Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

You can never kill heroisms, and not all heroes/heroines are martyred. For Filipinos, the first person to come to their minds is Jose Rizal. For Chinoys, perhaps they also think of both Rizal and Anita Mui. Such is the case of the late Anita, who died from cervical cancer complications on December 30, 2003. Anita was only 40 years old when she died. However, Anita's legacy lives on. It's so sad how four years after she died, the BS biopic called Anita Mui Fei was released. Thankfully, I didn't get the chance to watch Anita Mui Fei,  especially with how it portrayed that Anita died on stage in Andy Lau's arms. THAT. NEVER. HAPPENED. The Anita (2021) film was released. What was sanitized was the reality of Anita's bitter childhood . I read through the biographies of both the late Teresa Teng (who died in 1995) and Regine Velasquez-Alcasid -- both of whom came from poor families but had supportive mothers. Anita's mother was actually a CHRONIC GAMBLER.  Anita didn...

I remember watching Anita   (2021) on Disney+ . I had my complaints about how Louise Wong's impersonations of Anita's concert scenes were BLAH ! I discovered a real Mainland China production that was even worse -- it was called Mei Yan Fang Fei in 2007. Anita (2021) created a fictionalized relationship for the late Anita Mui named Goto Yuki. The other one presented a scene where she and Andy Lau supposedly had a romance. However, that's far from reality! Both projects made me wish for a near perfect Anita biopic -- making me imagine if Mei Yan Fang Fei ,   last 2007, was a Taiwanese production. It would've probably tried to stay true like Le Grande Chaumierre Violette  -- perhaps even take notes of Anita's interview about her toxic mother and brothers. I reimagined what if Anita Mui Fei wasn't a Mainland production but a Taiwanese production. They might reduce the budget or the number of episodes. I imagined this what-if scenario, where a faithful retelling of...

I've been shifting my focus to Korean entertainment lately. However, I'd like to recall my moments with Chinese entertainment, whether it came from the People's Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan (also known as the Republic of China or ROC), or Hong Kong. I grew up hating my Chinese heritage, since I was more into the AMERICAN SUPERIORITY MENTALITY for some time. I hated my Chinese heritage. Well, who wouldn't if one had boomer parents who were still stuck like they were still in China -- THINK OF A CHINOY VERSION OF THE JOY LUCK CLUB ! I could recall my late paternal grandmother, who would rent Chinese movies via Betamax . I couldn't remember the name of the store anymore -- the rental shop already closed years ago! I didn't give an F*** about Chinese entertainment back then. I didn't like studying Chinese either -- well, blame the Chinese schools in the Philippines that taught Chinese through rote overload! It didn't help that there was the rather ridicu...

I thought I was about to see a Hua Mulan adaptation. Instead, The Female General (锦月如歌, Jǐn yuè rú gē) is another fictional female general named He Yan (Zhou Ye). The story doesn't explicitly follow the Hua Mulan story. It's not about the invading Rourans. Instead, it's a story that your family can be your own worst enemy -- such as when He Rufei is a snake in the grass. He Yan disguises herself as her older brother He Rufei -- something that's actually MORE TRAGIC than Mulan's story. The love interest (and General Shang equivalent) is Xiao Jue (Cheng Lei). What I found kinda stupid is the way that Xiao Jue discovered Yan's true gender. The hot spring incident is directly taken from the Mulan (2009) movie. I even wonder if by any chance did Jue end up touching Yan's private part? Okay, that's kinda gross but it could've happened. Some people discover that Yan is actually a WOMAN as the show goes on. Jue's nobility is kept as he refuses to exploit...

It was more than 20 years ago that she died at only 40 years old -- on December 30, 2023. I was looking into the CHALLENGE Of making biopics . After doing some research, it turned out that there were two media based on Anita's life story namely Mei Yan Fang Fei (which was spoken in Mandarin) and Anita (2021) . It turned out that were too many creative liberties. I gave some Louisse Wong from Hong Kong while watching the mini-series on Disney+. Those scenes made me wish that Jolin Cai played the role of Anita ! It turns out that the Anita (2021) film had a lot of creative liberties -- such as creating the fictional character Goto Yuki as Anita's boyfriend. IRL, Anita's two known failed romances are Masahiko Kondo and Vincent Zhao. As I looked into the film, there have been issues like: The creation of the fictional Goto Yuki. Seriously, why are we adding a fictional character to a BIOPIC? The scene where Anita goes to the doctor, who tells her to have some surgery to remove ...

I became a fan of several old-time singers -- some of them were even DEAD. I could talk about how F4 led me to appreciate the late Teresa Teng's music. It's bizarre to think that the late Barbie Xu's ashes are now in Chin Pao San Cemetery -- the same place of Teresa's burial. It would be strange that I only started listening to Anita Mui's music after she DIED. F4 and Jolin Tsai were often the talk in the 2000s. In my case, Jolin was once called Britney Spears, then she was called an Asian Madonna, presumably so short after Anita passed away. One can think that a biographical series Mui Yim Fong Fei (2007)  was released a few years after Anita died -- something that I never knew existed. I tried watching Anita (2021) as a mini-series on Disney+.  I found myself and now I'll confess, I actually bashed Louisse Wong trying to do the song numbers. Sure, Louisse delivered the minimum needed for the other parts -- I found myself wanting to shoot the television screen ...

Soompi I confess that Korean legal dramas can get more appealing. There are police genres and law genres. This is another legal drama, but there's a subtle love story. This is a drama that tries to explore what it's like to be a lawyer. Newbie lawyer vs. seasoned lawyer while working together? That's what  Kang Hyo-min (Jung Chae-yeon) a rookie lawyer, and Yoon Seok-hoon (Lee Jin-wook), a senior lawyer.  What does it take to be a lawyer? Hyo-min is still learning the ropes. Graduation isn't the end, but the BEGINNING OF NEW STUFF! That's what Hyo-min discovers when she enters into the REAL TOUGH WORLD OF LEGAL DRAMA. Hyo-min discovers that THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE will never be enough to survive the lawyering profession. Fortunately, Seok-hoon becomes her constant partner who must teach her from experience. There's a 16-year age gap betwen the two -- which can be UNSETTLING FOR SOME.  The romance is rather sidelined. Pride and Prejudice featured romance, but it was...