Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

ZAPZEE Cafe Minamdang finally ended and with a good note. I really felt that it was worth it NOT watching the final three weeks of Ang Probinsyano aka The Misadventures of Cardo Dalisay . The last three weeks for this episode provided some good buildup (though I'd say I've seen better ones in lighter crime drama such as how Pride and Prejudice had it better IMHO). The whole turning point of unpredictability is one thing. Other things are too predictable. I think it's interesting to see how the real villain is PROSECUTOR CHA DO WON. I tend to enjoy it when an antagonist is someone who holds a legal job and abuses his position. Prosecutor Cha feels like the villain of the first season of Voice . Cafe Minamdang may be considerably lighter but there's still some degree of graphic violence involved. Prosecutor Cha is no different from the villainous CEO Mo Tae Gu from the first season of Voice . Prosecutor Cha, like CEO Mo, really thinks that his crimes are perfectly justifi...

Cafe Minamdang is coming to an end up by next week. Yup, it's going to be the end of the 18 episodes long Korean crime drama. A strange mix of Anime-style humor and mystery (which there are some darker situations) make it a fun watch. Sure, I might admit that I preferred the approach of Pride and Prejudice   where the romance segment was between two prosecutors. Meanwhile, I always feel like the romance between a fallen profiler-turned shaman (Nam Han Joon) and a righteous police officer (Han Jae Hee) was still interesting.  True, I'm not getting my wacky wishful thinking  BUT the cast still delivers its results. Part of me wished Jin A Nana were Jae Hee because she looks better than Oh Yeon Seo. However, Yeon Seo's excellent acting skills is more than enough to captivate me. Nana isn't all that good. Though, another reaosn why I'd prefer Nana is because Yeon Seo's part is rather sidelined and she's been more mainline material. Nana works better for the side...

EpicStream I was looking into Cafe Minamdang. Okay, I'm still fine with the cast but I felt some scenes would've been "better" or "funnier" if some selected members of the cast of Justice were playing the roles. I would actually think about the weird scenes that happened. I'd be naming what I felt could've been funnier if these guys took the roles instead. The most obvious has to be that I actually want Choi Jin Hyuk and Jin A Nana to portray the contrasting rivals. They did that in Justice where Nana wants justice to prevail while Jin Hyuk gets corrupted by his desire for revenge. They could've done a funnier job as Nam Han Joon (a fallen profiler turned "shaman") and Han Jae Hee. I kinda wanted to see Jin Hyuk kiss Nana on-screen. Besides, I felt that there was an opportunity to turn it into a Beauty and the Beast mixed with detective action. Anybody who saw the 1987 TV series of the same name might be able to relate. IMDB For a start...

Soompi I was watching Cafe Minamdang this week and I felt that Netflix may have missed a good opportunity. The story involves a former champion of justice gone rogue and a righteous woman in the law. This really reminds me of one of my favorite suspense K-Dramas called Justice   which I felt had more or less the same situation. I wanted to watch Hometown but I feel like my current state (colds and cough) should make me watch something lighter instead. I enjoy watching suspense dramas which make me think hard and do RESEARCH. Though, this one, like Lawless Lawyer , seems to combine serious and comedic elements.  So, I felt that the cast of Justice should've made a return in a more comedic manner... Soompi A crazy thought that came into my head is that I might get five people out of Justice and into Cafe Minamdang. That is we could have a trio of swindlers where Choi Jin Hyuk, Park Sung Hoon (who was rather funny in Memorials after playing such a devious villain), and Ji Hye Won...

I was running out of ideas for this blog. It's either Donbrothers , like Beast Morphers , has become my "I'm watching it so I can bash it but the yellow rangers save it!" guilty pleasure. I wanted to watch some suspense thrillers but I felt recent stress might make watching something else better. I watched Netflix's documentary series Web of Lies along with other criminal documentaries. Now, I decided to watch the ongoing series Cafe Minamdang . Okay, I've got a dumb reason with Oh Yeon Seo. Meanwhile, I wanted to watch the psychological thriller Hometown but I think I need to ease my mind. Some telenovelas can be too deep and can make you want to do some self-study. I ended up reading some criminology sites while watching the K-Drama Justice  on KissAsian fansubs.  The plot in itself seems to mix what I'm trying to get - romance, crime drama, and maybe some comic relief. The staff of AsianWiki spells the plot out as: Nam Han-Jun (Seo In-Guk) is a former ...