFever.

155. <My Lovely Girl>, SBS 2014 (16 episodes)
In which a man still grieving his three years dead girlfriend both
moves up in his entertainment company, and works with an ambitious
singer-songwriter who's the dead girlfriend's sister. I have no idea
at all why KoCoWa thinks this is a fantasy; in particular, different
actresses play the sisters.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/She%27s_So_Lovable>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lovely_Girl>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_My_Lovely_Girl.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4065400/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/my-lovely-girl/1123025>
Also at Viu (Singapore), Viki (Americas, UK, Australia) and was at
DramaFever.

156. <Dear Fair Lady Gong Shim>, SBS 2016 (20 episodes)
Essentially a story about how a family's ugly duckling becomes sought
by two well-connected men. For some reason DramaWiki claims it's
"supernatural", so I list it, but I strongly suspect they just did
that to catch plagiarists. The writer and director have worked
together on two speculative shows (#118 and #131 above), but Drama-
Wiki *doesn't* use "supernatural" for those, rather "fantasy".
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Beautiful_Gong_Shim>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_Gong_Shim>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Beautiful_Gong_Shim.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5705896/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/dear-fair-lady-kong-shim/525529>
(paywalled)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK) and was at DramaFever.

157. <Girls' Generation 1979>, KBS2 2017 (8 episodes)
Romantic geometries at a high school in a city that isn't Seoul.
Snarkily, I want to say that's why KoCoWa thinks it's fantasy, but
actually K-dramas even at their most Seoul-centric know there are
other towns in Korea. The date suggests maybe time travel is the
reason, but I think a better bet is in this line from Wikipedia:
"And at the local toy factory, female workers begin disappearing one
by one." Or maybe KoCoWa is snarkily assuming that all watchers of
fantasy K-drama fantasise about high school students. Or maybe the
classification is just a mistake.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Girls%27_Generation_1979>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls%27_Generation_1979>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Girls___Generation_1979.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7278498/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/girls-generation-1979/595300>
(paywalled)
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas, paywalled), which again
is what Google's claim that it's at Hancinema resolves to, paywall
and all.

158. <Let Me Introduce Her>, SBS 2018 (40 half-episodes)
To escape an abusive husband, a woman has extensive plastic surgery.
She wakes up amnesiac. Most of what I hear about this drama presents
it as a mystery or thriller, but MyDramaList mentions "strange
revelations", and nobody who's watched it all the way through has
said anything, so ...
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Let_Me_Introduce_Her>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_Me_Introduce_Her>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Let_Me_Introduce_Her.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8594184/>
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/let-me-introduce-her/997342>
Also at Viu (Singapore) and Viki (Americas, Australia).

111. <The Guardian>, MBC 2017 (32 half-episodes)
Hacker; probably not really speculative. See #111 sv OnDemandKorea 5.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-guardian/542782>

112. <The Rebel>, MBC 2017 (30 episodes)
Non-speculative drama based on flamingly fantastical story. See #112
sv OnDemandKorea 5.
<https://www.kocowa.com/series/the-rebel/542646>


KoCoWa doesn't understand quite what you mean by "movie". Are you
sure you don't want a nice network variety show?


KoCoWa is both an effect *and a cause* of changes in relationships
between K-dramas and English-speakers. For those changes, if not
for KoCoWa itself, three songs of fear.

Song A. "Only One Day", composed by Park Jang-Geun and Yang Gaeng,
sung by LYn for the sound track and the soundtrack album of <Mask>,
2015:

Song B. "As Scary as Sad", composed by Ahn Ji-Hong, sung by an
unidentified singer (possibly Choi Yoon-Shil) for the sound track and
the soundtrack album of <M>, 1994:

Song C. "The Story Only I Didn't Know", composed by Yoon Sang, sung
by IU for her album <REAL+>, video directed by Hwang Soo-Ah, 2011:

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This is sort of a side project, but not really.

I now have a VPN program on my phone that can reach seven of the ten
countries (other than the US) that I'm trying to cover. I decided to
try, today, to reach the sites I've covered thus far and those still
to be covered, and see what happened.

US - United States. GB - United Kingdom. CA - Canada. AU -
Australia. ZA - South Africa. IE - Ireland. NZ - New Zealand. JM -
Jamaica. SG - Singapore. TT - Trinidad and Tobago. NG - Nigeria.
My VPNs can't reach Jamaica, Trinidad or Nigeria; there seems to be
no proxy server currently operating in Trinidad or Tobago, I got
kicked out less than halfway through Jamaica, and didn't try Nigeria.

I excluded several sites without much hesitation. I'm neither going
to join Facebook nor to download its app in order to find out that
Facebook Watch has nothing Korean. I'm not spending time on Movies
Anywhere, Sony Crackle, or Playstation Vue, which had nothing Korean
in their target area, the US. I have an Android phone, so quickly
found that I couldn't fool Google Play; Amazon busted me halfway
through the UK, so I went no further with it. Netflix, Hulu and
Yahoo! View still won't talk to my phone. I'd already tested YouTube
in the UK and had no reason to expect anything to be geoblocked
anywhere else. I just felt too lazy to butt heads with iTunes over
its Korean movie URLs. And DramaFever won't tell me anything except
that it's closed. That left fourteen sites, for which my results
follow my name below.

Some of the exclusions are unfortunate. Google Play has a huge
collection of Korean movies in the US; Netflix, a decent one, and a
bunch of dramas; DramaFever had a gold mine of Korean dramas. I'm
reasonably sure all operate(d) in most of these countries. But it is
what it is.

Joe Bernstein

---FandangoNOW---

It flatly refused to talk to me anywhere but the US. Technically TT
and NG could be different, but they won't be.

---Microsoft Movies & TV---

Using the Google search for Korean audio whose URL I posted in the
first West-focused post, I found the following numbers of search
results, most or all of which should be somewhat higher than the
number of actual movies; but in each case with a non-zero number I
recognised actual movie titles in the results.

US 70
GB 62
CA 53
NZ 23
AU, IE 20
ZA, JM, SG, TT, NG 0

---Kanopy---

Much to my surprise, Kanopy has a base collection of something like a
dozen Korea-related movies, most or all documentaries or educational
stuff, that I found available everywhere. Since I assume libraries
don't subscribe to Kanopy everywhere, my guess is that those really
are free.

Collections of feature films: In US, CA, JM and SG I found 48 films;
in NZ 6. GB, AU, ZA, IE have none, unless there are in fact features
in the base collection. I didn't get to NG or TT.

---Vudu---

I think Vudu was never fooled; it showed me essentially the same
collection everywhere I checked (not yet NG or TT). I would've had
to download their app to play any video and find out whether I could,
and for their (in the US small) collection of Korean movies, that
didn't seem worth the VPN megabytes.

---Viewster---

I don't have good evidence that Viewster was ever fooled, but I've
now visited it through three different VPN programs posing as British,
so unless their security is crazy tight, they really do have
worldwide licenses on their strange collection of 13 Korean movies.

---Tubi---

Tubi seems to have been fooled every time. I only found dramas in US
and CA; trying to find them in JM seems to be what closed the JM
proxy servers on me. They don't operate in GB and IE because they
haven't finished figuring out how to comply with the, um, GDPR or
whatever. Everywhere else, they have movies, including Korean ones.
I didn't check JM, TT or NG; I figure they'll all have movies, but
would really like to know whether JM and/or TT get dramas.

---Crunchyroll---

Crunchyroll had banned the Canadian VPN server I used, but everywhere
else said the same thing: it has nothing Korean. (Unless that's just
because it wasn't fooled.) Not checked in JM, NG or TT, but it'll be
the same.

---Naver---

I actually played a little bit of one of the two dramas in each
country; they worked everywhere I tried, and would work too in JM, NG
and TT if I had the effrontery to try to play video through a proxy
server. I still want to go back over my list of Web dramas and find
out what the geoblocks look like; if possible, even whether any of
the dramas blocked in the US have English subtitles at Naver.

---cool2vu---

As advertised, its only overlap with my list is Singapore. The page
renders everywhere else; it's just that it doesn't list any dramas
anywhere but Singapore.

---AsianCrush---

Wasted lots of my time. The pages all render everywhere, but you get
an error message if you try to play actual video anywhere but US, CA.
Probably MX would work too; I wasn't going to try with JM.

---OnDemandKorea---

Works in US, CA. Didn't get to try JM or TT, where it should also
work. In most of the rest it simply refuses to serve its pages; but
in ZA and NZ there's no trouble until you try to play video, same as
AsianCrush.

---KoCoWa---

As advertised (and as I'd actually already tested), doesn't work
anywhere but, in my list, US and CA. Refused to talk to me elsewhere.
Would again like to see what happens in JM and TT.

---Viu---

I've already seen it work in SG; it didn't work anywhere else I tried,
and won't work in JM, NG or TT.

---Viki---

Worked everywhere I tried, and I've seen it in the past work in JM.
Numbers of dramas differed dramatically, and I don't get to be as
casual about CA, IE and NZ as I'd planned, drat it. Numbers of
movies differed less dramatically; to a first approximation, Viki
doesn't *have* Korean movies outside North America. (3 in GB, IE;
1 in AU, NZ; 0 in ZA, SG.)

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Joe Bernstein
My VPNs can't reach Jamaica, Trinidad or Nigeria; there seems to be
no proxy server currently operating in Trinidad or Tobago, I got
kicked out less than halfway through Jamaica, and didn't try Nigeria.

This is an update now that I've finished selectively with Jamaica and
Nigeria. For these countries, I didn't bother with things that
seemed pretty obvious - Crunchyroll (nothing Korean), Naver (shows
would play), cool2vu and Viu (nothing in that country), AsianCrush
(pages would render but video might not play). Additionally the main
tests of Naver and AsianCrush required playing video, which obviously
isn't doable over proxy servers. For Nigeria I also ignored
FandangoNOW, Vudu and Viewster, sources of Korean movies that had
acted the same way everywhere else (including Jamaica).

The connection to Nigeria was *vastly* better than those to Jamaica.

Post by Joe Bernstein
---Kanopy---
Much to my surprise, Kanopy has a base collection of something like a
dozen Korea-related movies, most or all documentaries or educational
stuff, that I found available everywhere. Since I assume libraries
don't subscribe to Kanopy everywhere, my guess is that those really
are free.
Collections of feature films: In US, CA, JM and SG I found 48 films;
in NZ 6. GB, AU, ZA, IE have none, unless there are in fact features
in the base collection. I didn't get to NG or TT.

NG has only the base collection.

Post by Joe Bernstein
---Tubi---
Tubi seems to have been fooled every time. I only found dramas in US
and CA; trying to find them in JM seems to be what closed the JM
proxy servers on me. They don't operate in GB and IE because they
haven't finished figuring out how to comply with the, um, GDPR or
whatever. Everywhere else, they have movies, including Korean ones.
I didn't check JM, TT or NG; I figure they'll all have movies, but
would really like to know whether JM and/or TT get dramas.

I'm reasonably sure Tubi does *not* offer K-dramas in JM, though not
absolutely sure. I forgot to look for Korean movies there, but the
proxy server probably wouldn't have given me enough of a list to tell
anyway.

I forgot to mention that in NZ and SG Tubi offers about two dozen
things they represent as foreign language TV, all apparently Chinese
(whether from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore or China sensu stricto,
I've no idea). Well, in NG they have those too. In all three
countries the text introducing them is about K-dramas, and in all
three they're included among foreign language movies as well (which
is why I'm not sure they're really TV dramas). Also, Tubi does offer
all three countries Korean movies.

Post by Joe Bernstein
---OnDemandKorea---
Works in US, CA. Didn't get to try JM or TT, where it should also
work. In most of the rest it simply refuses to serve its pages; but
in ZA and NZ there's no trouble until you try to play video, same as
AsianCrush.

Pages rendered, though often poorly because of the connection quality,
in JM. This *could* just be like ZA and NZ but my bet is that video
would play in JM.

Pages rendered in NG. I took the risk, and as I expected, video
would *not* play. Looks like ODK only blocks selected countries from
its site, but is more precise with its video.

Post by Joe Bernstein
---KoCoWa---
As advertised (and as I'd actually already tested), doesn't work
anywhere but, in my list, US and CA. Refused to talk to me elsewhere.
Would again like to see what happens in JM and TT.

KoCoWa renders its pages in JM, as it doesn't in any Old World
country (including NG). I see no reason to think it wouldn't work
there.

Post by Joe Bernstein
---Viki---
Worked everywhere I tried, and I've seen it in the past work in JM.
Numbers of dramas differed dramatically, and I don't get to be as
casual about CA, IE and NZ as I'd planned, drat it. Numbers of
movies differed less dramatically; to a first approximation, Viki
doesn't *have* Korean movies outside North America. (3 in GB, IE;
1 in AU, NZ; 0 in ZA, SG.)

Viki greeted me in JM as it does everywhere else - "Trending in
[Country Name]", then two or more shows it thinks are hot wherever
it thinks I am. This obviously means those shows are available in
JM, and as it happens one was Korean. So I don't attach too much
meaning to the fact that their page listing Korean dramas and
movies kept telling me none were available, chalking it up to a
malfunction due to the proxy server link. However, I have no proof
that all the shows and movies Viki offers in the US and CA are
available in JM.

Viki has a selection of K-dramas (but not Korean movies) for NG
similar in size to that it offers ZA.

I'd hoped the Nigerian proxy server would enable me to cover another
site, already mentioned in the introduction, iflix. This was founded
a few years ago in Malaysia, and set up shop in sub-Saharan Africa
last year. Although its list of countries covered includes a lot of
former British colonies, the only one in which more than a million
native speakers of English live is Nigeria. (And only if, as in
Jamaica, Singapore and Trinidad, I count English-based creoles
supplemented by a Standard English-based educational system as
English.) iflix definitely carries K-dramas, but I don't know
whether it offers them in Nigeria specifically.

iflix, though in Malaysia, is headed mostly by people with Anglo
names. Soon after iflix Africa opened last year, a "joint venture"
with a Zimbabwean sports streamer called Kwese began, and I'm not at
all sure iflix proper serves Nigeria any more. It certainly told me
via the proxy server that it wasn't in my country; but is that
because it's really been pushed out of Nigeria, or because it knew I
was faking being Nigerian? Meanwhile, Kweseiflix refused to talk to
me because I hadn't a) downloaded their app and b) signed up.

iflix originally started on the Netflix model, all paywalled, but
last year switched to the more common mix including free with ads.
As far as I know Kweseiflix also follows both business models.

<https://www.iflix.com/>
<http://kweseiflix.com/>

Bottom line: I think Jamaicans can get Korean dramas and movies
from ODK and YouTube, and probably from Viki, Amazon and Netflix. I
think they can also get dramas from KoCoWa and Naver, and also get
movies from Kanopy, and maybe Google, iTunes, Vudu or Viewster. And
of course there *may* be streamers I don't know about that offer
either or both to Jamaicans.

I think Nigerians can get Korean dramas and movies from YouTube, and
probably from Kweseiflix, Amazon and Netflix. I think they can also
get dramas from Viki and Naver, and also get a bad selection of
movies from Kanopy, but perhaps better from Google, iTunes, Vudu or
Viewster. And I think the odds are significantly higher that
streamers I haven't heard of also serve Korean material to Nigerians,
though not necessarily with *English* subtitles.

I can't cover ODK, KoCoWa or Viki as seen from Jamaica (let alone
Trinidad), but expect to cover Viki as seen from Nigeria, assuming
good proxy server speeds when I work on Viki.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

VIU

<https://www.viu.com/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viu_(streaming_media)>

I was wrong that AsianCrush would be distinctive here as a brand
rather than an at least previously independent company. Here's
another, and I've probably mentioned more. Its name is meant to
sound like "view".

PCCW, which appears to be a holding company for a Hong Kong telephony
company, acquired a controlling stake in American streaming company
Vuclip in March 2015. Later that year, PCCW launched Viu in Hong
Kong, and in January 2016 in Singapore; it's since spread to much of
Southeast Asia, India, most of the Arabian Peninsula, and a few
countries bordering the latter.

<digression>
The Malaysian company I've already mentioned, iflix, has a wider
range if it really is still in Africa, but complements Viu where they
overlap: iflix covers two of the three Southeast Asian countries Viu
doesn't, most South Asian countries *except* India, etc. A third
company often mentioned with these two, HOOQ, operates regionally
around its Singapore base, from India to Indonesia; its Singapore
version has vast numbers of Philippine and Indonesian movies and some
TV shows, rather fewer but still substantial numbers of Hollywood
movies and some TV shows, reflecting its original American backing,
but near as I can tell *nothing* from further north in East Asia.
(I may have missed something among its ***1100+*** movies, but not
much, and it doesn't offer categories for anything Chinese, etc.)
<https://www.hooq.tv/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HOOQ>
All three companies are oriented towards middle classes in developing
nations, and aim primarily at mobile phones rather than desktop
computers. iflix and HOOQ both began as subscription-only but have
since both added free-with-ads tiers, HOOQ's most of its material.
</digression>

Since they *were* all meant for phones, I must note that Google won't
let me install their apps, since it knows I'm not really in Singapore,
so what I say about HOOQ *and* Viu is from a neither-fish-nor-fowl
approach, Chrome on my phone. Desktop *or* app results may differ.

But under those circumstances, Viu Singapore has an extremely clunky
browsing system [1]. Its menu finds spaces for, among others, Korean
dramas, variety, and movies; "Asian" movies; Hong Kong dramas and
variety; and Japanese and Thai dramas. It follows the simple
business model the American streamers started with: all its dramas
are free with ads, except the latest episodes of most currently
running dramas, while all its movies and kids' shows are paywalled.
Subscribers are promised "limited" rather than no ads. It appears to
be $6 per month; I don't know whether those are Singapore dollars.

[1] It shows you its eight most recent K-dramas when you choose K-
dramas from the menu, with a button at the bottom reading "Show more".
Click that button and you get an ad, followed by six more dramas.
This has to be repeated ad nauseam to get their whole list. On top
of that, Viu periodically decides that you don't *really* want to
be browsing, you want to be watching something, so dumps you into
whatever drama is currently at the bottom of the shown list; and
when you hit the back button, you get to start all over again. I am
not making any of this garbage up.
I said in the beginning that I wanted to show you what's available
*right now*. I can't, for Viu. I succeeded in reaching the end of
the list on December 13 and on December 19, but on December 28, Viu
was extremely diligent in ensuring my failure - four times, at the
cost of 100 VPN MB, mostly to play video ads. So this list is *not*
complete for today; only for nine days ago.
That said, I have reason to think changes to the list are few. I
found one drama dropped between 12/19 and today, a daily, in the part
of the list Viu let me see today (about 3/4 of the 12/19 list). The
only drama listed below that seems to have been dropped is also a
daily. Since Viu has three current dailies, it seems to think their
market is real, but apparently also ephemeral. It seems to think
differently of other shows.

Viu doesn't have show overview pages, so all URLs I provide go to
first episodes, which start playing soon after you go to the page.
(The site's own browsing setup consistently sends you to *last*
episodes.) Viu's metadata include huge spoilers in episode titles
you can't avoid and episode synopses you can. I watched a two-
episode test drama at 1 pm and at 8 pm on a Friday, Singapore time;
neither episode showed me a *single* ad. Re-watching the first at
about 4 am Thursday, Singapore time got me ads at the start and after
15 and 25 minutes. Viu streams ads worse than it does shows.

The only competitor in Singapore known to me, for K-dramas, is Viki,
actually *headquartered* there for the past decade. Now, I'm not a
big Viki fan, but between the browsing mess, the spoilers, and ad
handling, I don't understand why Viki isn't blasting Viu into
oblivion in Singapore; what I'm missing is probably in Viu's app.

Viu's list of K-dramas reminds me of years ago. There are *very* few
Web dramas; Viu makes separate shows out of any number of non-story
specials, previews and the like, but its real dramas are mostly meat
and potatoes. (It has a section called "Viu Originals" which seems
to include one or two Web dramas, but I don't know what language
they're in, and they don't look speculative.) That said, Viu *loves*
speculative K-dramas; I list *more than one quarter* of its list (of
319 K-dramas as of December 13). In particular, since KoCoWa took
care of many recent network speculative dramas, this list introduces
*lots* of cable dramas.

[Joe Bernstein]

Viu shows no 404 page to people outside its service range, only the
(unusually helpful) out of area message it sends in general. So I
can't check its URLs even as well as I did cool2vu's (which does
differentiate between 404s and out-of-area). Sorry if I made any
mistakes; sorrier that I can't verify that all the dramas are
actually still there.

The groups are sorted thus: newly introduced dramas in chronological
order, followed by cross-references in number (post) order. Groups
with no newly introduced dramas are between "Miscellaneous" and "Not
very speculative" towards the end.

Special powers (5):

159. <Oh Hae Young, Again>, tvN 2016 (18 episodes)
A man gets mixed up with two women named Oh Hae-Young. He starts to
see visions apparently of the future of one of them.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Another_Oh_Hae_Young>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Miss_Oh>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Oh_Hae-Young_Again.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5679572/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/92423/Oh-Hae-Young-Again>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK) and was at DramaFever.

160. <Meloholic>, OCN 2017 (10 episodes)
A man who can read women's thoughts when he touches them has a hard
time dating, until he meets one who actually says what she thinks.
Problem is, she has multiple personalities.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Meloholic>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meloholic>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Melo_Holic.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7521734/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/65987/Meloholic>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia).

27. <Strong Woman Do Bong Soon>, JTBC 2017 (16 episodes)
Inherited super-strength. See #27 sv Netflix 1.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/40235/Strong-Woman-Do-Bong-Soon>

54. <The Lucifer>, KBS2 2007 (20 episodes)
Psychic powers. See #54 sv YouTube 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/50451/The-Lucifer>

119. <Fox Bride Star (Where Stars Land)>, SBS 2018 (32 half-episodes)
Superhuman abilities, at least. See #119 sv KoCoWa 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/115742/Fox-Bride-Star-Where-Stars-Land>

Ontologically different beings (4):

161. <My Girlfriend is Gumiho>, SBS 2010 (16 episodes)
This is both my personal favourite fantasy K-drama, and the other
speculative K-drama, besides <Oh My Geum-Bi> (#106 sv ODK 4), that I
recommend to everyone in the same way as the four non-speculative
shows I listed in the introduction. It's the show I mentioned loving
starring Shin Min-Ah (of #54, <The Devil>, sv YouTube 2, #12, <Arang
and the Magistrate>, sv Tubi 1, and one still to come) and Lee Seung-
Gi (of #19, <The King 2 Hearts>, sv Tubi 2, #14, <Gu Family Book>, sv
Tubi 1, and another still to come).
So what is it? It's a trendy romance whose workplace focus is an
action movie; it's very wittily written (perhaps the best work of a
writing team behind *four* other dramas I list) but also reaches
stunning Romantic peaks; it's ordinarily but beautifully shot; though
as the title indicates its gumiho isn't traditional, the fantasy
built around her stays consistent until the end (which was rewritten);
and although it isn't Shakespeare, it's Shakespearean in the breadth
it encompasses, treating everything from bathroom jokes to matters of
life and death exactly as they should be treated. As usual, I've
utterly failed to describe clearly what makes it such a delight to me,
why you should watch it, but you should anyway if you get the chance.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/My_Girlfriend_Is_a_Nine-Tailed_Fox>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Girlfriend_Is_a_Nine-Tailed_Fox>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_My_Girlfriend_is_a_Gumiho.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2255085/>
More about gumihos, since I neglected to do that back with #14, <Gu
Family Book> sv Tubi 1, or even #123, <Gumiho: Tale of the Fox's
Child> sv KoCoWa 3:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumiho>
<https://thesupernaturalfoxsisters.com/2015/06/03/monster-of-the-week-kumiho/>
(its links to dramas are outdated, as mine will be soon enough)
<https://pantheon.org/articles/k/kumiho.html>
Foxes are far less prominent in the translated folklore I've read
so far (which isn't all of it by a long shot) than tigers, although
in recent dramas it's very much the other way round. They aren't
notable in any of the books in English old enough to be free online.
Some stories as given in an encyclopedia:
<http://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/5909>
<http://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/5910>
(I've watched a 1996 short drama based on this one)
<http://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/5911>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/9675/My-Girlfriend-is-Gumiho>
Also at Viki (UK, Australia) and was at DramaFever.

162. <Goblin>, tvN 2016-2017 (16 episodes)
About a goblin and a reaper who live together. "Goblin" is the usual
English name for "dokkaebi", a common folktale figure tricky and
sometimes, but not always, malevolent, rather like Western fae. Two
figure in <My Girlfriend is a Gumiho>, just above. This drama's
goblin has a celestial responsibility like his reaper friend, and
longs for its end, which can only come with his destined bride. The
last episode is 2nd highest rated in South Korean cable history.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Goblin>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardian:_The_Lonely_and_Great_God>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Goblin.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5994364/>
More about dokkaebis:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokkaebi>
<http://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/1968>, and
<https://books.google.com/books/?id=lJrAQ1PeeewC>
<https://archive.org/details/unmannerlytiger00grifgoog/>
This book is by a man who didn't, AFAIK, live in Korea (he spent a
few years in Japan), but does report genuine Korean stories. He
distorts them some by making them child-appropriate, and some by
trying to use dokkaebis as a unifying theme, so inserting them into
some stories that don't usually feature them; but that does mean he
also has several real dokkaebi stories.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/34021/Goblin>
Also at Viki (UK), and was at DramaFever.

24. <Black>, OCN 2017
A reaper's past. See #24 sv Netflix 1.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/63527/Black>

101. <Star of the Universe>, Naver / MBC 2017 (21 ten-minute episodes
/ 6 half-episodes) - dropped
Romance with a reaper. See #101 sv OnDemandKorea 3.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/37954/Three-Colors-of-Fantasies>

[Joe Bernstein]

Sigh. I just posted this but already have two corrections.

Post by Joe Bernstein
161. <My Girlfriend is Gumiho>, SBS 2010 (16 episodes)
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_My_Girlfriend_is_a_Gumiho.php>

Someone at HanCinema seems to be fixing, or have fixed, these URLs.
So this now silently redirects to

<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_My_Girlfriend_is_a_Gumiho.php>

and I'm guessing similar for all the HanCinema URLs with "movie" in
them that I've already posted. (Except the ones that concern the
actual movie versions of <Knock>, #95 sv AsianCrush, and <Natural
Burials>, #96 ditto.)

Post by Joe Bernstein
101. <Star of the Universe>, Naver / MBC 2017 (21 ten-minute episodes
/ 6 half-episodes) - dropped

I have no evidence that this has been dropped, though it might have.
I'd just copied the header line, including that word, from the ODK
post, and forgot to delete it.

Sorry!

Joe Bernstein, very embarrassed

[Joe Bernstein]

Body switches of various kinds (6):

163. <49 Days>, SBS 2011 (20 episodes)
Holy cow, this is the first version of this plot in these posts,
although #29 sv Netflix 1 is close. Several dramas revolve around
people who, after dying, are given the titular time, usually in
another's body, to accomplish something, which may or may not lead to
revival. Here, a young woman who loves her perfect life possesses
the body of a young woman who'd attempted suicide, and Learns Better.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/49_Days>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49_Days>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_49_Days.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935066/>
Korean Buddhists and shamans both hold ceremonies 49 days after death:
<http://www.koreanbuddhism.net/bbs/board.php?bo_table=0010&wr_id=451&page=13>
<http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Korean_shamanism>
This must relate to these dramas, but I'm still missing a connection,
a folktale or novel or something.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/2734/49-Days>
Was also at DramaFever.

164. <Come Back Alive>, SBS 2016 (16 episodes)
A much more complicated version of the 49-day story (though not using
that number). Two men killed at the same time both plead for more
time, and are allowed it under stringent rules, in bodies that
make their tasks more difficult.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Please_Come_Back,_Mister>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_Back_Mister>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Please_Come_Back_v__Mister.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5497708/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/9853/Come-Back-Alive>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK) and was at DramaFever.

165. <The Beauty Inside>, JTBC 2018 (16 episodes)
A top actress keeps her life secret because her monthly curse is
worse than usual: she spends one week out of every month completely
transformed into another body. Fortunately, a prosopagnosic company
head learns that she's the only person he can reliably recognise.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Beauty_Inside>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beauty_Inside_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Beauty_Inside_-_Drama.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8801708/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/115726/The-Beauty-Inside>

29. <Oh My Ghost>, tvN 2015 (16 episodes)
Ghostly possession. See #29 sv Netflix 1.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/96062/Oh-My-Ghost>

124. <Secret Garden>, SBS 2010-2011 (20 episodes)
Body switches. See #124 sv KoCoWa 3. I forgot to mention there that
this is the drama in which Lee Jong-Suk, as mentioned re #2 sv Hulu,
has a "memorable part", as a gay songwriter who pursues the Wrong Man,
a singer, after the latter seeks Lee's character to write for him.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/9265/Secret-Garden>

125. <Big>, KBS2 2012 (16 episodes)
Body switch, one way. See #125 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/4023/BIG>

Science fiction, sci fi, etc. (5):

166. <Hero (CJ)>, OCN 2012 (10 episodes)
In 2020, South Korea is a 3rd World kleptocracy. A loser gains
superhuman strength and uses it to become the titular. Often
referred to as 3D, but I doubt it's actually *in* 3D. Most sites
list this as 9 episodes, but Viu's 10 are all story; I don't know why
the discrepancy.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Hero_(OCN)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Hero_-_Drama_-_2012.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5478658/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/45533/Hero-CJ>

167. <Are You Human?>, KBS2 2018 (36 half-episodes)
The second-generation heir to a South Korean conglomerate (chaebol)
separates from his wife, keeping their young son. The wife, a
scientist, builds robots imitating him for comfort. Then assassins
put the son into a coma, and the latest robot must substitute for him.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Are_You_Human_Too%3F>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_You_Human%3F>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Are_You_Human_Too.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7817966/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/92577/Are-You-Human>
Was also at DramaFever.

138. <My Love From the Star>, SBS 2013-2014 (21 episodes)
Alien. See #138 sv KoCoWa 5.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/2368/My-Love-From-the-Star>

140. <I Am Not a Robot>, MBC 2017-2018 (32 half-episodes)
Hyperallergic man gets a human servant by mistake. See #140 sv
KoCoWa 5.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/69337/I-Am-Not-a-Robot>

141. <Exit>, SBS 2018 (4 half-episodes)
Research centre offering happiness. See #141 sv KoCoWa 5.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/88252/Exit>

Time travel *from* the pre-modern past (3):

168. <Queen & I (Queen In Hyun's Man)>, tvN 2012 (16 episodes)
A supporter of the losing Queen in a famous palace dispute of 1694
finds himself in 2012, where he meets the actress portraying that
Queen in a play. This was much praised at the time.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Queen_In_Hyun%27s_Man>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_and_I>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Queen_In-hyun__s_Man.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2185220/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/100558/Queen-I-Queen-In-Hyuns-Man>
Was also at DramaFever.

169. <Live Up To Your Name, Dr. Heo>, tvN 2017 (16 episodes)
In the early 17th century, a famous doctor named Heo Im falls into a
river. He emerges in Seoul four centuries later. (A real doctor of
that time, Heo Jun, made their surname medically famous, and has
featured in dramas including <Mirror of the Witch>, #31 sv Netflix 2.)
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Deserving_of_the_Name>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Up_to_Your_Name>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heo_Jun>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Live_Up_to_Your_Name.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7094874/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/56847/Live-Up-To-Your-Name-Dr-Heo>

131. <Rooftop Prince>, SBS 2012 (20 episodes)
Time travel forward a ways. See #131 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/2067/Rooftop-Prince>

[Joe Bernstein]

Police stories (10):

170. <Signal>, tvN 2016 (16 episodes)
Policemen find a walkie-talkie allowing communication between 2000
and 2015, allowing not only solutions to, but prevention of, cases.
The last episode is fifth on the cable drama ratings list.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Signal>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Signal.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5332206/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/8284/Signal>
Also at Viki (Americas) and was at DramaFever.

171. <Duel>, OCN 2017 (16 episodes)
A detective's daughter is kidnapped. To find her, he'll need the
help of a prime suspect - the real kidnapper's clone.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Duel>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel_(2017_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Duel.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6917250/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/50347/Duel>
Was also at DramaFever.

172. <Tunnel>, OCN 2017 (16 episodes)
A police detective pursues a serial killer through a tunnel; the
criminal knocks him out with a rock. When he comes to, it's 2016,
thirty years later - and the murders have begun again.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Tunnel>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_(South_Korean_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Tunnel_-_Drama.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6356086/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/43332/Tunnel>
Also at Viki (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

173. <Life on Mars>, OCN 2018 (16 episodes)
A detective enthusiastic about data, while seeking a serial killer,
finds himself in 1988, when he's a small-town cop, and tries to get
back by solving another serial killer case. (Well, if your only
tool's a hammer...)
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Life_on_Mars>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_(South_Korean_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Life_on_Mars.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8236544/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/93249/Life-On-Mars>

174. <Sketch>, JTBC 2018 (16 episodes)
Detectives trying to catch their own loved ones' murderers take an
interest in a detective with the ability to sketch what will happen
three days in the future.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Sketch>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketch_(2018_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Sketch_-_Drama.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8269322/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/91110/Sketch>
Was also at DramaFever.

2. <While You Were Sleeping>, SBS 2017 (32 half-episodes)
Trying to forestall prophetic dreams. See #2 sv Hulu.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/61731/While-You-Were-Sleeping>

28. <Cheo Yong>, OCN 2014 (10 episodes)
28. <Cheo Yong 2, The Paranormal Detective>, OCN 2015 (10 episodes)
Ghost as a detecting partner. See #28 sv Netflix 1.
Season 1 <https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/45508/Cheo-Yong>
Season 2 <https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/47436/Cheo-Yong-2-The-Paranormal-Detective>

117. <I Hear Your Voice>, SBS 2013 (18 episodes)
Telepathy in crime-fighting. See #117 sv KoCoWa 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/1704/I-Hear-Your-Voice>

126. <Two Cops>, MBC 2017-2018 (32 half-episodes)
Cop and con man in one body. See #126 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/68366/Two-Cops>

129. <The Ghost Detective>, KBS2 2018 (32 half-episodes)
See #129 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/105074/The-Ghost-Detective>

Time travel within modern times (7):

175. <Familiar Wife>, tvN 2018 (16 episodes)
A couple married for five years, with kids, are both unhappy. The
husband gets the chance to go back in time and change things; thus
he learns things about the greenness of grass. The wife is played
by Han Ji-Min of <Padam Padam>, #97 sv OnDemandKorea 2, <Rooftop
Prince>, #131 sv KoCoWa 4, and <Hyde, Jekyll, Me>, #151 sv KoCoWa 7.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Familiar_Wife>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiar_Wife>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Knowing_Wife.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8487786/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/100518/Familiar-Wife>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK).

34. <Nine>, tvN 2013 (20 episodes)
Time travel within recent times. See #34 sv Netflix 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/48294/Nine>

132. <Marry Him if You Dare>, KBS2 2013 (16 episodes)
Warning from a future self. See #132 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/3666/Marry-Him-if-You-Dare>

133. <God's Gift - 14 Days>, SBS 2014 (16 episodes)
Time travel within recent weeks. See #133 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/1869/Gods-Gift-14-Days>

134. <The Best Hit>, KBS2 2017 (32 half-episodes)
Time travel within modern times. See #134 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/50300/The-Best-Hit>

135. <Go Back Couple>, KBS2 2017 (12 episodes)
Life do-over via time travel. See #135 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/63430/Go-Back-Couple>

136. <Manhole>, KBS2 2017 (16 episodes)
Time travel within modern times. See #136 sv KoCoWa 4. I forgot to
mention that Kim Kyu-Chul appears in this.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/56594/Manhole>

[Joe Bernstein]

Fighting the supernatural (3):

176. <Bring it on, Ghost>, tvN 2016 (16 episodes)
A college student who can see ghosts, and so works on the side
banishing them, encounters one who wants his help moving on. While
they work on that, they partner, and, duh, fall in love. (Moving on?)
I thought this drama would be my poster child for fantasy dramas
with creepy age differences, but I was wrong; the characters aren't
far apart, the actors 27 and 17 - which, while still troubling, is
far less creepy than <High School Love On>'s 23 and 14. This one
does have actual kiss scenes, and the page that convinced me to
focus on this adds that the show went *against* its source (a comic)
to cast the 27-year-old. Maybe co-poster children?
Anyway, the Man's played by Ok Taec-Yeon, whom I expected to name
in discussing this, so named re <Seven First Kisses>, #84 sv the
corrections to YouTube 5, saying I was cheating. No, I was
miscounting; *not* counting that show, he's starred in four dramas I
list, the others *still* ahead, so I should name him, even though his
acting in one drama and one movie hasn't impressed me.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Let%27s_Fight_Ghost>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Ghost,_Let%27s_Fight>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Bring_It_On_v__Ghost.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5768840/>
Source page:
<http://allsynopsis.blogspot.com/2016/05/is-age-just-number-part-2-k-dramas-and.html>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/16910/Bring-it-on-Ghost>
Also at Viki (Americas) and was at DramaFever.

177. <The Guest>, OCN 2018 (16 episodes)
The titular is a super-demon who can cause weaker demons to possess
people, who respond by killing their own families and stabbing their
own eyes. A psychic from a shamanic family, an exorcist priest, and
a detective who doesn't believe in ghosts try to defeat him.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Guest>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guest_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Hand_2p__The_Guest.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8801670/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/106043/The-Guest>

178. <Priest>, OCN 2018-2019 (16 episodes, 10 so far)
Apparently set in a hospital that needs lots of exorcists' help.
Called "supernatural", with elements of horror.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Priest>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Priest.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9130526/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/116609/Priest>
(no episodes currently paywalled, but new ones probably will be)

Fate (2):

179. <The Bride of Habaek>, tvN 2017 (16 episodes)
A water god needs help from a human woman whose family is fated to
serve him. Problem is, she's a psychiatrist and thinks he's crazy,
until other gods show up too. She's played by Shin Se-Kyung of
<Blade Man>, #63 sv YouTube 3, <The Girl Who Sees Smells>, #118 sv
KoCoWa 2, and <The Black Knight>, #145 sv KoCoWa 6.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Bride_of_the_Water_God>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_of_Habaek>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Bride_of_the_Water_God_2017.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6385752/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/53390/The-Bride-of-Habaek>
Also at Viki (UK), and was at DramaFever.

145. <Black Knight - The Man Who Guards Me>, KBS2 2017 (20 episodes)
Fated couple reborn. See #145 sv KoCoWa 6.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/69366/Black-Knight-The-Man-Who-Guards-Me>

Miscellaneous (7):

180. <W>, MBC 2016 (16 episodes)
A webcomic more or less realistic in itself proves to have several
means of communication with its creator's world; the creator's adult
daughter gets involved with the plot. Lee Jong-Suk of <While You
Were Sleeping>, #2 sv Hulu, <I Can Hear Your Voice>, #117 sv KoCoWa 2,
<Pinocchio>, #150 sv KoCoWa 7, and (not as star) <Secret Garden>,
#124 sv KoCoWa 3, plays the star of the webcomic.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/W>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_W.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5797194/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/17311/W>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK, Australia).

102. <Queen of the Ring>, Naver / MBC 2017 (21 ten-minute episodes /
6 half-episodes)
Magic ring. See #102 sv OnDemandKorea 3.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/41807/Three-Colors-of-Fantasies>

104. <Romance Full of Life>, Naver / MBC 2017 (21 ten-minute episodes
/ 6 half-episodes)
Superpowers via experiment. See #104 sv OnDemandKorea 3.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/39604/Three-Colors-of-Fantasies>

137. <Reunited Worlds>, SBS 2017 (40 half-episodes)
Personal time slip. See #137 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/54652/Reunited-Worlds>

144. <Moorim School>, KBS2 2016 (16 episodes)
School story with magic. See #144 sv KoCoWa 6.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/7889/Moorim-School>

146. <Feel Good to Die>, KBS2 2018 (32 half-episodes)
Repeated time slip. See #146 sv KoCoWa 6.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/115070/Feel-Good-to-Die>
(four half-episodes currently paywalled)

147. <Lovely Horribly>, KBS2 2018 (32 half-episodes)
Writing reality. See #147 sv KoCoWa 6.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/102215/Lovely-Horribly>

[Joe Bernstein]

Nothing but cross-references in this one, folks. So unless you're
in Singapore or willing to spend lots of VPN bytes, not much to see
here.

Alternate history and geography (4):

3. <Descendants of the Sun>, KBS2 2016 (16 episodes)
Alternate geography. See #3 sv Hulu.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/9854/Descendants-of-the-Sun>

18. <Princess Hours>, MBC 2006 (24 episodes)
Alternate history (modern Korean monarchy). See #18 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/13919/Princess-Hours>

19. <The King 2 Hearts>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Alternate history (modern Korean monarchy). See #19 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/10779/The-King-2-Hearts>

121. <An Empress's Dignity>, SBS 2018-2019 (48 half-episodes, 24 so
far)
Alternate history (modern Korean monarchy). See #121 sv KoCoWa 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/116085/An-Empresss-Dignity>
(four half-episodes currently paywalled)

Historical fantasy, and time travel to the pre-modern past (8):

11. <The Moon Embracing The Sun>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Curse, shamanic magic, historical. See #11 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/11180/The-Moon-Embracing-The-Sun>

12. <Arang And The Magistrate>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Ghost story, historical. See #12 sv Tubi 1. This is the first drama
I can remember specifically wanting to watch, but not being able to
at the time, so I decided to make it my hundredth drama, and am now
watching it. It's kinda, um, odd, but in particular the fantasy
turns out to be much further-reaching and much more consistent than
I'd expected, with some very good images set in the Jade Emperor's
abode, and the special effects are surprisingly good for the year
after #124 sv KoCoWa 3 and #161 above.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/10726/Arang-And-The-Magistrate>

13. <Dr. Jin>, MBC 2012 (22 episodes)
Time travel back a ways. See #13 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/15392/Dr-Jin>

14. <Gu Family Book>, MBC 2013 (24 episodes)
Gumiho story, historical. See #14 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/5076/Gu-Family-Book>

16. <The Scholar Who Walks The Night>, MBC 2015 (20 episodes)
Vampires, historical. See #16 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/108420/The-Scholar-Who-Walks-The-Night>

31. <Secret Healer>, JTBC 2016 (20 episodes)
Curses and other magic, historical. See #31 sv Netflix 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/74283/Secret-Healer>

99. <Splash Splash Love>, Naver / MBC 2015 (10 ?ten-minute episodes /
2 episodes)
Time travel back a ways. See #99 sv OnDemandKorea 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/105980/Splash-Splash-Love>

130. <The Great Doctor>, SBS 2012 (24 episodes)
Time travel back a ways. See #130 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/2211/Great-Doctor>

Curses and other problems (2):

62. <Blade Man>, KBS 2014 (18 episodes)
Blades projecting from his skin. See #62 sv YouTube 3.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/15355/Blade-Man>

128. <The Master's Sun>, SBS 2013 (17 episodes)
Awareness of ghosts as a curse. See #128 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/2293/The-Masters-Sun>

[Joe Bernstein]

Not very speculative (19):

181. <Remember You>, KBS2 2015 (16 episodes)
A story in which some who pursue a serial killer are also suspects.
Odessa Jones, a blogger I've already cited with respect, used this
drama to put forward the word "uncanny" for things like those I see
as minimally speculative in <Mask>, #149 above sv KoCoWa 7, and
<Piano>, source of song B in YouTube 6. Jang Na-Ra of <Mr. Back>,
#21 sv Tubi 2, <The Last Empress>, #121 sv KoCoWa 2, and <Go Back
Couple>, #135 sv KoCoWa 4, starred in this too.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/I_Remember_You>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Monster>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Remember_You.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4803738/>
Odessa Jones's spoilerish review:
<http://www.koreandrama.today/review/i-remember-you-uncanny-monsters-thoughts-with-spoilers/>
"Wrongness", John Clute's term I think similar to Jones's "uncanny":
<http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=wrongness>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/103191/Remember-You>
Also at Viki (Americas), and was at DramaFever.

182. <Beautiful Mind>, KBS2 2016 (14 episodes)
A medical drama whose Man, a neurosurgeon without empathy, may have
committed a series of murders. I list it only because it's
consistently described as based on Shelley's <Frankenstein>.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Beautiful_Mind>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Beautiful_Mind_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Beautiful_Mind.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5764360/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/16070/Beautiful-Mind>
Also at Viki (Americas).

183. <The Royal Gambler>, SBS 2016 (24 episodes)
A boy born to a royal concubine new enough to raise questions is
exiled from court. But his Fate allows him, in early episodes, to
endure extreme torments, apparently onscreen, without lasting damage.
That's the novum. The setting is early 18th century Joseon, the theme
gambling. The hero's ?half-brother, who becomes a historical king, is
played by Yeo Jin-Goo of <Reunited Worlds>, #137 sv KoCoWa 4, and
<Orange Marmalade>, #142 sv KoCowa 5; I neglected to mention that the
speculative dramas in which he's starred so far form a streak of *six*,
the first not listed in this thread, <Orange> second, this drama third.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Jackpot>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Gambler>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Jackpot.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5569038/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/11473/The-Royal-Gambler>
Also at Viki (Americas, UK), and was at DramaFever.

Our Hero, Jang Keun-Suk, hasn't starred in *any* other shows I list
in this thread. (He was third-billed in <Hong Gil Dong>, #110 sv
OnDemandKorea 4.) I name him because he starred in two speculative
kids' dramas *before* the boom, and because several of his music
videos are speculative. His music career is in Japan, whose record
companies, unlike Korean ones, tend to object to YouTube. His former
company, the most YouTube-tolerant I've encountered, doesn't seem to
accept English-subtitled music videos; his new company, if it makes
normal-length music videos, either doesn't upload them or geoblocks
them. Sorry! But I *can* see and point you to:

2012

2012

2015
and from other parts of his musical career:

2009

2010

2012

184. <Love is Drop by Drop>, SBS 2016-2017 (120 half-hour episodes)
- dropped since November
This is the most recent daily known to me to be speculative, though
since dailies are little discussed in English, there might be a later
example. This is a poor one, another heart transplant story (as in
#22 sv Tubi 2); here the donor's widow works for the recipient. The
most-praised series of that plot, the first, is still ahead.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Love_Is_Drop_by_Drop>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubbly_Lovely>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Love_Bubbles.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6342372/>
I can't now find the URL for the first episode. I'm also not sure
whether Viu still carries it in any of its other territories, let
alone whether it would be English subtitled there; the Philippines
seems, from Google results, to be the best bet.

185. <Save Me>, OCN 2017 (16 episodes)
A girl surrounded in a dark alley whispers "Save me". So two boys do.
Apparently the context is her attempt to escape from an evil cult,
but I get stuck on that heard whisper, and figure *something* weird
is going on here, horror at least. Her saviours are led by Ok Taec-
Yeon of <Bring it on, Ghost>, #176 above.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Save_Me_(OCN)>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_Me_(South_Korean_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Save_Me.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7020532/>
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/56148/Save-Me>
Was also at DramaFever.

23. <Missing 9>, MBC 2017 (16 episodes)
Air disaster survivors, probably not speculative. See #23 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/37477/Missing-9>

86. <Jang Yeong Sil>, KBS 2016 (24 episodes)
Historical scientist. See #86 sv YouTube 6.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/7643/Jang-Yeong-Sil>

106. <My Fair Lady 2016>, KBS2 2016-2017 (16 episodes)
Myth using both fantasy and science. See #106 sv OnDemandKorea 4.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/32761/My-Fair-Lady-2016>

110. <Hong Gil Dong, the Hero>, KBS2 2008 (24 episodes)
Non-speculative drama based on fantastical book. See #110 sv
OnDemandKorea 4.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/4633/Hong-Gil-Dong-the-Hero>

111. <The Guardians (Lookout)>, MBC 2017 (32 half-episodes)
Hacker, probably not speculative. See #111 sv OnDemandKorea 5.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/48957/The-Guardians-Lookout>

112. <The Rebel>, MBC 2017 (30 episodes)
Non-speculative drama based on fantastical book. See #112 sv
OnDemandKorea 5.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/38171/The-Rebel>

113. <Madame Antoine>, JTBC 2016 (16 episodes)
Psychological experiment on charlatan fortuneteller, probably not
speculative. See #113 sv OnDemandKorea 5.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/75578/Madame-Antoine>

150. <Pinocchio>, SBS 2014-2015 (20 episodes)
Irresponsible press, probably not speculative. See #150 sv KoCoWa 7.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/2167/Pinocchio>

152. <Remember>, SBS 2015-2016 (20 episodes)
Perfect memory, probably not speculative. See #152 sv KoCoWa 7.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/6814/Remember>

153. <Cinderella Man>, MBC 2009 (16 episodes)
<Prince and the Pauper>, probably not speculative. See #153 sv
KoCoWa 8.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/13805/Cinderella-Man>

154. <Ghost>, SBS 2012 (20 episodes)
Hacking, probably not speculative. See #154 sv KoCoWa 8.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/3028/Ghost>

155. <My Lovely Girl>, SBS 2014 (16 episodes)
Music and romance, probably not speculative. See #155 sv KoCoWa 8.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/2328/My-Lovely-Girl>

157. <Girls' Generation 1979>, KBS2 2017 (8 episodes)
High school relationships, almost certainly non-speculative. See
#157 sv KoCoWa 8.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/60177/Girls-Generation-1979>

158. <Let Me Introduce Her>, SBS 2018 (40 half-episodes)
Possible strange results from plastic surgery. See #158 sv KoCoWa 8.
<https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/98217/Let-Me-Introduce-Her>


I didn't pick the songs for this post with a theme, but at least two
are, it turns out, a little old-fashioned.

Song A. "That Woman", composed by Jeon Hae-Sung, sung by Baek Ji-
Young for the sound track and the soundtrack album for <Secret Garden>,
2010:

Song B. "What You Want II", composed by Ahn Ji-Hong, sung by Choi
Yoon-Shil for the soundtrack album for <M>, 1994:

Song C. "Ending Scene", composed by Sam Kim, sung by IU for her
album <Palette>, 2017, video directed by Bae Doo-Hyun:

Features Kim Soo-Hyun
of <The Moon Embracing the Sun>, #11 sv Tubi 1, and <My Love from the
Star>, #138 sv KoCoWa 5.

And this time one more old-fashioned song, used in the not quite
speculative drama <The Boy Next Door>, mentioned sv YouTube 5 and the
corrections thereto.

Song D, in honour of the season. "Jingle Bells", composed by James
Lord Pierpont, sung by The Barberettes for their album <Carol: Hun
Hun Christmas>, 2014, video directed by Kwon Chul:

Joe Bernstein

DramaFever next week at best.

[Joe Bernstein]

DRAMAFEVER

<https://www.dramafever.com/> (now serves nothing but a closure
notice; I refer to this condition as "dead" below)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DramaFever>

My inference: DramaFever existed to serve YOU, because YOU were
DramaFever's customer.
Reality check: The more I got to know the other sites, the more I
wondered why I couldn't characterise DramaFever's intended audience
as easily as theirs. But I couldn't.
This was for a reason, which I missed until working on this post.
DramaFever was first. It defined itself against what came before law-
abiding streaming, and one thing it defined itself as, which later
competitors never successfully challenged, was K-Drama Central. So
although it had things in common with those later competitors, it
never defined itself as they have in terms of an audience narrower
than the already niche watchers, in English, Spanish, and Portuguese,
of K-dramas.
Like Viki, it made it easy to post reviews of its dramas, and
hosted discussion fora; but it never went anywhere near as far down
the social media path as Viki, never got so heavily into Web dramas,
and never assumed Viki's parental style, which makes that site
uncomfortable with the racier K-dramas. Like OnDemandKorea it got
variety shows, other things related to Korea, and Chinese dramas (at
least a few of which it dubbed in Korean); but it never catered
primarily to Korean-speakers, let alone to the evangelicals among
those who make ODK also uncomfortable (though less so) with the
sexier shows. Like KoCoWa it was proud, and tried to maintain high
subscription prices; but it never considered itself entitled to your
money, and was confident enough to expand, not contract, its remit.

As I understand Crunchyroll's history, that site may well have been
the first to offer K-dramas entirely legally. But Crunchyroll may
*not* have finished dealing with its unlawful contents before
DramaFever's debut, and the latter was certainly the first site to
*focus* on lawfully streaming K-dramas. That probably means they
were involved in the decision that "the Americas" would be licensed
as a unity, which has certainly driven up prices, but is also
undoubtedly why we get more dramas than anywhere else outside East
Asia.

So. The site began in 2008 or earlier, starting with software from
Hulu, with which it long maintained close ties; it left beta and went
public in August 2009. It always cultivated relationships not only
with its suppliers, but also with leading K-drama websites and in
other directions. It ran a blog, inviting many writers then active
to contribute, with reasonable editorial freedom. Its tone was
mostly cheerful. In its early days, DramaFever was everyone's pal.

Its absolutely worst mistake tested these relationships. In March
2013 a company it had hired issued DMCA takedown notices affecting
many of those websites, including:
* Dramabeans for using still images.
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/03/announcement-level-7-civil-servant-recaps-now-with-less-joo-won/>
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/03/update-screencaps-recaps-and-joo-won/>
* The most respected writer in English on K-dramas, for fansubbing.
DramaFever was *using* some of MisterX's fansubs at the time.
He stopped fansubbing as a result. His most recent site:
<http://www.dramatic-eye.com/> (largely paywalled). He now
appears to have retired, but considering he wrote about K-dramas
for fifteen years, I'll be surprised if he stays so forever.
The only one of these for which DramaFever apologised publicly was
the attack on Dramabeans, and it weasel-worded even that.
<https://web.archive.org/web/20130309190055/http://blog.dramafever.com/2013/03/a-message-from-dramafever/>
(See the comment by Marcus Wright, my source for the attack on Mister
X and other fansubbers. I can't now source to DramaFever trouble
DramaWiki had at this time with DMCA notices over its own use of
still photos, so have omitted it.) Anyway, damage had been done, and
DramaFever, which was no longer growing its K-drama library all that
fast and was increasingly branching out from K-dramas, lost ground to
Viki on several fronts: in numbers of shows offered (Viki always got
more new K-dramas, every year from about 2011 on), in countries it
could serve, in fan preferences for fansubs over pro subs, and for
faster subs on new dramas over more accurate ones ...

It did push ahead anyhow. In my experience, mostly after that date,
for several years, there was *always* a DramaFever ad on every Korea-
related page at DramaWiki. (The Internet Archive shows this ad on
the second URL below; it only shows it on the first on navigation
away from the page. I want to use this contrast to date the ads to
March 2013, and make them amends for the DMCA thing, but am not at
all confident that's correct.
<https://web.archive.org/web/20130215002206/http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Han_Hye_Jin>
<https://web.archive.org/web/20130623003818/http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Han_Hye_Jin>.)
DramaFever co-produced a drama in 2013, and another in 2014, and
started to dub its biggest romances into Spanish. Between the co-
productions, the advertising, its continued blog recruiting, and its
excellent library, it was far more vital to the anglophone K-drama
world than Viki despite its smaller selection of recent dramas and
its bad reputation. It also began to address what actually had,
until March 2013, had been the single biggest complaint, the site's
limited geographic availability.
<https://londonkoreanlinks.net/2014/01/29/for-the-easy-solution-to-watching-k-drama-in-the-uk-heres-your-answer/>

I then did little with the site. I mostly watched DVDs, and only
wanted streamers when a DVD was damaged. DramaFever had a policy
that you had to register to watch past the fifth episode; I was
terrified of giving information to these sites, and most DVD flaws
were well past episode 5. So I used Viki, other sites now gone, and,
yes, the lawbreakers much more than DramaFever. (I haven't found
that policy documented at the Archive yet, but give me time...)

In October 2014, SoftBank, a Japanese firm, bought DramaFever. Even
though I'd switched to mostly watching K-dramas online, I continued
largely ignoring the site, though I definitely watched a movie they'd
strangely not paywalled there, probably around that time. This is
probably when I first concluded that DramaFever's biggest technical
problems were with ad breaks. Later comments by DramaFever users
suggest this may have been a period of stagnation for the site. I've
never heard that it tried to get Soompi and Crunchyroll's library of
K-dramas when they were on sale in 2015, and when Viki got them,
suddenly the latter could seriously compete with DramaFever on older,
reputable dramas. DramaFever did at least participate in the 2015
launch of Amazon's Prime Video partnerships:
<https://www.androidauthority.com/amazon-now-letting-prime-users-attach-other-video-streaming-services-660639/>.

[Joe Bernstein]

SoftBank sold DramaFever to Time Warner in February 2016.
<https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/warner-bros-dramafever-1201713038/>
This is when those comments on stagnation came, hoping for better;
and near as I can tell now, better came. The site co-produced two
more dramas; in all, it contributed to one for each of KBS, MBC, SBS
and CJ. It expanded into Australia and New Zealand,
<https://variety.com/2016/digital/asia/dramafever-launch-in-australia-new-zealand-1201826470/>
and I think other places. (I don't know where all it operated, but
it had some subs in Near Eastern languages in 2018, and I spotted
Oman in two lists described below.) It got rid of the five-episode
rule, but proved slow to take down 'temporary' paywalls when it'd
said it would, so became much the most paywalled K-drama site then
active in the Americas. It stopped advertising on DramaWiki. This
is also the year DramaFever and Hulu broke up.
<https://kdramakisses.com/2016/05/21/hulu-removes-hundreds-of-korean-dramas-from-streaming-library/>
(yes, this is just a random blog, but I saw the same thing)
Warner bought a stake in Hulu soon after,
<https://www.warnermediagroup.com/blog/posts/20160803-time-warner-invests-in-hulu>
but the few times I checked, Hulu still didn't have many K-dramas, so
I remain unsure whether Hulu and DramaFever ever talked again.

In 2018 ten shows I list were available in the US only through
Netflix or DramaFever - two cable, eight Web. The latest dates to
March 2016. I think they represented a deal (and the next URL says
there was one in 2017, as well as *some* kind of tie to Hulu), but
don't know whether this Netflix deal was originally made under
SoftBank, the latest drama just a coda, or under Warner.
<https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dramafevers-original-series-my-secret-romance-simultaneously-premiere-us-south-korea-990295>
Meanwhile, weirdly, the Internet Archive says no new press releases
were issued in Warner's time.
<https://web.archive.org/web/20180802021610/https://www.dramafever.com/company/press.html>

Sometime in mid-2016, I compiled lists of who had which shows, and
found Viki had more K-dramas than DramaFever. (A huge change from
my 2014 lists, which had shown DF with nearly twice as many. I now
have the 2014 spreadsheet but not the 2016; sorry.) In fall 2016, I
started watching test dramas for an earlier document on speculative K-
dramas. (In doing so, I finally registered at every site, once none
required it!) DramaFever's bugs remained concentrated around ad
breaks - but now, every single one worked only against the site,
never against me. I hadn't entirely given up seeing DramaFever as
the evil empire, but found I liked it more than Viki.

This feeling only got stronger when I compared the sites' responses
to KoCoWa. The creation of KoCoWa was interpreted by the business
press as a straightforward slap, not at OnDemandKorea, DramaFever,
and Viki, but specifically at DramaFever.
<https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/korean-streaming-service-kocowa-us-1202502916/>
DramaFever appears to have agreed. Instead of forming an agreement
with KoCoWa as Viki did quite publicly, ODK at least tacitly, it
maintained as many dramas as it could free that KoCoWa and Viki had
paywalled (! quite a switch!), it focused its few new acquisitions of
K-dramas on cable and Web shows (although unlike ODK, it *did*
acquire and subtitle new network dramas after KoCoWa appeared; I list
one below), it started acquiring lots more Chinese dramas and
promoting them more, and it carried on. I've seen a lot of
DramaFever show pages from 2017 working on this post; they seem to
have paid attention to their paywalls again, probably removing some
overdue for it. In March 2018 one co-founder, in charge of the tech
and based in New York, was pushed out in favour of a Warner exec,
<https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/warner-bros-digital-networks-patty-hirsh-dramafever-seung-bak-1202731750/>
but in April, the other, who ran Korean operations for DramaFever,
got the same portfolio for all of Warner.
<https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/warner-bros-taps-dramafever-founders-as-head-korean-tv-dramas-1104875>

In summer 2018, when I returned to K-dramas after my laptop's theft,
I found that DramaFever would only play video on my smartphone via
its app. (Same with KoCoWa.) This app proved the best viewing
modality I then tried, even its ad breaks flawless - but scarily low
on ads. As best I recall, between DramaFever's ad breaks came gaps
between Viki's and ODK's in length, so eleven, or probably ten,
minutes. DramaFever routinely skipped the last ad break it had
scheduled in an episode, even when it had ads. DramaFever also did
something I've only observed, this go-round, at network-linked sites
- Tubi and YouTube (but *not* KoCoWa): it took the trouble to place
ad breaks sensibly, usually between scenes. As already implied,
DramaFever streamed shows better than it did ads, but in the app,
even the ads weren't buggy. DramaFever gave registered viewers
credit for every hour watched toward an ad-free episode, with a
bigger default video window (on my laptop, anyhow), and which played
fine. Of their prices, I only remember this much: $5 per month to
bring down the paywalls and get ad-free viewing, or $10 for certain
technological ways to watch, or to temporarily download some shows.
There seems to have been more to it; the Internet Archive lacks
details, but see:
<https://digiday.com/media/dramafever-subscription/>.
I compiled lists on July 6, but didn't analyse them until recently.
I found a surprise waiting: Near the end, DramaFever had almost
exactly as many K-dramas as Viki, 500. But because Viki had many
more Web dramas, DramaFever actually had more total hours. Despite
all the hostility with KoCoWa, and despite all the Chinese dramas,
DramaFever had caught up in its core field. Surprise!

But by that time AT&T had already acquired Time Warner. It started
closing its newly acquired niche streaming services, supposedly to
clear the way for an HBO-centred giant to compete with Netflix, to
open in *late* 2019. DramaFever came first, in October 2018; the
techies (and the remaining co-founder) kept their jobs, but a couple
dozen people, presumably subtitlers and such, got laid off. This is
the most informative article I found, the only one to admit what
others seem to want only to imply - DramaFever's lack of profits:
<https://digiday.com/media/dramafever-casualty-big-money-ott-war/>.
(However, the depiction of a site in terminal decline here:
<http://www.daehandrama.com/warnermedia-is-closing-dramafever-post-att-acquisition/>
doesn't ring true to me.) As noted sv YouTube 1, all DramaFever's
YouTube uploads became private. Its dramas disappeared from Yahoo!
View, from Amazon (though at varying speeds across Amazon's empire),
from Netflix (nine of the ten mentioned above are the only K-dramas I
list Netflix as having dropped in 2018), and maybe from Hulu.
Bloggers and their commenters everywhere have sworn never to pay AT&T
a penny. All DramaFever's pages now serve only the closure notice,
their original contents available only from Google's caches (finally
now mostly unavailable) and the Internet Archive.
AT&T doesn't hate K-dramas specifically; later that month it
closed Super Deluxe and FilmStruck. It had already announced a new
streaming service to open in beta in the fourth quarter of 2019.
After the closures, it added that this service would have three tiers,
with "niche" programming available only in the most expensive, but
that it was also working on improving its advertising structure, and
would probably offer ad-supported free streaming for all tiers
eventually.

DramaFever's exclusives haven't reappeared elsewhere for viewers in
the Americas. Breathless reporting claimed some would reach ODK,
<https://dramacurrent.com/2018/10/19/what-will-happen-to-dramafevers-dramas-the-rescue-of-kdrama-begins/>
but to put it mildly, it hasn't happened yet, and as described above,
we've actually seen the reverse at Amazon, Yahoo, probably Netflix,
and maybe Hulu, dramas vanishing when DramaFever closed. (One or
maybe three K-dramas have turned up at Viki, and Tubi's recent
acquisition of many HK-dramas includes a few DramaFever had.) It's
hard to guess why this is so. Competing with Netflix doesn't need a
K-drama library anywhere *near* as good as DramaFever's. AT&T people
have complained anonymously about license fees; surely they're still
paying *something* for these dramas that, thanks to the abrupt
closure and the breaking of *all* those partnerships, aren't making
them *anything*. Pissing people off with that closure isn't good
marketing to future customers, nor do abrupt layoffs help recruit
future employees. So it's hard to believe AT&T intends to use, let
alone grow, its K-drama library, except maybe what it has ownership
in (the four co-productions, none speculative, and <Oh My Grace>, #82
sv YouTube 5) and some handful of cheap other dramas. They haven't
bothered to mention K-dramas in discussing their plans, and again,
have laid off most of their expertise in K-dramas. So they look like
dogs in the manger, and especially flea-bitten, snarling and biting
dogs at that. But *maybe* they imagine their new site leading the K-
drama world; time will tell.

My purposes in this post, then, are:
1) To tell you about more speculative K-dramas.
2) To list those in limbo in the Americas, awaiting AT&T's next
move or maybe licenses' expirations.
3) To list a few of those in limbo elsewhere, and at least suggest
the scale of the rest of the problem.
4) To mourn DramaFever.

[Joe Bernstein]

The Internet Archive's coverage of DramaFever's architecture isn't
good in general; also, DramaFever seems to have armed itself against
the Archive in 2018. So the Archive documents *no* shows DramaFever
acquired, let alone dropped, from between my last saved list of July
6, 2018, and the closure October 16. (The last archived browsing
page, dated August 2, shows that no newly added dramas had reached
the top 25 of popularity at DramaFever, strongly suggesting few or
none had been added as of then, less than a month after my list.)
<https://web.archive.org/web/20180802021535/https://www.dramafever.com/browse/genre/all/popular/>
However, a Google search produced this announcement from September 25:
"This is not a drill! We are bringing you one DramaFever EXCLUSIVE
Korean title every day of the week!" Some images from that post
survived longer than its cache version, enabling me to establish that
none of the dramas were speculative; sorry. (To check for yourself,
DramaFever's titles were <Terius Behind Me>, <100 Days My Prince>,
<devilish joy>, <The Third Charm>, and a variety show, <Off to School>.
Yes, all four drama titles *sound* speculative, but none *are*.)
<https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=920&ei=syxBXJvEHMWw0PEPm9C34As&q=%22not+a+drill%21+We+are+bringing+you+one+DramaFever+EXCLUSIVE%22&oq=%22not+a+drill%21+We+are+bringing+you+one+DramaFever+EXCLUSIVE%22&gs_l=img.3...15589.16971..17402...0.0..0.48.128.3......0....1j2..gws-wiz-img.....0.Q5hW93Eltwc>
The only show attested as dropped is another variety show (much the
most popular, in fact, ominously in retrospect), <Running Man>.
<https://www.reddit.com/r/koreanvariety/comments/9jt86p/running_man_no_longer_available_on_dramafever/>
I do have older lists, but far too old to use this way. So I can
offer no time depth for DramaFever's list of shows, but only report
it as I found it on July 6 in the USA.
The Archive does have pages of at least some lists DramaFever
offered by "tag", its approach to genre links. Four are relevant
here: fantasy, horror, sci-fi and supernatural.
<https://web.archive.org/web/20171007151310/http://www.dramafever.com/browse/tag/fantasy/popular?lang=en>
<https://web.archive.org/web/20170705055949/https://www.dramafever.com/browse/tag/fantasy/popular>
(At both dates, this list had two pages. No page 2 survives.)
<https://web.archive.org/web/20170814065646/https://www.dramafever.com/browse/tag/horror/popular>
(This list seems never to have had a second page, so each capture
should be complete.)
<https://web.archive.org/web/20170703190431/https://www.dramafever.com/browse/tag/sci-fi/popular>
(The only capture, and as only three dramas, only one page.)
<https://web.archive.org/web/20170705043847/https://www.dramafever.com/browse/tag/supernatural/popular>
(At this date, this list had three pages; the others are gone.)
<https://web.archive.org/web/20160110072253/https://www.dramafever.com/browse/tag/supernatural/popular>
<https://web.archive.org/web/20160106102258/http://www.dramafever.com:80/browse/tag/supernatural/popular?page=2&lang=en>
(At these dates, it had only two, so this is a roughly complete
capture.)
Only one drama on these lists wasn't already on mine; unfortunately
it's one of the three "sci-fi" ones. I've listed it in the "Not very
speculative" section as I have with the dramas KoCoWa identifies as
speculative of which I'm unsure or dubious. Not all the shows listed
as horror really are, I suspect, but all are speculative.
The Archive also has useful copies of most shows' pages up to
early January 2018. (After that most pages are blank or 404 at the
Archive.) DramaFever historically rarely changed paywalls, though as
I've said that seems to have changed by 2017; still, I've used these
copies to indicate shows perhaps still paywalled in July 2018. From
sometime in mid-2016 on, these pages also list (in source code)
countries the shows were available in, allowing me to note shows
available from DramaFever in the Americas also available from it
elsewhere, but *not* shows it had elsewhere but *not* in the Americas.
The Americas per DramaFever *did* include Jamaica as well as Trinidad
and Tobago, suggesting the same for Viki, ODK and KoCoWa.
Outside the Americas, I found bizarrely few shows, so few there
wouldn't be much point in DramaFever operating in those countries.
The <Secret Garden> ad at DaehanDrama mentioned earlier in this
thread linked to a DramaFever URL. It's the same URL I list below
for that show, and it reached the Archive in a form that didn't list
UK access; so why advertise it on UK site DaehanDrama? I conclude
that the lists are only a minimal, rather than full, guide to where
DramaFever actually offered shows. Perhaps DramaFever based the
lists it sent in many pages on the recipient's location; perhaps it
sent different pages, including different lists, for free vs.
paywalled access.
Since this is the first post in which I actually cover countries
on multiple continents at all, I should note: I'm only following
these: USA (US), UK (GB), Canada (CA), Australia (AU), South Africa
(AZ), Ireland (IE), New Zealand (NZ), Jamaica (JM), Nigeria (NG),
Singapore (SG), and Trinidad and Tobago (TT). US, CA, JM and TT are
all included in "Americas" (*all* pages I looked up, i.e. all pages
listed below unless noted as missing from the Archive, included those
four and many other countries in this hemisphere, in a small number
of sort orders). But I'm not trying to define "Europe", "Oceania",
or any other such region, just listing *those countries*. Normally,
I noticed FR, RO, and RU, and often IT in lists featuring GB and IE,
and suspect those lists covered much or all of Europe; DramaFever
may've negotiated for a more consistent "Europe" than Viki normally
gets. The even fewer shows I noticed offered to AU seemed not to
have other obvious correlates, in particular not NZ.

I distinguish between "in limbo" - cases where nobody but DramaFever
appears to have local rights - and "unavailable". By the latter I
mean that, as best I can tell, the show can't be streamed lawfully
and with English subtitles, not that it can't be watched on other
terms (not streaming, not lawfully, and/or not Englished).

DramaFever returns the "closed" page even to completely bogus URLs,
so with no distinction between 404s and good URLs, I can't usefully
check its links, just as with Viu (and, for a different reason, ODK).
Sorry. For what it's worth I don't know of any reason they should be
wrong (there's zero hand-copying involved, unlike Viu), and most do
match copies at the Archive, which is sort of a check, and is really
the only use the URLs are any more *anyway*.

The groups are sorted with all-cross-reference groups after
"Miscellaneous" again, but sorting of new shows within groups,
chronological by default, sometimes changes to put something
important earlier; and "Not very speculative" is in three parts -
those I *know* to have un-prominent speculative content, those I
genuinely suspect of doing so, and those I'm just covering because
someone claimed, probably falsely, they were speculative, or because
I thought myself they just *might* be.

[Joe Bernstein]

Heart transplant plot (2):

186. <Summer Scent>, KBS2 2003 (20 episodes)
This was the first series to use the heart transplant plot already
seen, in these posts, in #22 sv Tubi 2 (2014), #50 sv Netflix 3 (2015),
and #184 sv Viu 7 (2016-2017). Here, everyone is innocent and young,
because this is the third of the director's "Four Seasons" or
"Endless Love" dramas, the second of which, <Winter Sonata>, KBS2
2002 (20 episodes), is the most famous of Choi Ji-Woo's melodramas,
the drama that opened Japan to K-dramas. *This* drama takes the
trouble (at some cost to plausibility) to turn the fantasy novum,
that a heart transplant changes one's personality, enabling love for
the donor's beloved, into a matter for doubt. Song Seung-Heon of <Dr.
Jin>, #13 sv Tubi 1, <Saimdang>, #98 sv OnDemandKorea 4, and <Black>,
#24 sv Netflix 1, stars as the donor's beloved. Paywalled in October
2017 per the Internet Archive.
The first use of the heart transplant plot known to me was in an
SBS omnibus, "Love Story": <Host of Memory>, SBS 2000 (2 episodes).
Then came this drama, whose relative fame kept the plot unused for
years until daily <Sweet Palpitations>, KBS2 2011 (135 half-hour
episodes); since then, it's become all too common.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Summer_Scent>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Scent>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Summer_Scent.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464627/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/598/Summer_Scent/> (dead;
paywalled; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas; apparently unavailable worldwide, as are
all the other "Endless Love" dramas. So wherever in the world you
are, to watch these most famous of old-school K-melodramas, see the
last post.

50. <Falling in Love With Soon Jung>, JTBC 2015 (16 episodes)
Heart transplant plot. See #50 sv Netflix 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4693/Falling_in_Love_With_Soon_Jung/>
(dead; Americas)

Fate (5):

187. <Rebirth - Next>, MBC 2005 (14 episodes)
An actress with a boyfriend meets his brother, a neurosurgeon who's
engaged, and soon collapses, triggering her memories of past lives in
which these four people have been linked again and again. Why? The
meeting also produces more K-dramatically predictable consequences.
Can this cycle be stopped?
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Next>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6357788/>
<https://mydramalist.com/2928-next>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/63/Rebirth_-_Next/> (dead;
Americas)
Also at Viki (Americas).

188. <Ja Myung Go>, SBS 2009 (39 episodes)
Half-sisters are born the same day. A prophecy leads to one becoming
princess of the Chinese town where Pyongyang now is, the other an
artist in exile. She comes back to set up a magical drum to protect
the town; but a Korean prince comes between her and her sister. The
princess is played by Park Min-Young of <Dr. Jin>, #13 sv Tubi 1,
<Healer>, #85 sv YouTube 6, and <Remember>, #152 sv KoCoWa 7. The
princess, drum and climax come from actual history, rewritten but for
once not stripped of its fantastical elements.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Ja_Myung_Go>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ja_Myung_Go>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Princess_Ja_Myung_Go.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3364894/>
The historical account, usually described as folklore:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Hodong_and_the_Princess_of_Nakrang>
<http://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/5707>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/363/Ja_Myung_Go/> (dead;
Americas, UK, Ireland, Australia)
Also at Viki (UK, Australia). In limbo in the Americas.

189. <Snow Lotus Flower>, SBS 2015 (2 episodes aired one Wednesday
late)
An art student gets hired part-time at a gaming company. The script
she's handed is based on the CEO's dreams. She's been dreaming the
same dreams, set a thousand years ago. Apparently this turns into
another romance fated by past lives; maybe growing up in a Buddhist
environment [1] prevents seeing this as coercive.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Snow_Lotus>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Seol-ryeon__s_Story.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5646756/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4759/Snow_Lotus_Flower/> (dead;
Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, possibly unavailable worldwide.

[1] I once wrote that I saw little sign of Buddhist influence in K-
dramas. Since then I've noticed in just about every K-drama I've
watched *or re-watched* characters talking about past or future lives
in some way. Little sign, my foot; in Korea, reincarnation is clear
evidence of Buddhist influence. Yes, some Buddhist schools deny
continuity of a self in the cycle of rebirth, but drama characters
see things differently.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebirth_(Buddhism)>

179. <The Bride of the Water God (Habaek)>, tvN 2017 (16 episodes)
Do you believe in destiny? See #179 sv Viu 5. Paywalled in October
2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5060/The_Bride_of_the_Water_God_%28Habaek%29/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas, Australia)
In limbo in the Americas and probably "Oceania".

183. <Daebak>, SBS 2016 (24 episodes)
Resilience through Fate. See #183 sv Viu 7.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4878/Daebak/> (dead)

Alternate history and geography (5):

190. <My Princess>, MBC 2011 (16 episodes)
A romantic comedy whose Woman is discovered to be great-granddaughter
to Korea's last, um, Emperor. Since people almost so obviously heirs
actually exist, this is at, or beyond, the extreme outer edge of this
theme's nature as speculation, but it *is* yet another appearance
here for Song Seung-heon of <Dr. Jin>, #13 sv Tubi 1, etc.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/My_Princess>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Princess_(TV_series)>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Yi>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_My_Princess.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375282/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/3899/my-princess/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
Also at Viki (Americas).

3. <Descendants of the Sun>, KBS2 2016 (16 episodes)
Alternate geography. See #3 sv Hulu.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4627/Descendants_of_the_Sun/>
(dead; Americas)

18. <Goong>, MBC 2006 (24 episodes)
Alternate history (modern Korean monarchy). See #18 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/3/Goong/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4382/Goong_-_Doblado_al_Espa%C3%B1ol/>
(both dead; both Americas)

19. <The King 2 Hearts>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Alternate history (modern Korean monarchy). See #19 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4098/King_2_Hearts/> (dead;
Americas)

120. <Goong S>, MBC 2007 (20 episodes)
Alternate history (modern Korean monarchy). See #120 sv KoCoWa 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/48/Goong_S/> (dead; Americas)

[Joe Bernstein]

Special powers (10):

191. <Touching You>, Naver 2016 (12 quarter-hour episodes)
A man who can see the future of anyone he touches meets a wonderful
woman with an imminent horrible fate, and for the first time wants to
change what he sees. Can he? He's played by Ok Taec-Yeon of <Let's
Fight Ghost>, #176 sv Viu 5 and <Save Me>, #185 sv Viu 7. Paywalled
in August 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Touching_You>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Touching_You.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7532326/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4936/Touching_You/> (dead;
paywalled; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, and probably unavailable worldwide.

192. <Evergreen (That Man Oh Soo)>, OCN 2018 (16 episodes)
I read reviews, and am not sure what would be a spoiler, but the
novum is that a man can affect emotions by stirring pollen from a
tree he tends into drinks. Everyone agreed that the ending stank
(for betraying the integrity of the plot and the fantasy); they
disagreed over whether the romance before worked for them.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/That_Man_Oh_Soo>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_(TV_series)>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_That_Man_Oh_Soo.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7981596/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5164/Evergreen_%28That_Man%2C_Oh_Soo%29/>
(dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
In limbo in the Americas, possibly unavailable worldwide.

27. <Strong Woman Do Bong Soon>, JTBC 2017 (16 episodes)
A loftier taboo than Samson's. See #27 sv Netflix 1.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4988/Strong_Woman_Do_Bong_Soon/>
(dead; Americas, Australia, New Zealand)
*Not* in limbo in those places.

30. <Aftermath>, Naver 2014 (2 "season"s, 6 and 5 ten-minute episodes)
A precognitive trying to become a superhero. See #30 sv Netflix 1.
Paywalled in November 2016 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4398/Aftermath/> (dead;
paywalled; Americas)
Since US Netflix has also dropped it, in limbo at least here.

54. <The Devil>, KBS2 2007 (20 episodes)
Psychic powers. See #54 sv YouTube 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/629/The_Devil/> (dead; Americas)

114. <Sweden Laundry>, MBC cable (several channels) 2014-2015 (16
episodes premiered weekly early Friday evenings)
Empathy through clothing. See #114 sv Cool2Vu.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4611/Sweden_Laundry/> (dead;
Americas)

117. <I Hear Your Voice>, SBS 2013 (18 episodes)
Telepathic crime-fighting. See #117 sv KoCoWa 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4275/I_Hear_Your_Voice/> (dead;
Americas)

118. <Sensory Couple>, SBS 2015 (16 episodes)
Amateur detective with weird sensory powers. See #118 sv KoCoWa 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4658/Sensory_Couple/> (dead;
Americas)

159. <Another Oh Hae Young>, tvN 2016 (18 episodes)
Premonitions and name confusion. See #159 sv Viu 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4883/Another_Oh_Hae_Young/>
(dead; Americas)

174. <Sketch>, JTBC 2018 (16 episodes)
Policewoman can draw the very near future. See #174 sv Viu 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5178/Sketch/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
In limbo in the Americas, but Viki has it somewhere.

Body switches and the like (6):

193. <Oohlala Couple>, KBS2 2012 (18 episodes)
A couple who married head over heels in love are nearing divorce,
twelve years later, thanks to the husband's adultery. Then comes the
body switch.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Ohlala_Couple>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohlala_Couple>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Ooh_La_La_Couple.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3310748/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4159/Oohlala_Couple/> (dead;
Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, possibly unavailable worldwide.

194. <Grandpas Over Flowers Investigation Team>, tvN 2014 (12 episodes,
premiered weekly Fridays)
Four young cops on a case get dunked in a mysterious experiment. The
next day *three* wake up fifty years older, and try to keep their
jobs while finding a way to reverse the change. A sitcom that gave
three veteran actors one last chance at a leading role; everyone
seems to think this show, while silly, lived up to that.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Flower_Grandpa_Investigative_Team>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Grandpa_Investigation_Unit>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Grandpas_over_Flowers_Investigation_Team.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5216880/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4655/Grandpas_Over_Flowers_Investigation_Team/>
(dead; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, but Viki seems to have it somewhere.

21. <Mr. Baek>, MBC 2014 (16 episodes)
Renewed youth's annoying complication, romance. See #21 sv Tubi 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4499/Mr._Baek/> (dead; Americas)

124. <Secret Garden>, SBS 2010-2011 (20 episodes)
Body switches. See #124 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/3875/Secret_Garden/> (dead;
Americas)

163. <49 Days>, SBS 2011 (20 episodes)
Body substitution, maybe? See #163 sv Viu 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/3918/49_Days/> (dead; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas.

164. <Please Come Back, Mister>, SBS 2016 (16 episodes)
Two dead men given second chances. See #164 sv Viu 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4873/Please_Come_Back%2C_Mister/>
(dead; Americas)

[Joe Bernstein]

Ghosts (8):

195. <New Tales of Gisaeng>, SBS 2011 (52 episodes)
Minimal alternate history - the modern Woman starts training as the
Korean equivalent of a geisha the year after the last gisaeng house
in our world closed. But later episodes feature a ghost, because
it's written by K-dramas' queen of makjang, of crazy plotting, Im
Sung-Han. Paywalled in January 2018 per the Internet Archive.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/New_Tales_of_Gisaeng>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Tales_of_Gisaeng>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisaeng>
<https://blue1004.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/korean-language-and-culture-series-makjang/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Im_Sung-han>
She wrote a daily earlier, more clearly fantasy, not now
lawfully available with English subtitles. She killed
another daily's Man, saying she could always bring him back
as a ghost (but didn't, possibly because her simultaneous
request for more episodes was rejected). Her *next* daily
finally got her and her main network to call it quits.
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2013/12/when-dramas-go-crazy-aurora-princess-a-case-study/>
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2015/04/makjang-writer-makes-grand-exit-from-dramaland/>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_New_Gisaeng_Story.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2788196/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/3946/New_Tales_of_Gisaeng/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, possibly unavailable worldwide.

196. <Who Are You>, tvN 2013 (16 episodes)
A comatose cop wakes up able to see ghosts linked to objects, and
starts using this ability to solve cold cases. Her skeptical partner
is played by Ok Taec-Yeon of <Let's Fight Ghost>, #176 sv Viu 5,
<Save Me>, #185 sv Viu 7, and <Touching You>, #191 above. A 2008
speculative drama and a 2015 *non*-speculative drama both use the
same English title (the 2015 matches in Hangul too), so be careful.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Who_Are_You>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Are_You%3F_(2013_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Who_Are_You_-_2013.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3184700/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4311/Who_Are_You/> (dead;
Americas)
Viki seems to have it somewhere.

"KARA: Secret Love", DramaCUBE 2014 (10 episodes, premiered on five
Fridays starting at the usual flagship time; sometimes understood as
5 episodes instead)
Girl group KARA (2007-2016) is the only idol act known to me to have
done *two* promotional dramas, or rather omnibuses of dramas, both
largely speculative. These are the cable dramas I mentioned not
listing sv YouTube 1 because the fan uploads are gone, and only
clearly mercenary uploads remain. (This isn't entirely ethics on my
part. One way mercenary uploads try to evade YouTube's policing is
by messing with shows' lengths, and there's too much confusion on
that score already, with this show in particular, for me to want to
deal with more.) For the first omnibus, see the last post. This
second one includes five dramas (one per then-member); four are
speculative. Paywalled in July 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Secret_Love_(2014)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_KARA_-_Secret_Love.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3855278/>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_(South_Korean_group)>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4486/KARA%3A_Secret_Love/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas)
Viki seems to have it somewhere.

197. <A Seven Day Summer>, DramaCUBE 2014
Fourth story in "KARA: Secret Love". The Korean-American KARA
member plays a Korean-American who comes to Korea to find the father
who abandoned her. Among the things she does find is a ghost.
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4204468/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4486/7/KARA%253A_Secret_Love/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4486/8/KARA%253A_Secret_Love/>
(both paywalled; both dead; both Americas)
Probably at Viki somewhere.

12. <Arang and the Magistrate>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Ghost story, historical, my latest drama. See #12 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4133/Arang_and_the_Magistrate/>
(dead; Americas)

15. <The Night Watchman's Journal>, MBC 2014 (24 episodes)
Ghosts and worse; historical. See #15 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4493/The_Night_Watchman%27s_Journal/>
(dead; Americas)

29. <Oh My Ghostess>, tvN 2015 (16 episodes)
Ghostly possession and sex. See #29 sv Netflix 1.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4709/Oh_My_Ghostess/> (dead;
Americas)

128. <The Master's Sun>, SBS 2013 (17 episodes)
Ghost-seeing as curse. See #128 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4305/The_Master%27s_Sun/> (dead;
Americas)

176. <Let's Fight Ghost>, tvN 2016 (16 episodes)
Exorcist and much younger ghost team up. See #176 sv Viu 5.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4923/Let%27s_Fight_Ghost/> (dead;
Americas)

Ontologically different beings (6):

198. <Have You Ever Had Coffee with an Angel?>, DramaCUBE 2014
Fifth and last story in "KARA: Secret Love". The KARA member chases
her beloved to Jeju Island, where she meets an angel who helps her
seek the guy's attention. But then she and the angel...
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4204480/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4486/9/KARA%253A_Secret_Love/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4486/10/KARA%253A_Secret_Love/>
(both paywalled; both dead; both Americas)
Probably at Viki somewhere.

26. <Dream Knight>, Naver 2015 (12 quarter-hour episodes)
Boy band members as orphan girl's supernatural protectors. See #26
sv Netflix 1. Paywalled in September 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4654/Dream_Knight/> (dead;
paywalled; Americas)
Since US Netflix has also dropped it, in limbo at least here.

47. <Never Die>, Naver 2015 (5 ten-minute episodes)
Mortal-immortal love. See #47 sv Netflix 3. Paywalled in July 2017
per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4827/Never_Die/> (dead; Americas;
paywalled)
Since US Netflix has also dropped it, in limbo at least here.

83. <High School - Love On>, KBS2 2014 (20 episodes, aired weekly
Friday evenings)
Angel (reaper) stranded in a high school. See #83 sv YouTube 5.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4491/High_School_-_Love_On/>
(dead; Americas)

97. <Padam Padam>, JTBC 2011-2012 (20 episodes)
Guardian angel. See #97 sv OnDemandKorea 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4084/Padam_Padam/> (dead;
Americas)

162. <Goblin: The Lonely and Great God>, tvN 2016-2017 (16 episodes)
Liebestod, or is that Toteslieb? See #162 sv Viu 2. Paywalled in
October 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4914/Goblin%3A_The_Lonely_and_Great_God/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas, Australia, New Zealand)
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5111/Goblin%3A_The_Lonely_and_Great_God_-_Doblado_al_Espa%C3%B1ol/>
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
In limbo in the Americas; I assume the Spanish-dubbed version is in
limbo or unavailable everywhere.

[Joe Bernstein]

My apologies for the messed-up formatting of the first entry in the
previous post; I revised at the last minute and forgot about the bad
interactions between my text editor and my newsreader.

Vampires (5):

199. <Vampire Prosecutor>, OCN 2011-2012 (two seasons, 12 and 11
episodes, premiered weekly late Sunday nights)
A man turned into a vampire renounces predation and survives on dead
people's blood or black market blood donations. To use his powers he
becomes a prosecutor, while seeking the one who turned him.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Vampire_Prosecutor>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Prosecutor>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Vampire_Prosecutor.php>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Vampire_Prosecutor_2.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2368922/>
Season 1 <https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4041/Vampire_Prosecutor/>
Season 2 <https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4140/Vampire_Prosecutor_2/>
(both dead) The last Internet Archive captures of both pages,
March 2016, are too early to include region info.
In limbo in the Americas, but Viki may have season 2 somewhere.

200. <Vampire Detective>, OCN 2016 (12 episodes premiered weekly late
Sundays)
A PI gets turned into a vampire, continues working while trying to
find out how it happened. Has been called a spinoff of <Vampire
Prosecutor> just above; they do have a producer, cable channel, and
plot in common, but their versions of that plot don't seem linked.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Vampire_Detective>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Detective>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Vampire_Detective.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5333564/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4401/Vampire_Detective/> (dead;
Americas)
Also at Viki (Americas, UK).

16. <The Scholar Who Walks the Night>, MBC 2015 (20 episodes)
Vampire takeover; pseudo-historical. See #16 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4687/The_Scholar_Who_Walks_the_Night/>
(dead; Americas)

65. <Blood>, KBS 2015 (20 episodes)
Vampire surgeon. See #65 sv YouTube 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4640/Blood/> (dead; Americas)

142. <Orange Marmalade>, KBS2 2015 (12 episodes premiered weekly late
Friday nights)
High school vampire romance unlike <Twilight>. See #142 sv KoCoWa 5.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4684/Orange_Marmalade/> (dead;
Americas)

Time travel to pre-modern past (4):

201. <Scarlet Heart: Ryeo>, SBS 2016 (20 episodes)
A modern woman fallen into the 10th century gets caught up in the
infighting among the (historical) king's many sons. A blockbuster
that got megabucks for foreign rights (despite lacking Korean ratings);
DramaFever went all out on it. Stars IU, who hasn't starred in any
other speculative dramas, but whose speculative videos I've pointed
you to; I haven't seen praise for her performance here. Also Lee
Joon-Gi of <Arang and the Magistrate> and <The Scholar Who Walked the
Night>, #12 and #16 sv Tubi 1, and of <Time Between Dog and Wolf>,
#108 sv OnDemandKorea 4. Paywalled, respectively, in October 2017
and July 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Moon_Lovers:_Scarlet_Heart_Ryeo>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Lovers:_Scarlet_Heart_Ryeo>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Scarlet_Heart_2p__Ryeo.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5320412/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4926/Scarlet_Heart%3A_Ryeo/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas)
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4968/Scarlet_Heart%3A_Ryeo_%28Director%27s_Cut%29/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, and I suspect other places; possibly
unavailable worldwide.
DramaFever also went and got the much more consistently praised
Chinese original, but didn't paywall it because they didn't have it
exclusively; you can still watch it at Viki, which also has the
censorship-addled sequel (did *you* know time travel is politically
incorrect?) whose only praised feature is that the stars married in
real life soon after.

13. <Time Slip Dr. Jin>, MBC 2012 (22 episodes)
Time travel to mid-19th century. See #13 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4104/Time_Slip_Dr._Jin/> (dead;
Americas)

130. <Faith>, SBS 2012 (24 episodes)
Time travel to 10th century. See #130 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4123/Faith/> (dead; Americas)

98. <Saimdang: Light's Diary (Herstory)>, SBS 2017 (28 episodes)
Art historian meets her subject and duplicate. See #98 sv
OnDemandKorea 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4938/Saimdang%3A_Light%27s_Diary_%28Herstory%29/>
(dead; Americas)

Curses and other problems (5):

202. <Bride of the Century>, TV Chosun 2014 (16 episodes)
A marriage is arranged for the heir to a rich family. The fiancee
then finds out about the family curse: for the past century, every
heir's first wife has died soon after marriage. She finds a poor
girl who looks like her (same actress, and Wikipedia uses the word
"doppelganger"), and hires her as a substitute.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Bride_of_the_Century>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_of_the_Century>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Bride_of_the_Century.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3726584/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4374/Bride_of_the_Century/>
(dead; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, and possibly unavailable worldwide.

11. <The Moon that Embraces the Sun>, MBC 2012 (20 episodes)
Curses, shamanic magic, historical. See #11 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4091/The_Moon_that_Embraces_the_Sun/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4359/The_Moon_that_Embraces_the_Sun_-_Doblado_al_Espa%C3%B1ol/>
(both dead; the former Americas) The latter URL's last Internet
Archive capture, in February 2016, is too early for region info.

17. <Shine or Go Crazy>, MBC 2015 (24 episodes)
Prince and princess, both cursed. See #17 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4641/Shine_or_Go_Crazy/> (dead;
Americas)

31. <Mirror of the Witch>, JTBC 2016 (20 episodes)
Fictional princess-turned-shaman meets real doctor. See #31 sv
Netflix 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4889/Mirror_of_the_Witch/> (dead;
Americas)

62. <Blade Man>, KBS2 2014 (18 episodes)
A man bristling with blades trying *not* to become a superhero. See
#62 sv YouTube 3. Paywalled in January 2018 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4495/Blade_Man/> (dead;
paywalled; Americas)

[Joe Bernstein]

Time travel within modern times (14):

203. <Tomorrow With You>, tvN 2017 (16 episodes)
An amoral man who can reach the future through a subway uses this to
get rich, but learns he'll die alone and miserable. So he marries to
prevent that, though without love. Eventually... Most recent of
Shin Min-Ah's four speculative dramas, following <Arang and the
Magistrate>, #12 sv Tubi 1, <The Devil>, #54 sv YouTube 2, and above
all the superb <My Girlfriend is a Gumiho>, #161 sv Viu 2.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Tomorrow_with_You>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow,_With_You>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Tomorrow_With_You.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5994346/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4976/Tomorrow_With_You/> (dead;
paywalled; Americas)
Also at Viki (UK). In limbo in the Americas, dunno about elsewhere.

204. <Longing Heart>, OCN 2018 (10 episodes)
A high school teacher finds a way ten years back to try to court his
first love, but winds up competing with his younger self. This show
was pre-produced, not cut to that number of episodes, and by SBS,
though it ended up on a CJ channel.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/My_First_Love>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_First_Love_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Longing_Heart.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7762948/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5140/Longing_Heart/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
In limbo in the Americas, but Viki has it somewhere.

205. <Missing You>, DramaCUBE 2014
First story in "KARA: Secret Love", which means it's the one
DramaFever *didn't* paywall. The KARA member breaks up with her
boyfriend; he soon dies, and she's ready to jump off a roof a year
later, but learns that each floor she passes represents a year, and
so a chance to save the man (and heal her own guilty despair).
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4204418/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4486/1/KARA%253A_Secret_Love/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4486/2/KARA%253A_Secret_Love/>
(both dead; both Americas)
Probably at Viki somewhere.

206. <Somehow 18>, Naver / JTBC 2017 (10 ?quarter-hour episodes / 2
episodes)
A boy gets through bullying in high school because a girl stands by
him. As an adult doctor, he learns that she later committed suicide.
He gets the chance to time travel and try to prevent that.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Somehow_18>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Somehow_18.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7278424/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5122/Somehow_18/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
In limbo in the Americas, perhaps unavailable worldwide.

34. <Nine: Nine Time Travels>, tvN 2013 (20 episodes)
20-year time travel problematised. See #34 sv Netflix 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4242/Nine%3A_Nine_Time_Travels/>
(dead; Americas)

35. <Operation Proposal>, TV Chosun 2012 (16 episodes)
<My Best Friend's Wedding> with time travel. See #35 sv Netflix 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4094/Operation_Proposal/> (dead;
Americas, UK, Ireland, Australia)
This was, as of my December 4, 2018 posts re US Netflix, the lone
survivor there of the shows I listed that it shared only with
DramaFever. If, as I surmise, those shows were licensed *from*
DramaFever, maybe this one was part of the wergild Netflix demanded
for the broken contract. Or maybe Netflix negotiated directly with
the cable station.

38. <To Be Continued>, Naver / MBC cable 2015 (12 quarter-hour
episodes)
Boy band time slips. See #38 sv Netflix 2. Paywalled in July 2017
per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4786/To_Be_Continued/> (dead;
paywalled; Americas)
Since US Netflix has also dropped it, in limbo at least here. This
is the only one of the Netflix/DramaFever Web dramas at YouTube even
nearly legally, and then only incompletely, which is odd, given that
Web dramas from each site *separately* are lawfully there.

132. <Marry Him If You Dare>, KBS2 2013 (16 episodes)
Conservation of information disproven. See #132 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4320/Marry_Him_If_You_Dare/>
(dead; Americas)

133. <God's Gift - 14 Days>, SBS 2014 (16 episodes)
Time slip to prevent a daughter's murder. See #133 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4402/God%27s_Gift_-_14_Days/>
(dead; Americas)

134. <The Best Hit>, KBS2 2017 (32 half-episodes)
Idol visits a year when idols actually exist. See #134 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5038/The_Best_Hit/> (dead;
Americas)

135. <Go Back Couple>, KBS2 2017 (12 episodes)
Do-over for the unhappy titulars. See #135 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5130/Go_Back_Couple/> (dead;
although only four episodes had appeared by the time of the last,
October 2017, capture, DramaFever *wasn't* paywalling them;
Americas)

136. <Manhole>, KBS2 2017 (16 episodes)
<Operation Proposal> network style. See #136 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5142/Manhole/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.

137. <Reunited Worlds>, SBS 2017 (40 half-episodes)
Prolonged adolescence. See #137 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5141/Reunited_Worlds/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.

172. <Tunnel>, OCN 2017 (16 episodes)
Serial killers yesterday and today. See #172 sv Viu 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5009/Tunnel/> (dead; Americas)

[Joe Bernstein]

Aliens, gadgets, and even science fiction (7):

207. <Circle: Two Worlds Connected>, tvN 2017 (12 episodes)
This has been rapturously hailed as incredibly good, so I want to say
even less than the pages listed below do. It's also widely called
the first science fiction K-drama - not true, but suggests how
astonished viewers seem to have been. Each episode is set partly in
2017 and partly in 2037, and each plotline focuses on mysteries - the
2017 protagonist's twin brother disappearing, and a murder in 2037's
utopian sector, whose raison d'etre is its lack of crime. Oh, and it
starts with a UFO. From the sound of things, this may be the only K-
drama I list that could fully stand up to comparisons with the best
of Western speculative TV, and it kills me that it's now trapped in a
Western company's clumsy power plays. The 2017 protagonist is played
by Yeo Jin-Goo of <Reunited Worlds>, #137 sv KoCoWa 4, <Orange
Marmalade>, #142 sv KoCoWa 5, <Jackpot>, #183 sv Viu 7. Paywalled in
October 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Circle>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Circle.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6666218/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5028/Circle%3A_Two_Worlds_Connected/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas. Viu Philippines may have it, so probably
not unavailable worldwide.

208. <Bong Soon - a Cyborg in Love>, Naver 2016 (12 quarter-hour
episodes)
A cyborg is designed to shut down if she starts to feel love.
Fortunately, the object of her interest is a whizbang programmer.
(Wait a minute - how do you "shut down" a cyborg, a largely organic
being?) Paywalled in July 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Bong_Soon_-_a_Cyborg_in_Love.php>
<https://mydramalist.com/17371-bong-soon-a-cyborg-in-love>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4874/Bong_Soon_-_a_Cyborg_in_Love/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, and apparently unavailable worldwide.

69. <Home Sweet Home>, KBS 2016 (1 episode)
Some people just don't appreciate... See #69 sv YouTube 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4980/Drama_Showcase/> (dead;
Americas)
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4980/4/Drama_Showcase/> (dead)

138. <My Love From Another Star>, SBS 2013-2014 (21 episodes)
Stranded alien. See #138 sv KoCoWa 5.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4325/My_Love_From_Another_Star/>
(dead; Americas)

140. <I'm Not a Robot>, MBC 2017-2018 (32 half-episodes)
Complain to the Better Business Bureau. See #140 sv KoCoWa 5.
Paywalled while still airing in January 2018 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5139/I%27m_Not_a_Robot/> (dead;
paywalled, but apparently only for the latest episodes, something
DramaFever had historically reliably screwed up; Americas)

167. <Are You Human Too?>, KBS2 2018 (36 half-episodes)
<Double Star> with a robot protagonist. See #167 sv Viu 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5193/Are_You_Human_Too%3F/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
In limbo in the Americas.

171. <Duel>, OCN 2017 (16 episodes)
Cloning and crime. See #171 sv Viu 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5031/Duel/> (dead; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas.

Horror (1):

209. <Doll House>, Naver 2014 (12 6-minute episodes)
A young woman seeking housing finds a boarding school run by a
professor. But on moving in she gets not schooling but scares. Will
she ever leave? Certainly horror, possibly speculative.
Paywalled in November 2016 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Doll_House.php>
<https://mydramalist.com/12000-doll-house>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4600/Doll_House/> (dead;
Americas)
Surprisingly, *not* in limbo in the Americas, as I'll explain in an
omissions post tonight.

[Joe Bernstein]

Miscellaneous (7):

210. <Secret Investigation Record>, tvN 2010 (12 episodes, premiered
weekly Friday midnights)
Also known as "Joseon X-Files". But they took the trouble to find
actual Joseon records of supernatural-seeming mysteries to pit the
protagonists against. Notable as a major K-drama *without* a romance;
and as one of the few on which "MisterX" and Dramabeans agree: both
consider it among the best K-dramas ever.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Secret_Investigation_Record>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon_X-Files>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Joseon_X-Files_-_Secret_Book.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2146531/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/3908/Secret_Investigation_Record/>
(dead; Americas, UK, Ireland, Australia, and I think this is the
first one whose list included Oman)
In limbo in the Americas and probably lots of other places, but Viki
appears to have it *somewhere*.

211. <Idle Mermaid>, tvN 2014 (10 episodes premiered weekly late
Thursdays)
A mermaid uses a drifting smartphone to learn about the human world,
falls in love with a celebrity, and starts re-enacting "The Little
Mermaid". Her story is said to be quirky and charming.
This was the show I chose as the first I'd start watching during
its premiere, but I lost the chance when it was cut, with very little
warning, from 14 to 10 episodes; aggrieved, I still haven't watched
it. At that time only cable shows were subject to such cuts, but
more recently the networks have begun sharpening the axes they'd last
used (to any great extent, anyhow) in 1996-1997.
<http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Surplus_Princess>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idle_Mermaid>
<http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Idle_Mermaid.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4016396/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4547/Idle_Mermaid/> (dead;
Americas)
Also at Viki (Americas).

212. <Nail Shop Paris>, MBC QueeN 2013 (10 episodes premiered weekly
late Friday nights)
Re #16 sv Tubi 1 I mentioned that cross-dressing Women are common in
historicals. They're also common in modern-set dramas, entirely due
to the success of <Coffee Prince>, mentioned in the introduction.
Here a blocked writer finds a young man inspiring; he works at an all-
male nail salon, so she gets a job there. This revives her childhood
acquaintance with gumihos, lets her meet a ghost, etc. Famously bad;
may actually be so bad it's good. The writer is played by a former
member of KARA (the one from #198 above, <Have You Ever Had Coffee
with an Angel?>).
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Nail_Shop_Paris>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Nail_Shop_Paris.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3280580/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4271/Nail_Shop_Paris/> (dead;
Americas, UK, Ireland)
In limbo in those places; probably unavailable elsewhere.

25. <Love Cells>, Naver 2014-2015 (2 seasons, 15 seven-minute and 12
quarter-hour episodes)
Two stories of errant "love cells" and the cat they put in human form.
See #25 sv Netflix 1. Season 1 was paywalled in October 2017, but
404 on October 15, 2018 on the eve of the site's closure; season 2
was paywalled in July 2017 - both per the Internet Archive.
Season 1 <https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4595/Love_Cells/>
Season 2 <https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4812/Love_Cells_2/>
(both paywalled; both dead; both Americas)
And yes, also dropped at US Netflix, so in limbo at least here.

48. <After School: Lucky or Not> season 2, Sohu and DramaFever 2014 (12
quarter-hour episodes)
Magical missions for students. See #48 sv Netflix 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4752/After_School%3A_Lucky_or_Not_-_Season_2/>
(dead)
Netflix has also dropped it in the US, so it's in limbo here, and
probably elsewhere. The Internet Archive's last capture of this URL,
from January 2016, is too early for region info, but does link to
season 1, presumably then available at DramaFever but dropped by the
time of my July 2018 list.

82. <Oh My Grace>, DramaFever 2017 (7 ten-minute episodes)
Transitive property of rivers. See #82 sv YouTube 5 (but only three
episodes are lawfully uploaded to YouTube).
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5005/Oh_My_Grace/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
I would *expect*, however, that DramaFever paywalled it and had a
worldwide license, whether or not that would've been shown by the
pages the Internet Archive would've captured.

144. <Moorim School>, KBS2 2016 (16 episodes)
Odd events at a differently odd school. See #144 sv KoCoWa 6.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4860/Moorim_School/> (dead;
Americas)

From here to the end of this post, all cross references.

Gumihos (3):

14. <Gu Family Book>, MBC 2013 (24 episodes)
Fantastical gumiho story. See #14 sv Tubi 1.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4244/Gu_Family_Book/> (dead;
Americas)

123. <Gumiho: Tale of the Fox Child>, KBS2 2010 (18 episodes)
Dark gumiho story. See #123 sv KoCoWa 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/3862/Gumiho%3A_Tale_of_the_Fox_Child/>
(dead; *probably* not paywalled; Americas)

161. <My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox>, SBS 2010 (16 episodes)
Light gumiho story, my favourite. See #161 sv Viu 2.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/721/My_Girlfriend_is_a_Nine-Tailed_Fox/>
(dead; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas.

Near future (2):

49. <Peninsula>, TV Chosun 2012 (18 episodes)
Near future reunited Koreas. See #49 sv Netflix 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4087/Peninsula/> (dead; Americas)
Since US Netflix has also dropped it, in limbo at least here. Nor
did I find it anywhere else, but given the difficulty of searching on
the English titles, that just means not at Viu Singapore nor in the
Viki lists I've so far checked (UK, Australia, Singapore).

68. <Missing Korea>, Naver 2015 (6 ten-minute episodes)
Near future story. See #68 sv YouTube 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4818/Missing_Korea/> (dead;
Americas)

Time travel from the pre-modern past (2):

131. <Rooftop Prince>, SBS 2012 (20 episodes)
Time travel forward. See #131 sv KoCoWa 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4101/Rooftop_Prince/> (dead;
Americas)

168. <Queen In Hyun's Man>, tvN 2012 (16 episodes)
Time travel forward. See #168 sv Viu 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4116/Queen_In_Hyun%27s_Man/>
(dead; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, probably unavailable other places too.

Magic items (2):

42. <9 Seconds - Eternal Time>, Naver 2015 (7 quarter-hour episodes)
Time-freezing camera. See #42 sv Netflix 2. Paywalled in July 2017
per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4828/9_Seconds_-_Eternal_Time/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas)
Since US Netflix has also dropped it, in limbo at least here.

170. <Signal>, tvN 2016 (16 episodes)
Police walkie-talkie bridges decades. See #170 sv Viu 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4686/Signal/> (dead; Americas)

[Joe Bernstein]

Not very speculative (26):

213. <The Kingdom of the Wind>, KBS2 2008-2009 (36 episodes)
Set two generations after Jumong, and focused on a prophecy, this
*should* be a fantasy drama, and is widely said to be, and is based
on a comic book in which the characters fight monsters. But I'm not
sure there's anything more fantastical than that prophecy in this
*drama*, from English Wikipedia's exhaustingly detailed plot summary.
Kim Kyu-Chul is in it; his next appearance should be in the last post.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Kingdom_of_the_Winds>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_the_Winds>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Land_of_wind.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2819226/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/29/The_Kingdom_of_the_Wind/>
(dead; Americas)
In limbo in the Americas, and as far as I know unavailable worldwide.

214. <The Great Seer>, SBS 2012-2013 (35 episodes)
A historical centring on the Joseon military coup against the Goryeo
dynasty in 1392; the titular character, who can see the pasts and
futures of people, advises the general who becomes first Joseon king.
Apparently there's other magic, but the focus is on the politics.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Great_Seer>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Seer>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_The_Great_Seer.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2896416/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4156/The_Great_Seer/> (dead;
Americas)
Also at Viki (UK, Australia). I'm not sure whether it's in limbo in
the US or not. A search on a computer that's blocked from most .com
sites, including Netflix, produces this result:
<https://www.netflix.com/watch/80111877/>
but on my phone, which is not so blocked, typing that URL in gets me
not a 404 but no response at all, just a return to the previous site,
even if I replace "watch" with Netflix's current "title"; and doing
the search produces no such result. Perhaps Netflix has a license
for the cubic foot of space that includes the computer's CPU, but not
for the nearby one that includes my phone? How about the cubic foot
in which *your* computer resides?
Hmmm. On the free-range computer from which I'm posting this, both
the watch and the title URLs resolve to:
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80111845>
which is for a Chinese TV show. So I think it really is in limbo in
the US.

51. <Click Your Heart>, Naver 2016 (3 of 7 quarter-hour episodes)
Choose your own drama; two mild speculations. See #51 sv Netflix 3.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4888/Click_Your_Heart/> (dead;
Americas)
Since US Netflix has also dropped it, in limbo at least here.

106. <Oh My Geum Bi>, KBS2 2016-2017 (16 episodes)
A sick child tells true fortunes. See #106 sv OnDemandKorea 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4977/Oh_My_Geum_Bi/> (dead;
Americas)

148. <History of a Salaryman>, SBS 2012 (22 episodes)
Speculative drug in otherwise non-speculative story of corporate
skullduggery. See #148 sv KoCoWa 7.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4090/History_of_a_Salaryman/>
(dead; Americas)

215. <Lilac>, DramaCUBE 2014
Third story in "KARA: Secret Love". The KARA member, dancing under
dizzying lights at a school festival, falls, then falls comatose.
Do the ensuing events really happen? A spoiling review I read
praised this most of the five.
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4204460/>
Don't say I didn't warn you about the spoilers (for the whole omnibus,
not just this drama):
<http://www.kdramalove.com/Kara.html>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4486/5/KARA%253A_Secret_Love/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4486/6/KARA%253A_Secret_Love/>
(both paywalled; both dead; both Americas)
Probably at Viki somewhere.

85. <Healer>, KBS2 2014-2015 (20 episodes)
Possible time traveller. See #85 sv YouTube 6.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4550/Healer/> (dead; Americas)

150. <Pinocchio>, SBS 2014-2015 (20 episodes)
The dastardly media won't let me tell you whether this is fantasy or
not, but DramaFever, too, said it is. See #150 sv KoCoWa 7.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4544/Pinocchio/> (dead; Americas)

[Joe Bernstein]

"Not very speculative" continued

216. <Magic School>, Naver 2017 (16 quarter-hour episodes)
(This is sometimes attributed to cable channel JTBC, which did
produce it, but it premiered *on* Naver, not on cable.)
Apparently a would-be heartwarming short drama about four students of
magic tricks, not of wizardry, but I list it here just in case.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Magic_School>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Magic_School.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7160924/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5123/Magic_School/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
In limbo in the Americas, possibly unavailable worldwide.

217. <Someone You May Know>, Naver / JTBC 2017 (10 ?quarter-hour
episodes)
A workaholic woman's boyfriend dies in a car accident while trying to
text her. She gets ten tries at his phone's passcode to see what he
was saying. Meanwhile, a man with the same name and similar looks
(but different actor), disregarding her grief, is trying to win her
love. Nobody's synopsised it; I figure maybe there's a ghost.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/People_You_May_Know>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Someone_Noticeable.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7196752/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5097/Someone_You_May_Know/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.
I did copy DramaFever's summary, the longest online, from Google's
cache while that was still up. (Ditto <Oh My Grace>.)
Presumably in limbo in the Americas, and again I don't see lawful-
looking sites elsewhere carrying it, but haven't searched on all
eighty, or eighty thousand, English titles, so who knows? *Most*
K-dramas' English titles used to mutate unpredictably, but now many
official ones, built into promo materials, actually stick. Obviously
this one's more traditionally unstable.

218. <Stranger (Secret Forest)>, tvN 2017 (16 episodes)
Near as I can tell, though it gets a ton of praise, this is strictly
a crime drama, not even featuring a romance. For some reason
DramaFever listed it as "sci-fi". Searching for that reason I found
*nothing* but false positives, but *just in case*, here it is. It
does feature Bae Doona, mentioned sv #52 sv Netflix 4. Paywalled in
October 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Forest_of_Secrets>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_(2017_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Secret_Forest.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6461346/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5032/Stranger_%28Secret_Forest%29/>
(dead; paywalled; Americas)
Also at Viki somewhere, and also at Netflix at least in the US:
<https://www.netflix.com/title/80187302>

23. <Missing Nine>, MBC 2017 (16 episodes)
<Lost> plus investigations, minus speculation. See #23 sv Tubi 2.
Paywalled in July 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4941/Missing_Nine/> (dead;
paywalled; Americas, UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria)
Since this was the only K-drama I list that Tubi offered me when I
posed as Brazilian, it probably *isn't* in limbo in much of the
Americas, but may well be in the other listed countries and *many*
more (the longest list, and the second Oman spotting; I'm not sure
DramaFever licensed it for Antarctica, but the list reaches every
other continent). I can't date Tubi's acquisition of this show
either through the Archive (I prompted its first capture of the page)
or through gossip, so don't know whether MBC was two-timing Drama-
Fever (which claimed exclusivity), or reacted quickly to the latter's
demise. Tubi has worked with MBC since the former started in 2014,
but this drama isn't part of the sequential sets of dramas it has,
rather one of those Tubi presumably picked one by one.

88. <Dance From Afar>, KBS 2016 (1 episode)
Mourning the director of a play about robots. See #88 sv YouTube 6.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4980/Drama_Showcase/> (dead;
Americas)
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4980/9/Drama_Showcase/> (dead)

107. <Jumong>, MBC 2006-2007 (81 episodes)
De-fantasticised historical. See #107 sv OnDemandKorea 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/11/Jumong/> (dead; Americas)

110. <Hong Gil Dong>, KBS2 2008 (24 episodes)
Non-speculative drama based on fantasy book. See #110 sv
OnDemandKorea 4.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/320/Hong_Gil_Dong/> (dead;
Americas)

111. <Lookout>, MBC 2017 (32 half-episodes)
Vigilantes, one a hacker, probably not speculative. See #111 sv
OnDemandKorea 5. *Not* paywalled immediately after it ended, per the
Internet Archive's July 18, 2017 last capture.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5037/Lookout/> (dead; Americas)

112. <Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People>, MBC 2017 (30 episodes)
Non-speculative drama based on flamingly fantastical book. See #112
sv OnDemandKorea 5.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4992/Rebel%3A_Thief_of_the_People/>
(dead; Americas)

113. <Madame Antoine>, JTBC 2016 (16 episodes)
Fake fortuneteller in real experiment - speculative? See #113 sv
OnDemandKorea 5.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4825/Madame_Antoine/> (dead;
Americas)

149. <Mask>, SBS 2015 (20 episodes)
Thriller featuring doppelganger; uncanny. See #149 sv KoCoWa 7.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4692/Mask/> (dead; Americas)

151. <Hyde, Jekyll, and I>, SBS 2015 (20 episodes)
Multiple personalities, possibly speculative. See #151 sv KoCoWa 7.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4601/Hyde%2C_Jekyll%2C_and_I/>
(dead; Americas)

152. <Remember (SBS)>, SBS 2015-2016 (20 episodes)
Photographic memory vs. Alzheimer's, probably non-speculative. See
#152 sv KoCoWa 7.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4823/Remember_%28SBS%29/> (dead;
Americas)

153. <Cinderella Man>, MBC 2009 (16 episodes)
"Prince and the Pauper", probably not speculative. See #153 sv
KoCoWa 8.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/40/Cinderella_Man/>
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4365/Cinderella_Man_-_Doblado_al_Espa%C3%B1ol/>
(both dead; both Americas)

154. <Ghost>, SBS 2012 (20 episodes)
Hacking, probably not speculative. See #154 sv KoCoWa 8.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4126/Ghost/> (dead; Americas)

155. <My Lovable Girl>, SBS 2014 (16 episodes)
Probably non-speculative romance. See #155 sv KoCoWa 8.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4539/My_Lovable_Girl/> (dead;
Americas)

156. <Beautiful Gong Shim>, SBS 2016 (20 episodes)
Ugly duckling story, probably non-speculative. See #156 sv KoCoWa 8.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4917/Beautiful_Gong_Shim/> (dead;
Americas)

181. <I Remember You>, KBS2 2015 (16 episodes)
Serial killer story called uncanny. See #181 sv Viu 7.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4690/i-remember-you/> (dead)
This URL isn't in the Internet Archive, so no paywall/region info.

185. <Save Me>, OCN 2017 (16 episodes)
The whisper heard round the world. See #185 sv Viu 7. Paywalled in
October 2017 per the Internet Archive.
<https://www.dramafever.com/drama/5076/Save_Me/> (dead; paywalled;
Americas)
In limbo in the Americas; not sure about the rest of the world.


On July 6 DramaFever had just over 160 Korean movies. None of those
I checked at the Internet Archive were available free with ads, which
is consistent with my memory. The number puts the site well behind
AsianCrush, a little behind YouTube, but well ahead of everyone else;
unsurprisingly, many titles were new to me. Although DF had some
recent hits, it also seems to have explored quite a bit; I saw
Kickstarter-funded and student movies in there. (Indeed the one I'd
watched, though I chose it because a fairly well-known guy had been
its music director, and DramaFever chose it because it had appeared
on TV, *and* though DF no longer had it by 7/6/2018, had started life
as a student project.) Lots of the movies are speculative. I didn't
examine the list in depth; Korean movies seem less often restricted
to exclusivity with a streamer than dramas, so it seemed pointless.
DramaFever's other stuff once included some BBC shows delivered to
it for their Latin American audience. But as of 7/6/2018 it included
several seasons of <The Bachelorette>, no doubt with the same logic,
a few obscure English-language movies mostly with Korean links, 16
Japanese dramas, 24 Korean variety shows, and of things in Mandarin
and/or Cantonese, 109 dramas (very heavily speculative; a few are now
at Tubi), 26 movies (also largely speculative) and 4 variety shows.


Three sad songs to mourn DramaFever:

Song A. "Fox Rain", written by G. Gorilla, sung by Lee Sun-Hee for
the sound track and the soundtrack album for <My Girlfriend Is a
Gumiho>, 2010:

Song B. "Back to Old Love", composed by Ahn Ji-Hong, sung by Lim
Kyung-Hwa for the sound track and the soundtrack album for <M>, 1994:

That's my translation
of the song title, quite possibly wrong. DramaFever was the only law-
abiding streamer that gave evidence of actually having had <M>:
<https://www.dramafever.com/es/drama/417/m/> (dead)
The Archive doesn't remember a time when they *did* have it, though.

Song C. "Lost Child", composed by Min Woong-Shik and Lee Jong-Hoon,
sung by IU for her album <Lost and Found>, 2008, video directed by
Cho Soo-Hyun:

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

This week two fantasy K-dramas have premiered: MBC's <Spring Turns
to Spring> started Wednesday, and as you're more likely to have heard,
Netflix's first season of <Kingdom> became available today. It's
taking me a long time to go through Viki's lists (which include
<Spring>, as do KoCoWa's, both paywalled), and I'm still unsure
whether I can even finish Viki in *February* (it essentially depends
on the details of the government shutdown). So I decided to tackle
something a bit more timely: forthcoming speculative K-dramas. As
of *last night*, there's exceptionally good news in this regard (see
F. at the top of the next post), so it's even more timely than I
thought.

My main source is a DramaWiki page:
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Upcoming_KDrama>. I didn't turn up a lot
of dramas mentioned elsewhere that aren't on this list, although the
list is *very* short on Web dramas.

Before I start, #52 sv Netflix 4, the first season of <Kingdom>
(whose second season has been ordered, and which apparently is meant
to consist of three total) has already been screened for critics; I
found two reviews:
<https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-korean-original-kingdom-mixes-zombies-local-history-1177655>
<https://www.cnet.com/news/netflix-series-kingdom-is-another-slick-zombie-thriller-from-asia-review/>

OK. I think the main issue here is the chance of these becoming
available in the English-speaking world, and I think the dramas in
question fall into four groups in this regard.

I don't give episode counts, because you can't be sure about those
until a drama actually concludes.

1. Dramas actually scheduled (5). The schedulers would lose a good
bit of face if these didn't happen. Much depends on where they're
scheduled to premiere; less on how good, and/or popular with South
Korean viewers, they turn out to be.

A. <Item>, scheduled for MBC February 2019
Supernatural items come to the attention of a prosecutor and a
profiler working to foil a conspiracy. Because this is meant to be
an MBC flagship, it's pretty certain to reach the West. To star Joo
Ji-Hoon, already flagged as star of <Kingdom> and a bunch of other
speculative dramas; he's well on his way to getting typecast here.
Teasers have been released this month including

<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Item>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Item_(TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The_Item.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9278396/>

B. <Possessed>, scheduled for OCN February 2019
A woman reclusive because of her psychic powers is recruited to help
a police detective. Apparently they face the summoned soul of a
serial killer. OCN dramas seem to have a hard time getting streamed
in America, even though OCN is a CJ company, possibly because they
*all involve the police* and usually also special powers, and it can
get hard to tell them apart. Viu Singapore seems to make a point of
acquiring them. If you don't live in Viu's service area and don't
want to pay VPN fees, you should probably get involved in Viki's
drama-requesting message boards. Teasers have been released this
month, accessible via
<https://www.hancinema.net/video-new-character-teasers-added-for-the-upcoming-korean-drama-possessed-125549.html>
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Possessed>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Possessed.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9537306/>
Amusingly, this drama is pushing the idiots who've been trying to
retitle the 2009 drama <Soul> to reconsider.

C. <The Light in Your Eyes>, scheduled for JTBC February 2019
A woman finds herself aging *way too fast*, depriving her of most of
the time she could've been expected to live; she apparently gets
mixed up with a slacker who's wasting most of the time he could be
expected to live, which implies there's a Moral here. Viki recently
got rid of an amazing number of JTBC dramas, and hasn't been picking
more up; I suspect JTBC wants too much for OnDemandKorea, so that
pretty much leaves general-purposes or non-Americas streamers, most
obviously Netflix or Viu. I'm assuming JTBC is greedy (and their
dramas I've seen are good enough to justify that), but it's also
possible that the combined hostility of the networks and CJ is
closing doors in their faces. (DramaFever's closure hit JTBC pretty
hard.) One teaser released this month is at
<https://vimeo.com/311254642>.
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_Light_in_Your_Eyes>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_The%20Light%20in%20Your%20Eyes.php>

D. <He Is Psychometric>, scheduled for tvN March 2019
Apparently *another* drama about special powers used to fight crime.
As a tvN drama, this would have to be pretty bad to *not* reach the
American streamers. A script reading took place in January 2019:
<https://www.soompi.com/article/1292875wpp/got7s-jinyoung-shin-ye-eun-gather-first-script-reading-tvns-new-drama>
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/He_Is_Psychometric>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Is_Psychometric>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_He_Is_Psychometric.php>

E. <Dan, Only Love>, scheduled for KBS2 May 2019
A troublemaking angel is exiled to Earth, presumably until he does
one or more good deeds, and since this is a K-drama (and *not* about
fighting crime), that means romance. Opposite him is a cold dancer
who doesn't believe in love. See also drama T below, which I
strongly suspect is an earlier version. My guess is that this is to
be a flagship; KBS flagships less consistently reach America than MBC
ones, but it should have a good chance.
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2019/01/lee-dong-gun-and-l-to-join-shin-hye-sun-on-new-kbs-fantasy-drama/>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_One_and_Only_Love.php>

[Joe Bernstein]

For the second group, there's pretty strong evidence that they will
exist - indeed, two already *do* exist - but not that they'll reach
the South Korean public, let alone the international one, because
none is linked to a broadcaster, cable channel, or even streamer.

F. <City of Stars>
Two boys grow up as friends and rivals; as men, both get into the
South Korean space program, and wind up crewing a mission of vital
importance for Earth's future. One way dramas' projectors try to gin
up interest is publicly offering lead roles to famous actors. That
was the first sign of this drama's existence:
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2016/12/hyun-bin-offered-astronaut-role-for-sci-fi-drama-city-of-stars/>
Amusingly, hard on the heels of that announcement came another - a
friend of this actor's, saying he'd really like to play the other
astronaut. Neither actually happened, and it really seemed the drama
would remain a pipe dream, but what a wonderful surprise I got
yesterday:
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2019/01/byun-yo-han-cast-as-astronaut-in-city-of-stars/>
See, this is a casting *confirmation*, very much more serious than a
mere offer. They apparently plan to start filming soon. Hooray!
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/City_of_Stars>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_City_of_Stars.php>

G. <Absolute Boyfriend>, possibly associated with OCN
<The Silver Metal Lover> as K-drama; actually an adaptation of an
already-much-adapted Japanese comic. Extends Yeo Jin-Goo's streak of
speculative dramas. English Wikipedia claims filming completed in
2018; I don't find confirmation of that, exactly (their citation is
to an article saying an actor in the show talked with someone else,
which doesn't prove much), but filming certainly *started* in 2018,
and it's hard to see why it *wouldn't* have completed. I don't know
whether this is meant to be a Web or a real drama, nor why it's
dangling. The last two of the following URLs say it *isn't* dangling,
is sold to OCN.
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2018/07/absolute-boyfriend-remake-drama-is-a-go-with-yeo-jin-gu-minah/>
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Absolute_Boyfriend_(2018)>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_Boyfriend_(South_Korean_TV_series)>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Absolute_Boyfriend.php>
<https://www.viki.com/tv/35861c-absolute-boyfriend?locale=en>
This is a "fan channel", a way for fans to appeal for support for
Viki carrying a drama.

H. <How Are You Bread>
About a baker whose bread grants wishes. Meant to be a Web drama, so
I have no idea at all why, given that filming completed in May *2016*,
it hasn't shown up on Naver, Netflix, or *somewhere* already. Maybe
they ran out of money for post-production.
<https://www.soompi.com/article/856093wpp/exos-suho-wraps-up-filming-for-upcoming-web-drama>
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/How_Are_You_Bread>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Are_You_Bread>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_How_Are_U_Bread.php>
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6212852/>
<https://www.viki.com/tv/35472c-how-are-you-bread?locale=en>
Another fan channel.

The third group *are* associated with Korean channels or streamers,
so have a good chance of coming into existence, but don't exist yet
*and* aren't scheduled yet.

I. <Hotel de Luna>, tvN
About a building that looks decrepit to us humans, but to ghosts is
actually a luxury hotel. IU, the singer whose videos I've pointed to
in this thread, has been offered the leading role of the manager and
is seriously considering it; the writers have written four previous
speculative dramas. All news dates to this month.
<https://www.soompi.com/article/1292309wpp/tvn-responds-new-reports-hong-sisterss-next-drama-ius-potential-casting>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Hotel_Del_Luna.php>

J. <Abyss>, tvN
A "soul abyss" switches not the bodies but their beauty of two people:
a beautiful prosecutor and an ugly man become ordinary. The woman
has certainly been cast, which makes this report of an attempted
casting more serious than, for example, the one cited above for <City
of Stars>.
<https://www.soompi.com/article/1290969wpp/ahn-hyo-seop-talks-star-opposite-park-bo-young-new-tvn-drama>
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Abyss>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Abyss.php>

K. <Aseudal Chronicles>, JTBC
More often referred to in English as "Asadal", though incorrectly.
I had high hopes that this would be the first secondary world K-drama,
but no, it's just another historical. Except it has elves: a major
character is the "last surviving Noeantal, a race different from
humans". And it's set pretty far BC, unlike any previous K-drama
known to me. Heo Jung-Eun, the child star of <Oh My Geum-Bi>, #106
sv OnDemandKorea 4, is in this. Filming began in December 2018 per
<http://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/1S8JUTIEUA/GL0102> (Korean)
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/Aseudal_Chronicles>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asadal_Chronicles> (source of the
filming cite)
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Asdal_Chronicles.php>

L. <Man Who Bakes Bread>, tvN
A cat becomes able to transform into human form. Apparently romance
with the cat's keeper follows. An idol with acting experience was
seriously offered the cat's role in December 2018:
<http://kpoplove.koreadaily.com/btobs-yook-sung-jae-offered-lead-role-in-fantasy-drama/>

M. <School Nurse Ahn Eun Young>, Netflix
Netflix is sticking with speculation in its original K-dramas. This
time the titular leading lady can see and exorcise ghosts. Announced
last month:
<https://media.netflix.com/en/press-releases/netflix-announces-korean-original-series-school-nurse-ahn-eun-young>
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/School_Nurse_Ahn_Eun_Young>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_School_Nurse_Ahn_Eun-young.php>

N. <When the Devil Calls Your Name>, tvN
A man who's sold his soul to the devil tries to negotiate a longer
life; to get that, he must collect three other contracted souls. A
casting confirmation came out in October 2018.
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2018/10/jung-kyung-ho-cast-in-tvns-when-the-devil-calls-your-name/>
<https://wiki.d-addicts.com/When_the_Devil_Calls_Your_Name>
<https://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_When_the_Devil_Calls_Your_Name.php>

[Joe Bernstein]

53. <Love Alarm>, Netflix (see also Netflix 4)
What was supposed to be Netflix's first original K-drama has not
progressed as smoothly as <Kingdom>, but a casting confirmation came
in October 2018, and an announcement in September 2018 claimed
production would begin *in* 2018.
<https://www.hellokpop.com/tv-movies/kim-so-hyun-netflix-drama-love-alarm/>
<http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/movie/30353956>

The next two are part of a four-drama announcement; the people who
made <Descendants of the Sun>, #3 sv Hulu, made a deal with JTBC to
adapt four stories. Two of these adaptations have now appeared (one
is speculative, and will either be in the Viki post or the last one);
these are the other two, so there's every reason to think they'll
happen too, even though there's been no news since April 2017.
O. <Gi Gi Gwe Gwe>, JTBC
An omnibus of supernatural stories.
P. <Moving>, JTBC
Apparently a superhero story? (The title is impossible to search on.)
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/04/descended-from-the-suns-production-company-announces-new-drama-lineup-with-jtbc/>

Q. <Five Year>, local originator unknown, but to appear on Viki
*American* figures announced this show in February 2016, saying that
Viki had agreed to carry a sixteen-episode drama which would be, or
be part of, a five-season story. In January 2017 came news that the
projectors were trying to involve Latin America in some way. The
story is of people facing the imminent end of the Earth via a huge
meteor, so it isn't clear to me whether the five seasons are supposed
to be a single story, or perhaps set in five continents? Anyway, the
main creator is a busy guy - he's since moved to Amazon, though
apparently this show isn't to accompany him there - so I've heard
nothing new, but stories about him still regularly mention this
project, so presumably it hasn't been abandoned.
<https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walking-dead-creators-end-world-drama-series-will-air-latin-america-961727>
<https://www.skybound.com/five-year/tv/tv-filmwere-partnering-with-viki-to-produce-five-year/>

The last group have neither reality nor alliances on their side, and
can reasonably be considered vapourous until further notice. (But
this is where I had <City of Stars> until yesterday, so you never can
tell.)

R. <Love Like a Person>
A robot-human love story. Offered to cast a famous actress as the
human in December 2017.
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/12/yoon-eun-hye-offered-new-android-drama-love-like-a-person/>

S. <Dreamcide>
A zombie story, but definitely not related to <Kingdom>, and is
wrapped in a further novum: focuses on a boy who can dream the
future, and dreams the zombie epidemic, which makes him dedicated to
preventing it. A press release in July 2017 named many names;
several *don't* have this show listed among their works.
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/07/zombie-webtoon-remake-dreamcide-hyped-as-hallyus-next-big-hit/>

T. <Goodbye Angel>
About a troublemaking angel exiled to Earth and her interaction with
a cold, unloving man. I interpret this as an early version of E.
above, and if I'm right, this definitely won't happen. Lead offered
to an idol with acting experience in July 2017.
<http://www.dramabeans.com/2017/07/minah-up-for-leading-role-in-fallen-angel-rom-com/>

Titles entirely impossible to search on, which *may* but *needn't* be
speculative:

U. <Gentleman>
V. <www>, tvN

Have fun with these, if you will.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

A week ago I wrote, concerning upcoming speculative Korean TV dramas,

Post by Joe Bernstein
OK. I think the main issue here is the chance of these becoming
available in the English-speaking world, and I think the dramas in
question fall into four groups in this regard.
1. Dramas actually scheduled (5). The schedulers would lose a good
bit of face if these didn't happen. Much depends on where they're
scheduled to premiere; less on how good, and/or popular with South
Korean viewers, they turn out to be.

In other words, more than four groups. Sorry.

Post by Joe Bernstein
B. <Possessed>, scheduled for OCN February 2019
Amusingly, this drama is pushing the idiots who've been trying to
retitle the 2009 drama <Soul> to reconsider.

Sorry, That would be the 2009 drama <Soul>, #20 sv Tubi 2, also
carried by KoCoWa, both under the new title <Possessed>. Viki stuck
with the established English title <Soul>. I'm also being too
optimistic, apparently; as of today, Tubi and KoCoWa are still using
the new title. That title must come from MBC, those streamers'
common source for the drama, and seems to me MBC is being greedy,
having already pre-empted one English word for K-drama use, now
trying to get another *for the same drama*.

Neither Tubi nor KoCoWa is at all likely to pick up a Korean cable
drama, though Tubi ought to find OCN's police and crime dramas an
excellent fit actually, and neither operates outside the Americas, so
I'm not sure it'll matter except in confusion for viewers. (Viki's
license also seems to be Americas-only; I found it in CA, JM and US.)

Post by Joe Bernstein
C. <The Light in Your Eyes>, scheduled for JTBC February 2019
Viki recently
got rid of an amazing number of JTBC dramas, and hasn't been picking
more up; I suspect JTBC wants too much for OnDemandKorea, so that
pretty much leaves general-purposes or non-Americas streamers, most
obviously Netflix or Viu. I'm assuming JTBC is greedy (and their
dramas I've seen are good enough to justify that), but it's also
possible that the combined hostility of the networks and CJ is
closing doors in their faces. (DramaFever's closure hit JTBC pretty
hard.)

Imagine my surprise today when, listing Viki's UK dramas, I found
most of those dropped JTBC dramas back in the list, where they also
turned up in the US lists I just downloaded. Whew. It would've been
*no fun at all* to spend the next few years watching many of the best
dramas bypass the Americas because of corporate conflicts.

Viki's lists, as this implies, churn amazingly. I'll be writing on
the basis of lists compiled this week for every country I'm trying to
cover except Trinidad (yes, I found a way to do Jamaica). Every
country seems to have a few unique presences or at least absences in
its list, but because Viki's overall lists change daily, I can't
really be sure of that. (In my two most protracted tours of a Viki
list, the number of shows listed changed while I worked.) I'll do
what I can to update before posting, not earlier, probably, than the
end of next week, but for example I'm not likely to do much to
*update* Jamaica, despite its list's genuine differences with the US
and Canadian ones.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Post by Joe Bernstein
It's
taking me a long time to go through Viki's lists (which include
<Spring>, as do KoCoWa's, both paywalled), and I'm still unsure
whether I can even finish Viki in *February* (it essentially depends
on the details of the government shutdown).

About the time I wrote that, the shutdown ended, but turns out
someone wanted to tame a little the hubris of my claim that that was
the only obstacle.

So for the first time since I became homeless in Seattle in 2012, the
city is getting actual winter. Not a whole season, of course - it's
already too late for that, I'm fairly confident - but anyway at least
a couple of weeks. We just dug out from 4" of snow that were
predicted to be less than 1", so no preparation was made; oops. The
predictions now are for well over a foot. That would be the first
time that much snow fell here since the mid-1990s.

This is an obstacle because the university whose computers I use to
do most of the work on these posts is extremely snow-averse; I've now
seen it close entirely three times over snow, twice this week. One
would hope we'd prepare better for what's coming, but I don't know
whether one's hopes would be justified; and one would hope the school
wouldn't actually cancel over a week of classes, but, um, ditto.
Only one other university in town offers better computer access; but
I have reason to think that I can't take much advantage of that owing
to how much I and my clothing smell, about which I can't afford to do
much at present. Everywhere I think I *could* be during the school
closures I expect next week and for all I know the next several weeks,
my computer access is strictly limited.

So. Viki's post could come by the end of next week, the last post by
the end of this month, but at this point, even assuming a) no more
shutdowns and b) that astronomy really is stronger than meteorology,
I still think it could be March before I can post anything.

Joe Bernstein

[k***@gmail.com]

Last Wednesday I wrote:

[Seattle has been getting actual winter weather, which has the local universities, where I've done most of the work for this thread, closing day after day. The three main ones re-open today for the first time since Friday, in fact.]

Post by Joe Bernstein
So. Viki's post could come by the end of next week,

Not any more it couldn't.

Post by Joe Bernstein
the last post by
the end of this month, but at this point, even assuming a) no more
shutdowns and b) that astronomy really is stronger than meteorology,
I still think it could be March before I can post anything.

As a result of the closures, I ended up sleeping in a place unfamiliar to me each of the last three nights. Yesterday morning, someone took advantage of my naivete to steal my backpack. This matters because the flash drive all my work was saved on was in that backpack. (That flash drive is also where my copy of Xnews lived, which is why this post is coming via Google Groups.)

I'm still reasonably optimistic that I can actually finish in March; I'm clear on all the steps I've taken in this project, and much of the work survives in handwritten form.

Certainly lost: Time depth for Viki. I remember one drama, reputedly fantasy, which Viki has dropped since 6 July 2018, but that's about it. Whereas I have a 2016 list of DramaFever's K-dramas, I have nothing later than 2014 for Viki, until I download a new copy of the US list probably next week, and then re-do the VPN work.

Possibly lost: URLs for past, and possibly future, services by the Korean networks, to be covered in the last post. I'll have to see what broken links I can find on the Web.

So I have a lot of work to re-do, but as losses go, this is fairly minor.

Joe Bernstein

[Joe Bernstein]

Nearly five months ago, I wrote, anent this thread, a projection of
when I thought I could finish it. To recap, here are the posts still
remaing, from the thread's preface:

| 12/13 Viki (as seen from the US, the UK, Australia and Singapore)
| 12/14 Beyond law-abiding subtitled streaming sites

Post by k***@gmail.com

Post by Joe Bernstein
So. Viki's post could come by the end of next week,

Not any more it couldn't.
Yesterday morning, someone took
advantage of my naivete to steal my backpack. This matters because
the flash drive all my work was saved on was in that backpack. (That
flash drive is also where my copy of Xnews lived, which is why this
post is coming via Google Groups.)
I'm still reasonably optimistic that I can actually finish in March;

This didn't happen, because I got tired. I had an interim flash
drive, but goofed off, relative to this project, by doing other
things; and then in March or April that one was stolen *too*. I've
been trying to get a new one ever since. (If you're ever tempted to
buy something from Office Depot via Amazon: Just don't. I'm not
talking about Office Depot in general, but for some reason they treat
their via-Amazon customers very badly.) Finally a friend gave me one,
from which I'm posting now.

I'm not much more enamoured of finishing now, because frankly the
posts remaining to do are annoyingly hard work, but still, I've had
my fill of goofing off, and intend to get back to work.

Post by k***@gmail.com
I'm clear on all the steps I've taken in this project, and much of the
work survives in handwritten form.
Certainly lost: Time depth for Viki. I remember one drama, reputedly
fantasy, which Viki has dropped since 6 July 2018, but that's about
it. Whereas I have a 2016 list of DramaFever's K-dramas, I have
nothing later than 2014 for Viki, until I download a new copy of the
US list probably next week, and then re-do the VPN work.

And here we go again.

My plan at this point is to re-download on Monday both the software
with which I'll build the Viki spreadsheet, and Viki's US list. Then,
one or two countries per day, Viki's lists for Canada, Jamaica, the
UK, Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, Singapore, Australia and New
Zealand. Nigeria and Jamaica are contingent on proxy servers still
existing in both places, and on my still being able to use them on my
phone; we'll see. I expect Trinidad and Tobago still to lack proxy
servers, so expect not to cover that country, but will try again.
(It's even possible that Viki has armed itself against proxy servers,
and for that matter VPNs, since the last time I did this, but I don't
seriously expect that.)

And then do the whole thing over again, well, except the software,
31 days later.

Upshot: Viki sometime in August.

The reason for this is that one way Viki is unlike the other services
I've covered is that its list churns. When I download the whole list
quickly, it usually goes fine, but if I take a leisurely tour through
Viki's US list, the number of entries shown varies from page to page.
So basically, Viki adds or subtracts something several times per 24
hours.

Historically, Viki's K-dramas have been stickier than that, but a
month should still be enough to capture some changes specifically in
speculative K-dramas, and show you that if you want to watch
something at Viki, you'd better find time quickly, because you can
never be sure they'll keep it a few months.

(Not all their churn is title by title, either. They had two huge
blocks of stuff - a vast collection of old movies linked mainly by
actual or perceived public-domain-ness in the US, and a vast
collection of old MBC K-dramas - both of which survived curiously
untouched for years, but both of which are now altogether gone.
This is extremely annoying for me, and in particular means they
no longer have most of the non-speculative dramas I recommended in
the introduction, but because speculative K-dramas were rare in
general in those years and still rarer at MBC, it doesn't make much
difference to their lists of speculative K-dramas. Their regular
churn is what matters there.)

Post by k***@gmail.com
Possibly lost: URLs for past, and possibly future, services by the
Korean networks, to be covered in the last post. I'll have to see
what broken links I can find on the Web.

Some of the Korean networks have made big changes to their streaming
services, some haven't. This has had major effects on access to
older speculative shows, especially coupled with Viki's abandonment,
for all practical purposes, of everything older than 2010. Anyway,
I'll try to cover this as best I can in the last post, but I'm
unlikely to be able to do as good a job as I want to (another reason
I goofed off), essentially because I don't currently have both a
credit card, and my own laptop on which I'm willing to use that card,
but the first might change by fall, and the second, well, could
conceivably change by fall.

All for now. I'll watch in case anyone actually follows up to this,
but otherwise, expect more posts (Viki) in August, along with an
estimate of how much *longer* it's likely to be before the last post.

Joe Bernstein