We Watch Challenge 2024

24th challenge completed

Hi, SAOMEO146!

Since comedy is so hit or miss (not sure what your style is) and most comedies I’ve seen are longer than you wanted to watch, I am going for the relaxing vibes instead and giving you 4 quite different styles of storytelling:

Hospital Playlist is a story about musicians who happen to be doctors… or rather, doctors who have been in a band together since university years. Their friendship is charming, humorous, fiercely loyal, and tender all at once, and that  the daily lives of them and the people around them are what this is about. It is definitely not a typical medical drama, but some of the residents are also particularly memorable (two twins especially cute, the gross feeling hair and exhaustion of that stage of life something I related to far more than I wanted). Because they are in a band together (a way they can be sure to keep their friendship strong even in this busy world of being doctors at a university hospital), we get live music by the star-studded cast! The parents/older adults (especially the mom of Yoo Yeon Seok’s character) are really adorable and funny as they’ve been pals since elementary school, people from a generation that didn’t move around so much as younger ones - Kim Hae Sook and Kim Kap Soo are especially sweet childhood buddies, mischief still very alive, her whole family a funny situation. There is some comedy here, too, but it is mostly a slice of life (same writer as the Reply series including Reply 1988 I saw you gave a 10* rating). EDIT: I know the genre says “romance,” but it really shouldn’t be a main genre IMO. There is romance, but it is not what this is ultimately about.

Shinya Shokudo is set in a restaurant that only opens late at night into the early morning hours and has a very limited set of food options. It serves as a neighborhood resting space for people to destress, unwind, and get comfort food whether they live there or are passing through. The food may get you quite hungry! The characters are from all different walks of life, but this space judges none and welcomes them all to dine there whatever their situation. It is really warm (and has many sequels and a Korean adaptation called Midnight Diner/Late Night Restaurant if you prefer a Korean take with many different dishes based in whatever ingredients are there or sent in or whatever a customer craves with no set menu-I liked it better because of the food variety but many prefer the original).

Radiation House is set, as the title suggests, in a radiology department, and it is both a character driven drama focused on teamwork and everyone doing what they are best at to get the best results for patients… and VERY slight crush kind of romance, a slow (as one doesn’t remember the other) sort of reunion of friends from childhood with the male lead, a genius doctor, becoming a radiology technician to fulfill a promise to his childhood best friend. The characters are endearing overall (save one who grows) and work quite hard to be the best team for every patient. If you ever wonder what all happens in that department beyond basic x-rays, it might intrigue you, teach a bit, and make you appreciate them if you encounter em. There is also a special and second season.

Dear My Friends If you are willing to stretch your drama time to 16 hours, this was one of the very first to come to mind. It is first and foremost a story of friendship as well as one about a mother-daughter relationship. The cast are all veteran cast of advanced ages who beautifully depict the personality quirks and dynamics of their relationships with one another, and it is really heartwarming and has stayed in my memory since it aired 8 years ago. This isn’t about (currently) pretty oppas and cute young girls or school drama, etc but a rich slice of life focused on characters in the stage of life dramas often ignore. Character growth and life lessons are important elements (it is not wholly female-centric, but there are more females in prominent roles than men if that appeals to you).

Ready for recs! Anything up to ~24 hours works, my only firm exception/non-option dubbing (so no historical cdramas). Please ignore my PTW and just tap the score button on my completed list (and country if you are only recommending from one or two places) to sort by rating see what I rated very high and very low and obviously check if I’m already watching it (not all eps get updated as regularly so even if it says 0 seen, I’ve started it, just been distracted from updating things not on air). Weird=wonderful for me so long as the writing and acting can pull me in! I could use something a little (or very) bizarre and funny or just wacky since I’ve watched a lot of really heart-tugging sad stories recently. :)

I accept Tanii‘s recommendation for The Spirealm! All I checked were the genres (already got 5 of the 10 points if it stays mostly coherent with this horror-mystery-comedy-fantasy blend that made me need to choose it!) and the literal “Death Kaleidoscope” title (extra dark death metal band name, check!) and where it is streaming, so plot-blind in I go! :) You send me down nice rabbit holes… just a matter of whether I get out of em. :) 

(I tried to get into LBFAD but my eyes can’t handle the disconnect and I would rather not grit my teeth or bite my cheek in frustration every time I see a face speak that isn’t timed precisely to the mouth motions-not about to have glorious costumes relegated to a mobile phone screen that‘ll make my eyes tire trying to read tiny fonts. Self-torture isn’t my k¡nk, especially not if it makes me need more frequent dental visits, kekeke.)

Thoughts/Rating: This gets a solid 9! I even got over the dubbing because it was so busy my attention was jumping between the different doors and their stories and the abundant dialogue (and most characters weren’t dubbed-no idea why anyone needed to be unless the dialogue was forced to be changed by “those people” controlling things to frustrating degrees). It had the potential to be a 10, but the ending bothered me (a lot). It felt like a total cop out, like the writer (or whoever censored it if that was the issue) couldn’t just let the story exist in the beautiful state it had to that point but had to appease… someone, definitely not me. I am going to pretend those last 20 or however many minutes just don’t exist at all. I kind of loathe, as a writer/director/adaptation crafter or whoever it was, the person who did that to the script.  The doors, though, were incredibly cool, and the final twelfth, while it felt a bit formulaic and overly obvious, carried a whole lot of sentiment from the rest so it worked. I didn’t even feel upset that I figured out the “eagle eye” lead early on because even bring pretty sure of that didn’t actually make it less neat-only the ending did lol. Thanks for the rec! I definitely would not have watched something this length without it! 

5th Challenge Completed!{?}

Hello, Tanii ! I was confused on what should I recommend you, so I added some of my fav and some from your plan to watch

-Click on the title to reach the page (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

My Sweet Mobster

• Pyramid Game: Loved the plot, smart female lead got me.
• My Journey to You: Didn't saw it on your PTW when thought of recommending but I thought it is worth watching.
• Marry My Husband: Wasn't sure recommending you this but here we go.
• My Sweet Mobster:  Since it was available in your PTW.  ✓  
• Midnight:  Since it was available in your PTW. 
• Lovely Runner:  Since it was available in your PTW. 

I am open to all recommends. Prefer BL or any type of movies. Dramas are okay but not more than 10 episodes.

Don't worry, just recommend me. I am sure that one of your recommend is in my PTW so absolutely don't go there („• ֊ •„)੭

I accept Anne613's recommendation of Even if This Love Disappears From the World Tonight

Status: Completed

Rating: 10/10

Thoughts: Just one thing to say, this was the exact thing I needed today. Thank you Anne613 so much! (Now this is my all time favorite)

6th Challenge Completed!{?} 

Hello, Anne613! I decided on to recommend you my favorite Rom-Com cause I saw you watched mostly Rom-Com(s)

-Click on the title to reach the page (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Lovely Runner

• My Journey to You: Loved the whole plot and the mains were memorable so here we go.
• Marry My Husband: All for the revenge plot.
• My Sweet Mobster: Loved the comedy in this.
• Lovely Runner: The Rom-Com here is definitely worth watching. ✓ 

I am open to all recommends. Prefer BL or any type of movies. Dramas are okay but not more than 10 episodes.

Don't worry, just recommend me. I am sure that one of your recommend is in my PTW so absolutely don't go there („• ֊ •„)੭

I accept Mia's recommendation of The Beauty Inside 

Status: Completed

Rating: 9/10

Thoughts: It was a good, memorable movie. Love the whole execution. Felt bad watching it in 2x but was in a hurry ;(

Hello, Mia

I love comedy so here some comedies I'd like to recommend:

My Cherie Amour (it supposed to finish on November 21 though and at 19 episodes times 1 hour)

It's a fun story about an independent woman whose brothers worried about her being married to a bad match (ml's younger brother) so they set up blind dates to find a match. One of his brothers asked for help from his friend (ml) to help him selecting a good match. Yaya Urasaya's nailed the role.

Knight Flower

A widow (who never meet his husband even once) acted at night to fight for justice for people. An officer suspect her being that hero in black. Then romance hit. Honey Lee's very funny here.

Mystery to Iunakare

A weirdo being accused as his friend's killer, so he solve the case. And the following cases too. Masaki Suda's great actor.

You could choose one of them or you could try watching them all if you had time.

I prefer comedy but I also love tragedy. Smart and independent female lead is great but I don't mind cute and innocent female lead. I'm open to any genre except girls love.

Thank you in advance.

I accept leafless7 challenge to watch Good Manager.

Status: Completed

Rating: 8.5/10

Comments: It's a new genre for me, combining comedy, business, and crime. The storyline is fine, and all characters are unique and memorable, adding the right spices into the story. I especially like the hate-love relationship between Chief Kim and Seo Yeol. I'm a bit upset that Chief Kim can't keep working with them but it's not in his blood I think, working 9 to 5 job.

Thank you for recommending me this drama. I enjoy it a lot.

1st , 2nd , 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th   8th 9th 10th   11th

HIi leafless7 

1) Le coup de foudre - Similar story telling like reply 1988 , Fl is damn pretty 

2) Link click - Pretty good concept usage of time travelling to past ( If you have not seen the anime , much better because it will be new for you)

3) Hikaru no go - If you want to watch something light ,  one of my favs the bond between leads are sooo good 

4) Drawing closer - My recent Fav movie , after watching this I just went straight up to sleep , couldn't handle that much of emotions (Maybe I was bit sad too that day that could also be a factor)

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Edit 1 - Accepted rec (Celebrity) , Was on my mind for months 

19

20. 

Hi KC Drama LOVER

I am recommending-

1. Two lights relumino

2. One Day Off

Movies- 

3. Kim Ji Young: Born 1982

4. Soul Mate

5. Korean Odyssey - 16 ep, from your ptw

You can recommend me one drama from this List. Or any best kdrama.

I accept KC Drama LOVER's recommendation for Pyramid Game. 

I actually don't have that much interest in this drama. But this drama is recommended to me so many times. 

Status: completed: 3 nov 

Rating: 10/10

This kept me hooked. It was thrilling experience. 

KC Drama lover 

By your name seems you prefer Korean or Chinese dramas but the first choice is Japanese 

-3-nen-a-gumi-ima-kara-minna-san-wa-hitojichi-desu

now we all know bullying and how bad it can get with no one get consequences and yet a teacher decided to show how it is in turn society fault by keeping them all hostage 

-our-school-now

Another zombie show that you haven't watched. It was excellent as true colours came out, crushes revealed and got me hooked from the start. As soon as it came out, I watched it and is one of my top rewatches.

innocent

I was skeptical at first as it was new to me with one of the mains with a mental illness that is fully explained to us and get to see both sides of him. It was too short for me. It was so sweet 

For me I love any thriller or medical or physiological or medical drama hopefully not Korean as it takes up 80% of my watched 

all of them are going to my PTW list but I accept 

Justice in the dark for this challenge 

I'm sorry but I dropped it and might come back to it. It had the plot and character but first it is difficult to follow the police workings and conclusions as well as the acting isn't engaging and hooking.

1st  Challenge | 2nd Challenge | 3rd Challenge | 4th Challenge | 5th Challenge | 6th Challenge

Hello IndigoMoon, I checked out your list and picked a couple of recs for you.

You can  choose  one from the following options:

• Reply 1988
• Lovely Runner
• Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
• Welcome to Samdal-ri
• Reply 1997
• Twinkling Watermelon

Open for any recs specially from romance genre, and preferably with a happy ending. Feel free to check my completed drama list to see what I've enjoyed!

P.S. - Please try to ignore my plan to watch list!

Edit: 1

I accept Killer_Queen’s recommendation to watch "Let’s Talk about Chu." It sounds like a unique story, and I hope it’s a great watch.

Status - PTW  Completed

Edit: 2

Thoughts: Wow...a nearly perfect drama! I was hooked from the very first episode. The plot was interesting, also the cast was outstanding, they kept me intrigued throughout the series. Definitely a good watch. Thanks for the recommendation!

Rating: 9/10