A month in Asia, and I was hooked
When I first moved to Asia, I didn’t expect entertainment to become such a big part of my life. I went there as a journalist, curious about culture and daily life, eager to learn what stories people told about themselves.
What I didn’t realize was that I would end up completely captivated by the worlds of C-dramas, K-dramas, anime, and donghua.
At first, these shows were just background noise playing on TV screens in cafés, showing up in ads on subway walls, or being discussed by colleagues during lunch breaks.
But one night, after only a month of living in my new country, while half-watching a Korean drama to practice my language skills, I found myself completely drawn in.
The storytelling felt different; slower, or richer, or full of an emotion that built quietly until it hit hard.
As anyone who is equally as enamored of K-drama, C-drama, anime or donghua as me, you know that was just the beginning of my obsession with Asian entertainment.
An obsession that, over 20 years later, I have never been able to shake.
K-drama led to C-drama, then anime reared its beautiful head
From there, I soon dove headfirst into any type of Asian entertainment I could find: the polished emotional rollercoasters of K-dramas, followed by the opulence of Chinese dramas, and eventually the imaginative storytelling of anime, and Chinese donghua.
Each format had its own rhythm and cultural heartbeat. Each was based on a foundation of hundreds if not thousands of years of history, myth and the subsequent rich storytelling countries like China, Japan and South Korea are now famous for creating because of it.
K-dramas showed me how small gestures can carry huge emotional weight; C-dramas taught me how thousands of years of history and mythology still have an impact on modern life; anime reminded me that animation isn’t just for kids.
Instead, it’s a mirror for every feeling you’re brave enough to face. And some you aren’t.
Anime voice actors soon became as much my idols as any Hollywood A-lister.
And, of course, falling in love with anime quickly led to donghua.
Writing about these shows became my way of understanding them and, to some extent, myself. A woman living alone in Asia, who drank in the sights and sounds on TV, laptop and movie screens around me like someone whose thirst would never be satiated.
I started noticing the cultural details behind certain storylines, the way traditions shaped relationships, even today, or how a single line of dialogue could reveal something profound about family or identity.
I couldn’t believe the immense level of detail that went into creating a Chinese wuxia drama, or a Japanese Shounen anime.
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Even now, years later, after I have left Asia but as my entertainment viewing still solely comprises Asian dramas, anime and donghua, I find comfort in writing about them.
All these stories, from those told in C-dramas like the currently ongoing and absolutely brilliant wuxia drama Blood River, or in phenomenally animated anime like Gachiakuta and donghua such as the spectacular Tales of Herding Gods, all of them remind me of the time I spent living and traveling all over Asia.
A continent that, even now, still fascinates me like no other.
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