Captivated by K-Drama Fantasy

 I've always been a fan of wuxia movies but I'm coming a little late to the fantasy explosion of Asian TV series, many from Korea but plenty from China and other nations. A couple of friends kept sending recommendations including Cobalt City creator Nate Crowder and graphic designer Rosie Gaynor, who created the gorgeous print editions for Wrecker of Engines and Jaunts Afar & Beyond. 

Rosie also started a series of journals to track her favorite K-drama shows. You can find Rosie's lovely journals on bookselling platforms under the titles shown below or under her name. Below the image, you can find my recent recommendations for Asian TV series. Other TV fantasy/science fiction favorites can be found here.

My Asian fantasy TV watching this year includes:

Love Game in an Eastern Fantasy

Super fan Miaomiao writes a bad review online of her favorite author's fantasy novel. This causes her to be sucked into the computer and tasked with completing the book. I did a series of posts about this series on Blue Sky because Miaomiao struggles with the classic writer's problem of sticking to the outline versus pantsing your way through plot problems. Every time she goes off track, the narrative gods punish her by adding extra complications. Besides her problems with the original villain, bad boy Mu Sheng, she finds herself beset with secondary characters who turn out to be too good to simply leave behind. The costumes are gorgeous! Watch Miaomiao's hair ornaments closely. Her ribbons often blow romantically in a breeze. I streamed this through Netflix.

Tale of the Nine-Tailed

So far I've only watched Season One (available on Netflix and Amazon Prime) but this is a good example of start simple and draw the viewer into a complicated story and world building. I've always liked Korean nine-tailed fox stories. This particular nine-tailed fox turned immortal mountain deity uses his powers to rid the world of evil supernatural creatures. It starts out as a folklore horror series but soon dives into a complicated romance with a reincarnated love and an evil serpent. A variety of good and bad foxes (or at least morally gray foxes) show up, all with delightful food addictions. The hero Yeon is super fond of "choco-mint" ice cream, his bad boy brother cannot resist azalea flowers, and Yeon's sidekick fox friend cooks constantly for emotional support therapy of everyone around him. There's also a restaurant run by the Snail Bride where everyone gathers. 

Alchemy of Souls

One friend loved Season One and hated Season Two...and another said both seasons were so worth her time that she had re-watched several key scenes multiple times. I loved the twisty set-up while having moments of "wait! does this make sense? oh who cares, they are all so cute." Basically trouble starts when a master mage soul swaps with the dying emperor, the emperor has a week-long lovefest with the mage's wife (kind of Uther and Merlin territory but mage didn't know his wife was the target of the emperor's plans), and the resulting child has his "gate of energy" sealed shut by his biological father who is not his soul father. Flash forward and adult Uk (kid with the multiple fathers) has grown up to be a fop prone to illness with two super mage friends and one mage ex-fiancee (children of the other three powerful mage families). Uk tried studying with 12 master mages but Dad's curse (or is it protection?) keeps him just a rich dilettante. Enter Naksu, legendary female assassin, sworn to kill all the "good" mage families (technically the mages are the good guys, the royal family and associates the baddies, but it's complicated!). Naksu gets taken out by the good guys (yay!) but soul swaps into a blind girl (boo!). Uk meets the no longer blind girl at the local brothel (which is where everyone hangs out...and it's less brothel than really nice restaurant from what we see). Uk buys her to be his maid. Because (dramatic music here) he realizes that she's the legendary mage killer Naksu and she should be his next master (uh, Uk, this is the woman who is trying to slaughter your friends and family, want to rethink your decision? No? Have fun). Because she has "lost energy"  (aka can't do all her magic killing stuff any more), the former Naksu agrees. 

So starts a tale full of mage versus palace intrigues, funny things that happen when your maid is also your magic fight teacher, and many swoony romantic moments with a person dedicated to killing you and your friends. Side quests abound. Secondary characters have romances too. Also complicated back stories. And some second thoughts about their career plans. My favorite line from one of the main villain's goons was "I didn't serve the Danju just to shift my soul into the body of the eunuch." It perfectly encapsulates the moment when a baddie realizes that being the sidekick is not best choice for longterm happiness and fulfillment. I watched both seasons on Netflix and thought the story wrapped up all the angsty relationships nicely. Plus I loved the Season 2 turtle subplot. 

Unveil: Jadewind 

There are a lot of princesses in this Tang dynasty detective drama. They are not Disney princesses. These are slice you open with a sword princesses. Foremost among them is lead investigator, an orphaned princess who puts herself in danger to solve crimes. Li Peiyi, the Princess of Fuchang County (referred to as the "county princess" in the subtitles), is a master of martial arts and completely reckless. In the early episodes, her adventures include being nailed into a coffin, poisoned, and drowned. The last was classic act of the bad guys fastening stones to her feet and throwing her into an unusually deep ornamental pond. Apparently bad guys in the Tang Dynasty did garden design with murder in mind.

Luckily, the Perils of Pauline princess has loyal companions who rush in to rescue her and arrest the criminals for attempted murder. New to her Scooby gang is a handsome court astronomer Xiao Huaijin. Xiao does not practice martial arts but he can administer a poison antidote or dive into an absurdly deep pond when needed. He also knows how to calculate the height of the bad guy from his shadow cast in moonlight, which means he is really wasted as an astronomer and obviously meant to be a detective. Xiao ends up with being tasked with keeping the county princess alive by her ancient mentor (who is gives a nice "good luck, son" speech to the astonished astronomer). The crimes are clever and the episodes end with a cliffhanger to bring you back next week (or keep streaming late into the night). Adding to the appeal of sword fights and being nailed in a coffin (really this was an amazing first case introduction), the Tang dynasty costumes and sets are gorgeous.  There is, of course, an unsolved mystery attached to Li Peiyi's tragic loss of her family and Xiao Huaijin's childhood relationship to her which (naturally) must stand as a barrier to any romantic feelings between the detecting duo. Of course, they will keep falling into situations which require (gasp!) hand holding. Streamed this through Netflix.