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Sep. 8th, 2023 07:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsYou may remember Tale of the Nine-Tailed, one of the many kdramas about an immortal godlike being in forever love with a plucky mortal, notable mostly for its peak expression of "chaotic evil-to-neutral younger brother with abandonment issues who's obsessed with you and also wants to murder you."
It seems this show was popular enough that a sequel was called for. Unfortunately, they couldn't get the plucky mortal forever love back for Series 2. Fortunately, the could get the entire rest of the cast, including the chaotic younger brother that everyone loved! Unfortunately, at the end of Tale of the Nine-Tailed, the chaotic younger brother is definitively out of the picture --
'Easy way to resolve this,' said [presumably] one producer to the others. 'So easy. We will just send the lead on a time travel adventure back to [throws dart at board]
the year 1938, a time in which the love interest has not been born and the chaotic younger brother is busy being a [throws dart at board]
cowboy in charge of a bandit werewolf pack for some reason, and speed-run their reconciliation while also solving problems related to [throws dart at board]
our hero's never-previously-mentioned mountain god bffs who all had a tragic friend breakup several centuries before."
"And also perhaps they will fight the Japanese occupation," said Producer B.
"Oh, obviously they will fight the Japanese occupation," said Producer A. "Actually everyone will be fighting the Japanese occupation. Conveniently most of our cast is immortal demigods, they can all be fighting the Japanese occupation in 1938. Did you hear we got the actress back for Snail Woman Who Runs The Cafe? I think probably in 1938 Snail Woman Who Runs the Cafe is the leader of a revolutionary cell."
"Perfect," said Producer B, "no notes."
You may be thinking: if they speed-run the sibling reconciliation, will this not cause problems for the future timeline in which the baby brother spends a good ten episodes trying to murder him? Our hero wonders that too! He asks his demigod parents if he should worry about it! "Do NOT worry about it AT ALL," they say, giving our protagonist absolute freedom to have episodes upon episodes of heart-warming domesticity and hijinks with his baby brother. Before he has to go back to the future, he's going to make sure that kid gets himself straightened out!
As a sidenote, this also gives him complete freedom to meet up with his past self, look at his past self, go 'wow! cringe!' and then send his past self on a Wild Plucky Mortal Forever Love Goose Chase to Manchuria.
Am I giving you a sense yet of how many things happen in this show? SO many things happen. Episode two starts with a three-way train heist, makes its way to a zombie outbreak at a beauty pageant, and ends with our protagonists going undercover as sexy stylists at the local hairdresser's. Lest you think none of this is plot-relevant, don't worry! Chekhov's zombie pageant queen WILL be making her appearance again in episode ten! There's a lucky baby. There's a mermaid romance. There's a collection of steampunk-styled evil Japanese assassin demigods. There is a Whole Episode that is set in a magical movie studio doing a realtiy show pastiche, and if you're thinking 'it's 1938, they haven't invented reality tv yet,' then may I assure you, once again, truly do not worry about it. There are no less than three loyal dog retainers who would die for their respective bosses --
Actually I should talk about this in more detail. Loyal dog retainer one is the the good-hearted gumiho veterinarian from the first show, who is also here in 1938, having jumped through the time portal after his boss. And so is his wife! Or at least, the actress who plays his wife is here in 1938, but instead of bringing her character back they have decided to recast her as an independence activist who is living out a completely different show in which she is having all the normal resistance-show tropes except for the fact that the leader of her revolutionary cell is secretly a snail woman.
You might think that our good-hearted gumiho veterinarian would have some feelings about joining a resistance cell that includes a grimly heroic resistance fighter who is identical to his absent wife. And he does! These feelings are 'mild confusion and polite camaraderie.' All intensity of feeling is instead reserved for his enemies-to-besties relationship with loyal dog retainer number two, baby brother's chief werewolf underling:
This pair of screenshot is the whole reason I am including screenshots in this post at all, by the way. This line came on the screen andgenarti said "PLEASE you MUST include this in the post" and so I am doing it, for my wife.
Who is loyal dog retainer number three? He works for and is in love with one of the mountain god bffs. He is an endangered species.
Anyway the three of them all end up as roommates in the gisaeng house where they're all living. Did I mention they're all living in a gisaeng house? The gisaengs have various mini-arcs. At least one of them also seems to be low-key in love with her mountain god boss but we don't make a big thing about it.
Anyway here are some more random screenshots that I collected over the course of writing this post.
Is this show good or watchable in isolation? Couldn't tell you in the least, but WE had an incredible time.
Me: The thing IS that I think being a sequel really freed it ... now it's just 50% wild shit and 50% fanservice, and it is the better for it.
genarti: I think actually 70% wild shit and 70% fanservice, because the wild shit and the fanservice overlap so much --
tenillypo: I think it is my favorite thing I've seen this year!
[& though currently it is only officially available on Prime, there are other avenues worth exploring.)
It seems this show was popular enough that a sequel was called for. Unfortunately, they couldn't get the plucky mortal forever love back for Series 2. Fortunately, the could get the entire rest of the cast, including the chaotic younger brother that everyone loved! Unfortunately, at the end of Tale of the Nine-Tailed, the chaotic younger brother is definitively out of the picture --
'Easy way to resolve this,' said [presumably] one producer to the others. 'So easy. We will just send the lead on a time travel adventure back to [throws dart at board]
the year 1938, a time in which the love interest has not been born and the chaotic younger brother is busy being a [throws dart at board]
cowboy in charge of a bandit werewolf pack for some reason, and speed-run their reconciliation while also solving problems related to [throws dart at board]
our hero's never-previously-mentioned mountain god bffs who all had a tragic friend breakup several centuries before."
"And also perhaps they will fight the Japanese occupation," said Producer B.
"Oh, obviously they will fight the Japanese occupation," said Producer A. "Actually everyone will be fighting the Japanese occupation. Conveniently most of our cast is immortal demigods, they can all be fighting the Japanese occupation in 1938. Did you hear we got the actress back for Snail Woman Who Runs The Cafe? I think probably in 1938 Snail Woman Who Runs the Cafe is the leader of a revolutionary cell."
"Perfect," said Producer B, "no notes."
You may be thinking: if they speed-run the sibling reconciliation, will this not cause problems for the future timeline in which the baby brother spends a good ten episodes trying to murder him? Our hero wonders that too! He asks his demigod parents if he should worry about it! "Do NOT worry about it AT ALL," they say, giving our protagonist absolute freedom to have episodes upon episodes of heart-warming domesticity and hijinks with his baby brother. Before he has to go back to the future, he's going to make sure that kid gets himself straightened out!
As a sidenote, this also gives him complete freedom to meet up with his past self, look at his past self, go 'wow! cringe!' and then send his past self on a Wild Plucky Mortal Forever Love Goose Chase to Manchuria.
Am I giving you a sense yet of how many things happen in this show? SO many things happen. Episode two starts with a three-way train heist, makes its way to a zombie outbreak at a beauty pageant, and ends with our protagonists going undercover as sexy stylists at the local hairdresser's. Lest you think none of this is plot-relevant, don't worry! Chekhov's zombie pageant queen WILL be making her appearance again in episode ten! There's a lucky baby. There's a mermaid romance. There's a collection of steampunk-styled evil Japanese assassin demigods. There is a Whole Episode that is set in a magical movie studio doing a realtiy show pastiche, and if you're thinking 'it's 1938, they haven't invented reality tv yet,' then may I assure you, once again, truly do not worry about it. There are no less than three loyal dog retainers who would die for their respective bosses --
Actually I should talk about this in more detail. Loyal dog retainer one is the the good-hearted gumiho veterinarian from the first show, who is also here in 1938, having jumped through the time portal after his boss. And so is his wife! Or at least, the actress who plays his wife is here in 1938, but instead of bringing her character back they have decided to recast her as an independence activist who is living out a completely different show in which she is having all the normal resistance-show tropes except for the fact that the leader of her revolutionary cell is secretly a snail woman.
You might think that our good-hearted gumiho veterinarian would have some feelings about joining a resistance cell that includes a grimly heroic resistance fighter who is identical to his absent wife. And he does! These feelings are 'mild confusion and polite camaraderie.' All intensity of feeling is instead reserved for his enemies-to-besties relationship with loyal dog retainer number two, baby brother's chief werewolf underling:
This pair of screenshot is the whole reason I am including screenshots in this post at all, by the way. This line came on the screen and
genarti said "PLEASE you MUST include this in the post" and so I am doing it, for my wife. Who is loyal dog retainer number three? He works for and is in love with one of the mountain god bffs. He is an endangered species.
Anyway the three of them all end up as roommates in the gisaeng house where they're all living. Did I mention they're all living in a gisaeng house? The gisaengs have various mini-arcs. At least one of them also seems to be low-key in love with her mountain god boss but we don't make a big thing about it.
Anyway here are some more random screenshots that I collected over the course of writing this post.
Is this show good or watchable in isolation? Couldn't tell you in the least, but WE had an incredible time.
Me: The thing IS that I think being a sequel really freed it ... now it's just 50% wild shit and 50% fanservice, and it is the better for it.
genarti: I think actually 70% wild shit and 70% fanservice, because the wild shit and the fanservice overlap so much -- tenillypo: I think it is my favorite thing I've seen this year
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Date: 2023-09-09 04:38 am (UTC)Since my sum total previous referent for "Snail Woman" is the Snail Woman who appears in Laurence Yep's Dragon Cauldron, this sentence itself was something of a wild ride.
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Date: 2023-09-09 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-09 04:56 am (UTC)WAY-HEY WTF.
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Date: 2023-09-09 05:02 am (UTC)I continue to love a) the way they tried to get trope bingo, if not a trope bingo card blackout, every single episode, and b) the "don't EVEN worry about it" approach to time travel paradox, and c) so many of the outfits, and d) perhaps above all, the enormous sibling energy of the fox brothers. I loved many other characters enormously! But every time they did anything it was just PEAK sibling in a way that felt super real.
Other things I love: this post. Thank you for putting screencaps in, for me, and for that glorious set at the end that I just scrolled down and cackled at. This show had no right to be as fun as it was but I'm delighted it decided to be.
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Date: 2023-09-09 12:12 pm (UTC)I lost it at "I'll show you the bandit's passion. Clip clop, clip clop."Never mind, the limited editions pic just hadn't loaded yet!
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Date: 2023-09-10 04:10 am (UTC)In any case, the producers would indeed say that you shouldn't worry about it! The snail woman has a fancy boutique and a revolutionary cell to run and that's what matters!!
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Date: 2023-09-10 12:40 pm (UTC)I am laughing, every single one of those screencaps is SUCH a wild ride! (And also I linked this post to a friend and he sent back "I'm sold, when do we start" by the time he reached snail woman, so investigating this further is a DEFINITE MAYBE.)
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Date: 2023-09-10 04:41 pm (UTC)Either way I would love to see your takes on the rest of the Decisions --
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Date: 2023-09-12 03:28 pm (UTC)actually i do and it's the very square shaped loyal dog retainer who is in love with his bosses, an unfortunate weakness of mine.
anyway thank you as always for your service
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Date: 2023-09-12 06:05 pm (UTC)door I got to tell you this square shaped loyal dog retainer is a REAL real one. at one point he gets captured and injected with evil demon serum and there's a whole scene where he's tied to a tree begging his boss to STOP untying him because he's about to go into uncontrollable demon rageout and he's terrified of hurting her. good shit!!
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Date: 2023-09-12 06:12 pm (UTC)