Shop of the Lamp (2024)

Both dramas feature unusual characters living in a mysterious place. Lee Jung Eun plays one of these characters in each show. The main mystery in both stories is figuring out who these people are, how they are connected to each other and to the strange place, and whether they are good or bad.

Both dramas feature unusual characters trapped in a place from which it’s difficult to escape. The people in these dramas transform into strange creatures that behave in odd ways and torment the residents.

The series follows the story of a group of strangers who are all having a hard time processing a horrible experience from their past.


An unexplainable phenomena finds college-going student, Li Shi Qing, trapped in a never-ending time loop where she is always stuck on a public service bus which is due to explode, bringing death and destruction to not only herself but to all on board.
Together they try to find a way to alter their fate by ensuring the bus arrives safely at its destination, but attempting to do so proves anything but easy.

Both dramas are supernatural mystery. A person who can see the ghosts wandering the world helps them find their way

The series follows the story of a group of strangers who are all having a hard time processing a horrible experience from their past. Each of them is going about their normal lives when they are all strangely pulled to a light shop located at the end of a dubious alleyway. A cautious shopkeeper guards the light shop, which may contain the key to the strangers' pasts, present, and futures.

Both delve into the supernatural realm, exploring themes of life, death, and the afterlife. Both intertwine human experiences with supernatural elements, offering profound insights into mortality and the human condition

The series follows the story of a group of strangers who are all having a hard time processing a horrible experience from their past. Each of them is going about their normal lives when they are all strangely pulled to a light shop located at the end of a dubious alleyway. A cautious shopkeeper guards the light shop, which may contain the key to the strangers' pasts, present, and futures.

The series follows the story of a group of strangers who are all having a hard time processing a horrible experience from their past. Each of them is going about their normal lives when they are all strangely pulled to a light shop located at the end of a dubious alleyway. A cautious shopkeeper guards the light shop, which may contain the key to the strangers' pasts, present, and futures.

-Similar topic of a place in between. Characters aren't at first sure where they are or if they are alive.
-moves between worlds and at first you're not sure what's real or what's not.
-the Japanese is a movie so it moves very fast and you don't get the background of all the characters who are in the place (mine or working for the mine).
-Japanese movie is more philosophical, while Korean tries to be spooky and evilish.
The Korean series provides a lot of background on the characters and is a bit too dark in terms of cinematography.
-Of course, Japanese is minimalist as usual with fewer characters, but very beautiful cinematography.

By the same creator and screenwriter, Kang Full. Many similar genres (thriller, mystery, supernatural). Moving leans more action while Light Shop leans more towards horror. Director of Light Shop, Kim Hee-won, was also an actor in Moving.

A quirky supernatural short series. The first episode is about doors, and it's a cracker!
Not only does it have Liu Chang in it but also Kenji Chen and my favorite short drama guy Yan Zi Xian (starring in the doors sequence)!

This comparison is a bit of a spoiler for Light Shop, but it can't be helped.

The dramas are very different, but at the same time, have many similarities. Both made me cry for much the same reasons.

The protagonists in both dramas, after a big accident/disaster are severely injured and comatose. They are trapped in a state between life and death, fighting to stay alive. In the real world they're lying unconscious in their ICU beds but in the in-between they're trying to find a way out, facing menacing threats and their personal demons in the meantime.

There is a rumour of a website called "Hell Correspondence", which only opens at twelve midnight sharp. When a user types the name of a person to be gotten rid of, a hell girl, Ai Enma, brings the person to hell. In return, the user will be sent down to hell at the end of his or her life.

A high school girl, Miho, is worried about her friend Haruka being trapped in the evil scheme of a popular rock band after Haruka joins the audition and starts acting strange. As Miho tries to help her friend, she finds herself in the cursed world behind the "Hell Correspondence".

Somewhere in the vast sea of the Internet, there's a website that can only be accessed at the stroke of midnight. Known as the Jigoku Tsushin, rumor has it that if you post a grudge there, the Jigoku Shoujo will appear and drag whoever torments you into the inferno. Very little is known about the girl - all we know for sure is that she lives with her equally enigmatic grandmother, that three magical straw dolls accompany and serve her, and that whenever a posting on the Jigoku Tsushin moves her, she becomes the Jigoku Shoujo.