In recent months, Viki has had fewer Korean dramas (in addition to not having the JTBC dramas because of the rival, the Big N or the postponed premiere of Dear M indefinitely cause to the actress bullying controversy). Viki should bet on series from other countries, in addition to China, Taiwan, Thailand and Korea. As for example, the Turkish dramas, thanks to the success of Fatmagül’ün Suçu Ne, Anne (Turkish version of Mother) or Binbir Gece, turkish dramas have gained popularity in Latin America, even in Spain. Or the French TV Shows (animated or live-action). Miraculous (very popular in Latin America and Brazil), Code Lyoko, Galatik Football (here in Colombia was popular), Martin Mystery (a french-canadian show based in italian comic) or the live-action dramas like Plus Belle La Vie or Skam France are very popular in France.
I hope that Viki can take notes on this in the future.
Greetings from from Bogotá, Colombia.
Sorry, although I am very disappointed that Viki has fewer Kdramas lately, I would rather stop my Viki membership and go looking for a alternative streaming site where I can watch more korean dramas. I’ve seen a few of dramas from other countries, but none have matched the high bar that Korean Drama has set globally. I began watching five years ago because I had become disenchanted with american tv series, and when I found Viki, I was hooked by the spread of the Halleju wave at that time, and korea’s fabulous culture, which was a place I had travelled to on business for seven years before noticing they even had dramas. I am very saddened by Viki’s slow spiral down the drain when it comes to Korean Dramas and I’ve really made an effort to enjoy C-Dramas and Taiwanese dramas but now there isn’t enough entertainment value to keep me a subscriber past the expiry date of my subscription in the fall. Very very sad, because Viki volunteers set the highest bar of any streaming site for translating while offering THE best cutural notes & meme explanations, as well as historical and social backgrounds to korean dramas. Very very sad to be planning my exit, but I want to keep watching korean dramas instead of a mixed playlist of unproven stories from somewhere else.
Frankly Viki is the last stop before the end. The big N’s subs are like DramaFevers were - sanitized so the colloquialisms were lost.
Unfortunately, they haven’t added many high quality Kdramas in recent years but with the “free” streaming sites all gone and the big N being the only other viable option, I’m resigned to my fate of sticking it out with Viki.
I’m not happy with many of the changes that Viki has made since the Ratuken takeover but I’m happy that they’ve added more J-Dramas.
yeah I did notice that. more Chinese. Charlotte-408 just hang in there for a little bit longer, yeah I am same as you. looks like a lot of you/us aren’t very happy with Viki of late.
I don’t mind watching Netflex stuff, but I am here paying for these dramas, so how come we don’t see stuff anymore, I don’t want to stop Viki, I really do like it, but gosh something has gotta give!
Yup, I’ve noticed this too. Most of the new stuff seem to be web dramas which I’m not interested in. Also not happy that they moved almost all of the Kocowa shows to Viki Pass Plus.
i really will go crazy, Viki HAS a lot of dramas but just refuses to promote them?? I accidently found two or three very good dramas and wondered why I hadn’t seen them anywhere before. They’re 2020 dramas but ZERO promotion, is stumbling around blindly and typing random words into the searchbox because I’m bored the only way to find such jewels? star casts, amazing cinematography, good plots…but I haven’t seen them even once.
If your heading was a typo then ignore my comment below. But, it should be “Recently” no “i” needed.
Always remember with English
" i" before “e” except after “c”
means the letter “i” is almost always placed before the letter “e” except when it follows the letter “c”
When the letter “i” follows the letter “c” (In the heading above, no “i” follows) the “i” is placed (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ after the letter “e”
One of those rules of thumb thing, that someone made fun!
Netflix takes over one or some series we first saw here. I could imagine that after Do You Like Brahms Mr. Queen and one or two other suspense dramas will follow.
Anyway, I’m glad we got to see these dramas and e.g. Flower of Evil, Mouse etc. here first. And I hope it stays that way, although I also have NX.
By the way, there are a lot more webdramas on YT, not necessarily for my age, but well. At least here are more jdramas now.
ues so true, so I want to see Big Man again, and for the life of me I can’t find iot anywhere, that includes those other places we aren’t to mention. not even youtube, so whats up with that/ and there are other dramas and movies too.
I totally see where you’re coming from. I cannot blame Viki for that, because I know that it’s not Viki’s fault. On one side KCW is the owner of most of the good new k-dramas and doesn’t allow all of them on Viki, only a trickle, and on the other side the N giant has been aggressively buying licenses of most of the rest. Viki is squashed between those two with little wiggle room. But from our side, whatever the causes, the result is the same. The majority of new Korean dramas are those that nobody else wants, such as the lame, childish, absurdly written web-dramas and short dramas with newbie idol actors. And tons of variety/reality shows and other vlog content: some of them good, but lots of garbage as well. Films? Some good ones from the past, but not the hot new ones (maybe they will have some of those, but on rent!)
Moreover, Viki has eliminated one of its strongest points, the episode comment page, and the main comment page has been hidden so that you have to do a number of actions, including scrolling, to find it. Typically I don’t even visit comments any longer.
For me, the alternative is not NF but the illegal site where we have a lively community with passionate commenters. The subtitles are the usual lame NF - DF style (because that’s where they are stealing them from), but at least we can converse with others at our hearts content.
I’m sorry because I do want to support legal sites such as Viki, and I am still supporting it by giving it my little free time to volunteer, but as a viewer, I feel there are few things to satiate my desire for quality content.
Totally agree with you Irmar about the type and quality of content Viki is displaying lately. And especially your comment: “Moreover, Viki has eliminated one of its strongest points, the episode comment page, and the main comment page has been hidden so that you have to do a number of actions, including scrolling, to find it. Typically I don’t even visit comments any longer.”
I remember joining Viki about 6 years ago and reading the comments after each episode. Yes, there was a lot of fangurling emojis for favourite actors, or some flashing hot disagreements between viewers, but overall, that space was where I believe the Viki community was built. It was a place for people around the world to comment on a korean drama from their own cultural perspectives, and when some of us hated the alpha male CEO, the water-slapping future mother-in-law or the dastardly second lead (male or female), there would a rousing discussion of what makes or breaks a drama. I learned about why k-drama kissing has levels from fish kisses to lukewarm lip syncing, or why a young person tilts his head to the side to sip his drink when sitting with an elder, or even why many still touch one arm out of respect when handing something formally to another. All this wonderful information just by reading that comment section, which gave the dramas a layered depth and richness I would have missed without the input of other viewers. Later, I finally began to understand the underpinnings of k-drama scripts like the overview of one single writer who provides a story with more continuity like an author does for a book; or the directing and filming styles, editing, pacing, those beautiful OSTs, and the wonderful coterie of supporting actors whose faces keep re-appearing in our dramas, yet they inhabit each character so authentically that you forget the last one they played. That’s when I began joining in the discussions. Actually, in some ways it felt like I had joined an amazing book club where you meet interesting people and ideas, (Irmar, I remember your name from the intelligent, insightful and well-informed comments you contributed when it came to adding backgrond information and little unknown points about korean culture or history). I think for me it was in the comments section that we could all get an idea of how a drama differentiated itself from others—both for their good points as well as their weak ones. I also think that’s where my loyalty to Viki was forged. The episode comment sections also allowed us to note those subbers who went the extra mile in adding in the history and culture notes–even some tidbits about the actors and meta references. And I noticed too, that many of the commenters’ names I saw in that section went on to join the viki subtitling community. But now, there is no spot to gather after an episode and talk about plot developement korean culture references or even guess what might happen next. Oh yes, there’s this discussion page, but it has a very limited readership because members generally want to express drama opinions on the drama pages “now” and won’t take time to exit and find a specific discussion page…much less start one.
VIKI please, if you want loyalty from your viewers, then give us a place to form attachments and keep the vibe alive please. As it is…there’s really nothing different here to the ‘feel’ of Netflix (except the higher quality of subs Viki gives us) of course.) I would willingingly stay and learn about Chinese, Thai, Taiwanese and other dramas, but as it stands, there is no place I can build an understanding about the different cultures they represent or the nuances in their dramas.
Finally, before my soapbox gets too slippery, I must agree with [vivi_1485] about the lack of promotion for some of the dramas that get NO promotion unless they appeal to younger tastes. I do the same [@vivi_1485] I ‘stumble blindly’ looking for ‘jewels’ and often am amazed by some of the older ones who were passed by.
OK…apologies for going on so long…had to throw in my 20 cents.
Well, there are so many exceptions to that rule so as to make it one big LIE!
either
neither.
feisty.
foreign.
forfeit.
heifer.
heist.
leisure
seize.
sovereign
their
weird
protein
etc.
a TON more, Got tired of copying them from the internet.
I just read an article about the upcoming drama Jirisan with Joo Ji Hoon, Jun Hi Hyun, and Oh Jung Se (three VERY famous actors of course). Its a highly anticipated (and expensive) drama that will be shown exclusively to international audiences outside Korea and China on a Chinese app. I had never heard of this app before but from what I read, and this deal they made to stream the drama, they are trying to get a piece of the Hallyu cash cow. I won’t be surprised if this happens more often in the future.
The streaming business has become extremely competitive. The streaming wars for live sports for instance has been crazy. The purchase prices have been absolutely insane. I feel like Viki cornered the market on Asian content before, but now even Apple and Disney trying to get into the game. I don’t fault Viki for losing out on the bidding process if they don’t have enough $$$ to throw around. I guess that’s why they had to be taken over by Rakuten.
The streaming wars are now kinda ruining the tv experience a bit, but I think Viki still does a good job of bringing in dramas for viewing.
