Hello, Viki
Last night on the spur of the moment, I signed up to Viki, and immediately started watching Personal Taste. Lined up next will be Red Sleeve and Goblin! (Netflix has been my only source up until now.)

At the start, I found Personal Taste mannered and dorky, and Son Ye-jin’s character deeply irritating. Everyone else was only slightly less irritating. People’s professed relationship tactics were from the Dark Ages.

But it’s improved as it’s gone along – I say this from my position of reaching episode eight. People have started developing all sorts of shades of grey, and complicated emotional tangles. I think Lee Min-ho has limits to his acting talent, but he has magnetic male presence, and one of the best smiles on the planet. Seeing him in white jeans is a sight to behold. He comes alive when there is humour to be had.

I’ve only seen Son Ye-jin in this and two other dramas. She seems to specialize in a particularly irritating kind of female fragility. In Crash Landing on You, however, this was balanced out by bucket loads of guts and gumption. As for Something in the Rain, the less said the better, as I am still brooding over what I think of it.

Favourite Son…
I don’t pay much attention to top-level football – bunch of overpaid primadonnas. However South Korea’s captain, Son Heung-min, seems like a great guy, worshipped at home, and well-loved by Spurs fans in England as well. I had to laugh when he was asked in an interview what his favourite restaurants were in England, and he said nothing was better than his mother’s cooking. Good Korean boy.

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    Hope you enjoy your “new” selection of dramas.

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      Am rubbing my hands together!

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        This was my first subscription service for watching K dramas. I joined to watch what’s wrong with secretary Kim and Mr Queen as they couldn’t be found anywhere else and later it was for Yumi’s cells. It’s the only subscription I have kept consistently over the years. I regularly drop Netflix when the series I am watching ends.

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          That’s interesting…. I am such a newcomer, only joined Netflix and discovered kdrama there in 2022 and it has seemed to have a really good range. I’ve been making a list of those I want to see that Netflix doesn’t have and have found a good handful on Viki. Still no joy with City Hunter and Call it Love, though.

          Some shows I watched on Netflix where the subtitles seemed a bit off, I might rewatch on Viki

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            I am glad I joined Viki first as I saw lots of the shows now showing up on Netflix the subs were always good so when I saw the Netflix version I was not impressed.
            I also watched a few old dramas on YouTube so by the time I joined Netflix I can’t remember which drama it was that drew me there I had covered most of their range of older dramas.

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            I signed up to Viki in July 2022 and since then I use it even more than Netflix.
            I only wish there were more old k-dramas available in my region.

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            Viki really is great if you’re a relative newcomer to Kdrama like me. I signed up for what I thought would be a trial month, and almost two years later it’s still my #1 source of shows, both old and new, and well worth the monthly cost. They’ve added a lot of older dramas over the past few months, although the quality is hit or miss – I suspect lots of them were added because the licensing fees are low and it pads their catalog, but there are also some real gems there. Have fun!

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    Viki is great, good subs and range of dramas. It’s a shame some of the K-dramas have disappeared. There are a lot more Chinese and Japanese dramas and new dramas and films appear regularly.

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      Yes, I was looking through their catalogue — so much Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Taiwanese… I know nothing about these!

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    Oh boy, enjoy yourself surveying all your new options! I find often that my watched shows veer between Viki/Kocowa and Netflix. Just when I start thinking, maybe I don’t need this Viki subscription after all, a bunch of good shows pop up!

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      The Viki price seems quite reasonable to me.

      And I think I might need to start taking notice of “What I’m Watching” for jdrama, and cdrama recs…

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    Welcome aboard to Viki. What you have also signed up for are the best english (if that is your native language) subtitles out there in kdramaland.

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      Yes, it is my native language, and I am very glad about the subtitle quality. There have definitely been times on Netflix when I have gone WTF at the translation; and also times when I’ve read old recaps here where the recapper has carefully given the English translation of some important dialogue and it has read a lot better than what has been on my screen.

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    GREAT choice! I agonized over signing up for the another paid streaming service, but I have never regretted my decision to sign up for VIKI plus. There are SO MANY shows that I want to watch and a constant stream of new shows. It is truly the largest selection on “legal” streaming that I’m aware of.

    I did find that VIKI does add and subtract shows regularly, without warning. Also, many “older” shows are not licensed for my area, like “Six Flying Dragons.” Older shows have a different technique and can be more enjoyable when viewed with a “historical” lens.

    FYI, I discovered Kdramas on Netflix during the pandemic. I sorta knew they were their but didn’t pay too much attention.
    Then, I watched my gateway drama, CLOY. Netflix now offers a great selection of Kdramas.

    There are free Kdramas on Youtube at Cereal (including Queen In-Hyun’s Man). Amazon Prime has increased its Kdrama content. My LG TV has a free Kdrama and Kmovie channel!

    In November I signed up for HULU with a special offer at 99cents per month with ads for one year and I am very happy to get access to some excellent Kdramas–most of the Disney+ dramas!

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      Ah well, it seems I have made a good choice, and I’m pleased about that! I don’t think I’m ever going to run out of kdramas to watch.

      I too discovered kdramas through joining Netflix but a bit later than you. CLOY was the 2nd drama I watched (after About Time) and it really blew me away. I discovered at that early point that a good drama can take a 2nd or 3rd watch, because I always miss things the first time round.

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    To this day, Personal Taste is my favourite Lee Minho drama. That show has a special place in my heart.

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      Yeah, I’m really enjoying it. It is growing on me as I go along. The two of them have great chemistry, and he is looking just…. stunning!

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        I think part of why he’s so charming nere is coz he’s a regular hard working guy instead of a full of himself chaebol hehe

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