Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

  Barbie Xu's 50th birthday was a few days ago. Barbie was buried at Chin Pao San, where Teresa Teng was buried. The Teresa Teng TV series   was filmed in 2018 and only came out in 2024. I had a scary thought because the two celebrities are buried in the same cemetery. I thought about what if the Teresa Teng TV series didn't start in 2018 but started in the 2000s. Jerry Yan sang "The Moon Represents My Heart". I even felt that Barbie could've played Teresa better than Michelle Chen. Sure, Michelle was able to carry Teresa's performance. However, Barbie may have been able to carry it out better. I watched Teresa Teng: Wish We Last Forever . I thought, what if the series happened in 2005 — ten years after Teresa died. What if Barbie played Teresa? I feel Barbie could've nailed every last bit of it. However, the scenes where Teresa collapses with no direct help and dies while in the ambulance. Those scenes would become too scary after February 3, 2025, if Bar...

  The late Teresa Teng had a messy love life. However, not all of it was written into the script. Zhou Taisheng may have been based on a real person her brother Deng Changfu talked about, but out of respect, didn't use the real name. The TV drama also skipped her one-time romance with Jackie Chan and the late Lin Zhenfa. Instead, the most-focused one was with Beau Kuok. However, for obvious legal reasons which I didn't know existed — they used the name Wang Zhongwen. I believe that the directors probably talked with Beau Kuok himself, asked about the details, and perhaps even brought the actor Peter Ho and had an agreement that Beau would be portrayed UNDER A PSEUDONYM for privacy reasons. The name Wang Zhongwen was used for that reason. Was Indonesia used as a creative shield or a reality? I researched the Kuok Group (where Beau came from), and yes, they had a business in INDONESIA. Teresa also had a career in Indonesia. Changfu would've carefully guarded confidential det...

As I was watching Teresa Teng: Wish We Last Forever —  I thought SOMEONE had to look super familiar! Yes, it was Li Li-Feng who died on November 21, 2018. She died sometime after her 67th birthday on November 9 that same year. She was 67 years old when she died of pancreatic cancer. That would put her in the same category as the late famous Japanese actress Soga Machiko. Soga died of cancer in May 7, 2006, of cancer at 67 years old. People who watched Chiung Yao dramas may notice Li-Feng playing characters older than her. What was amazing was that Li-Feng was actually YOUNGER than Chin Han. Chin Han was actually born on July 10, 1946. Let that sink in: Li-Feng was actually born in 1951, making her FIVE YEARS YOUNGER than Chin Han. It might be funny, BTS, but she played in several extremely tearjerking dramas like How Deep is the Courtyard, where she played Bo Peiwen's unreasonable mother. I even wonder if she was considered to be cast as Daoming Feng in Meteor Garden — given that s...

It's a good thing I finally found a way on YouTube to watch Teresa Teng: Wish We Last Forever,  starring Michelle Chen as the titular character. Thankfully, any creative liberties here were guided by her brother Deng Chang-Fu, unlike what happened to Mei Yanfang Fei in 2007. What was creepy was that the TV series came out in 2004 — sometime before Barbie Xu died in Japan of pneumonia (while Teresa died of asthma), and both celebrities are buried at Chin Pao San in Taiwan! This triggered me to write a nostalgia post between Thursday and Friday.  It was back in the 2000s when I heard of the tales Teresa committed suicide. I remember starting to like Teresa's music because of one band — F4! Back in 2003, I remember when Jerry Yan sang "The Moon Represents My Heart". The song was already sung by other singers like Poon Sow-Keng. The popularization was done by Teresa's voice — often described as "sweet as honey". The Japanese producer Yukio Sasaki discovered ...

Hype I decided to give Teresa Teng (2024) a shot, and it stars Michelle Chen. I decided to Google "Zhou Taisheng" and realized he was created as a placeholder for several characters. Sure, the real-life boyfriend Paul Quilicier was featured. However, Zhou Taisheng doesn't exist when I Googled him! The real deal of Teresa's rather messy love life had these men involved: Lin Zhengfa, who suddenly died just as they were about to get married, a prominent Chinese Malaysian Jackie Chan, before he met Joan Lin Beau Kuok, a Malaysian tycoon; she broke up with him when the family demanded she stopped singing Paul was the last one, who was a French photographer, featured in the film  It made me think of the challenges of a biopic. Sure, Teresa's third older brother Deng Changfu (or Teng Ch'angfu) was involved. Some events that happened there were real. However, the biopic created Taisheng as a placeholder as Teresa's childhood sweetheart. It made me wonder how the b...

2026 is the 55th birthday of the Kamen Rider franchise overall. It's already known that I'm NOT particularly interested in the Showa-era  Kamen Rider series . It can be helpful to watch some old shows (like watching older Super Sentai seasons, which is now advisable if you haven't), but there are times when newer shows can be better (based on execution). Kamen Rider Zeztz is on the 55th year of The First Kamen Rider,  with Kamen Rider Revice being the 50th year. So yeah, I confess I was already feeling indifferent about Kamen Rider causing me to barely give "updates" or even reactions of updates here, in favor of other passions or watching some older media I haven't watched. Zeztz's premise has Baku Yorozu as the main Kamen Rider recruited by the Confidential Organized Defensive Establishment, or CODE. CODE's supposedly fighting the phenomenon called Nightmares -- monsters born out of nightmares. The Nightmares affect both dreams and the real world. Th...

  The F4 tour is over. Honestly, I still feel like inwardly weeping because Barbie Xu died too soon in 2025. The F4 reunion concert had F4 (because Ashin took Ken Chu's place). As the tour concludes, I never realized I would be writing this. Right now, let's get into parts of Meteor Garden that operated on Manga logic -- because it was based on a MANGA!  F4's ABSOLUTE DOMINION of Ying De (and why Ying De STILL SURVIVES) needs extra plot armor The F4 or Flower Four are basically Manga characters with plot armor. Seeing Hana Yori Dango the Anime was basically enlightening. I always commented how Jerry Yan looks too much like Tsukasa or how Vic Zhou looks like Rui. The dynamics of Ying De (or Eitoku in the Manga) are basically a school where F4 reigns with impunity.  F4's villainy is LOUD AND PROUD. Daoming Si or Ah Si reigns with 100% IMPUNITY until he was challenged by Shan Cai. In reality, Taiwan's very strict academic environment would've already shut down Ying...

It's no secret that I tend to watch shows for "the girl". I was engaged in some legal dramas, crazy Wuxia, and it's back to rom-coms. However, spoiler alert: there's no love triangle in Everyone Loves Me  focuses on "Will they or won't they?" dynamics. In fact, it has some realistic, serious scenes such as parental conflicts (which happen later). It focuses on the romance that happens between two people who played online. Talk about Love O2O from 2016 but with a twist. In fact, the male character Gu Xun (acted by Lin Yi) doesn't realize that the avatar he's in love with is actually Yue Qianling (Zhou Ye).  Watching this show made me think of my childhood. There was the retro arcade scene where games like Street Fighter II were featured. Is that arcade location in China real or not? Arcade games tend to swallow your quarters and challenge only the best of the best. Playing Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection made me think of the arcade games...

Previously, I wrote about Plot vs. Pretty . There are no questions asked that I tend to watch a show "just for the girl," such as The Female General and currently Everyone Loves Me (ongoing). I can't deny that I watched Blossoming Love because Sun Zhenni (who I first saw as a secondary character in Till the End of the Moon as a gumiho) was just super pretty. I thought about watching legal dramas, whether they're from China, Taiwan, Japan, or South Korea. South Korean legal dramas tend to be one of my favorite things to watch, even if eye candy is NON-EXISTENT FOR ME . Sure, I can get drawn by the eye candy, but a good plot automatically covers every appearance. Recalling the early phase in my college days I remember the premiere of Chinovelas (mostly from Taiwan), and it started with Meteor Garden . I didn't find the late Barbie Xu all that pretty (but I used to like a girl who resembled her) compared to Mao Inoue. However, I found Meteor Garden (2001) better t...

Chinoys are usually Hokkien speakers, descended from Fujian, China. As always, may Filipinos remember that the Chinese people aren't their enemy but the Chinese Communist Empire (a mockery I made for the Chinese Communist Party). Back then, I remember there was a NICHE MARKET where Betamax rentals in the 1990s had a few Chinese shows WITHOUT translation. There was the Chinese Sunday Theater . If I'm not wrong, ABS-CBN called it the Chinese Variety Show, which once aired Fu Peimei's cooking show (undubbed), and it was later dubbed. Meteor Garden became the revival of the Chinese Sunday Theater. It was Chinese Sunday Theater with the DUB. GMA-7 competed with My MVP Valentine . Both shows introduced me to F4 and 5566. However, the regular Chinese-language drama (hence my tags here are Chinese Drama, whether they came from China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan) began diversifying. It wasn't enough for  Meteor Garden's subtitles to unintentionally trick my mind, "That's w...

There are times when Wuxia/Xianxia are often put under the Hokkien word Ko Cha or 古早 (Gǔzǎo) in Mandarin. This time, I checked out Veil of Shadows,  which becomes a complex battle against fate. I have had the bad habit of actually checking out shows by the lovely Ju Jingyu, such as Madam White Snake . This time, Veil of Shadows focuses on the complex battle against fate. Thankfully, it's only 29 episodes, but it's got a LONG PLOT within the show's context. The show can get confusing because it's a complex battle against fate. The story involves Jingyi's character as a Gumiho named Lu Wuyi. Her co-protagonist is Wu Shiguang (played by Joseph Zeng / Zeng Shunxi) as a mysterious demon hunter. There's a deep, dark secret with Shiguang that the series slowly reveals. Wu Wangyan (played by Chen Duling) is Wuyi's older sister. Li Jie (played by Yan An) is the commander of the Shilin Sect. The antagonists tend to be more in the background. It gets difficult to talk ...

I just finished another Korean legal drama. This time, I watched Pro Bono on Netflix . This is a legal drama with 12 episodes that features a "Thor-like" judge Kang Da-Wit (Jung Kyung-Ho). Da-Wit was trying to operate based on pure logic, the hammer of the law, but he failed to anticipate a frame-up. Instead, a fake bribery accusation (led by Yoo Jae-Bum, acted by Yun Je-wook) causes Da-Wit to hit rock bottom and find out the REAL WORLD that law isn't purely about algorithms. It also requires fresh human emotions. That's what happens during the series.  The whole course has Da-Wit become part of the Pro Bono team, aka the public service team. This is where he meets the secondary lead, Park Gi-Ppeum (acted by So Ju-Yeon, born in 1993, while the lead actor is in his 40s), Jang Yeong-Sil (Yoon Na-Moo), Yoo Nan-Hui (Seo Hye-Won), and Hwang Jun-U (Kang Hyoung-Suk). This is where Da-Wit learns through various law cases, like Kaya, a foreign bride from Myanmar; an...

Crime dramas can be rather addictive. I remember watching Copycat Killer ,  Victim's Game , and Regeneration . This time, I felt like watching Million Follower Detective -- a crime drama that explores the generation gaps. Ekin Cheng, who's currently 58 YEARS OLD, plays a father (named Chen Chia-jen) with an estranged daughter named Chen Chia-jen (played by Buffy Chen). This one presents generational gaps given that Buffy is born in 2000 and Ekin is 58 years old -- playing the father/daughter team. Buffy is estranged from her father. The series involves the mysterious character Witch Baba. Witch Baba is a mysterious influencer who could apparently foretell the future. However, behind Witch Baba's predictions is actually a series of deceptions. The recurring villain is Kuo Ta-fu, a doctor who is bitter about life. Ta-fu is someone who forces Witch Baba to read the predictions. Ta-fu is also an insane vigilante. Why does Ta-fu hate influencers so much? However, behind i...

Bloodhound Season 1 was an interesting lesson on loans . I didn't expect a sequel three years later and decided to watch it. Season 1 was practically where the main cast Woo Doo-Hwan (as Kim Gun-Woo) and Lee Sang-Yi (as Hong Woo-Jin). The dirty old man Kim Myeong-Gil (played by Park Sung-Woong) isn't mentioned (thankfully). Instead, we make a new room for the new lead villain Im Baek-Jung (played by Rain). Seeing Rain play as a villain was indeed fresh. I had mixed issues with Vanness Wu as the bad guy in Princess Weiyoung . However, part of me still gives Vanness praise for filling what need to be filled. Rain just feels stronger though -- showing a 44 year old guy can still beat up the younger cast! This is where someone's business senses could get tingling. Season 1 tells you, "Don't live beyond your means or you could face off against loan sharks. Season 2's villain Baek-Jung runs a gambling ring that fits today's society. The gambling ring is ran on th...

Sorry that I'm "out of date" with the Kamen Rider reviews. Yep, I'm probably still in hangover mode or that there's so much that Netflix has to offer. I decided to check out this fantasy series called The Seven Relics of Ill Omen . This series is a live adaptation by the female web novelist Wei Yu. This writing revolves around Chinese exorcism drama and science fiction. These relics contain a dangerous parasitic lifeform in each and every one of them. They crashed at the Fengzi Ridge where they found them. The Phoenix Squad was formed as a five-man squad (think of it like Super Sentai ). We have our important characters, namely: Mu Dai (Liu Haocun), who is the main character. She is a capable young woman who does the puzzle-solving. Much of her life is a Walking Spoiler, so please watch the film first. She has her schizophrenia going on. Luo Ren (Song Weilong) is the leading man and the male protagonist. He's the field leader but Mu Dai is the overall focus. H...

Kamen Rider might be a show that has possibly hit an identity crisis. A franchise is usually called to reinvent itself. Take Super Sentai having reinvented itself until it could no longer sustain itself. In fact, the period of 2021-2026 was a five-series finale for the series . Kamen Rider was a series that reinvented itself more often than it did -- resulting in a series of good and bad results. I feel the series may have an identity crisis (and funny enough, I'm PROBABLY ENJOYING IT).  The Showa era reviewed  Kamen Rider was a show that had that shaky start (during the Showa Era) . One may notice that the Showa-era Kamen Rider entries were basically not a yearly thing. Just think how Kamen Rider Stronger and Kamen Rider Skyrider had a four-year gap. Kamen Rider Super-1 and Kamen Rider BLACK had a six-year gap. BLACK was supposed to be a reboot, but yeah, Toei got greedy and decided to create Kamen Rider BLACK RX. I believe that BLACK RX was supposed to end an era. BLACK RX ...