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[Beanie Recs] Dramas for animal lovers


Ahoy, Beanies! It’s time to gather your collective genius for a recommendation series that features you and your drama knowledge. Each week we’ll drop a drama conundrum and leave it up to you to provide a drama rec, and the appropriate rationale behind it, be it long or short. Respond below!

I know dramas aren’t big on animals or animals themes that much, but I’m a huuuge animal lover and I’m looking for dramas that have cute pet storylines (like that episode with N in Tomorrow).


Have a very particular drama itch that needs scratching? In need of a Beanie Rec? Email us at hello @ dramabeans.com and we’ll feature your topic in a future post.
 
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The only one I can think of that I have watched that features an animal at all prominently is Because This is Our First Life. The cat is pretty adorable and definitely gets some attention. But wow this is a hard one for me! I'm looking forward to hearing all the other recs!

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The very first that came to my mind. A really truly adorable cat.

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I was gonna say the same show, but I see you already got to it!

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That was my immediate first thought also.

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The three baby cats/puppies in Marriage Contract really did well with providing more avenues that gradually melted the male lead's cold persona.

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Oh! Add Arthdal Chronicle's horse, Kanmoreu.

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@magichorse you've been summoned...

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As much as I appreciate the shout out, and despite how I linger so profusely in the memory of those who watched and how I have gained immortality here on dramabeans (for which I am eternally grateful), I would hardly recommend actually watching Arthdal for me alone, as I only appear in 6 out of 18 episodes, and 3 of those are such inconsequential appearances I might as well be a cameo or a ghost. So 3, 3 out of 18 episodes, and if you continue for any more than that you do so at risk of your own sanity.

The episodes in question, however, should you choose to torture yourself, are episodes 2, 3 and 4, and then cameos in 5, 7 and 8.
Please refer back to HRH, Sicarius, for a complete Carrot Ranking of the show, should you wish for a preliminary overview in order to avoid this.

But really, I have since defected from Arthdal, along with my beloved Carrot Boy, which was the only sane thing for either of us to do, and therefore I would not actually recommend the show to anyone, let alone an animal lover, for any reason, not even yours truly.

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Hilarious ... 👏 Bravo 😅

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The Marriage Contract kittens were fantastic. Cute, and also an integral part of the plot. Loved how UEE used them to explain Lee Seo-jin's shoutiness to her little daughter.

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Meow, the secret boy, The man’s voice both have fantasy elements where the cats have human qualities, the Let’s Eat series has dogs as prominent characters in each season. I only watched 2&3 so not sure of how dominant the dog was in season one. Level up has a turtle which is a special friend to the male lead.

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Vara-ssi is iconic!

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Dear my friends has a stray, I just googled this topic as there are loads of other dramas where people look after stray cats. Coffee Prince came up on the list as one of the main characters has a dog I forgot about it as I try to forget the time wasted watching that drama. I also remembered there was a dog in live up to your name. Two others from google are Romance is a bonus book, and While you were sleeping.

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Aww, the corgi is one of the best characters in While You Were Sleeping! I was going to say his name but it's such a funny 'a-ha!' moment when you learn it that I won't spoil it. But animal lovers should beware that there's also a serial cat-killer.

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For the cat lovers, try Meow: The Secret Boy (Sol-ah is a cat who turned into a boy/guy) and even Imaginary Cat (Bokgil). Other Kdramas for animal lovers: Kill Me, Heal Me (golden retriever dog), Romance Is a Bonus Book (another Kdrama featured golden retriever dog!), Kill It (featured so many dogs), He Is Psychometric/That Psychometric Guy (another Kdrama for dog lover featuring a lost puppy) and The Secret Life of My Secretary (arowana pet fish).

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Let's not forget Inzaghi, the Vincenzo pigeon!

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See I was about to say NOT Imaginary Cat because I'm still wounded by the ending!

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Ahn Hyo-seob's character had a pet chick in Thirty but Seventeen. And then there's Gae-hoon, the stray dog turned family member in Link: Eat, Love, Kill.

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Uhhh… Maximus the horse from The King: Eternal Monarch? As far as I’m concerned, the entire show was about him. Idk any of the humans involved.

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Wasn't Maxi a girl? I could've sworn I got told that. I drew her as that and everything...

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You’re probably right. I don’t actually remember anything from that drama, not even for Maximus.

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I mean I didn't even watch, so I'm hardly the voice of authority on this, but Magic Horse is also pretty sure she's a girl, and I trust him ;)

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It's been a while, but my first K Drama, "Let's Eat" had the cutest small dog that played a meaningful part in the story!

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The Sapsali dog in Chicago Typewriter - was adorable and kind of important to the story. The choice of dog breed was also deliberate which you can understand once you watch the show. In fact there's a Sapsali in Alchemy of Souls too and for similar reasons.

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The Sapsali dog in Chicago Typewriter was so fluffy. Besides that, Im Soo-jung was a veterinarian, so the drama had other pet storylines like Kwak Si-yang's cat. She even put a dog cone on Yoo Ah-in.

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Yes that dog was so FLOOFY! Overall a very animal-friendly drama I agree.

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Not a Kdrama but a Jdrama, if you're interested: Juui Doolittle stars Oguri Shun as a Dr. Doolittle type vet. Every episodes is basically a PSA on behalf of animals.

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Pororo from uncontrollably fond.

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Oh yes and when he forgot that he had sent him away🥺

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Military Prosecutor Doberman
Meow, The Secret Boy
Variety Show: Dog's are incredible (They train dogs who are tough to raise)

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Wok of Love began with a talking horse and then discarded him in order to become a mediocre drama instead of the wildly weird and interesting one it started as.

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What egads said

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Replaced the horse with a cute kitten

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Talking horse > cute kitten

I know this will be controversial, but this is my stance.

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Por que No los Dos?

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Both are fine, but cute kittens/cats/dogs are a dime a dozen, so I continue to maintain my stance.

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😡

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I had a premonition that this would draw you out. I'm sorry.

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Those recommending Meow: The Secret Boy as a drama for animal lovers might want to think that one through...
That would be a whole 'nother post.

Unless you're recommending it as a drama about an experienced and skilled Cat actor who taught his human costar a thing or two. Where are you, Cat Sunbae? I hope you haven't gone to the Great Acting School in the Sky.

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I was going to add a warning about part of it but I think random dodgy bloke’s thinking was to raise a point as I think there is an issue that is reflected in the amount of strays in dramas. His solution sucked but clearly someone was making a point using the usual drama exaggeration to underline it for those in the back who may have missed it the first time.

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I have been to countries where strays are an issue so assumed that whilst strays in dramas are there to make a point about the character’s caring side it would need to be realistic that there would be random cats to feed.

In Let’s eat 2 they do a whole storyline about the dog but I never understood why they didn’t just adopt him so they could sort out the vets fees between them and give some security to best groomed stray I have seen.

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Oh gosh, this is such an earnest answer when I was joking about the fact that the female lead's love for her cat was *ahem*... not entirely the normal kind of love that a person should have for their cat...

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Oops of course you did 😳 I thought you were referring to the other issue which could be upsetting for an animal lover and need flagging so they can prep or avoid.

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Ah! Now I recollect the part you are referring to. I am a cat mom so I tried to forget Meow with a vengeance. (I have cared for and found home for eight strays when I was in India, where they have a hard life on streets of big cities)

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Kim Myung-min had to act with not one but two large Collies - in Beethoven Virus and A New Leaf. Apparently he actually was a bit scared of them, cos he'd had a bad experience with a fierce dog when he was a child.

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It is funny how the first drama that came to my mind was Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter. The drama had some animals as far as I remember. It took me long enough to remember the name of the drama, because this was such a weird fantasy drama.

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I looked it up as it sounded really odd title but the write up on Asian wiki makes it sound like a standard fantasy drama where everything is normal apart from one character who has some fantasy element.

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That show started off so good, so offbeat and quirky. And then it just degenerated into the usual boring nonsense. I dropped it eventually.

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Thanks for the heads up it wasn’t showing up on any of the regular sites so I probably will be saved from the experience of being disappointed.

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Same here! And the first few episodes were so good that the later disappointment was bitter for me.

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I hate it when that happens I end up raging at the scriptwriter for stealing my joy just to get practice in on a genre that is not needed to be mixed in with my happy light drama. I could choose wisely if they were more detailed when listing the genres included in the drama.

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oh my ghost, but thats creepy
Coffe prince (dog)
Masters sun (ghost dog)
You are beautiful (Jolie)
Answer me 1997
Father is strange (but technically, chihuahua is... I dont even know what it is)
Scent of a woman
That psychometric guy
Imaginary cat
The smile has left your eyes (psycho and his cat)
um, if Gumiho counts, then, My girlfriend is a gumiho & My Roommate is a gumiho
Shopping King Louie has a centipede, well, not for very long, but...
Go back spouses (stray cat)
Who are you? (2008) had a turtle
Graceful family (fish, but dead, but hilarious funeral)

I know I see a lot of heroines looking after or trying to connect to stray cats but I can´t name that many

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oh yeah, You are beautiful also had a wild boar.
and of course sageuks have horses, I loved the ones in Kingdom while there was a bad accident with one :-((

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It seems to me that Father is Strange had a pet turtle.

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It did, it’s name was Al.

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Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol
The Beauty Inside
FLs crooning over their dressed up fluffy dogs plus they do not stop appearing after an episode or two.

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The dog in TBI was subjected to so much dressing-up and other nonsense that it looked borderline abusive - I might recommend it to people who dislike small dogs and enjoy seeing them look foolish, but not to animal lovers. That show also had lots of fish, who were generally better treated than the poor dog.

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The Man’s Voice has a cat (that can talk to the heroine). It’s a web drama and I started it because I was like “well if it’s terrible it’s only short” but it was better than I expected it to be.

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They nailed the cat like attitude with that drama I quite liked it just for that.

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1. Do the mice/rats in Mouse count?
2. The sad dead ghost dog in From Now On, Showtime
3. As above, 2 in Tomorrow
4. And wasn't there the best little dog in Nine Tails that went from wounded and scruffy and turned into an entirely different breed once it was rescued (and that's not to count those with two legs and 9 tails). I'm guessing the Imoogi doesn't count either, but shouldn't we be inclusive?
5. My all time fav animals are the mythical sacred tiger cubs in the c drama Sword Snow Stride. They are mine. All mine. Snarky little things.

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Some Japanese dramas on Viki that have pets are Only Just Married (a cat that usually is being held) , Why I Dress Up For Love (a dog that they interact with a lot) and Princess Jellyfish (which actually has jellyfish in an aquarium).

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I think tomorrow is good example. It had a complete episode about a sweet dog who wanted to commit suicide and our heros saved the dog. Great one for an animal lover and everyone looking for something emotional 😭

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Woori from This is my first life.
Barasshi from Let's Eat.

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Another vote for Barasshi!

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So I thought about one, and then decided not to mention it. And then decided to say ok, I'll mention it. Imaginary Cat. There you go. Those that have seen it can see my dilemma.

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The tiny turtle in "Love Me if you Dare". He even carried some flowers.

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