Tale of the Nine-Tailed (2020)

Nothing compared to the 2nd season.

? Honestly this one left me wanting...I felt like the chemistry between the 2 main leads was not believable, not only that but the plot point of Lee Dong Wook NOT abandoning his little brother that he CLEARLY abandoned irked me!! He literally left him for atleast a decade, only to show up to kill him and leave him for dead and then instead of dealing with the issue he let's 600 years pass before telling his brother the truth and even then he doesn't really own up to the reasonable trauma he caused Rang. Instead he just gaslights him into believing he was a good brother even though he clearly wasn't. Idk I just feel like if the writers wanted to convince us that Dong Wook was actually a good big bro then they should've tried harder. Speaking of Bros, the bromance had more chemistry than the romance and Lee Rang STOLE THE SHOW!! He was the best thing in the show, and the fact that they gave him a family just to do him dirty at the end was just wrong! It just left me angry! He deserved more, he and his family were way more interesting than the main couple, sorry not sorry. That being said it was a well written story and obviously kept me watching since I binged it in 2 sick days but in the end it was bittersweet and it just bummed me out. Rang didn't even get to say goodbye...Ugh!! Not fair! Honestly it doesn't hold a candle to season 2.

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Great!

When I watched it for the first time, I really enjoyed this Korean drama series: Tale of the Nine-Tailed Fox, everything about this series is amazing. That's why I couldn't understand why other viewers find it bad hehehehe. I could totally say that this is one of the best fantasy kdrama. All actors are great in portraying their roles and the storyline is quite amazing tho. Especially Kim Bum who did an amazing comeback, he did a great job in portraying Lee Rang and it suits him well. BTW, his really handsome here I can't take my eyes on him hehehe I agree with everyone that he really steal the show. What I really love in this drama is the Lee brothers love hate bromance, action scenes, Lee Rang and Suho's interaction and all the supporting casts scenes, they really brought light in this drama amidst the main characters dark story. Lee Dong Wook and Jo Bo Ah has a good chemistry but not too good tho. I also love their story but not as much how I love the brothers and Suho. I hate how Lee Rang sacrifice himself huhuhu I cried a lot on that scene.

But! This review was when I watched it first, but when I watch it for the second time, my re-watch value is only 5/10 and that is for Lee Rang, Lee Dong Wook's acting and the supporting casts. Because they really make the show interesting. I feel annoyed on Lee Yeon and Ji Ah's romance scenes, like they really don't suit each other, because of that I understand why other viewers don't like their pairing hehehehe. I skip their romance scenes and keep rewinding scenes with Lee Rang on it hahaha.

I could say that you could enjoy this drama in a one-, time watch. If you re-watch it, skip the romance scenes so you won't be annoyed hahaha. If you like dark fantasy with family relationship this is really for you. If you haven't watched it yet! Give it a shot!

By the way, there's a Tale of The Nine-Tailed Fox Spin Off, this is about the story of Lee
Rang, Yuri, and Suho. I love it and it is very
interesting. You can watch it on YouTube or Facebook.

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okay drama, but many boring eps or moment. Dragging later on

for me, there were good episodes that I liked and other that were more boring or dragging. In general, I think the plot had potential.

What I liked :
- the cinematography
- the love story. I love past lovers/past story, people how are meant to be, falling in love again, etc. I’ve seen mixte opinions, but personally I think they had chemistry and they looked good together. The kisses were also good and I enjoyed their journey. I think it a decent romance
- the side characters and the friendship. Lee Yeon and Gu Shin Joo, Lee Rang and Yoo Ri, Lee Rand and the kids, etc….

****I have a point to say : after reading some comments, I don’t get this at all and what the hell people saw when they said Lee Rang and Yoo Ri had better chemistry than the leads or should’ve ended together. like what… there was obviously nothing romantic between them. He saved her, he was like her saviour. They became friends, family. That how I saw it, didn’t saw them or imagined that they should be a couple. I loved their friendship. Yoo Ri and Shin Joo were cute, had romantic chemistry and had feelings for each other. I liked this pairing and I’m happy they got their happy ending.

- the brothers. I enjoyed the development in their relationship and I was always looking forward to their scenes. Lee Rang was annoying me at first, but I loved his character in the end.
- happy ending for the main couple and I love the little family with Yoo Ri + Shin Joo and the kid. I was spoiled for many thing, but didn’t expect to see Lee Rang reincarnated at the end as a kid.
- I enjoyed the last ep. I cried a lot. I think it was a decent ending, we got closer and moment from everyone. Lee Rang death was sad, he loved his brother so much?? but at the same time he would probably had die soon since his time was near (it was mention that with him being a half for, he would die soon). but still, he was finally happy and had reason to live.
- I actually liked the leads. Lee Dong Wook is so handsome in this drama, for sure his best look. I liked FL too. I truly don’t understand the hate. I think she did good and her character wasn’t annoying. She doesn’t seems like a bad actress at all for me.
- the granny and her husband were funny and enjoyable most of the time
- glad she found her parents
- no pointless love triangle

Now the negative points :
- more boring than entertaining maybe…
- the villain wasn’t really interesting
- the plot could have been better.
- in the end when ML came back to life, I was waiting for him to ask about his brother or something.

Now let’s watch season 2

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Great chemistry...

Am I the only one who sees Lee Dong Wook as Lee Yeon and Jo Bo Ah as Nam Ji Ah's great chemistry? JBA's beauty is refreshing in my opinion. She got the vibe of both her roles(Director and Princess). She's versatile in this drama. LDW is unrealistically handsome in some of the scenes that I thought no one can pulled it off like he did. So as a pair, it's a hundred and one percent great chemistry to me. At first I thought she's not that pretty so why they picked her as LDW character's love interest... It's a fantasy, why did they picked a plain looking leading lady. Well, in my own opinion, she's surprisingly pretty and charming here.

Moving on to the drama's plot, I rate it 9 because of references they use. Loopholes? I don't think it's necessary to give reason or to explain everything. I admit I have a lot of questions, but I've realized that it is a 'tale' so the writers just stick with it. They chose to focus on the life of Lee Yeon because he is the Nine-Tailed or the Gumiho.

About the ending, I love it. I love how finally, Lee Rang became brave to sacrifice his life for his beloved brother Lee Yeon. It shows how he really love his brother because he failed or he hasn't have really the chance to act it to him because of what happened between them in the past. Also, Lee Yeon became a Gumiho again. (This is my assumption on why he's still a Gumiho : The reason why he hasn't gone through the process of reincarnation was because no one gets reincarnated after jumping into Samdo River. The judges just pulled him back to life because they considered the noble thing he did to slay the Imoogi. The judges granted his wish to be a human but for limited time only if he's still going to perform his duty. I guess they don't want to put to waste a great mind and skilled slayer like him.

It's a tale, it needs to put the audience into thinking of many possibilities... And run their imagination. It's not a spoon feed drama.

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Good one, if you want to go on a ride of emotions filled with surprises.

Honestly, This is my first time watching this genre and I was genuinely surprised by how much I liked it. A very commendable job by the actors.

The plot may not make sense at times, but each episode individually was good. We may have to think about why things happen here and there. I really liked the character development in the drama, especially Lee Rang's. The complex emotions were beautifully portrayed. It has all the elements from romance, horror thriller and light humour also which kept me hooked the entire time. I would be laughing and then out of the blue comes a sad scene or a thrilling scene, that I will be crying or hugging myself in anticipation. I was feeling full from all the emotions that I was feeling after each episode. The whole drama has a lot of variety contained.

The chemistry between the lead pair was adequate and justice was made to all the roles. The only disappointment for me was the end. It started to get a little soggy and the final episode didn't make any sense. Logic said bid adieu and even when I thought about it after finishing the drama, it didn't make sense to me anyway. The best part of the entire drama was the middle part, which had loads of content and kept me on the edge of my seat. Maybe things could have been organized better to make sense.

If you are really questioning whether to watch it or not, do give it a go. I felt the same before I started and I am quite satisfied in fact glad that I watched it. Hope you all have a good time watching too!

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Great show but watch for the Fox brothers more than the romance.

First of all, I really enjoy series with this sort of theme. I love folklore and supernaturall stuff and add in a little religion flavouring. I just find those themes really interesting so I sort of knew after finding out what this was about that I would enjoy it. Had fun fighting scenes, some actual scary bits (those ghost kids man), fun characters (I love that the gateway to the afterlife is just looked after by some middle-aged couple).

Pros:
The Foxes: All of the foxes are the reason to watch this show. That might seem like an obvious statement given the name of the show but honestly, if there were no human main characters and just immortal beings trying to save the world, I think it still could have worked. Perhaps even worked better.
The Other Immortals: I loved Granny. I loved her husband. I loved all the other immortals that Lee Yeon encounters. Even the baddies.
The Theme: A world where immortal/supernatural beings live among humans. Always fun.
THE FOX BROTHERS: I will be talking about this later.

Cons:
The Main Love Story: Felt forced. I LIKED Ji ah. I found her interesting and a fun character but I felt like the chemistry between her and Lee Yeon was just off. I don't think it's the actors, I just think they're written in a way that seems to have less depth and impact than the other bonds we see in the show.
Those Sneakers!: I liked most of the stuff about this show but those sneakers. No. Just no.
Ji Ah's Parents Story: I get why it's in the story, kind of but I think it feels a little bit...oddly placed within the story and her parents just kinda being chill about having been missing for so long seems odd to me.
The Food: I'm only kind of kidding. I was constantly hungry watching this series. Had to make tteokbokki a couple times.

But let us return to the Fox Brothers. At the end, Lee Rang makes the joke that the piece Ji Ah's making should be called the Tale of the Nine-Tailed Brothers. Thing is? It should be. The main romantic story in this series is fine but the real EMOTIONAL story is the story between Lee Rang and Lee Yeon. I get that a romance based series is going to appeal to people more easily than a show just about the emotional heartache, betrayal and eventual love and sacrifice between two brothers but honestly, I wish the whole thing was just about their brotherly love and the foxes and immortals around them that they care for. Although I tried really hard to be invested in the romantic story between Lee Yeon and Nam Ji Ah, I just didn't feel it. However the brothers interaction was always good. When they were fighting and enemies, when you learn about Lee Rang's tragic issues surrounding his brother, I got CHILLS when the brothers first worked together and I was BAWLING at the end with the video messages. The series is worth watching just for their story alone.

All in all, this is a great series with some really fun themes (folklore, supernatural beings etc) and a really heartwrenching and beautiful story about two brothers.

Also there is a romance that happens in it.

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Favourite Fantasy Drama

Tale of the Nine Tailed is my first fantasy drama and second Lee Dong-wook's drama. After watching Stranger from Hell, I watched this drama for Lee Dong-Wook. Like I said, this is my second drama of Lee Dong-Wook after watching him in a psychotic role in STFH drama and being totally amazed with his appearance and acting in TONT drama.
Watching fantasy drama for the first time was curious.
I was surprised how good this drama was, like from the story to the acting and everything. Even though it was my first fantasy drama, I quickly adopted those fantasy drama vibes, like Gumiho in kdramas. I went to watch Lee Dong Wook and became a fan of the drama. The story is good, like a familiar old classic drama. I loved the chemistry of Lee Dong-wook and Ji Bo-Ah. Now, it comes to my favorite Gumiho Brothers; TBH, I loved the main lead brotherhood story more than the love story. At first, I thought Lee Rang was the villain. After watching some episodes, I got the point that he was doing everything for his brother to just come back to him. The part in which the brother is jealous of his love is not because he doesn’t like him, but because he was scared of losing his brother again in the name of love. I even re-watched the drama just to see the brothers' story again! Kim Bum's role as Lee Rang was an outstanding one; he killed it. The story was engaging, the mystery element was a bonus point to keep us hooked on the drama and the soundtrack was great. The supporting cast was also given decent performances in their character roles. I will recommend this drama to everyone.

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I thought I’d like it more

My history with kdramas is not long but I have watched a few and I have my favourites and the few that I did not like that much. I thought this one would belong to my favourites based on the hype but I feel like it did not deliver. The actors were great, the story had potential but something is definitely missing.

First of all, I think the main couple did not have that much chemistry. I love Jo Bo-ah and her character here but I think she looked much better with Rowoon. It was much more believable in Destined with you that they are an ill-fated couple who love each other so much.

In Tale of the Nine-tailed the what kept me with the drama was actually Rang and Yeon’s relationship as brothers. I felt more emotion and complex brotherly love and it was the highlight of the story.

ML and FL are both great actors, loved their performance but something just didn’t click for me with them. It was still enjoyable and watched it fairly quickly, but will not be my favourite for sure. Though I think I’ll watch S2 as I saw the reviews are much better.

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Great watch.

I managed to get away with only a sniffle while watching this (albeit with great effort not to bawl my eyes out). What pulled me into this drama is of course the supernatural theme of it. Honestly, the drama is full of twists and turns, and the central characters have an epic love story, but the ones that made me love this drama so much were the side characters and their familial love. Rang was a highlight of the drama for me, he’s a prickly character with so many layers, who turned out to have overwhelming love for his brother (who greatly cherished him) and his unintentional family and was actually a super sweet guy underneath (he would never admit it, of course).

The ending, however, didn’t make a lot of sense to me, in a typical K-drama fashion where they seem to leave a lot of the mechanics and rules of their universe unexplained, and they also showed things that didn’t make sense age/time gap wise. In the end I had to scour through the internet for Gumiho legends for some explanation. Eventually I found a post that includes the different versions of the legends that explained the last scene in the drama. I also found out that they cut a scene out from the ending, and I wonder if this was included it would have given better explanation to the ending. I may have felt a little frustrated by this, but what is satisfying though, was to see the individual characters achieve their goals in the end, because this drama had done this very well.

This is a very satisfying supernatural fantasy drama to watch, definitely worth a watch.

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I really loved this drama a lot! some episodes were less good than others but I think Lee Yeon and Yu Ri rlly made this drama good. There was a lot of suspense with those fishers and the other weird creatures like the imugi and darkness spirit and the nightmare bringer.
Lee Yeon is rlly funny, handsome, cute, strong, and capable. He was also rlly protective of Ji A (seeing as he LITERALLY went thru hell and back to protect her) and even a lil obsessive seeing as he waited 600 years for her and never let go or forgot her... AND his smile is soo cute!!
The FL Ji A is quite different from ur usual FL. She was strong and smart. She had clever tricks and was rlly observant. She wasn't really a damsel in distress for most of the drama and was always ready
(1. Always records things 2. Remembers a lot of things from when she was small like things her parents once said etc 3. She discharged herself to a psychiatric hospital when she was 9 by blackmailing her doctor LMAO WHO DOES THAT and 4 she didn't drink the tea -that could've been poisoned-, almost perfect!)

Their RELATIONSHIP WAS SO CUTE!!!!!! she called him her puppy and they hugged a lot and the ice cream scenes were so funny...
In general, I think the first half of the drama was more entertaining but I rlly liked the last episode and the last scene was really unexpected and a plot twist.
Yu Ri was really beautiful and an amazing friend to Lee Rang. And how she was w her new family was rlly cute
The highlight of this drama must have been the bromance between Yeon and Rang. The subplots were interesting as hell but the reunion with the parents was a bit disappointing in my opinion.. They hyped it up so much in the episodes before the reunion and then they just stood there -_-

I gave it a 9.5 and not a 10 bc even tho it was rlly cute, original, and suspenseful, it was quite slow and sometimes a bit boring.. Also, I don't think they chose who played the villain well...he didn't look scary or threatening at all and that kinda ruined it a little bit.

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A good story, but plagued with inconsistencies

I would like to start off by listing all of the positives of this drama, before I delve into the crux of my issue with it.

+ For one, which I don`t see a lot of praise for, is the beautiful OST interwoven throughout this show(especially in the first few episodes-that scene of Ji Ah and Yeon falling with the moon in the background was made 10 times more epic by that soundtrack). It helped keep action scenes intense and sad, heartbreaking ones even more delicate. Truly, a job well done.
+The character of Lee Rang. This character is probably the most consistent one, apart from Yu Ri, in regards to both his motivations, wishes and goals. Kim Beom and Kim Yong Ji have really outdone themselves, acting wise, managing to top even Lee Dong Wook, and it`s a real shame that they weren`t more present throughout the story itself, as I personally connected with them more than with Ji Ah, for example. Lee Rang`s story arc is also the most well thought out one, with only a few writing mishaps here and there(like when he asks Yeon where Ji Ah lives in one of the later episodes, even though, in the very 2nd episode, he was fighting with him in that same location, fully knowing that that was Ji Ah`s home) and considering what errors the writers make later on, they are basically nonexistent.
+Character of Granny, her husband and most of the creatures. Truly, practical makeup on the spirits in The Forest of the Starved is one of the best that I`ve seen in a long time. Not only that, but the characters I mentioned all do a great job of making everything seem believable and are giving their best effort. Even though we are not supposed to side with Granny, especially when she makes the same mistake twice, I`m not ashamed to admit that I was agreeing with her points on more than one occasion. The actress playing her was really convincing, bringing cold, but tragic nuance to her character, and I appreciate that greatly.
+The chemistry between Ji Ah and Yeon. Yes, I can see good chemistry between these actors. Not great, but definitely better than some reviews made it out. And that is more thanks to Lee Dong Wook, definitely. There is a difference between there being no chemistry and deciding to consciously underdevelop your couple. Ji Ah and Yeon suffer from the latter, but the chemistry is present.
+The subplot of trapped islanders, having to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. This story is, without a doubt, the darkest one and made me very uncomfortable, but earned respect from me for its depiction.

Which brings me to my main gripes which make this drama a good story, instead of an epic one:

- How everyone, and I do mean everyone, heavily relies on Yeon to save them, help them or otherwise be there for them, without really giving anything in return. Yes, Yeon is a good character with his inner conflicts and a sad past as well. However, due to fate and destiny, he is condemned to constantly save Ji Ah, to deal with his brother`s mood swings(twice, I`ll get to that), to fight against the Imoogi and create traps for it basically alone, and to suffer without anyone really paying attention to everything he`s done for them. This right here really made me side with Granny in regards to his feelings for Ji Ah.
- Power inconsistencies. This is a minor one, but the writers really want me to believe that Imoogi(who was rejected as a mountain spirit, spent most of his life locked away, while working on his intellect) is on the same level as Yeon when it comes to combat, which just does not make any sense. In tactical and scheming sense, sure, but in actual fighting?Also, and this made me even more frustrated. Even though the story as such was not hard to follow at all(but then again, I`m into anime and mythology overall), it is a fact that Yeon and Imoogi, in particular, were overpowered for the sake of the plot. We were never made aware of the limitations that come with their power, and if it was mentioned, it was done in passing or when the plot called for it.
- And finally, the worst offender on this list, the character of Ji Ah and the writing... as a whole. I know what they were trying to do with Ji Ah most of the time, I do. That doesn`t mean they succeeded though. From episode 6 onwards, her character just downright pissed me off. Not only was she making decisions that made no sense overall(from going out to meet Imoogi when Yeon specifically told her not to, and why, which led to the whole tragedy in the first place) to her being content just watching on the sidelines while Yeon basically fought their battle... alone. If she didn`t know that she was precious to Imoogi and that he couldn`t kill her, I could understand why she would be hesitant. But she KNEW. For a character that prides herself on her knowledge of the paranormal and her intellect, she sure as hell didn`t cooperate in their investigation. She does this for a living, mind you. Not only that, but she blamed Yeon for killing her and not caring about her, when my man literally saved her life twice and she had not seen the rest of the vision play out.The scenes between them being a couple were cute, but lacking and the conflicts were repeated twice. Yes twice, which also makes me believe that this drama, with this script, should`ve been shorter. Maybe around 13 episodes.

The writing itself at points(especially regarding artefacts) was abysmal. From those glasses only showing how someone looked in the exact life we needed to see, without any backstory, to Ji Ah basically watching a movie of herself in that exact time period, because she`s the main character. Also, all of a sudden there is a macguffin that wasn`t even mentioned before conveniently appearing where it should and the other mountain spirit not being able to smell Imoogi just before he steals his object is just hilarious and out of left field completely. I wasn`t as mad about the ending as some people were, but it was interesting to me just how everyone reincarnated, looking exactly the same, when I think it would`ve been more intriguing if they found each other looking completely different and still stayed together.

Like Yeon said in the first episode:"I don`t care about how she looks, sounds nor if she`s a woman."That was just potential wasted. I don't think the problem with this drama lies in the ending, but rather in the fearful execution and leaving everything half-baked.

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Watchable not rewatchable.

Good premise, good story, GOOD ACTORS, not bad acting. But lacks that story telling method. Many unnecessary pauses, dialogues and fight scenes. ML and FL were good at there job, but not best. Supporting characters were better than leads. It seemed like FL was not that good when it comes to emotional scenes. I've seen many k dramas where when an actor/actress is portraying 2 characters in same series, they do a better job compared to this.
But overall I RECOMMEND you watch this series of you love fantasy genre and finished all the best ones and looking for good ones.

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