Remember when it was so hard to watch dramas due to accessibility? I sure don’t miss those times!

Remember when all dramas were on Dramafever?

Watching one episode in 6 different parts, while watching the first one trying to open the next part to let it load, to finally realize it didn't work and you still have to wait...

Remember when MySoju.com still existed?

If there is one thing I miss in the subtitles of yore, it's leaving „hyung(nim)“, and „noona“ as they were. Nowadays in 90% of cases they write the character's name instead, as an easy localization tactic aimed at non-East Asian audiences, but I myself am a translator and a subtitler, and I don't like this new practice even from the professional standpoint. It totally takes away the nuance and the charm that these word convey, not to mention the comic or emotional ring they often bear. I mean, just looking at the head screenshot here brings tears to my eyes – What would You're Beautiful's subs be without Go Mi Nam's constant „Hyung-nim!s“? *Sigh*

I'll read other beanies memories and experiences from the sidelines, because I started watching k-dramas in November'21 🥲

Remember fansubs?

It was so difficult to get access to dramas and anime back then. But jumping through hoops was worth it in the end.

The dramas were much better back then despite the lower prodction budgets, the new stuff feels so generic and paint-by-numbers in comparison (this true for Cdramas and Dramas too). Its like a home cooked meal thats been replaced with McDonalds.

I guess thats one of the negative side effects that streaming, social media and globalisation have had to dramaland.

Keeping track of the various fan translation groups and websites! Finally managing to join a private tracker group so I could download all the dramas and ost's. Learning how to re-time subs when the subs I downloaded didn't match the specific version of the episode I downloaded. Making sure I had a good antivirus and ad blocker on my laptop because of the sketchy websites used to host the raws and subs. Using Drama Wiki to find dramas I'd missed and keep up with what was airing and upcoming. Convincing a teacher friend to watch Mei-chan no Shitsuji and Hana Kimi, and later having a marathon party at her house after she moved away (Queen In-hyun's Man).

Remember the rain of sagueks from '00s to '10s. Now we can only pray for a proper solid saguek these days.

Remember when every Kdrama had a character with cancer (mostly leukemia) or other terminal illnesses, which was the reason I detached myself from Kdramas for almost a decade and a half? I don’t miss those days.

Remember when we have to wait not just days - weeks and even months - to get subs for the show? And even that by often entirely unconventional and legally shady means because there was simply NO OTHER OPTION...

Remember when amnesia was as rampant as common cold?

Remember when dramas ran for 24 episodes?

Remember when dramas aired on all the weekly timeslots in all the public broadcast channels?

I dont miss waiting hours or days for subs to be available. Also needing to go to the dark side to watch my faves.

- Remember when Joseon Exorcist (SBS) became the first-ever cancelled K-drama in 2021?
- Remember when 1995's Sandglass became one of the early most successful Kdramas?
- Remember when some Kdramas had a lead roles died at the end of the series?
- Remember when before singer-actor Rain achieved fame in Full House, his first-ever Kdrama was 2003 KBS K-drama Sang-doo! Let's Go to School! where he played the eponymous role Cha Sang-doo?
-Remember when Gong Yoo had acting debut on Kdrama with the fourth season of KBS' School in 2001 after he started as one of Mnet video jockeys?

As much as I love Dramabeans, I miss the really active drama blog-o-sphere that flourished between approximately 2007 and 2015. As a new drama watcher during that era, I enjoyed the incredible range of knowledge and opinions and I'm sorry so many of them are no longer around.

I can't relate to this because I started watching in a committed way starting August 2020. But I agree that drama land feels much different from before in terms of shorter episode count and easy access. Also as fellow beanies mentioned, there came a time when sageuks were flooding in but now it is a rare experience.

All the downloading and bit torrents, still don’t know what those were, and chasing episodes around sketchy websites! I still have stacks of dvds from those days. Before streaming, having to choose between spending $60 for the dvd set from YesAsia (legit approved version w approved subs and often with nice add-ons) or taking a chance on the Malaysian copies for $20. Watching dramas on YouTube which had a 9-minute limit per video at the beginning. Seeing all the VHS tapes of series at the Korean grocer but not being able to use them because they didn’t have subs 😩
Also, drama episodes that were 45 minutes long and not the length of a movie 🙄

Technology has changed. Logitech had a keyboard that allowed you to access apps like Viki and DramaFever , way before Roku or other devices. Logitech dropped support for it . We were having problems with it. There were files associated with it and I was browsing and selected a setup file for Viki.
Lo and behold, I was able to watch a J drama series and finished it, but then it disappeared. I contacted Viki , asking where the drama went. They said I should not have been able to watch it. The set up file was for a different region. 😂

I miss OCN. It brought us some great gritty crime dramas. You knew what you were getting, and they were a nice contrast to romcoms. I don't mind crime dramas when they aren’t embedded in rom-coms

Remember all the time traveling doctors? Or is that still a thing?

as a newbie who has only been around for about 18 months, i'm enjoying everyone's nostalgia vicariously :)

when I started watching dramas, the only way was to download them from torrent sites and it took around 4 to 9 hours to download an episode.

Remember when we had to wait for subs and a beanie (kimbapnoona) would live sub on voice, while we group watched the raw episode.
And then we would rewatch it with subs. I don’t miss those days but I miss some of the wonderful beanies.

@missvictrix pertinent to what you said about translations, some were so bad that it felt like I was doing simultaneous English-to-English translations in my head, what a weird feeling it was to have to do that! My copy of Fashion 70s was sometimes unintelligible 🤦🏼‍♀️

When I first started watching K-dramas, my family lived in a rural area that hadn't upgraded from dial-up to high-speed internet. So when I went home after my freshman year of college, the only way for me to get my K-drama fix was to buy bootleg DVDs from eBay. The subtitles were atrocious, but I still have my bootleg copies of Full House and Coffee Prince. 😂

Remember when LSK was slowly establishing himself in the industry. Pasta was my first ever K-drama in 2010, and Coffee Prince my second. I remain bitter about how it all went down.
I do not mean to rain on the nostalgia parade… but couldn’t not mention my favourite K-drama actor who is no more.

I kinda miss the age of exploration and finding different drama types. Through international cable channels, I was once into Italian/French crime dramas, then Scandinavian murder-mysteries because they were different than US TV fare. Then one day I stumbled on a high number channel in Korean with subtitles. I would learn that this was a different kind of drama, dealing with a cultural taboo subject (divorce, even though very accepted in the US). The dialog was very natural and episodes were very realistic as the couple dealt with their personal issues, the reason for their break up, and their resolution. I would learn that Korean dramas were better at conveying emotions than cookie-cutter Western dramas. It led to researching and learning more about Korean history and culture to help grasp the subtle cues in K-dramas.

https://www.dramabeans.com/2010/06/dramabeans-giveaway-tell-us-your-drama-addiction-stories/

Reading these comments reminded me of this most hilarious, most amazing post on DB!
I guess it's more than fair to share it here for all to enjoy/re-enjoy!

This brings back so much memory!

Mysoju - yes, it’s still in my bookmark list. I never delete those ‘precious sites’ though they’ve long gone.

So are the kdrama bloggers’ links - still there. For example, Thundie’s Prattle (RIP), Dahee’s Castle, Ripgal’ Haven and the more recent ones like Couch Kimchi. They have high keepsake value especially the drama reviews and occasionally drama debates!

A lot of the earlier fans downloaded subs to watch dramas. I’ve never managed to learn this though spending a lot in buying pirate DVDs. @bebeswtz - the problem is not Chinatown but ‘copied in China’. Nothing angered me more than getting a DVD with Google-translate-sub from ep 1 to 16!!!!! Totally not watchable.

Live watching in those days was another problem. When you are so into it, it really doesn’t matter that you don’t understand any single word. While there were MBC On-Air and so on with a small vox screen on a main screen, you just had to endure the absolutely not reliable transmission, images cutting off any minute to watch the latest episode.

Incredible devotion indeed!

Remember when viki was free and was the only legit place to watch kdramas but you had to wait and wait and waaait for subtitles to come? The dark web was also a good option for kdramas as dramas weren’t accessible for international fans on much legit places…I sure miss those days but only because they don’t make kdramas like those anymore…

Remember all the wrist grabs? I used to wonder how no one ended up with a dislocated shoulder.

I miss the daily and weekend dramas that went on forever. Nothing beats the feeling of finding a good long drama with a fine ML and FL ^^ for example, Gangnam Scandal and The Promise. Or when you develop a crush on Lee Jun-Hyuk after watching Dark Hole and the sheer joy of finding long dramas on his filmography such as House of Bluebird where you can ogle him in suits for 50 episodes. But sadly I heard that the past few years some channels have discontinued these longer dramas. Another thing I also miss is seeing traditional Korean foods being cooked in dramas. Especially when you have a multigenerational household, the daily tables piled with dishes is delightful. It seems like most foods featured in dramas these days are fried chicken.

remember when you discovered this new, completely addictive thing called kdramas and then watched a drama you were completely obsessed with (Faith). And the you watched it over 4 parts on a sketchy internet connection. And then scoured the internet looking for anyone who might have views on it and found (drumroll) Dramabeans!!!!