When thinking of Taiwanese dramas or movies in the pop culture market, the first genre that comes to mind for most people is undoubtedly youth romance with a fresh sensibility. This is because the major hit works that raised awareness of Taiwanese content were mostly first-love narratives or affectionate romantic comedies set in schools. Although films of various genres with excellent cinematic quality were steadily introduced through arthouse theaters or film festivals in the past, it is true that the one-dimensional formula and image of "Taiwanese content equals romance" has solidified, as the content widely consumed by the public leans heavily to one side.
However, behind the deep shadow of the romance genre, the diverse genre attempts of Taiwanese creators continue endlessly, and among them, the fantasy genre serves as another powerful axis of the Taiwanese content industry. In particular, comparing Korean and Taiwanese fantasy works reveals a distinct difference in their approaches. While Korean fantasy works mainly focus on reality-based fantasy that adds a spoonful of supernatural settings to a strictly real-world foundation, Taiwanese fantasy tends to reveal a much deeper and clearer color of full-fledged fantasy that leaps beyond the constraints of reality, bringing a worldview where monsters, immortals, and demons coexist to the forefront.
In realizing this full-fledged fantasy genre, the most important key is how plausibly and seamlessly the imaginary world and bizarre creatures are visually depicted on screen. Evaluating with an honest and objective perspective, it is true that the level of special effects or CG implementation in Taiwanese fantasy dramas may feel somewhat clunky and lacking to modern viewers whose eyes have long been adjusted to Hollywood blockbuster films armed with massive capital and cutting-edge CG technology. There are clear limitations in technical detail and overwhelming scale, so disappointment might follow if one expects spectacular visual spectacles.
Nevertheless, the unrivaled and powerful strength of Taiwanese fantasy works lies in the strange cultural familiarity that comes from the appearance of oriental monsters, ghosts, and folk beliefs. The bizarre monsters or creatures of the West and the monsters of the East Asian cultural sphere have distinctly different textures in their birth backgrounds and appearances. Monsters depicted in East Asia, which shares the Chinese character cultural sphere and Confucian and Taoist ideologies to some extent, provide a familiarity as if they popped out of ancient legends, going beyond being mere objects of fear. This does not mean they are not scary, but rather that they provide a bizarre immersion in that they are familiar monsters residing somewhere in our emotional archetypes.
The most decisive reason for choosing and watching the newly released Taiwanese fantasy drama Agent From Above on Netflix without hesitation among countless new releases was none other than the presence of the lead actor. While browsing the lineup of Taiwanese video content, attention naturally lingers the moment the welcome name Kai Ko (Ko Chen-tung) is spotted in the thumbnail and cast list. When choosing a drama of an unfamiliar genre with no prior information about the work, such as the director's reputation or the original work's popularity, casting a famous actor already familiarly imprinted on the public serves as an excellent guide that significantly lowers the entry barrier to the work.
Actor Kai Ko is Taiwan's representative youth star who became very familiar to the public through the movie You Are the Apple of My Eye, which caused a massive syndrome throughout Asia in the past. Having perfectly established himself as the icon of rebellious yet pure first love at the time, he went through a turbulent hiatus and has been struggling to expand his own acting spectrum by appearing in various films and dramas again. The mere fact that he, who always wore school uniforms or radiated romantic gazes, returned as the protagonist of a full-fledged fantasy action genre exuding rough charm was enough to stimulate a unique curiosity and desire to watch.
The protagonist 'Han Jie', whom Kai Ko plays multi-dimensionally in the play, is an intriguing figure in a position very similar to a shaman called by the gods in traditional folk beliefs or an exorcist in Western occult works. Instead of living an ordinary human life, he is granted special abilities as an agent of the gods, carrying out the heavy duty of executing all sorts of bizarre demons and monsters that infiltrate and disrupt the human world. Han Jie's appearance as he stands on the precarious borderline between gods and humans, engaging in a lonely and fierce life-or-death struggle by himself, exudes a cold and solitary charm entirely different from the bright and cheerful image Kai Ko has shown in the past, guiding viewers to a new worldview.
Han Jie's arduous journey of silently hunting demons in the shadows of the world reaches a full-fledged turning point when he accidentally gets involved with 'Ye Zi', a mysterious girl played by actress Chen Yan-fei. Ye Zi hands Han Jie a desperate request to uncover the truth and solve the inexplicable, mysterious, and bizarre incidents constantly happening around her. As the two begin an unexpected companionship triggered by this request, the closer they get to the truth of the incidents, the more they realize that a massive and horrific demonic conspiracy to completely conquer the human world is lurking, rather than just the pranks of evil spirits. Furthermore, the demon is revealed to be a nemesis intertwined with Han Jie through a persistent ill-fated relationship in the past, unfolding an epic and unavoidable showdown between the two forces.
A point that was as interesting and satisfying as the narrative development in watching this work was the language setting and the choice of viewing method. When watching the first episode, it can be viewed with the original Taiwanese (Mandarin) audio and Korean subtitles to feel the inherent atmosphere of the work, but upon discovering that Netflix provides a 'Korean dubbing' track featuring professional voice actors, changing the setting to the dubbed version without delay is highly recommended. Of course, there is the regret that the vivid sense of reality unique to the original language or the actors' own breathing is somewhat halved, but watching the screen overlaid with high-level Korean dubbing provides a strange nostalgia and joy, as if watching a nostalgic foreign series enjoyed sitting in front of the television for hours every weekend in the past.
The biggest advantage gained by choosing the dubbed version is the overwhelming viewing convenience. Liberated from the fatigue of having to keep one's eyes on the screen to follow the subtitles, it is very convenient not to miss the flow of the play even while doing other light tasks without necessarily focusing 100% on the screen. It is planned to continue binge-watching the remaining episodes with Korean dubbing, maintaining this comfort. Based on the popular bestselling novel of the same name, this work is planned for a relatively short and tight length of a total of 8 episodes, boasting a fast pace with no time to be bored. For those who are tired of obvious genres and are looking for a somewhat unique and exotic oriental fantasy work, it is recommended as a popcorn drama that can be enjoyed quite satisfactorily with a light heart.
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