A problem I sometimes have with American television shows is that they often rely on cliffhangers at the end of seasons to encourage viewers to return for the next season. As the show goes on, these cliffhangers can become more and more improbable and melodramatic as the showrunners attempt to top the previous season’s cliffhanger. Eventually, it all becomes too ridiculous for me and I end up dropping the show or, even worse, it gets cancelled without ever resolving the latest cliffhanger.
Back in the darkest and scariest days of the pandemic, I was complaining about this one day to some online friends and they recommended that I check out Asian dramas as an alternative. Although there are some exceptions, like Squid Game, Asian dramas are usually self-contained stories with only one “season”, like a Western miniseries, so they’re fully planned in advance and are designed to have endings that wrap up the different storylines in a satisfying way, instead of trying to set up future episodes. At the same time, they’re long enough to have more depth and complexity in their plots than a typical movie. (Very long, in the case of many Chinese dramas, as I was about to discover.) Of course, just like any other type of media, some dramas fulfill these expectations better than others, and poor writing, acting, or directing, rushed production, inadequate budget, and other problems can derail even the best storyline. However, just the potential for high quality long-form yet fixed-ending storytelling was enough to convince me to go seek out some Asian dramas to try.
Netflix was at that time expanding its collection of Korean and Chinese dramas, and I quickly discovered that I did enjoy the Asian style of television drama. Since then, I’ve also branched out to watch some Thai and Japanese dramas.
I use a website called MyDramaList to keep track of my Asian drama viewing and to look for new recommendations. Here are four of my favorite Asian dramas that I’ve watched, one each from the four countries I’ve watched dramas from so far:
China: Nirvana in Fire
Nirvana in Fire (aka 琅琊榜, or Lángyá Bǎng) is by far the longest drama in this list, but also arguably the best. It’s often compared to Game of Thrones, because it’s an epic historical fantasy with a large cast and a plot with a lot of political intrigue, but it has more consistent writing and, I would also say, more faith in humanity than Game of Thrones. The stakes are high and terrible things do happen onscreen (or are uncovered about the past), but to me, Nirvana in Fire never felt like it reveled in the human capacity for cruelty and depravity in the same way that Game of Thrones sometimes seemed to.
Nirvana in Fire is about a man whose family was wrongly accused of treason and killed. Twelve years later, with his face permanently changed due to a magical illness, he returns to the palace in the guise of a strategist and puts his plan for revenge in action, rooting out the corruption that resulted in his family’s deaths along the way and supporting the most honorable of the emperor’s sons in his bid to be named heir.
There’s so much I love about this drama, one of the main things being that both the protagonist and the main antagonists are very smart (I love competence in my fiction as in life), so the outcome is never certain and both successfully outwit the other at different points. There’s also a huge supporting cast full of many characters you’ll love, and some others you’ll love to hate. It has some of the best depictions of female characters in any Asian drama I’ve seen yet – the women of Nirvana in Fire both match wits and cross swords with the male characters as equals, and nearly all of them have meaningful and important relationships with other women, not only with the men in their lives.
In addition to the points above, Nirvana in Fire also features a strong cast of experienced actors, beautiful sets and costumes, and some exciting martial arts fights and battle scenes to spice up the scheming and palace intrigue. Though a serious drama overall, it also has more humor and charm than I expected before I started it.
Here is a trailer:
The large cast of characters can be a bit intimidating, and most of the major players are introduced rather quickly within the first few of the 54 total episodes, so you’ll want to give yourself a few episodes to settle into the story and learn who everyone is and how they’re connected. There are character guides online that can help speed up this process: this one is my favorite.
Nirvana in Fire is free to watch on Rakuten Viki in both subtitled and dubbed versions. I do not recommend the version on Youtube, because its subtitles are not as good as Viki’s and it had some important scenes cut due to later censorship.
South Korea: Mr. Queen
I’ve currently watched more dramas from South Korea than any other Asian country. Korea’s film and television industry is well-established and prolific, so there’s a Kdrama to suit almost any taste, and most have high production values. Kdramas are also usually shorter than Chinese dramas (typically 10-20 episodes, instead of 40+), so now that we’re no longer at home so much because of pandemic lockdowns, they’re a bit easier to find time to binge.
Because I’ve seen the greatest number of Kdramas, I had a harder choice to pick a favorite for this post, and there’s several others I’m sure I’ll write about in the future. For now, however, I settled on Mr. Queen (aka 철인왕후) as the one to recommend here. It’s a time travel comedy about a modern male chef who gets magically transported back to Joseon-era Korea, where he finds himself in the body of the future queen. As he tries desperately to return home to his own body and the modern era, he finds himself embroiled in high-stakes power struggles within the Joseon court.
Like Nirvana in Fire, Mr Queen features a great deal of political intrigue that pits more or less equal antagonists against each other, and the outcome of any given scheme is never certain. I was on the edge of my seat for much of this drama, and could hardly wait to finish work every day so I could watch more. The fish-out-of-water comedy is also hilarious, and the lead actress, Shin Hye-sun, absolutely kills her role as the rude and arrogant chef trapped in the queen’s body, who gradually comes to care about the king and the other people he meets in the past.
Mr. Queen is available to watch with English subtitles on Netflix and Rakuten Viki.
Thailand: Moonlight Chicken
Thailand has the most prolific “Boyslove” (BL) drama industry in Asia, a genre centering on romantic dramas about gay men. Traditionally, most BL dramas have been set among high school or college students, often from wealthy families, but the main character of Moonlight Chicken (aka Midnight Series : Moonlight Chicken พระจันทร์มันไก่) is Jim, a working-class, 40 year old man who owns a restaurant specializing in Hainanese chicken rice in the seaside resort town of Pattaya, Thailand.
Written and directed by an openly gay man, Moonlight Chicken is a beautiful, hopeful story about love and family, both real and found, that touches on issues such as poverty, homophobia, ableism, infidelity, and more. The main romance begins with a bang (literally), but transforms into a gentle, healing slow burn love story when Jim’s one night stand refuses to leave and instead sets about gradually dismantling Jim’s past trauma and internalized homophobia to give both of them a new chance for happiness. Thailand’s BL industry uses a system of branded pairs, actors who work together across multiple projects. The lead pair in Moonlight Chicken, Earth Pirapat Watthanasetsiri and Mix Sahaphap Wongratch (aka EarthMix), is one of my favorites in the industry. They’re known for their mature romantic chemistry, which is used to good effect in this show. The rest of the cast includes several more of my favorite Thai actors, including First Kanaphan Puitrakul, Khaotung Thanawat Ratanakitpaisan, and Mark Pakin Kuna-anuwi, and there’s also a very sweet side romance between Jim’s young nephew and the deaf son of the local chief of police, with outstanding performances by the two teen actors, Fourth Nattawat Jirochtikul and Gemini Norawit Titicharoenrak.
Here is a trailer:
Moonlight Chicken is available with English subtitles and free to watch on Youtube.
Japan: Cherry Magic
The BL genre originated in Japan, and Japan remains another prolific producer of BL anime, manga, and live-action dramas. One of the most charming of the latter is Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (aka 30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい).
Cherry Magic is about a shy, virgin office worker named Adachi (Akaso Eiji), who wakes up on his 30th birthday to learn that he can read minds. He quickly discovers that not only does he have a secret admirer, but that his secret admirer is Kurosawa (Machida Keita), the most handsome and popular guy at his office. Kurosawa has been pining after Adachi for years and can hardly believe his luck when Adachi suddenly decides to get to know him better, but how will Adachi confess the reason for his sudden interest? This short, sweet, and adorable drama is a perfect pick-me-up.
Cherry Magic is available to watch with English subtitles on CrunchyRoll and Apple TV.
I hope you enjoy these four dramas! Have you ever watched any dramas from China, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, or any other Asian country? If so, what were your favorites?