Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

After hearing of the Mulan 2018 remake, I thought about how Liu Yi Fei's already "too old" to play a very young character. Liu Yi Fei was 22 years old while Vicki Zhao was 33 years old back last 2009. Yi Fei is entering 31 next year.  So why did I wish Yi Fei took the role of Mulan over Vicki? I thought a much younger Yi Fei could have handled the role of Hua Mulan better and the age would be a bit near. Mulan was probably 15-16 years old when the story took place. Vicki is already twice her age for the role of Mulan! Back in 2013, we have a 19-year-old Suzy Bae who PULLED OFF the role of Dam Yeo Wool or how Yi Fei was only 19 during Return of Condor Heroes. So why did they get a much older Vicki to play Mulan when Yi Fei was very much young and available to play a character who's in her late teens? In Suzy's case, her character of Yeo Wool was probably 18 years old - which was a marriageable age during those times.  Jerry Yan could play as Gener...

This episode somewhat drags everything to a certain point. So who is Takumi Katsuragi and Sento Kiryu? This almost reminds me of the whole identity swap in Kamen Rider Agito when the protagonist's identity was called Shoichi but his real name was Tatsuya. So what really happened?   We learn that Blood Stark could actually swap faces. It's an ability he got from Mars and he's able to do this one to cause confusion. He's able to do so by his own power. A bit of blast from the past. So don't tell me that the real Sento Kiryu has been long dead? The identities of Takumi got swapped. I guess that's why they say Takumi is actually still alive and may explain why the protagonist was able to do what he's been doing. The deceased Sento gets the face of Takumi and Banjo gets framed. This is getting quite complex if you ask me. This also proves that the Nascita Cafe owner manipulated the real Takumi and give him the identity of the real Sento. Confusin...

This week's episode starts to show some development between Faust's current leader Gentoku/Night Rogue and Kamen Rider Build. So what do we have here? There's a raid to which Gentoku plans to get the Pandora's Box. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't get the Pandora's Box. This brings us to another scene... They're hiding somewhere with the Pandora's Box. What really WTFs me (again) for the nth time (guess it) is how Little Miss Stupid Sawa is a waste of Yukari Taki's acting skills. I mean, she's not just eye candy in most of her appearances. She can kick ass. So what happened to her again? I guess you can play a drinking game every time I call Sawa as Little Miss Stupid. This is time for the confrontation. Gentoku already knows that Kiryu is Kamen Rider Build but it's only now that the latter knows the former's secrets. I find this to be a very dramatic confrontation. They even use the trick with a hologram and there's ...

Last episode was a bit of a thriller. So who is Blood Stark? We finally discover it's Isorugi. This episode was starting to show some impact on what could happen.  Isorugi meets with Chairman Nanba which has a bit of a comedy scene. He got the Pandora's Box but it's full of fake bottles. Chairman Nanba intends to build weapons stronger than a nuclear bomb. Fortunately for this episode Little Miss Stupid Sawa isn't useless. Okay, I may be disappointed with how her whole role as a spy for Nanba Heavy Industries just got shoved apart (considering Yukari Taki isn't just eye candy) but she does get useful at least for this episode. I hope that Sawa doesn't devolve again into Little Miss Stupid for episodes to come. Banjo doesn't have what it takes doesn't he? I don't know what Toei is thinking by adding cartoony disasters that could have killed everyone in real life. I guess Build doesn't want to be too serious like the first seven K...

It's nice to see some pacing once again. This week's episode starts to cause some confusion on the structure of Faust. So why is there in-fighting? What's really going on? This also leads to more of Gentoku's "master plan" with Nanba Heavy Industries while there's in-fighting. Yes, Blood Stark and Night Rogue are fighting among themselves. This makes me imagine that there's still no clear answer to who the show's real antagonist is or who really leads Faust. Blood Stark proves himself not to be an easy foe to get rid of. Okay, I do still have my concerns about where the character Sawa Takigawa is heading. I mean, Yukari Taki was great in Ultraman Ginga so why is she reduced to a joke character AGAIN? I thought that while she did unleash the password but most of the time she's just there to be either standing pretty or serving as a muse. I dunno if she should even stay in the show. The newest design is Octopus Light. We realize th...