Tale of the Nine-Tailed revealed the three reasons why viewers had no choice but to be captivated by the drama from the very first episode.
tvN’s new drama Tale of the Nine-Tailed is an “urban fantasy drama” and tells the story of a male gumiho named Lee Yeon who has settled in the city and a fearless television producer who is determined to track him down. From the first episode, which aired on Oct. 7, Tale of the Nine-Tailed was spotted in the real-time search trends of portal sites and topped the Wednesday-Thursday viewership battle, proving to be one of the hottest topics. Here are the three reasons how the drama captured the hearts of many.
The Birth of a Very Korean “K-Fantasy”
Tale of the Nine-Tailed presents a unique view of the world where the main characters from the traditional tales live in the same shape as us. The drama is used to promote traditional Korean tales by inviting local monsters, such as a fox sister, stone Buddha, and immortals, that existed only in fairy tales, legends, and folk tales.
The Appearance of Rare Male Gumiho
Contrary to the common belief of gumiho being female, male gumiho appears in the story. By changing the familiar subject of gumiho from a woman to a man, the center of the story goes from romance to action and overcoming fate. Lee Yeon is a male gumiho, who once ruled as a living god of the Baekdudaegan Mountain, with irresistibly handsome looks and extraordinary abilities. Moreover, Lee Yeon has the characteristics of a fox that never abandons its one partner, so he will show a more pure romance than humans as he waits for the reincarnation of a woman he has loved for a long time.
Collaboration Between Traditions and Modernity
The collaboration between traditions and modernity is the most notable point of Tale of the Nine-Tailed. It modernizes Sam Cheon Stream, known as the border dividing the world and underworld, as an immigration office between the two worlds, and reinterprets traditional tales, such as the snail bride in the tales running a Korean restaurant. Also, the gatekeepers of the underworld, who were mostly described as creepy grim reapers, doubled their familiarity as they were shown drinking coffee in antique-style offices and struggling with computers.
The production team said, “In the future, various figures from legends and tales will appear and intertwine with the characters who are pioneering their destiny, increasing the tension of the drama. Please pay more attention to the Tale of the Nine-Tailed, which will get more and more interesting.”
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