Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Kamen Rider Kuuga in itself should be viewed as a very important entry of the Kamen Rider franchise. The 1990s had the problem of trying to revive Kamen Rider but the best it could do were movies but not actual series. Shogo B'Stard's entry on Kamen Rider Shin did inspire me to at least try and check the movie out. Then I remembered way back when I wrote about seven highly nightmare-fueled Heisei era Riders . Kuuga was the ambitious reboot of the franchise and Kuuga means "empty shell". You can tell the show was a reboot that practically gave you no references to Shocker or the Great Leader, a new way of writing which didn't automatically click with me (and back then, the first ones I saw from start to finish were Kamen Rider Den-O and Kamen Rider Decade ), I found Kamen Rider Ryuki to be rather unusual at first or how Kamen Rider Blade was compared to a telenovela in its writing format. Kuuga should also be noted for one thing - it was also Naruhisa Arakawa...

Cast members visit the real-life wife of the late painter (Provided by Epoch Times) Well, I guess I'll always be a sucker for historical series, right? La Grande Chaumiere Violette is one series that made me regret (at least in part) why I didn't pursue a history course and instead graduated from commerce. I watched the series that took place in 2016 when it's 2020. Call it backtracking since the beauty of watching older series is you can watch at your own pace in contrast to watching the weekly series. Though, doing series weekly helps at least to keep quality in check especially with artistic licenses to insert imaginary events to real-life stories. What was amazing was that those who played the older cast (plus Eli Shih who played as Jiang Yi An and Jiang Xing Xiong) actually visited the late Madam Lin A-Qin in her home. Just in case you don't know - A Qin is the wife of the late Guo Xue Hu who died at 103 years old. A Qin died this year at 105 years old and she'...

Well, it's the second week of the K-Drama series Start-Up and things might become hilariously bad. The audience knows that Nam Do San is a financial loser while Han Pi Jeung is a financial winner. Su Ho himself was a pen pal (and never revealed himself yet) to Seo Dal Mi. Dal Mi doesn't know yet that the "Do San" that wrote to her back then is actually Su Ho himself. This creates what might be a hilarious situation since a once-academic math winner is a financial loser now. It would be that Do San has his ambitions to start Samsam Tech but they're still in a struggle. The hilarity may ensue when Dal Mi thinks that Do San is a winner but is a loser. What's the best solution? Well, it's really half-brained at best. Financial wizard Pi Jeung starts off a rather stupid plan to prsent Do San as a successful businessman in the start-up business. Really? Do we really want to sacrifice that brand-new Mercedes Benz and the like for such a half-brained plan? Pi Jeun...

Well, here's another Kamen Rider Saber review which I'd like to review the Avalon Arc. The story this time combines King Arthur with the story of Perseus with the Medusa monster. The two weeks are dedicated to finding the power of Excalibur. Episode seven is connected to episode six where Touma wants to find the gateway to Avalon. As it turns out that Avalon is another dimension. 13 stories are connected together which would lead to the mystical land. If you ask me - I'm really ready to kick down Kishinryu Sentai Ryusoulger to another level of low after watching the Avalon Arc. On the other hand, Rintaro has visions of his mentor acted by Masashi Mikami - also in blue! Throwback to Boukenger? Well, I guess Boukenger is probably still causing hype even after ten years. I mean, Masashi did guest-star in Kamen Rider Drive with Haruka Suenga (who married before making the guest role).  The story also links to Medusa who also has her two other sisters. In Greek mythology, Medusa...

  Most Taiwanese TV shows I've watched are spoken in Mandarin with sprinkles of Hokkien whenever applicable. In this case, La Grande Chaumiere Violette which means The Big Purple Cottage is spoken mostly in Hokkein. Nihonggo and Mandarin are spoken as well due to characters from China and Japan. because of characters from  The setting is during Imperial Japan's rule over Taiwan in 1920- a very turbulent time as Japan back then was a major threat when it was an ever-expanding empire. The Empire of Japan died in 1945 and began the rise of Modern Japan. Japanese do still remember the bitter history. I remembered watching the movie The Tokyo Trial which focused on executing the Japanese war criminals.  The summary goes as follows: San Francisco, 1980. As 72-year-old Guo Xue Hu reminisces about his hometown, Dadaocheng, a young man walks towards him from afar. It is Xing Xiong, Yi An's son. He has brought a letter from Yi An, a letter addressed to him. He learns that Yi An had...

Well, there are times I end up backtracking and times when I focus on what's new. In short, it depends on my mood and I guess my superficiality is hard to get rid of, right? Currently, I'm watching Akibaranger Season Three Start-Up which stars Suzy Bae as the main character. While I was actually planning to watch some Korean realistic legal drama again (and I think I'd probably be watching Vice City and Voice Season 2 ) - I think something lighthearted will do for now. The plot follows a business x romance plot. Suzy Bae stars as Hiroyo Hakase  Seo Dal Mi who tempoarily drops out of college to make some money to start-up a business. Nam Joo Hyuk stars as Nam Do San - a math wizard who, unfortunately, is failing in real-life applications in his planned computer company. Kim Su-Ho is a business wizard Han Pi Jeung who has a history with Dal Mi's paternal grandmother. Kang Han Na is acting as Won In Jae - Dal Mi's older sister who changed her surname presumably due to...

This episode features the arrival of Ren Akamichi. TBH, I just wonder if I should watch the Kamen Rider Shinobi spin-off at this point? Well, it's an interesting debut that may start to give Kamen Rider Saber a more mature spin even when it thrives on children's fairy tales. Ren is introduced as the new Rider. Kentaro introduces Ren to the show's protagonist, Touma. This also has Ren and Touma argue about strength and knowledge as the perfect combination for justice. Of course, we need both brains and brawn to win a battle, right? I still think about how Super Sentai tends to emphasize the need for both. So far, Ren still has a lot to learn about developing his head too. A new reference to the King Arthur folklore is made. Touma's sword is stuck in its belt. Does that remind you of the story of The Sword in the Stone by old-school Disney back in 1963? Well, the King Arthur tales will further go forward with the need to go to Avalon.  Zoous reveals something he terribly ...

  While I usually wait for an arc to be over - I thought this week deserves a bit of a specail focus. Okay, I may soon drop reviewing Kamen Rider Saber episodes weekly altogether (that is if other new passions will soon put me on a break from Toku entirely). The focus this week is on Kamen Rider Espada. Well, Juzo's actor from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger makes yet another Kamen Rider appearance. Mitsuru Karahashi was also Naoya Kaido/Snake Orphnoch in Kamen Rider Faiz before he became Juzo. I guess they wanted a bit of Shinkenger reference there since Juzo was a wandering, traitorous swordsman.  It's also interesting to see that Zoous who controls animals does have a form similar to that from... GARO? Well, I do see a bit of the Ashu all the way back from Gougou Sentai Boukenger . The design is somewhat funny and scary at the same time. The Piranha Megids monster (and there's more than one) is the current threat. So, I'm getting a bit of vibes from the R-18 horror movie H...

Looks like I can't get enough of Korean crime drama, right? After some investigation/police drama and the lighthearted prosecution series Pride and Prejudice - I decided to check out the darker, grittier drama series Innocent Defendant . So, I'm exposed to a lot of new casts here and I should avoid going with "What's just familiar." and check out whatever good plot there is. Innocent Defendant is an SBS show that deals with a frame-up. So, I'm very new to the cast here though many of them are already old-timers. Granted, I'm just a casual fan of everything so I can't really give a deeper review than just being that nobody giving his opinion over the Internet. The story begins with Prosecutor Park Woong Ju (Ji Sung) who's framed up for a crime he didn't commit. Jung Woo is innocent but ends up in jail and has no memory of the incident. What's not surprising is that he was framed up by Cha Min Ho. Min Ho also has an older twin brother named S...