I am currently watching this fantasy Korean drama that is an ancient eastern culture fused with western modern society. I got recommended by my brother who has just finished up as an English teacher in Korea and he’s set to return soon!
What I love about this drama is that it uses the ancient eastern epic tale of the “Journey to the West“ in a modern twist. And this epic tale is one that has been embedded in Chinese culture since the 16th century! I myself haven’t actually seen or read the whole story - which has been translated to many languages and is very long - but I have seen many Chinese dramas and movies that reference it with comic tones.
It means that the drama isn’t just a typical Korean romantic comedy drama but it has back stories and mythical elements which make it interesting concept when mixed into romantic story. I also love the way they film it - it’s so pretty 😍
To summarise, the ancient story is about a legendary pilgrimage of a Buddhist monk who travels to the “west” (India and Central Asia) to obtain the sacred texts and returned after suffering many trials. Along the way he gains some help with animal spirit protectors who are atoning for their sins by helping the monk.
The most popular one of all is the Monkey, always full of mischief and hot headed, and needs to be controlled by a golden circlet on his head.
In the drama this is translated into, a girl who sees spirits and is the “chosen” one - a pure human being(aka the monk) who is supposed to be destined to complete a mission to save earth with the help of the monkey who becomes her protector after she accidently releases him from prison as a kid.
I love this "twilight" scene haha.
The romance side of this story is(this is all from the first and second episode - spoiler alert for anyone who wants to see those ones and be surprised): The girl waits for this protector for 25 years and when she finally meets him he just wants to eat her. So with help from other beings she manages to put a golden circlet on his wrist and it makes him fall deeply in love with her. However, it is all fake and the moment he takes it off he will have no feelings for her and actually would want to eat her - which makes it hard on her and on him in how to relate to each other - but I love that romantic tension!! It’s such a unique struggle compared to the usual Korean drama. The catch is whenever she feels sad or gets physically hurt he will physically feel it too (the circlet has put its hold on his heart) and so he must protect her.
I also love all the side characters (more spirit animals in human form) - makes it more interesting and has a lot of backstories to them.
I am almost at the end of the series and things are speeding up! There’s no real down time in this series!
It’s a must see Netflix original!!
Link to netflix here: https://www.netflix.com/gi/title/80214405
More details on wiki:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Korean_Odyssey
#hwayugi #koreanodyssey #romcom #kdrama #mustwatch
I hope to learn their theme song and have translated it to English so far 😊 - will record a video when I’m ready.