Falling down the K-Drama rabbit hole

 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 and 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.