Dr. Frost is a Korean Webtoon created by JongBeom Lee in 2011. It is a psychological drama following Dr. Frost, a genius psychologist who can't feel certain emotions such as sympathy or affection, but uses his research and previous case studies to solve psychological problems and give counseling.
However, it's when his mentor, Professor Chun, invites him to work at the counseling center at Yonggang University do things truly start to happen. Along with a counseling T.A named Seonga Yoon, he counsels clients, figuring out what their problems are, the roots of the problem, and how to help them.
The English translation can be found here
. There was a hiatus between April 2017 (end of season 2) and November 2020 (beginning of season 3), but the comic has resumed production. The Korean version on Naver only has the third and fourth seasons available for free, as the first two seasons are now pay to view. But you can find them here.
Dr. Frost contains examples of:
- All Love Is Unrequited: Played straight with any poor woman to develop feelings for Frost. Averted with Jaeon and Nayoung.
- Anger Born of Worry: A mild example is Seonga being annoyed at Frost after he gets his hand cut open while trying to stop an actor from accidentally slashing his throat.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: How some of Seon's relationship with her younger sister, Seol, can come off as. However, it isn't played for laughs, as some of Seol's tendencies that make this trope (such as stealing away guys Seon is interested in) are a result of her borderline personality disorder.
- Anti-Hero: Frost being a Sherlock Homage, this is a given.
- Arc Words: "People are basically the same."
- Art Evolution: The art changes very slowly throughout the series, though when you compare the first and latest chapters, you can notice a lot of difference, particularly with the coloring and Frost's design.
- Art Shift: It has a different coloring style whenever there's a backstory episode.
- Art-Style Dissonance: The art at first matches the story, with cooler colors and a slightly different style. But it soon develops, having brighter colors and a warmer atmosphere, all while the story becomes more of a crime drama.
- Ascended Extra: Anna begins as another client of Frost's but plays a big part in "Persona" and makes an appearance in "Insomnia."
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Frost usually uses a Sherlock Scan or two on his patients to analyze them.
- Backstory: Plenty of the cases have this, but two examples that stand out are A Solar Eclipse Between Two People and The Psychologist in the Black Room.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: Frost stops an actor from accidentally slashing his own throat with a real knife by grabbing it with his bare hands.
- Battle of Wits: A very unwitting (and short) one between Frost and Moon, in which Moon reveals that someone has visited Yonggang to commit suicide, and he forces Frost to try to figure out who it is. Frost does manage to figure out who they are and where they went... right before the girl has jumped off a building and dies in front of him.
- Beneath Suspicion: Sort of. With the exception of Frost and Chun, NO ONE suspects Moon of being a murderer.
- Big Damn Heroes: This happens more often than you'd think. Some examples are when Frost stops Seokjoon Nam from accidentally slashing his throat, and when Frost and Yoon stop Jeonghyun from committing suicide.
- Bond Breaker: After Chun's death Yoon goes to America for her studies and Song grows distant again.
- Breather Episode: Between cases, there's usually a "Psychologist in the __ Room" episode, usually funny side stories. However, sometimes they do serve to move the plot.
- Brutal Honesty: Due to his lack of empathy, Frost tends to be like this.
- Broken Pedestal: Seonghyun Moon, one of the men who became a mentor to Frost, turns out to be a murderer.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Frost is a far cry from a conventional counselor. First off is his Lack of Empathy, but also the fact that he does...unique tactics, such as breaking and entering into the client's house, or pretending to be the client's math tutor.
- Bus Crash: Jeonghyun commits suicide offscreen in the time between "Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?" and "Happy Birthday Dr. Frost".
- Cannot Spit It Out: As the story develops, Yoon develops an obvious crush on Frost, which is made clear in literally every way except verbally.
- Casanova Wannabe: Jeonghyuk Oh, Frost's patient in "The Empty Man," has been in 17 failed relationships.
- Chekhov's Gun: Frost's pen with a small camera in it comes in handy during "The Desires of Others..."
- Cliffhanger: Usually the end of every chapter.
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: Frost is somehow unaware of Yoon's crush on him, Song's past feelings for him, and Seol's flirtations.
- Clueless Detective: The detectives who help Frost on occasion sure do have their bumbling moments.
- A Day in the Limelight: Whenever there's a "Psychologist in the _____ Room" episode, it focuses on characters like Seonga, Chun, or Seon.
- Defective Detective: Frost himself. While it's shown that his inability to emphasize with others can help solve cases, it's shown that it also places him into as more trouble than it helps.
- Despair Event Horizon: Seon's happens when Seol commits suicide. Another is Chun’s death for Frost.
- Disability Superpower: Subverted. While Frost's inability to emphasize with others makes him more objective and able to solve cases more accurately, the downsides of his condition are shown more than the positives.
- Distress Call: Seol fails to get a hold of her sister, Seon, during her accidental suicide attempt.
- Dramatic Irony: The audience is often given information that the main characters don't know.
- Dream Sequence: Both Frost and Seonga have lucid dreams at points. Seonga's are Played for Laughs, while Frost's actually help to make his backstory even more mysterious.
- Driven to Suicide: Jungyun and Jeonghyun. Although it looks like the latter will be a Happily Failed Suicide, both end up succeeding in the end.
- Everyone Can See It: Seon seems to be aware of Seonga’s crush on Frost, which may be one of the reasons she keeps telling her not to work with him. It's also implied Chun knows, and why he is concerned about Frost possibly having a negative impact on her.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Surprisingly, Pavlov. When Seonga takes him outside for a bit, he surprised her by barking for seemingly no reason. As it turns out, there’s a suspicious figure in the shadows…
- Expository Hairstyle Change: When Seon cut her hair short in "A Solar Eclipse Between Two People." She did this after she sees her sister Seol, Frost's first patient, begin to get closer to him. Because of Seol’s borderline personality disorder, she’s seen her “steal away” guys she's liked before, and this seems to be the last straw.
- False Friend: Moon to everyone.
- Faux Affably Evil: Moon seems like a cheerful, kind man. He even has this demeanor while casually treating suicide like a game.
- Foregone Conclusion: Due to Seon calling Frost a murderer and the implications that his first case ended badly, it’s safe to bet that Seol, his first patient, won’t survive her arc.
- Foreshadowing: There always is a lot, but one in particular is the title of Anna's latest single, "Another Me." It foreshadows her delusional disorder.
- Glass Eye: Sihyun's step mother has one from a bridge accident. It turns out to be a case of Chekhov's Gun.
- Good Doc, Bad Doc: Frost, Chun, and Song fill the good part. Moon fills the bad part.
- Good Is Not Dumb: Due to her cheerful and kind nature, Seonga is often underestimated.
- Good-Times Montage: Right before Seonga tells Frost she wants to be a great counselor like him someday, she has one of these of their time together.
- Happily Failed Suicide: Played straight, but ultimately subverted. Jeonghyun's suicide attempt is stopped by Frost and Seonga, and he finally seems to be hopeful about the future. And then Moon comes back into the picture.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Not with death, but it’s revealed that Frost allows Seon to hate him as a defense mechanism to her feelings of guilt over Seoul’s death. In a straighter example that still doesn't involve death,after Jeonghyun’s suicide, he volunteers to resign from Yonggang University in her place.
- Hint Dropping: Seonga tries to ask Frost to go to the movies with her at one point. He doesn't get it.
- Hollywood Psych: Mostly averted due to the author being a real life psychology major. However, due to the comic beginning in 2011, there are parts that use outdated psychological methods, or use information that isn't as credible as it used to be.
- Hope Spot: Frost and Seonga have stopped Jeonghyun from committing suicide, and it seems like he is finally happy and hopeful about life again. And then Moon comes into the picture, and next thing we know is the news that he killed himself.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Chun, Song, and even Frost at first in regards to Moon.
- Info Dump: The descriptions of different disorders and other psychological information plays a major part in the series.
- Ink Blot Test: The Rorschach Test is mentioned in "The Empty Man," the very first episode.
- Ironic Birthday: The "Happy Birthday, Dr. Frost" arc is anything but happy.
- It's All My Fault: It’s revealed that this is how Seon feels about her sister Seol's suicide, and that her blaming Frost is a defense mechanism.
- Kick the Dog: Although Frost doesn't mistreat Seonga, he has borderline moments, usually when the audience knows his reasons why, but Seonga doesn't. Like after she said she wanted to be a great psychologist like him, he immediately said she should never be like him, and told her he wanted her to go to America for her studies. Also anything Moon does. He not only allowed a girl to commit suicide without doing anything, he treated it like a game, trying to get Frost to find out who it was. And then he gets her brother to kill himself after he finally found hope again.
- Lack of Empathy: Frost, at first. He begins to get better. On the other hand, Moon certainly qualifies as well.
- Last-Name Basis: The characters are usually referred to by their last names, although Song does get called Seon a lot. So when Frost calls Yoon “Seonga” (although behind her back) it’s a pretty big deal; it shows he has a lot of trust in her competence as a counselor.
- Morality Pet: In a literal way, Pavlov could be a literal morality pet for Frost. But Seon also says that she thinks Seonga is also, if not entirely responsible, for Frost becoming more human.
- Mundane Made Awesome: It's a comic about diagnosing disorders and mental health problems, and it plays out like a mystery series.
- Not What It Looks Like: When Seon sees Frost and Yoon outside the DVD room.
- Odd Couple: While they're not a couple, and although the word "friendship", may be pushing it, by the end of season two, it's obvious that Yoon has a crush on Frost, and Frost at least genuinely cares for her in a way.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Whenever Frost shows some sort of strong emotion.
- Parental Substitute: Chun towards Frost.
- Pet the Dog: Frost has his almost kind moments. One in particular is when he adopts Pavlov, and he has a surprising amount of these for Seonga, which is unique among a Sherlock Homage protagonist.
- Poor Communication Kills: If only Seol had been able to contact Song in time...
- The Profiler: Frost worked for the police for a time as one, though we don't know any details.
- The Reveal: Every diagnosis has an epic reveal.
- Reverse Whodunnit: Not at first, but once Moon is introduced...well, let's just say we know that he's influencing others into committing suicide.
- Rooftop Confrontation: When Frost and Yoon try to keep Jeonghyun Kim from committing suicide.
- Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: Frost is the Rude Hero to Seonga's Nice Sidekick.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Frost is the Savvy Guy to Seonga's Energetic Girl.
- Ship Tease: The author seems to enjoy poking fun at his fans for shipping.
- Shirtless Scene: Played for laughs. Frost has one in one of the "Psychologist in the Yellow Room" episodes.
- Shoutout: To Noblesse and Lie to Me, to name a few.
- Sherlock Homage: Frost. Sherlock Scan? Check. Genius? Check. Bad social skills? Check. A smart, plucky assistant? Check. A Greater-Scope Villain who is a direct Foil to him? Check.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!!: Chun during his confrontation with Moon. It doesn't turn out well.
- Stalker without a Crush: What Anna's case is at first. As it turns out, the stalker doesn't exist and is all in her head. Also happens to Seon, after she begins to get threatening letters from an old patient.
- The Stinger: The series becomes increasingly fond of these, often dropping in small but important scenes after the concluding page or a To Be Continued.
- Things Get Real: Around "Mirrors" is when this begins to shift from a mystery series about psychology into a crime drama.
- To Be Lawful or Good: When Song has to choose whether she should give her patients' case files to the police for her safety.
- Twisted Christmas: During "Merry Christmas, Dr. Frost," Frost has a seeming premonition of bad things to come.
- Unable to Cry: Frost, until Chun dies.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Frost barely has any understanding of certain emotions, especially compassion, empathy, affection, and love. A large part of his story arc is him trying to understand and feel those emotions.
- Whole Episode Flashback: "A Solar Eclipse Between Two People" is an almost entirely flashback arc, as is "The Psychologist in the Black Room."
