Halloween's Over But I'll Give My Thoughts On "The Devil Punisher" As A Manga-Style Taiwanese Series

Sure, Halloween is OVER but I decided to finish watching this Manga-style Anime anyway. I still thank Japan for actually creating Manga and Anime. I still think Chinese entertainment, Taiwanese entertainment, and South Korean entertainment learned a lot from Japan. A shame really that Japan tries to be more exclusive than not. I watched through Devil Punisher which is actually 天巡者 (Tiān xún zhě) or Skywatcher. I don't exactly get what's with the international distribution vs. the localized titles. I guess the title Devil's Punisher is a lot more appealing to Western audiences. The international title is cooler actually than the real title. It's like I prefer to call Rockman by his international distribution title namely MEGAMAN.

It's a crazy twist on Chinese mythology. This is the love story of Zhong Kui (Mike He) and Lady Meng (Ivy Shao). The two are Taoist saints who ended up as humans after some unfortunate incident in the afterlife. Lady Meng (also known as Xin Yu or Hsin Yu in Taiwan pinyin) lost her memories in the process. The bridge was destroyed and an angry ghost (later revealed to have a huge role) took Hsin Yu hostage. Zhong Kui becomes Zhong Zhengnan who tries to get back his girlfriend. As Zhengnan, Zhong Kui works as a baker for an old woman named Granny Wu. Granny Wu may be an amusing grandmother but she does have a few scenes that make me cry like a baby. One of them is the scene where Granny Wu sees her granddaughter unable to recover. Another scene was where Granny Wu was forced to accept her son died ahead of her. I just want to hug the poor old lady.

Jane Cheng is Li Enxi and Roy Chang (who looks like Makino Tomoaki, sort of) is Kai Ouyang. Ouyang starts off as an arrogant bully (who's actually controlled by his father) who starts to learn to love Enxi. There's also Anson Chen as Professor Lu Boya. For a bit of spoilers, I'd reveal that Boya actually isn't the nice professor that he is. Instead, Boya is pretty much a sleazy guy who's got an agenda. Okay, I'll just stop with the spoilers from there. Boya has some kind of obsession with Xin Yu - which becomes a turning point for the story.

The story has some tearjerking moments but they can be quickly overrid. Granny Wu's granddaughter accepts what's happened and she recovers. There are also come characters who die tragically but end up being comics as ghosts. I really wonder if such humor is good or bad - considering I've written some really bad stories myself. I guess I can't fully understand Japanese-style humor where it mixes serious stuff with comedy. The comedy isn't there just for laughs but can be written to show how life has its ups and downs.

The series has a 20-episode format. Some say it's kind of too long because each episode is around one hour and a few minutes long. I think 10 episodes could've been enough given the length per episode. However, it seems that Sanlih-E Television and Netflix both decided to decrease the budget so they could have more episodes. It's unlike how the huge budget of My Name K-Drama only allowed eight episodes instead of going for 16 episodes. I guess the show's use of CGI not being too good (which seems to be more like Japanese Toku levels) was one. Fortunately, the lack of PG-7 ratings allowed better action scenes than what Japanese Toku is allowed to work with these days.

It's somewhat engaging even when it's no longer Halloween or Chinese Ghost Month. It's got the love story element that kept me going. There are great action scenes to watch for. Overall, it's an entertaining flick for those wanting to see how Taiwan can work with Japanese ideas.

"Light The Night's" Finale (Spoilers Ahead)

SpikyTV I guess the series just kept us guessing, right? I finally got the chance to finish it after some busy nights. I was right that the killer was HANA (Esther Liu) BUT there's a twist - it was more of voluntary manslaughter than murder. Manslaughter is when one kills out of the heat of passion and that's what Hana did twice in the story. Hana had one against a client who used her and another against Sue after some unfortunate insanity attack. Hana ends up planning to hand herself over but her lover commits murder (towards a character named Chiang An) to protect her. The whole psychological thriller for me just didn't match up to what I wanted. I guess I was too used to how Victim's Game rolled out. I was expecting some real murder scheme. Instead, it was the anti-climatic manslaughter where Hana decides to hand herself to the authorities after what she did. I really still think that the finale wasn't worth too much of the wait. I was expecting something gran

I Just Finished "My Golden Life"

I finally finished My Golden Life which I was hesitant to watch. 52 one-hour long episodes? I was thinking it was easier to watch the Wuxia series that had 40+ minutes per episode such as Princess Weiyang which was quite long. A lot of episodes of My Golden Life would have a few minutes more depending on the coverage of the episode. So, I'm done and I never thought I'd actually finish it since I'm way too used to short K-Dramas. This one was rather long but it was rather entertaining in many ways. I was thinking about how Shin Hye Sun actually did well with on-screen partner Park Si Hoo. Sometimes, I'd like to joke about how they had a chemistry that looked good and felt good. Looked good? Both aren't attractive and I often joke how Hye Sun's face feels melted or how she was rightfully matched with Lee Jong Suk in Hymn of Death . Hye Sun isn't pretty but she really makes up with her good acting and likability. The same goes for Si Hoo with how he acts out hi

Just Finished "My Glamorous Imperial Concubine" (Some Spoilers)

This is another Wuxia series finished. I was having some expectations broken. The show can be full of spoilers when discussed even further. In fact, some characters are walking spoilers. If you're not ready to be spoiled - DON'T READ. If not, you can read further. I feel the show had some plot twists and turns. Besides, maybe some of the villains in this show weren't as evil as you think. Emperor Liancheng is an antagonist but dies before the show can end. Liancheng may have some idiotic obsession with Ma Fuya. It becomes even worse when Liancheng's younger sister Liansi and his younger brother Lianxi get involved. Liansi develops a crush on Meng Qiyou and even gets pregnant in the process. It seems that Ma Fuya was pregnant with Liancheng's baby but ends up in Qiyou's household after Liancheng dies. Liancheng dies doing a selfless act to save Ma Fuya. The obsessive empress Ma Xiangyun commits suicide to kill Emperor Liancheng. Emperor Liancheng's quite a

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