Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

I am currently reviewing Kamen Rider Black and I thought it brought two interesting concepts... both Bilgenia (who only lasted for 18 episodes) and the second half that was the Shadow Moon era of Kamen Rider.  Now let's think about these two people I want to think have actually become templates for later plots in the Heisei Era: Bilgenia in Kamen Rider Black was one extremely annoying troll to Kamen Rider Black.  For one, he really is different from his superiors, the Three Gorgom Priests.  While the Gorgom priests really and practically wasted a lot of their money on complicated plans just to get the King Stone... this guy REALLY focuses on Kamen Rider Black.  Now he was born on the day of a solar eclipse but he wasn't given the King Stone which is good, because this guy is really an extremely sadistic individual.  Too bad he didn't last long. In episode 34 to the finale, it's what I'd call the Shadow Moon half of Kamen Rider Black.  Unlike the false...

Knowing that GMA-7 will be airing Kamen Rider OOO, I'll be expecting some reactions from rival networks.  But first, I'll share my thoughts on this.  I think it's just proper that GMA-7 has decided to show something new after Mischievous Kiss which may be the reason why they are airing Kamen Rider OOO.  Then again, it's doubtful that they will air Gokaiger or any Super Sentai in favor of J-Drama (which is more popular) or Heisei Kamen Rider (which feels more of a Toku Drama).  Now for my thoughts. I think airing Kamen Rider OOO (as terrible as the dub is, UGH I don't want to watch another dubbed Sentai) is probably going to pump in some fresh blood for imported shows in GMA.  Back then, GMA-7 also aired Kamen Rider Faiz and Kamen Rider Blade.  Now it made me think that they should STOP re-airing Dragon Ball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho and instead, focus on getting either J-Drama or Heisei Kamen Rider if they want their ratings to go up. At the same time, I tho...

Well it's time for me to write another Chinese film review.  Now I felt like down after Jaycee Chan's imprisonment, Cecilia Cheung's divorce and so on but here's one film I thought was worth a rewatch.  It's called "The Promise" which centers around Qingcheng (acted by Cecilia Cheung) who was a starving girl. She meets the Chinese goddess Mancheng who vows to give her glory and beauty but she is cursed to never find true love.  When she grows up, she becomes the emperor's concubine and later finds herself in a bizarre love triangle between General Guangming (acted by JAC legend Hiroyuki Sanada who appeared in one episode of Bioman) and the servant Kunlun (acted by Korean actor Jang Donggun).  This entire film was based on Pei Xing's Tang Dynasty novel called "The Kunlun Slave" and it was re-written by Chen Kaige and Charcoal Tan. I do find this whole love triangle interesting as it's between the general and the servant Kunlun.  So ...

After hearing that ABS-CBN better called ABiaS-CBN wants to re-air the Princess Sarah Anime (because maybe Failipino entertainment is failing?!), it made me think don't they have better ideas? I mean it's time to MOVE ON. And I was thinking with J-Drama being more popular than Tokusatsu, why don't they just decide to air Shokojo Seira then look for more J-Drama, C-Drama and K-Drama once its broadcast is finished? Wait, I guess they are all too hungry for ratings aren't they? I know Princess Sarah the Anime had its moments but they should realize this... ALL THE KIDS HAVE GROWN UP!!!! Not so many new generation kids may click with it. On the other hand, Shokojo Seira is a modern take of the original story... showing how a localization of any foreign story should be done. If they do try to watch Shokojo Seira, they might try to copy some tips on how Pinoy entertainment should be done to avoid it from becoming Failipino entertainment. They can take a look at how profes...

So Kamen Rider Gaim has ended folks and we have Kamen Rider Drive (bear in mind, I'm watching Mars a Chinese series for now).  So what did I think about the series?  For one, the series started out looking silly for me, because of the motif is FRUITS?!  Well, but the writing genius that Gen Urobutcher errrr.. Urobuchi has managed to create such a wonderful script.  While Naomi Takebe is hit or miss (she failed with Gobusters but I love Kiva and OOO where she is the producer)... Urobuchi has written such a series. So Gaim feels like Ryuki, Kuuga and later you can see some references from past Kamen Riders.  We have Zawame City under the rule of Yggdrasil which is similar to how Smart Brain is, except that the latter is not really evil.  The whole "Rider War" here has Kouta who wants to save the world vs. Kaito who is the rival of Kouta, he is the leader of all Beat Riders.  The city has the competition where creatures known as the Inves are used for ...

IRIS is oneof those TV series where the title role depicts the antagonist than the protagonist (ex. Aliens, Predator).  The series involves some conflict between North Korea and South Korea for 20 episodes, as well as the secret organization known as IRIS.  So this is the first season, there is a second season to that and I really think, this series was pretty intense.  Though I'll admit I did have my guilty pleasure on unique beauty Kim Tae Hee watching this series... unfortunately I'll never run into another girl that looks like her again. Kim Tae Hee plays the beauty and brains bad-ass NSS agent, Choi Seung Hee.  Two men namely Hyun Jun (Seung Hee's love interest) and Sa-woo were recruited into NSS.  What the two didn't know initially was how they were actually falling for the same girl, without knowing it.  For Hyun Jun, the feelings linger even if Seung Hee is above him in NSS.  NSS seeks to stop the terrorist organization known as IRIS while t...