Noona romance must be it. I tend to start any drama that’s a Noona romance.
I also like nice ML’s but not overtly sweet. I like them real with being thoughtful but not overly romantic. I don’t like grand gestures or confessions. It’s hard to tell before starting a drama but when I see ‘Nice ML’ as a tag I will probably check out the drama.
I also like accidental kisses 😂

For me, it's the childhood connection trope and reunited lovers (like My Beloved Summer, Alchemy of Souls etc). It just has some weird magical power to pull me in. ;D
Also, I am a complete sucker for squishy sunshine male leads. To hell with broody chaebols, I need cuties and softies! :D

Contract relationship.

SLICE OF LIFE:
Answer 1988
SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE:
Go Back Couple & Our Beloved Sumner
CONTRACT MARRIAGE:
Marriage Contract
WOMANCE:
Work Later, Drink Now & Age of Youth

Currently my actor catnips are:
Yoo Yeon-seok being super angsty
Jang Geun-Seok’s dreamy voice
Yoon Park smiling

I’ll come with my favourite actresses catnip but it’s like 3am and I can’t think properly

CONSENT AND COMMUNICATION. The ultimate catnip.

Time-travel.

Enemies to unwilling partners.

Unruly youth finding unlikely mentors.

Unexpected pairings.

Very strong women finding someone to break down and bare their hearts for.

Men who are too fair. Yeah, they usually end up annoying most people, but what can I say, I relate too much.

Dramas that focus closely on deep relationships and loyalties other than romance. Family, friends, coworkers, you name it.

Characters who act goofy, or simply uninteresting, but are actually very very able and efficient.

Subtle romance with no skinship, only looks and indirect words. No, I'm not a stuck-up prude. It's just that Koreans are SO GOOD at showing this. They can make it more electrifying than any kiss scene.

Does reverse-catnip belong to another post?

My dramaland catnip is the very thing that drew me into kdrama - swordplay. And yes...that's why I like sagueks more than modern drama. I still do. But the sagueks are missing that ingredient in recent times. There are no enough sword scenes. And if what is given is too small to count.

Till tomorrow, give me a saguek that has enough swordplay and I'll overlook a bunch of the drama's errors, something I wished AoS was but proved not to be.

I like power trips a lot. The amount of feel good hormone it gives me is something else. That's why I like legal dramas a lot. They are an avenue to have enough to the point of sugary. So anything corporate shenanigans, chaebol nonsense(the good ones please, something like King Of Baking's), politicking ministers (Go Hyun-jung's Mishil set a high pedestal that only a few like Jang Hyuk's Park Gye-won measure up to) who scheme not just for the sake of being opposition but because they have great ideology and are thinkers, are things that are a kdrama catnip.

I guess my months old write-up on swordsmanship will be polished and ready to be sent.

I love childhood connections. I’ve always liked the idea that two people are “meant to be.” Like that old Chicago song, “Deep inside I always knew, it was you, you and me, two hearts drawn together bound by destiny.” I believe the Korean word is 𝘶𝘯𝘮𝘺𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘨.
I also love the dry and campy humor. I love when I laugh so hard during a scene that I have to rewind just to laugh again. That makes me feel alive!
And if we’re talking about people, we’ll then for me there is no one like So Ji Sub!! He is purrfection!!!! 😍🔥🔥🔥

REAL characters and REAL relationships
Cool and refreshing characters

Adults that actually communicate with one another.

Fake dating. I’m a simple gal with simple tastes.

Food. The glorious food scenes always make me hungry. Kdrama is why I started going to Korean food courts in SoCal. I don't remember which series it was, but it sent me out in search of omurice.

Contract marriages and fake dating get me every time 😁

Communication and honesty! Such a catnip.

Also love those dramas with the entertainment industry behind-the-scenes sort of stories.

I like everything, but "that special thing that draws me into a drama and makes my heart sing" is ​when the show TALKS to me, when I can connect on a personal level with the show.

I have a soft spot for the concept of healing.

If you ask me what my favorite genre is, I will respond "brainless romcom", but I think shows like You Are My Spring, Run On, My Liberation Notes, Be Melodramatic, Fight For My Way, Yu Mi's Cells, etc., are the real deal.

Why? I love it when a show feels realistic. I love it when the development of the characters helps me with my own process.
I like shows that care about their characters, that makes them imperfect, real.
I love to see their journey and make it my own. I love these shows because they help me understand the world and myself better.

So I guess my catnip is the slice of life genre.

After all these years it really comes down to one thing:
Cute oppas.

Preferably with humor.

Anti-nip: childhood connections 🤦🏼‍♀️

I'm fond of the classic 'Candy' character, thought we've seen precious few examples of them lately.

Second on my list is contract fake marriages that evolve into a real relationship (I'm watching one of those right now).

Cohabitation, though as someone who has gotten addicted to living alone and am lucky enough to have a place to myself, I think I'd find it really stressful in real life.

If not cohabitation - just being next door neighbors or even in the same neighborhood. So I can vicariously live out my fantasy of falling in love with someone who lives close by. Going from one end of the city to the other - which I do for my commute - takes about 90 minutes (105 during rush hour) by public transportation.

Originality. I love a drama that's unlike shows I’ve seen before, or that uses familiar tropes in a novel, imaginative way and creates characters with distinctive, complex personalities. If it meets those criteria, I’ll be interested in watching it no matter the genre.

But I admit that every now and then I end up watching something purely for entertainment and eye candy…

It’s not big catnip, but it gets me EVERY time - and that is tending to wounds.
A squee-worthy combination of ridiculousness and tenderness.
She/he has a microscopic flesh wound and their meant-to-be-love all but scrubs up to clean, salve and dress the wound during pheromonally charged close ups of shaking hands, lingering looks and gulping Adam’s apples and set to the soundtrack of a steadily increasing heartbeat.
Excuse me while I step outside to cool down…..

Kick-a*s heroine who knows her mind and a protective but tolerant ML who has her back. Don't like the opposite, when ML is posesive and makes decisions for FL because he "knows best". Also contract relationships.

Contract relationships, fake dating, cohabitation; accidentally tripping and falling on lips; women disguised as boys (and vice versa) who are CLEARLY not but I guess everyone has face blindness.

Interestingly this does not generally translate to Chinese dramas, which have all these things in spades but feel so aggressively by the numbers it doesn’t work for me at all.

Oooh, oooh! One more catnippy trope for me. Those dramas with Molly Weasley level mums (and mum stand-ins) who totally have the backs of their ML offspring 🤩. Another Oh Hae Young has had my fav mum so far. Mega-anti-catnip is whiny entitled mums (still looking at you AOHY) and the “I will allow nothing and no-one to stand in the way of my precious crap nuggetty offspring” mums 🤮

I have a different understanding of catnip, it is something I use to fall asleep, haha. or calm down. cats go crazy, true, but for people it is more of a sedative? so I would rather call it a dramaland endorphine (not to use another word with e, which is illegal)

Enemies to lovers/contract/noonas/unlikely pair..im intrigued by the journey and emotionally vested so when there is no meaningful kiss or two to seal the relationship (not looking at you SS) I feel like my emotions have been wasted :-( I'm made that way..a hopeless romantic :-)