Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Time travel is either an interesting innovation in writing or it can get pretty confusing. As much as I did enjoy time travel plots but not all of them are interesting to read or watch. In this case, I'm already having second thoughts about how time travel is dealt here by writer Kento Shimoyama (and yup, he's done a reference from four years ago here). Here's the reference. It's 2019 in one side yet it's 2022 in another side. Souta dreams of a ninja-based Kamen Rider (something I want to happen as a new series post-Heisei era) named Rentaro Kagura. Okay, I may not be a fan of Ninninger, I still find it wonky (but nowhere near as terrible as the dreaded Ninja Steel) - it's nice to have Hideya Tawada who was Starninger play this part as a Ninninger reference! This also results to a new method by the Time Jackers to literally jack off time as they go into 2022 and prematurely triggers something. So we have Rentaro (2019) and Rentaro (2022). Rentaro (2019...

I just thought I wanted to write yet another farewell letter to the Heisei era. It's time to talk about my relationship with Heisei era Kamen Rider. I admit, I do have some pre-conceived biases that makes me want to say, "Screw it! I'm not watching it!" -- ironic how I only knew about Kamen Rider from sites like Henshin Hall of Fame  (which is pretty much a retro site) and back then, I just read summaries and wikis without watching said shows. Then I thought about how often my preference for just anything between old school and new school will always depend on how the show clicks with me -- not whether said show is old school or not! So I thought about how I was actually on somewhat of a Toku break while I did watch but not regularly (a few) of the crap-dubbing of certain series like Kamen Rider Blade on Cartoon Network Philippines, Kamen Rider Hibiki on TV-5, Kamen Rider Ryuki on ABS-CBN and GMA-7 did air Kamen Rider Kabuto and Kamen Rider Faiz. I also watched bot...

Hymn of Death is a three-part mini series which I watched on Netflix. At first, I thought it was just your normal scene but it's actually based on a real account such as the Korean series known as Hwang Jini. A historical drama would be based on an actual event yet you've got some scenes that are merely extras or imagined by the director -- such as family conversations since history books don't record everything they've said word for word.  The story is based on a married man named Kim Wu Jin who ended up having an affair with an opera singer named Yun Sim-Deok. How the affair happened or why it happened seems not to be clear. But it's imagined in said series he's stuck in a loveless marriage that his father arranged for him -- so he must be unwillingly married to a woman he doesn't love. So what shocks me is that the first Korean woman soprano wasn't all that good looking based on the picture from Lee Dong Suk's (the guy who acted as Wu Jin...

It's a sad fact that Vagabond will still show on May 2019 which would some time after the end of the Heisei era in Japan. The trailer looks BRILLIANT. Both Lee Seung Gi and Suzy Bae are badass as both tend to do their own stunts with wires -- though they do still have stunt doubles for harder to do parts. The short teaser shows what you can expect. You see Seung Gi doing some stunts (and perhaps some parts are done by a stunt double) and Suzy firing those guns. So that means fanboys just have to beware of Suzy as pretty as a rose and deadlier than her thorns -- she's shown her archery skills so I wouldn't be surprised if she's had shooting lessons! Seung Gi shows what could be the result of his mandatory military service. It was nice to see them fight side-by-side in Kang Chi -- now it's time to see the fight together in modern times. What are your thoughts on his badass trailer?