Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Here's the English translation of the opening theme of Last Night of Madam Chin: Step the endless annoying dance steps, drink endless intoxicated mellow wines. Who will keep his good night for me, whisper at my ear gently? Countless handsome guys and beautiful girls, endless ups and downs in life. Who will tell me his pasts? Worryingly I stare at a lantern. *I had ever infatuated with the affection between two lovers, liked a colorful flying butterfly. **I was ever heartbroken at sad farewell, broke down and wept at the dew wet stairs. Red light will be turned off soon, drunken men are awake, at this moment I shall say goodbye to it. The play comes to the end and the audiences disperse, I turn around and glance. Hmm...... my last night. My reaction? The song really portrays the sad life of a cabaret girl like Jin Zhaoli. She had become a paramour to a rich man and later, she gets a devoted lover in Sheng Yueru. She faces the life of a cabaret girl and an imp...

I wonder if it's really debatable that Masato Kusaka is a villain or not but I can see him more as a villain.  So what's the real point?   A villain in any series can either be opposed to both the recurring villains and heroes or part of the recurring villain team.  In his case, while he was not part of Smart Brain but he was definitely a menace to Takumi.  I really, REALLY hated this guy and I would say he is definitely another villain with noble goals. Why do I consider him to be a villain?  He's a manipulative backstabber who always makes your day miserable so he can further his own agenda.  So he is the current user of Kaixa but he has also used the Delta and Faiz belts.  His entire plan is focused on his own agendas.  He's a tragic character once being bullied.  He develops a crush on Mari who doesn't reciprocate it... which he feels like Takumi is that obstacle.  So really, while I feel sorry for his past but I cannot feel sorry...

Last Night of Madam Chin felt like a traditional Chinese drama watched by my late grandmother. Okay, I didn't really mind too much about what my late paternal grandmother borrowed on betamax back then. I only later found out they were the oldies like Liu Xuehua and Qin Han. Before Last Night of Madam Chin, I saw the Qiong Yao series called "Romance in the Rain" (2001 version) and later saw pieces of the 1986 version and read a synopsis. Last Night of Madame Chin had a very powerful effect with its melodramatic plotline. Although I didn't like the sad setting, it was easy to appeal to my emotions. As a sucker for melodramatic plotlines, tears and romance stories, this drama gave me the impression Qiong Yao wrote it . Even if the novel was written by Pai Hsuen Yung, it felt like a Qiong Yao drama with how it was written. I could talk about a bit how my emotions were with the love story that pissed off my mother. It was written that a rich banker's son Yueru falls...

Karma hits hard doesn't it?  Lu Zhenhua married and divorced eight women, he married a woman young enough to be his daughter namely Wang Xueqin.  How did this karma work?  Although it wasn't the main focus but I thought this was a plot driver in the whole series.  Both the 1986 and 2001 version kept the affair, although both had slight variations. In both the 2001 and the 1986 version, Yiping discovered the whole dirty affair.  This was going to be a secret weapon considering that she's hated Xueqin so much.  At the same time, Zhenhua was getting what he deserved but not that I condone to Xueqin's two timing.  I thought this was an affair that really got everything to fix with the theme, "What goes around, comes around." 1986 Yiping (the Yiping that made me wish 2001 Yiping were acted by Barbie Xu instead of Vicki Zhao) went out with Erjie for ulterior motives.  Both versions wanted to uncover the whole dirty affair between Xueqin and her lo...

As if having a douchebag in Ryuya in Timeranger isn't enough, this guy feels like another Ryuya except it's in the Kamen Rider franchise.  Masato Kusaka gets to hold the power of the Ixa Belt and holds one deadly secret - he has Orphnoch DNA in him while he hates Orphnochs.  In short, he was becoming what he always hated, but whether human or Orphnoch HE IS ONE MAGNIFICENTLY ANNOYING BASTARD AND DOUCHEBAG! Now what does he have in common with Captain Ryuya?  Here's some of them but note that Ryuya was not often shown in Timeranger compared to Masato: 1.) They are both manipulative bastards towards the protagonists.  Remember that Ryuya manipulated the Timerangers and time itself so he can live, although he wanted to make sure that the future was still secure.  He just wanted to live.  In Masato's case, he manipulated the people around Takumi to make his rival suffer and he would do anything to get rid of all Orphnochs. 2.) They both hate the main vil...

Meteor Garden was a localization of Hana Yori Dango started from scratch when it came to filming. They modified the story into a Taiwanese setting and I thought the first five characters really knew what they were doing, the essence was captured and everything was really, really brought to life. During this time, we had a few average actors namely Ken Chu and Vanness Wu. On the other hand, Vic Chou really was the best Rui Hanazawa even if that time, his acting wasn't all that ripe but, you can tell he was already ready to emerge. Now for my opinions on who really stood made the drama stand out even more: The heroine Makino Tsukushi. Barbie Xu's version imo is easily the best. Although I find Mao Inoue more attractive, she knew how to act better. For a start, it's easy for some old timers to compare Barbie Xu to senior actress Liu Xuehua because of them really knew how to act out their parts as leading ladies. Plus, it was interesting to test her out with Jerry Yan and...

I remembered as a Filipino-Chinese, there wasn't really an abundance of Chinese shows for me to watch. I didn't really want to study Chinese that much. However, one TV program changed my life. So I did watch it on ABIaS-CBN under stupid dubs but later, I found fansubs of the series called Meteor Garden . But let me talk about the first time I saw Meteor Garden on TV. I had several impressions of Meteor Garden and the F4 boyband. At first, I thought F4 was a Japanese boyband. I said, "Woohoo I'm going to see Japanese stuff at last!" I missed Tokusatsu on TV, there's always had stupid local entertainment to deal with. Meteor Garden was one show I thought was a Japanese TV show... I mistook the picture for Tokusatsu. Then I started hearing the song "Can't Lose You" and it was in MANDARIN. Yes, that's my very first Mandarin song I ever liked and I started to look for the lyrics and its translation. I really love the F4's song "Can...

After seeing Red Dust, I do like the chemistry between Qin Han ad Brigitte Lin though I liked his chemistry with Liu Xuehua better.  How do you attempt to remake the chemistry? Having watched both old and new Chinese films, I don't think it's hard to attempt to redo it. Red Dust was a tragic film but the chemistry between Brigitte Lin and Brigitte Lin was really good for a person who prefers the newer generation. While I don't suggest that Jerry Yan and Liu Yifei be repeatedly paired but hey, we can select at least one or two movies where Qin Han got paired with Brigitte Lin. In my case, I want to see them in a happy ending movie instead of the sad ending like Red Dust was. Jerry Yan may remind some old school viewers of new school drama of Qin Han.  Handsome, debonair, high quality acting are some of Jerry Yan's trademarks. Watching Qin Han in the 1986 version of Romance in the Rain and Jerry Yan in Meteor Garden and lately in Loving Never Forgetting, he really ...

Last Night of Madame Chin was a challenge to watch with all the issues I had with it. You have a rich guy who falls for a bar hostess, he is single-minded about love. You have social issues like women's lack of rights and a chauvinistic society. You have the setting in 1930s China. You have the leading lady suffering for years for the sake of love. All that really sounds like a novel written by Qiong Yao in spite of the novel not being written by Qiong Yao but Pai Hsien Yung, another noted novelist. My first Qiong Yao drama was the 2001 version of Romance in the Rain. Later I watched the 1986 version which was downright sadder so I didn't really enjoy it that much. Qiong Yao dramas are full of melodramatic plotlines like in Romance in the Rain, you have Shuhuan and Yiping. In Madame Chin's story, you have the story of Zhaoli and Yueru. I would like to drag down some similarities with Qiong Yao novels one way or another. Zhaoli is like a Qiong Yao heroine. Comparing her...