Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

While I had a shock of a lifetime to learn that Love Scar was an adult Manga, however I couldn't help but want to give my thoughts on Jerry Yan, Jacky Cheung and Karen Mok in the entangled mess that was Love Scar. Jerry Yan acted as Xi Lin and Jacky Cheung as his older brother Xi Lian, Karen Mok played as the common love interest between brothers named Gensha. The plot starts with Xi Lin who fell for a girl five years his senior (in real life, Karen Mok is seven years older than Jerry Yan) named Gensha. I do find it awkward they immediately had a one night stand which was pretty corny, eventually the relationship had to die out thanks to Xi Lin's mother's obsession. However what happens next is even more absurd as Gensha later fell for Xi Lian who she later discovers is Xi Lin's brother. Xi Lin is forced between the loyalties of his brother Xi Lian or the girl he loves Gensha and later ends up tangled in a scandalous adultery between Gensha and her brother-in-law. ...

Although Hana Yori Dango's central love polygon is between Tsukasa, Rui and Tsukushi (Dao Ming Si, Hua Tze Lei and Shan Tsai) however we do have more polygonal entries in this one... Tsukasa gets tangled with Sakurakura (Lee Chen) and later his fiance Shigeru by a forced engagement (Xiao Tze).  He basically has every girl after him but he likes Tsukushi for her being her since despite the fact he's a jerk, he's a jerk with a heart of gold.  With Shigeru she does eventually give up on Tsukasa because he could never love her thus ending another side of the polygon. Rui was initially in love with Shizuka (Jing) but due to her supposed proposal by a French guy, he fell for Tsukushi. In the Japanese versions, Rui and Shizuka ended up together.  In the Taiwanese version, they eventually split up in Meteor Garden II (maybe Winnie Qian had some other projects...) and he later gets admired by A-Mei, another Taiwanese exclusive. In the case of Tsukushi aside from Rui, she'...

Looking at this trailer, it's actually a remake of Brilliant Legacy.  Seriously, only if Jerry Yan could star in Chiung Yao remakes as well, aside from remakes of Korean films.  I do have a problem with remakes sometimes but they're not fakes if they had licenses like Power Rangers is a licensed adaptation of Super Sentai.  So moving on- I think it's way more fitting for Lee Seung Gi to play the role of the spoiled grandson than Jerry Yan, age wise compared to Jerry Yan who is 36 years old already.  Hmmm... but Jerry Yan seems to be the Chin Han of this generation that is looking younger than how he is or being a drama heartthrob in some way.  So I just thought the scenes in here look more funny than those in Brilliant Legacy and there are some major changes like Jerry Yan's character may be a jerk but he may be less violent than to that of Lee Seung Gi's.  But seriously, Jerry Yan should get roles that fit his actual age.

I just thought despite the fact F4 looks like it has disbanded, I still like them.  So far, here's their three individual series to watch this year... Vanness Wu x Joan Tseng in the TV drama "Ti Amo" which is about chocolates.  Okay there's kind of the Coffee Prince theme to it but it looks pretty cute and interesting, especially Joan Tzeng is kind of cute even if I don't find her on the hot side.  I just thought this is a what if you paired Ryosuke Kaizo (Red Mask) with Sayuri Uchida (Blue Swallow) and these guys ended up doing it. Vic Zhou in "Home".  It's pretty much one of the more serious sides of him after "Black and White", "Wish to See You Again" and "The Last Night of Madame Chin".  I feel like this is one of those Chiung Yao like shows and he's playing the roles similar to Sun Xiao Zhong (Chin Han of Taiwan).  I pretty wished that Chin Han would appear here as his father or something.  I really like...

I'm not a bit surprised about Vic Zhou being cast into the rather intense story of "Last Night of Madame Chin", which I think could be a remake of old Chinese dramas my late grandma watched when I was little. With the setting being in 1930s British China, the more I feel like Vic Zhou has "Chin Han" roles.  The Taiwanese actor "Chin Han" or Sun Xiao Zhong. The new image of Vic Zhou as a drama star you can take seriously. I can see him able to do Chin Han's parts in a different way. Flashing as a 1930s gentleman, it kind of reminds me of Chin Han in older films and series. I honestly think Vic Zhou is really able to be "Chin Han" in this role with Fan Bing Bing. I can see the old Chin Han and Liu Xue Hua scripts again in these scenes. The dance scene is kind of really old but classic. Chin Han was famous for ballroom too. Why do I imagine I'm watching "Courtyard" when I see this "wedding scene" he has wit...

The thing is I always felt like that when I was seeing "Wish to See You Again" I was just thankful that Michelle Chen was able to blend in well with the show even if I don't find her attractive (but she's kind of cute). Why? She manages to actually get the charm out of Vic Zhou. Everything just came out naturally with the two of them, one between a weirdo writer and the other your girl next door type who's lucky to find her lover. So I kind of thought that ever since disc 1, the two got me hooked because the story was kind of interesting especially with the twists and turns and how their two characters slowly developed their relationship and the two deny their feelings for some time until they can't hold it much longer. And of course, their characters weren't what you'd expect to come out together, that is until a serious misadventure with an annoying child brought them together. Michelle Chen obviously displayed natural acting compared to Vivian ...

If I can say, I remembered some time in my life as a Chinese series fan that he started out as an underrated actor. Why? Back then, he didn't display much of his hidden talent. So his characters in Meteor Garden and Poor Prince fits him well. However given a more serious role in Love Storm but it was just a flop. It was because of that he was called "questionable talent" and in God Mars, well he was just okay. However there was always room for improvement and that he really could act. So I did spit at him after watching Love Storm due to his poor performance and received similar opinion from others that he was only good for comic relief, however in Silence where it was his first serious moment (non-comedic) he had shown much hidden talent which wasn't manifested early in show business. Even Delicious Relationships showed he had improved. Tea Fight was a great improvement from Linger. Linger well he was still practicing to be better. In Tea Fight, he was no longer...

Vic Zhou's drama "Home" is a multiple language movie which features Hokkien, Niponggo and Mandarin.  Hmmm what a production! The first one features Janine Zhang's side where we hear Mandarin and Hokkien. This second one features Vic Zhou speaking in the Taiwanese dialect. The third one features both Japanese and Mandarin.

Here's two of the saddest F4 dramas and why... Starlit- Jerry Yan and Terri Kwan play a doomed couple where the girl is suffering from muscular degeneration, which the ending was, three days after the wedding she DIES.  Talk about a very screwed up story!  I honestly felt this was almost inspired by Chiung Yao's dramas which Chin Han was a very huge participant in the older days in its rather sad atmosphere. Silence- Vic Zhou playing the dying hero with Park Shin Hye, though I liked Lavender better is an old woman's favorite.  It's pretty much a reverse of grandma's old videos because here it's the hero and not the heroine who dies at the end of the story.  That one year to live because of chronic liver cancer is just so painful... and he tries to make his 365 days worth his while.  Sad ending.

There was one scene I saw in Hana Yori Dango I believe SHOULD have been in Meteor Garden and which is where Tsukushi (Shan Tsai) slapped Kaede's (Dao Ming Feng) on her face.  It could have been a powerful scene knowing that she's a witch (and yep, the actress Zhen Xiu Zhen did make the character come to life so easily) and she got slapped at least once.  After all, she just slaps anybody without remorse and she's such a witch that just needs to be attacked!

"Wish to See You Again" or "Found Love Here" which featured Vic Zhou as a writer named Xu Le and his love interest Nen Xiang who is played by Michelle Chen featured some rather well done love scenes. Here are they: I liked the part where Xu Le helped Nen Xiang with researching about the concepts she needed for her work. I just can't forget the side where Nen Xiang worries about Xu Le when he gets hospitalized. It also happened where he injured his wrist and she worries that she can't write. I also liked the scene where they both become "parents" to an annoying child. Ha ha. I liked the scene where they were going to see the sunrise at Alisan together with the boy. They were like a family. And of course, the ending scene where they meet at the first sunrise of the first solar new year.

Honestly speaking, I felt like Hot Shot was something that was poorly done. Why? Although we have big stars like Jerry Yan of F4 fame, Show Luo and Wu Chun, however the script and everything was poorly done especially the music was way TOO LOUD. Chinese music was supposed to be more on techno beats NOT loud noise. For example- Jerry Yan's character as Dong Fang Xiang isn't well developed and only Show Luo's character of Yuan Da Ying was to a certain extent. I even thought that to put a scene where Yuan Da Ying sees his supposed grandmother Tie Lan die (seen this old lady too many times in my late grandma's videos, sniff sniff) was unnecessary for a funny show, since it reminded me of my grandmother's passing away. I even thought that the love triangle of the two for Tracy Zhou's character of Zhan Jie Er was poorly done- it can get overdramatic that I'd rather watch a weepy drama. And it takes a LONG time for us to know how vindictive Dong Fang Xiang'...

I would be rude not to write about Meteor Garden as a first opening.  After all this is what sucked me into this world of Chinese drama in the first place. I've written about F4 but not Meteor Garden. This was the show that gave F4 its career and its name. To those who really don't know what it is, it is a somewhat live adaptation of Hana Yori Dango which is a Japanese anime. The whole plot has the main characters of Jerry Yan as Doumyoji (Dao Ming Si), Vic Zhou as Ryu (Lei), Ken Zhu as Soujiro (Xi Men) and Vanness Wu as Akira (Mei Zuo). Barbie Xu played as the protagonist Tsukushi (Shan Tsai). Along with them were some long-term seniors. One is Bu Xue Liang who acted as the teacher (short shots only), Tang Qi (Yu Sao), Dong Zhi Zheng and Wang Yue as Papa and Mama, and that Zhen Xiu Zhen (some people who have bad eyesight thinks she's Liu Xue Hua) as the evil mother Kaede Doumyoji (Dao Ming Feng) who is a more obvious form of evil than her manga count...