Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

If there was any type of series that I could say I never expected Wallace Huo, George Hu and Miriam Yeung to be in is a comedy.  However I can't help but say that the three of them (with everybody else here) had done a good job with how they act. When they were meant to make us cry, they do cry and when they are meant to make us laugh, they laugh.  So what's it about? So everything goes back to old traditions that don't work. The protagonist Wu Shi Lang (acted by Miriam Yeung) was born as the tenth of ten sisters.  Her grandmother who was eager to get a grandson threatened to kill herself (but seriously it wasn't even scary) and even wanted her son to marry a widow who had 10 sons so she can get a grandson.  So to make sure she stays alive, they lied that she was a he. Fortunately her grandmother died but her dad kept believing that she was a he until much later in her life.  Obviously her dad is quite stupid because even in men's clothing, it's obvious she wa...

I can't help but think of the unusual love story of Shan Cai and Dao Ming Si or originally known as Tsukushi and Tsukasa in Hana Yori Dango. From all the portrayals, I'd like to put Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu since they do make a real chemistry over Inoue Mao and Jun Matsumoto. Who would have expect that such a love story would happen like this- Dao Ming Si who is an anti-hero with a bad attitude due to his wealth and insecurity would suddenly fall in love with Shan Tsai who is but an ordinary girl which causes a series of tensions as Hua Tze Lei also falls in love with her. The whole series itself had focused on them two especially when fans felt Dao Ming Si wasn't fit for Shan Tsai but as HYD goes, that's how it ends. Dao Ming Si slowly changes from an obnoxious individual to somebody more responsible and caring towards others because of his love for Shan Tsai- even to dare oppose his mother Dao Ming Feng who he originally fears. All these end up in a test where he...

If there's one trend that seems to delight me is when Japanese anime does not only go live in Japan but also if it gets a Chinese adaptation. Yeah.  So it seems that Taiwan likes soap operas over Animes, even the children too! Here are just a few of the Anime series that have been given a live Chinese adaptation and what I think of how they go: Hana Yori Dango- It became the basis for Meteor Garden 1.  However the ending was pretty different for the Anime vs. the Taiwanese version by F4.  Kaede Doumyoji was way scarier in the live version or maybe it's because the actress Zhen Xiu Zhen is really an awesome actress (I wish the actress were my mom and she'd teach me a thing or two about acting!).  It had a second season which wasn't as good while being original, it did deserve some praise. Marmalade Boy- Ken Zhu and Stella Huang do their parts as Miki and Yuu rather well. The Poor Prince- Vic Zhou manages to get his first main part here.  However there was a...

I may normally not be a fan of Korean drama but Brilliant Legacy actually took my attention because it was showing how wrong decisions can lead to disasters.  So what's the real point?  Although set in South Korea but it does show how pampering destroys the family.  So first meet the Sun Woo family.  Jang Sak Ja as charitable as she is, however has two pampered grandchildren namely Sun Woo Hwan (the anti-hero whose character is far more complex than the main character Go Eun Sung, acted by Han Hyo Joo) and Sun Woo Jung (who for me is extremely annoying that I could imagine her do more damage than Hwan ever did).  So how it happened may be because Jang Sak Ja committed the mistake of not dealing with their mistakes way earlier than she should causing her to make extremely difficult decisions later.  Typical grandma complex if you ask me.  Man seriously do have to wait until your grandson punches your company manager or you realize he's turning into a pa...

Black and White... it's my currently favorite Chinese drama as of late. While it may suggest at first it wouldn't be that good with Vic Zhou taking the lead role as Chen Zai Tien, it turned out different. It was in fact a pretty good script if I'm to say so, with the twist and turns, murders, deception and crime solving which involves a lot of personalities from the police officers to the antagonists while chasing after a huge syndicate they never knew of, while trying to put an end to the local mafia known as the San Lian Hui.  For acting, it was really well done even for Vic Zhou who was at first berated for his lack of effort. Mark Chao acting out as Wu Ying Xiong even if he's not that good but he had a respectable performance. The rest, well they did their best but not anything spectacular compared to Vic Zhou's rise to improvement in this series. Vic Zhou and Mark Chao's parts as contrasting cops was something. Vic Zhou who is somewhat corrupt and simple ...

Zhao Wei was really able to execute Mulan rather well. Compared to Disney, the legend is well-told especially with how she was based on a legendary female strategist named Fu Hao. Okay so I thought that things get rather realistic to how Mulan was gone longer than you've expected and that she's actually a skilled martial artist, so we don't see any of that ridiculous stuff of Mulan being a wimp.  Actually I would have voted for Esther Liu or Crystal Liu but she did her part well.  But for a series, I'd vote for Esther Liu as Mulan.  Her beauty however wasn't very ancient of a China girl, she in fact looks kinda blended for the role but she does have her alluring figure here.  I think she played her part well. Not surprising if you've seen previous movies of hers involving ancient China attires and her fighting prowess is well shown. In fact, I liked how she was able to display her martial arts skills against a bully in the military camp. The part was also offe...

So far I'd like to make a little comparison between Return of Condor Heroes comparison on how each one performed as far as I remembered.  Below are how each actor portrayed them: In 1983, we had Andy Lau and Idy Chan as Yang Guo and Xiao Lung Nu. Andy Lau was kind of classic and so was Idy Chan. The script kind of didn't match their actual ages, at least Andy Lau was a bit older than Idy Chan even if the story says that Xiao Long Nu is older than Yang Guo by four years. Andy Lau did really classic moves that became hard to imitate. In 1995, we had Louis Koo and Carman Lee, this time Carman Lee is really three years older than Louis Koo though the actual script has it that Xiao Long Nu was older by four years. It was a good effort to try and remake the classic but I don't think Louis Koo can ever exceed Andy Lau. However it was still good. In 2006, we have Huang Xiao Ming and Liu Yi Fei but fans criticized this for one good reason- Liu Yi Fei is ten years younger than ...

Honestly speaking, I felt like Hot Shot was something that was poorly done. Why? Although we have big stars like Jerry Yan of F4 fame, Show Luo and Wu Chun, however the script and everything was poorly done especially the music was way TOO LOUD. Chinese music was supposed to be more on techno beats NOT loud noise. For example- Jerry Yan's character as Dong Fang Xiang isn't well developed and only Show Luo's character of Yuan Da Ying was to a certain extent. I even thought that to put a scene where Yuan Da Ying sees his supposed grandmother Tie Lan die (seen this old lady too many times in my late grandma's videos, sniff sniff) was unnecessary for a funny show, since it reminded me of my grandmother's passing away. I even thought that the love triangle of the two for Tracy Zhou's character of Zhan Jie Er was poorly done- it can get overdramatic that I'd rather watch a weepy drama. And it takes a LONG time for us to know how vindictive Dong Fang Xiang'...

I would be rude not to write about Meteor Garden as a first opening.  After all this is what sucked me into this world of Chinese drama in the first place. I've written about F4 but not Meteor Garden. This was the show that gave F4 its career and its name. To those who really don't know what it is, it is a somewhat live adaptation of Hana Yori Dango which is a Japanese anime. The whole plot has the main characters of Jerry Yan as Doumyoji (Dao Ming Si), Vic Zhou as Ryu (Lei), Ken Zhu as Soujiro (Xi Men) and Vanness Wu as Akira (Mei Zuo). Barbie Xu played as the protagonist Tsukushi (Shan Tsai). Along with them were some long-term seniors. One is Bu Xue Liang who acted as the teacher (short shots only), Tang Qi (Yu Sao), Dong Zhi Zheng and Wang Yue as Papa and Mama, and that Zhen Xiu Zhen (some people who have bad eyesight thinks she's Liu Xue Hua) as the evil mother Kaede Doumyoji (Dao Ming Feng) who is a more obvious form of evil than her manga count...