Dramas like
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha

The purest version of the fantasy. A woman quits Seoul, moves to a coastal town and deliberately does nothing, and the town slowly assembles around her anyway. Same library-and-harbour rhythm, same cast of locals who let themselves in. Difference: much slower and much quieter, and the mystery underneath it turns violent, so it is not the pure comfort watch it looks like.

Slow start Episode 3, once the village regulars start turning up at the library.

Jeju rather than Gongjin, and the same conviction that a market town is a full cast of protagonists. If your favourite Hometown episodes were the ones about the villagers rather than the couple, this is ten of those in a row. Difference: it is genuinely sad in stretches, and the warmth is earned rather than assumed.

Slow start Episode 3 closes the first chapter and sells the anthology format.

A whole life on Jeju, from a stubborn girl to a grandmother, with the same reverence for ordinary endurance and the same seaside light. Difference: the emotional swings are enormous and it will take a real toll, where Hometown mostly cushioned you.

Hooks early Episode 2, where the childhood section pays off.

Two guarded people in their thirties negotiating a life together because Seoul rent is a horror story. Same dry, adult, unhurried romance with a small found family around it. Difference: city-bound, and the humour is drier and more anxious.

Hooks early Episode 2, once the housemate arrangement starts.

If it was the sunniness you came for: an unglamorous heroine, a closed community, and a romance built entirely out of friendship and shared meals. Difference: campus rather than village, and the concerns are early-twenties rather than mid-thirties.

Hooks early Episode 2, once the two leads start colliding on purpose.

Two adults quietly working out that they are each in the wrong life, told in glances and pharmacy small talk. Same conviction that undramatic decisions deserve screen time. Difference: no ensemble comedy at all. It is two people and their families.

Slow start Episode 4, once both families are involved. Before that it is glances and pharmacy small talk.