Sarah and Grace had a lovely time chatting with special guest and fellow Afternoona Delight Patreon member, Krista, for Part 2 of their Year End Review. Krista and Grace each discuss how 2024 was for drama-viewing overall, their picks for best performances, underrated dramas, and top dramas of the year, as well as special awards and dream dramas for 2025. 

Other podcast episodes mentioned:

Year End Review 2024 Part 1 with Claudia

CDramas 2024 Review with Liliana

Afternoona Delight Tomorrow Deep Dive

Dramas mentioned:

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

Yumi’s Cells, specifically season 2 

Lost You Forever

Mr. Queen

The Red Sleeve 

Till The End of the Moon

Touch Your Heart

Tale of the Nine Tailed

Daily Dose of Sunshine 

Mr. Plankton

Ready, Set, Love 

Marry My Husband 

A Good Day to Be a Dog

Knight Flower

Death's Game

My Dearest

Twinkling Watermelon

Queen of Tears

Lovely Runner

Doctor Slump

Tomorrow

Under the Queen's Umbrella

Signal

Chicago Typewriter

Upcoming dramas mentioned:

The Tempest

When Life Gives You Tangerines 

Life of a 21st Century Prince

Twelve

Monthly Boyfriend

Can This Love Be Translated

The S Line

God's Beads

Other K-content creator accounts mentioned:

afternoonadelight

deemalovesdrama

swoondiaries

teaandsoju

OST songs mentioned:

“Boyfriend” by Yeonjun of Tomorrow x Together from Cinderella at 2AM

"Blade" from Knight Flower 

"Sudden Shower" from Lovely Runner 

"Leave it all behind" from Love Next Door

"I told you" from What Happens to My Family?

Playlist of all Afternoona Asks 2024 Year End Review OST tracks

Sarah and Grace are excited to close out the year with a two-part Year End Review. For part one, Sarah and special guest Claudia, a fellow member of the Afternoona Delight Patreon, chat through their 2024 drama year. Claudia and Sarah each discuss how 2024 was for drama-viewing overall, their picks for best performances, their favorite underrated dramas, and their top dramas of the year. They also give out special awards of their own choice and manifest their dream dramas for 2025.

Other Podcast Episodes mentioned:

2023 Year End Review Episodes: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Nirvana in Fire with Tea and Soju Pod

Afternoona Delight Death's Game

Afternoona Delight Second Male Lead SOS

Dramas mentioned:

Chocolate

Healer

Hospital Playlist

Taxi Driver

Our Beloved Summer

Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born
The Judge from Hell 

Queen of Tears
Marry My Husband
Wonderful World
Mr. Plankton
The Midnight Romance in Hagwon
Love Next Door
Knight Flower
The Tale of Lady Ok
Ask the Stars/When the Stars Gossip
Treasure Island 

Twelve

Culinary Class Wars (reality)

My Dearest

Twinkling Watermelon

Moving

Deaths Game

My Sweet Mobster

Lovely Runner

Miss Night and Day

Atypical Family

Nirvana in Fire

Love All Play

Love Like the Galaxy

Signal

No Gain No Love

A Virtuous Business

Love in the Big City

The Forbidden Marriage

OST songs mentioned:

“What Are We?” from Love Next Door

“Now and Then” from The Midnight Romance in Hagwon 
“If I Could Be Together” from Mr. Plankton 

 "Love You With All My Heart" from Queen of Tears

"Tell Me It's Not a Dream" from Queen of Tears

"Beautiful" from Goblin

Sarah is delighted to be joined by Liliana from Tea and Soju Podcase to review the year in Chinese Dramas. Join us as we discuss what CDramas Sarah has watched this year, what were Liliana's faves for the year and hear some more of her recommendations. We also briefly discuss what's coming up in CDrama-land in 2025.

Links for Liliana's: Tea and Soju Podcast and Instagram

To listen to Liliana’s previous 2023 podcast with us check out the episode

Love Next Door Deep Dive – Tea and Soju Podcast

Nirvana in Fire Deep Dive – Tea and Soju Podcast

Dramas mentioned:

-          Nirvana in Fire

-          Hidden Love

-          One and Only

-          Love Like the Galaxy

-          The Double

-          Joy of Life Season 2

-          The Princess Royal

-          To The Wonder

-          You Are My Lover Friend

-          Amidst A Snowstorm of Love

-          The Long Night

-          The Bad Kids

-          Shining for One Thing

-          A Murderous Affair in Horizon Tower

-          Goodbye My Princess

-          Love & Redemption

-          My Journey to You

-          A Journey to Love

-          Meet Yourself

-          Till the End of the Moon

-          Back from the Brink

-          The Starry Love

-          Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms

-          Ashes of Love

Sarah and Grace are excited to welcome fellow Afternoona Delight Patreon member Jasmine on the pod to talk fan events for Korean actors. We discuss the different kinds of events K-stars put on for their fans, how difficult it is to get into the events, and what features of the events may differ actor-to-actor. We also talk a bit more in depth about events put on by one of Sarah's and Jasmine's faves, Lee Jehoon.

Find more information from Jasmine on Lee Jehoon's fan events in this blog post:
 
https://thefangirlverdict.com/2024/11/25/guest-post-in-the-mood-for-reel-real-lee-je-hoon-love/ 
 
You can also find Jasmine on Instagram @princess.jasmine.06  

Grace welcomes guest Ryan Estrada, co-author of the critically acclaimed graphic novel Banned Book Club to the show. We discuss Ryan's work and the history and culture of protest in South Korea. We also get a sneak peek behind the scenes of a Kdrama on which Ryan was an extra. And, in the language section, we talk about how easy it is (for some) to learn the Korean alphabet.

Find Ryan online at:
www.ryanestrada.com
@ryanestrada.com on Bluesky
@ryanestradadotcom on Instagram 
@ryanestrada on X

Dramas and movies mentioned on this show:
Squid Game (2021)
JSA (2000)
Memories of Murder (2003)
Castaway on the Moon (20099
Break Out (2002)
Youth of May (2021)
Tempest (not yet released)

Sarah, Grace, and guests Megan (from Afternoona Delight podcast) and Kalena (from AD Patreon) chat about the Fallen for Seo In Guk fan meetings in Los Angeles and Washington DC. We discuss Seo In Guk's filmography and fandom, his beautiful live singing, and the hilarious and endearing games and fan service prepared for the event. We also talk about the perks and pitfalls of VIP tickets and the amazing vibes among fan meet attendees. 

Show Notes:
Sarah and Megan's deep dive of Death's Game for Afternoona Delight (also available on your favorite podcast platform)
https://www.afternoonadelight.com/podcast/episode/faec72d2/deaths-game-no-filler-all-killer 

Seo In Guk's Birth Secret Revelation
https://youtu.be/O9LPrE8i0R0?si=VWiVb7PUV2B64EY-

Seo In Guk Youtube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/@seoinguk8178

Megan - 5 faves watched in the past 6 months

4minutes (Scifi Thai BL)

Gyeongseong creature 2 (Horror)

My Sweet Mobster (Romcom)

No Gain No Love (Romcom)

Blackout (Twisty thriller)

Kalena - 5 examples from fave genres 

365 Repeat the year (twisty time travel)

Let me be your knight (Kpop idol)

Shooting stars (satirical look at the entertainment industry)

Life (hospital stories)

Doom at your service (epic/philosophical fantasy romance)

The instagram friend Megan mentions:

@kdramabingo - look for funny hi/bye story

Grace welcomes fellow Korean American, Lisa, as a guest this episode to talk about Park Chan-wook's 2000 film Joint Security Area and compare notes on our personal experiences of Hallyu. We discuss the standing of the film as an early Hallyu success, its moving and humanizing portrayal of soldiers from both sides of the armistice line, the impact of Korea's division on the psyche of its people both at home and abroad, and the tension and longing that characterize relations between each side of the divided peninsula. We also discuss the differences in Korean language usage between North and South Korea in the language section.

Find Lisa on Youtube, posting on the ARMY Auntie channel (@ARMYAuntie777), and @chibifromouterspace on Instagram.

Dramas we reference during the show:
Get Karl
Law School
Divorce Attorney Shin
Hyena
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
Wonderful World
Why Her?
Dinner Mate
My Dearest
25/21
CLOY
Jewel in the Palace
Go Back Couple
Tomorrow
Knight Flower

Films we reference during the show:
Secret Reunion
Lone Star
Memento
Shiri

We are delighed to be joined by Dr Seo Hyojin, who is a gender and labour market sociologist and an international and interdisciplinary scholar. Hyojin currently work as Post-doctoral Researcher for a Horizon Europe project EqualHouse at the Department of Sociology, Tilburg University (NL). She joins us to chat about women in the South Korean workforce and which Korean Dramas portray different elements. We also go on to talk about how much women's inquality in the workplace impact the low birth rate.

We found the discussion fascinating and hope you do too!

Notes for this show:
Dr Hyojin Seo biography
4B Movement Explainer
Korea Times article on parental leave take up
Professor Heejung Chung Twitter

We had so much fun diving deep into one of Grace's top comfort dramas, the 2010 sageuk Sungkyunkwan Scandal. We were excited to have Gavin join us again to discuss the historical backdrop, queer-coded characters, and surprisingly liberal version of Confucianism we find in this "Joseon Coffee Prince." Join us to discuss this gender swap historical drama, in Park Min Young's breakout role. We start with a spoiler free section so you can listen to see if this might be a drama for you!

Note - Sarah mentions JK Rowling upset Taiwanese people over her criticism of a Taiwanese Olympian, Lin Yu Ting, and her eligibilty to compete in Women's sport. However, Sarah referred to her as trans, which is incorrect, as Lin Yu Ting is a cis-gendered woman (which makes it worse!). For more on this story, check out this Focus Taiwan news piece.

If you have not yet listened to the other episodes in our Confucian series, you can find them here:

An Introduction to Confucianism for Asian Drama Fans

And here:

My Dearest Unpacked with a Confucian Lens

For those interested in more from Yoo Ah In, Chicago Typewriter is available to watch free-with-ads on Pluto TV (thank you to our fellow Patreon member who tracked this down!)

We're back with another episode to discuss travelling to Seoul - Sarah was lucky to return for another work trip this summer! This time she had some time to go for some experiences: a hair spa, a facial and some kimchi making. She also tried soy marinated crab and met 2 Korean Instagram influencers! Check out the episode to hear about more things to do in Seoul.

Show Notes:

Hair spa: Sarah went to ParkJun Beauty Lab Cheongdam branch. For more details and to book go to their Instagram page
Massage and Facial: Sarah went to : CheongKwanJang SPA 1899 DONGINBI in Daechi, which she booked via Klook
Kimchi Making: Sarah did this with Jomin, which she booked via AirBnB
Influencers she met:
Tour Guide: @wookeunshin
Cooking Influencer: @_cookim_
Spots mentioned:
Ihwa Mural Village
Seoul City Wall Trail
Cheonggyecheon Stream