Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

While I started watching mostly contemporary Chinese entertainment, I should remember that they also introduced me to some old school actors.  For example, Liu Xuehua was introduced to me because she frequently played motherly roles.  Qin Han frequently played fatherly roles.  It made me think, "Why is so and so ALWAYS landing on a major part?"  Qin Han being the Jade Emperor in Cowherd and Weaver Girl is a major part.  Liu Xuehua always plays an important parent or even the main antagonist (she would have made a really strong Daoming Feng in Meteor Garden).  It would be rude not to credit the older days of the senior actors right? I would admit the very first Qiong Yao-based production I saw was the 2001 version of Romance in the Rain.  I started reading reviews and the names "Qin Han" and "Liu Xuehua" were tagged into them.  And it got me surprised saying, "Woah I didn't know Qin Han and Liu Xuehua were once an on-screen item."  It compe...

After watching a few Qiong Yao series that starred Qin Han and Liu Xuehua (the ONLY two old timers that I got to be familiar against their colleagues), I cannot really deny I want to speculate on why Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu were chosen for their roles in Meteor Garden.  The more I rewatch Meteor Garden I and II, the more I think Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu should have been Shuhuan and Yiping in Romance in the Rain. I guess when Jerry Yan was spotted, they all thought he really had Qin Han's debonair charisma and physical resemblance.  Barbie Xu's auditions were probably giving everyone the impression that she is definitely a suitable replacement for Liu Xuehua or Brigitte Lin.  Maybe they felt like Jerry Yan was going to be someone who can fill in Qin Han's spot and Barbie Xu can be someone to fill Liu Xuehua's spot after they became senior celebrities. Another possibility behind why they were paired in Meteor Garden II was also, in a way Barbie Xu has Brigit...

Now this sounds odd that while I usually review contemporary films and movies, I would also end up actually liking Qin Han and Liu Xuehua in Chinese drama.  Odd?  Not really. the 1986 version of Romance in the Rain was sad and everything but Qin Han and Liu Xuehua were really charming even if their age gap was 13 years.  Qin Han and Liu Xuehua had a couple of projects together and the one I'm only really familiar with was Romance in the Rain.  The others were Across the Water and Courtyard Deeply which I'm a little more familiar with. It's not hard for me to compare Qin Han and Liu Xuehua to both Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu as a couple, although the two of them only had a year difference with Barbie being older.  Now Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu were only paired twice... but as the same characters.   Meteor Garden II felt like a Qiong Yao drama to me.  My older kin loved Meteor Garden II better than the first season.  After watching Qin Han and Liu X...

Considering I'm more into contemporary Chinese media, it's really expected from me that I would have some biases. However the film "Red Dust" is a timeless film which for me, I don't mind too much of a remake but having seen it with subs, I have enjoyed it. So here are my thoughts. Qin Han plays the role of a Chinese traitor and Brigitte Lin plays the role of a Chinese novelist. It's a difficult love story considering you have to choose between your country and your love. The film was shown in 1990 while the story happened during World War II. Watching the film made me think of some mysteries answered. Before watching Qin Han, I was more into Jerry Yan's TV projects. When I saw a more younger Qin Han, I thought he looks like a 70s Jerry Yan. Qin Han's performance in "Red Dust" almost reminded me of how Jerry Yan was in his later career.

Knowing that Qiong Yao's literature has been remade like "Romance in the Rain" and she did have the "My Fair Princess" novels too (which are most likely not adapted in the past).  So if "Romance in the Rain" had a remake from the 1986 version (but set in different ways), remember some of Qiong Yao's novels were also made into movies.  I really want this to happen because the next generation must also know of her classical literature and old Qiong Yao movies and films are very hard to find, plus subs are hardly found among them! Her novel "The Unforgettable Character" which the Chinese title really meant "Across the Water" or "Zai Shui Yi Fang" had both a movie and a TV series.  What was weird was that Qin Han starred as the leading guy in both the movie and the TV series!  I haven't seen any of the movies yet though I have thought that some of Qiong Yao's biggest stars were actually big time stars like Vick...

While watching Hot Shot and backtracking to some old Chinese films which I'm very out of the blue with... I just thought here's my wishful thinking to who should have played Jerry Yan's father in Hot Shot or better yet, as his parents. My first wishful thinking was casting Qin Han as Jerry Yan's father Dong Fang Xu.  Both of them kind of look like they could play as a father/son team.  Seeing Qin Han as an old man dribbling a basketball made me think could have played as Jerry Yan's father better than Allen Chao. Seeing Liu Xuehua is a very active veteran actress playing motherly roles, I would really have wanted if both Qin Han and Liu Xuehua acted as Jerry Yan's screen parents in Hot Shot.  I mean, they were a classic on-screen couple and I don't see anything wrong if they should be paired again as parents of Jerry Yan.  If they acted as a lovey-dovey couple, I don't see why they can't act as on-screen parents to your main character.

Aside from Shuhuan and Yiping, another couple that Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu could have played as are Peiwen and Hanye of Ting Yuan Shen Shen.  The story of Ting Yuan Shen Shen as far as I've heard involves Peiwen who thought he had lost his one true love Hanye, he goes blind in the fire, he wanders around trying to look for the "ghost" who was there.  A mysterious woman shows up and could it be that his beloved Hanye was still alive all that time?  So just had me thinking what if Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu played the parts? My imagination has Zhen Xiu Zhen as Peiwen's mother, Jerry Yan as Peiwen and Barbie Xu as Hanye... I haven't completely seen Ting Yuan Shen Shen which Liu Xuehua and Qin Han were the leading roles.  Looking at a few clips, Barbie Xu would be very fit to play the part of Peiwen's long lost love Hanye.  Jerry Yan would be able to pull Peiwen's part.  I think Jerry Yan would have been able to express the part of Peiwen's narratives s...

They feel like Qin Han and Liu Xue Hua chemistry-wise... While watching both the 1986 version and 2001 version of Romance in the Rain after watching Meteor Garden, I just thought that Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu would have made a much stronger Shuhuan and Yiping for this reason. My entire reason would be Jerry Yan has Qin Han's debonair type of appeal, performance and appearance. Although Barbie Xu doesn't look as gorgeous as Liu Xuehua was in her younger days, but the acting of the former was pretty strong in Meteor Garden. I would probably think of possible reactions that could have happened with the character of Yiping. Watching through Qin Han's and Liu Xuehua's performance made me think... DANG! SHUHUAN AND YIPING SHOULD HAVE BEEN ACTED BY JERRY YAN AND BARBIE XU! Looking at the scene in Meteor Garden where Shantsai was beaten up and accused unfairly, Daoming Si going near her to help her... so what was the point? I pretty thought that scene looked better than ...

While watching Kamen Rider Fourze, I simply feel like the show was a huge combination of Nickelodeon shows.  It feels like Teen Nick because it's a show that takes place in Amanogawa HIGH SCHOOL.  The setting is pretty much a teenager's environment. And well I felt like here were the following characters of some characters that make it fell like a Nickelodeon Show based on the Kamen Rider Club: 1.) Gentaro Kisaragi and Sheen Estevez- Both are the show idiots.  Kamen Rider Fourze feels like a sequel to Planet Sheen and if adapted, can become a sequel to Planet Sheen!  Both characters are never known for their intelligence and are rather impulisive.  2.) Kengo Utahoshi/Jimmy Neutron- Both characters are the show geniuses who have some kind of resentment/friendship towards the show idiot himself.  If Jimmy rebukes Sheen, Kengo does the same to Gentaro.  3.) Tomoko Nozama/Sam Manson- She has no Jimmy Neutron counterpart but she is certainly a shou...

This was one series with an interesting concept and potential but sadly, Toshiki Inoue either burned out or was what I'd call self-indulgent after his Magnum Opus Agito or a bad combination of such factors that led to this disaster.  So what went wrong with Kamen Rider Faiz?  Now I do like some of its elements but here's some factors that made me think the series was so much of a pain to watch: Another is the "Let's play pass the belt." plot is SO DAMN ANNOYING!  If you ask me how many times do the Faiz, Kaixa and Delta belts keep get PASSED AROUND?!  A lot!  And I mean a lot!  It gets really painful to play the pass the belt game.  And if you ask me, you get one user after the other.  So really what's this show about?  Pass the belt?! Masato Kusaka!  Yes him!  He's seriously one dickhead of an anti-hero or wait, THERE IS NOTHING HEROIC ABOUT THIS GUY!  He's one racist bastard, he's always being bad and there is nothing l...

Way before Toshiki Inoue sucked pretty bad and practically undid himself, there was a time he actually wrote some good series namely Chojin Sentai Jetman and Kamen Rider Agito.  Now why is Kamen Rider Agito practically his Magnum Opus?  So yeah I'm looking at Fantasy leader and Shogo and some other fans... who may have other reasons why Agito kicks ass. Here's my reasons: The hero's story isn't exactly told immediately but it slowly unwraps itself.  So in the tradition where Inoue goes from recycling old plots to adding new stuff, Agito just exactly that!  For one, Agito is an amnesiac who is trying to figure out his past.  He was currently known as Tsugami but later, we figure out his real name was Tetsuya. Complex storylines that unwrap itself in such a way among the characters.  Now I wonder if Toshiki Inoue burned himself out in the process of writing Kamen Rider Agito's beautifully written storyline.  Every story keeps you wanting to see m...