Television series
Hotel del Luna
Hotel del Luna is a lush, melancholic K-drama about a haunted hotel run by a centuries-old proprietor cursed to serve the recently dead until she atones for an ancient sin. Equal parts fantasy soap, ghost anthology, and slow-burn romance, it swings between candy-colored comedy and genuine heartbreak within a single episode. Gorgeous production design and IU's magnetic lead performance carry it. For fans of stylish, emotionally generous fantasy.
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Goblin Slayer2018
The show that arguably paved the way for Hotel del Luna's whole aesthetic — an immortal being cursed to walk the earth, a reluctant human tether, and a fantasy world mixing slapstick, grief, and swoon in equal measure. tvN's biggest hit for a reason.
But Slower-paced and more overtly tragic, with a central age-gap romance some viewers find uncomfortable.
The Master's Sun2013no page yet
Written by the same duo behind Hotel del Luna, this earlier hit pairs a woman who sees ghosts with a cold CEO who can banish them by touch — the same blend of comedy, ache, and weekly hauntings.
But Rougher production values and a more conventional office-romance backbone than the later show's grander mythology.
W2016no page yet
Another tvN fantasy romance that treats its supernatural rulebook seriously, folding a woman into the world of a webtoon she reads. Inventive, twisty, and visually playful in ways that reward close attention.
But The metafictional logic gets convoluted by the finale, and it leans harder into thriller than melancholy romance.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Spirited Away2001
Both put a lost soul to work running a supernatural hospitality business for otherworldly guests who must settle their debts before moving on — Man Wol's hotel is basically Yubaba's bathhouse with better cocktails.
Miyazaki's masterpiece imagines an entire economy of gods and spirits checking into a bathhouse, rendered in some of the most beautiful hand-drawn animation ever made. A different medium telling a cousin of the same story.
But It's a children's film at heart — gentler stakes, no romance, and a hand-drawn style your eye needs to adjust to if you're used to live-action gloss.
More like this (6)
Tale of the Nine Tailed2020
An immortal fox spirit gives up eternity for love across centuries — the same yearning, cursed-being-meets-mortal shape as Hotel del Luna, with a mythological Korean folklore backbone and moody visuals.
But The mythology gets dense fast, and the tone is more brooding, less comic, than Man Wol's biting humour.
Hi bye, Mama!2020no page yet
A ghost mother is given 49 days to return to her family — a tearjerker sharing Hotel del Luna's interest in unfinished business and the emotional debts the dead leave behind.
But Far heavier and more domestic in focus; expect fewer jokes and considerably more crying.
The Legend of the Blue Sea2016no page yet
A mermaid out of legend and a charming con man fall for each other across a big-budget fantasy romance stacked with spectacle, comedy, and star power — pure comfort-watch in the same vein.
But Broader, sillier comedy and a much more conventional rom-com engine than Hotel del Luna's melancholy edge.
Let's Fight Ghost2016no page yet
A lighter, younger take on the ghost-and-the-living-person-who-can-see-them formula, mixing school comedy with genuine sadness about a girl who died young. Breezier and shorter if you want less commitment.
But Thinner production and lower emotional stakes than Hotel del Luna; feels more like a stepping stone than a destination.
Six Feet Under2001
Same premise stripped of magic: a family business built around the recently dead, structured episodically so each newcomer's story illuminates grief — Hotel del Luna's emotional engine without the fantasy scaffolding.
The gold standard for using death as a weekly framing device to talk about how the living carry on. Sharp, funny, and devastating in ways that never feel manipulative.
But No fantasy, no romance in the escapist sense — this is grounded, adult HBO drama about actual mortality, and it earns every tear the hard way.
Kwaidan1965
Hotel del Luna's guest-of-the-week ghost stories descend from an older tradition of Japanese kaidan tales about grudges, debts, and unresolved hauntings — this 1964 anthology is that tradition at its most stylised and eerie.
Four gorgeously composed, theatrically stylised ghost stories from 1964, each a small, unsettling parable about promises broken and the dead who won't let go. Visually unlike anything else on this list.
But Slow, formal, subtitled, and genuinely eerie rather than romantic — a big tonal swing from Man Wol's banter and tvN gloss.
