Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

There's really life after Kamen Rider,  right? I remembered when Sota Fukushi wasn't able ot show up in Kamen Rider Zi-O because he was filming Bleach . It was even shown at the end up of the episode that only a stunt double was used. I haven't seen the nude comedy where both Atsuhiko Inukai from Kamen Rider Build and Ryo Ryusei from Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger . Fortunately, Eiji Akaso himself didn't get into the humiliating role that his co-star Atsuhiko had. Instead, Eiji himself stars in Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead which is a horror comedy. Watching it late at night wasn't scary but FUNNY. Eiji stars as Akira Tendo - an overworked office drone who is hardly appreciated. With him are Mai Shiraishi (as Shizuka Mikazuki) and Shuntaro Yanagi (as Kenichiro Ryuuzaki). What's interesting is to see Nomura's actor from Killers show up as a bastard who uses every crisis for his opportunity. Kazuki Kitamura knows how to scare people even in an absurd comedy. Kazuk...

I remembered watching the Rurouni Kenshin Trilogy which broke quite a record in Philippine cinema. Unfortunately, the two films that served to wrap things up with the finale  then we had the origins of Battousai - all before Kenshin decided to get a reverse-edged sword when he swore never to kill again. The whole movie is a condensed version of the Trust and Betrayal OVA series. The finale deals with the late Tomoe's younger brother Enishi. This one explains why the final movie went that way (and why it NEVER became the Anime finale is really confusing IMHO).  The whole era here was the Tokugawa Shogunate. I could remember a bit of my Japanese history in high school now! Okay, Rurouni Kenshin is just a story but you can learn some Japanese history. The Tokugawa era created an isolationist policy against Western influence. Much persecution of western ideas happened during the Tokugawa era. Much of the grudge that Shogo Amakusa (Muto, actually) was because of the loss of his Cat...

Eiga  I remembered being a fan of the Rurouni Kenshin anime or others remember it as Samurai X . I remembered Netflix temporarily had the series but I didn't feel so excited about rewatching the Anime as much as watching the movie trilogy which the first was the origins while the next two featured Shishio Makoto's origins. Shishio's probably the most popular villain in the franchise as to have two movies devoted to him. Now, I thought about how the Anime series had its end with what I call the substandard Feng Shui Arc. I felt that Shogo Amakusa's arc was totally adding depths with a sympathetic villain who only wanted to save his people but was doing it the wrong way. After that, I remembered a Questor issue that talked about the final arc involving Enishi Yukishiro (acted by Mackenkyu, son of Sonny Chiba) of the Jinchu Arc. Yes, we NEVER got to see that in the Anime.  The story of Kenshin is a complicated guy - a bloodthirsty killer who swore to never kill again. The ...

So what's the difference between adaptation and localization? Here's the definitions that could be used to prove the difference between them but they're both similar in some way in doing business from the Business Dictionary : Adaptation: 1. Edited or revised version of a work aimed at serving a specific need. 2. Modification of a concept or object to make it applicable in situations different from originally anticipated. Localization: The practice of adjusting a product's functional properties and characteristics to accommodate the language, cultural, political and legal differences of a foreign market or country. Let's take this example with City Hunter which had both a Manga and Anime (Japan) and the City Hunter live action series which was made in South Korea: City Hunter in Japan both has a Manga and an Anime adaptation based on the Manga. The Anime adapted from the Manga was meant for the Japanese audience where the changes don't reflect t...

Well I'm back for this blog after some this blog has been inactive.  I guess it's time for me to review the Chinese/Japanese film called Tea Fight.  As a tea drinker, I found the movie interesting and maybe some people really don't like it but I find it kind of cute in its way.  So we begin with Erika Toda who is the main character Mikiko who has her admirer in Murano.  So the other character is Vic Chou who I thought was the leading guy but he is sort of the antagonist (not really in this script) together with Taiwanese talent Janine Chang as Ruhua (whose acting really stands out compared to the rest) and some short minor role by senior actor Eric Tsang.  The film is written by Akane Yamada and Wang Yemin making it a Chinese/Japanese film. Storywise, it is pretty weird but watchable.  I thought of WTF about the battle of tea?  Why fight over tea?  We have the so-called curse of male black tea and female black tea and well, I'm a black tea fan ...

So this is really one film I watched for Rin Takanashi but overall, it's pretty bizarre and just didn't get my interest.  The role of Rin here is the hot high end prostitute Akiko who is dating Noriaki.  Really, I just thought the morals here are pretty loose.  So Akiko gets sent to be a client to an elderly guy named Takashi a much older professor who is more interested in making dinner than intimacy (phew) but still, disgusting considering the age gap. This results to a series of complication which makes me think about the real condition of people here.  For Akiko why does she choose to be a prostitute than choose any other job?  Does she have any budgeting problems?  I guess the whole film does highlight the degeneracy issue of just anybody, no race involved.  I would say that even as a fan of Rin Takanashi, I didn't like her taking that role! For Noriaki, it really is something that he doesn't know he's dating a prostitute and he later discove...

From the ever-reliable Orends Range, now I'd like to share these few thoughts.  I'm not so familiar with everyone so I can't really react on everything.  Now here they are... some glimpses that make me gusta to see the movie! Well the Shishio Makoto here looks PRETTY impressive.  I just had my thought that he is one of my favorite Rurouni Kenshin villaisn considering he is one cunning, calculating evil mastermind who really knows how to get things done.  In fact, what made the Shishio arc really great was because of the villains having their aim to take over Japan and knowing how to deal with their enemies. Ryosuke Miura who was previously in Kamen Rider OOO as Ankh/Hinata's brother now will play as Cho Sawagejo.  Hmmm... I'd like to see how he'll do.  We have Takeru Sato as Kenshin, we all know him also as Kamen Rdier Den-O. Maryjun Takahashi well is Yu Takahashi's older sister.  Just my thought, I need to see how shell act as Yumi.  Now...

Here's my hypothesis of how Toshiki Inoue will write the Gatchaman movie.  So here's how I think he will write the movie script in itself: First I think he might actually make the characters multidimensional than one-dimensional.  My WMG is that he might actually make Joe the Condor closer to Gai Yuki or maybe he might want to convince the producers and directors to get Yasuka Saito to play the part instead!  Maybe he might make Ryu the Owl wear glasses like Raita, maye even make Jun the Swan a rich girl or Ken the Eagle drink milk as a reference to his cast in Chojin Sentai Jetman. My bigger concern however is if Joe Asakura will end up becoming more of a real douchebag like Masato in Kamen Rider Faiz or will end up as a comedic jerk like Nago or will he be a jerk who's a nice guy like Gai Yuki?  Seeing how Inoue has a love for putting douchebags into his scripts, he could end up making Joe Asakura too much of a jerk.  Well he might also die at the end o...

Well I am yet to critique on the Gatchaman film (which I heard had pretty bad reviews) and I am yet to see it but here's my wishes for who would have been in that film!  Hmmm with Toshiki Inoue burned out, I doubt it he could save the film as well! Yasuka Saito as Joe Asakura/Joe the Condor- Well I did enjoy his performance in Boukenger as Masumi Inou who was similar to Gai Yuki in a way.  I think he would have been a stronger Joe the Condor! Rin Takanashi as Jun the Swan- Well I think she could have been a stronger Jun the Swan.  Hee hee. Just for a bit of nostalgia I think Toshihide Wakamatsu should have been Dr. Nambu.  My reason would be this- he was literally a live version of Joe the Condor in Chojin Sentai Jetman with his role as Gai Yuki!  I really think this guy could help!  If Toshiki Inoue wrote the film, I think he would want this guy! Jun Yoshida as Berg Katse (male form)- Okay Jun Yoshida may be quite older already but I thought he...

I do like the Rurouni Kenshin film but I wished the following were cast instead: Tori Matsuzaka as Kenshin- Reasons are too obvious because of the shout outs he had in Shinkenger.  Duh.  Well not only that, I think he's a better actor than Takeru Sato but he was probably too busy with other projects so he may have refused the part.  I thought he's even closer to Kenshin than Takeru Sato will ever be. Rin Takanashi as Kaoru- Well I thought that Emi Takei was probably better off playing Misao or Megumi, but better Misao.  Now why I choose Rin Takanashi is that aside from her features that resemble Kaoru Kamiya (having those large eyes and long hair) in Rurouni Kenshin, he does carry on the bad cook gag rather well which I think I'd rather see Emi Takei throwing shurikens or cooking good food to please everyone.  That stare of hers during her bad cooking moment can really drive some degree of laughter for me.  Plus, she and Tori Matsuzaka do have some ch...

Well this is my first Kamen Rider movie review, I might do a more detailed review of Ryuki's alternate ending but I'll start with this.  It's time for the first review and this feature film was pretty much a little bit odd but I still liked it.  So the opening scene begins with Foundation X going to receive the Twelve switches of the Horoscopes from Gamou, Keiko Hayase does a small part.  Inga Blink who's not really my type is fun to watch as she performs kicks.  At school, Gentaro tries to be friends with a computer which is stupid. Utsugi Sensei calls them and they are alerted.  I just loved the action sequences involved or the fact that Ayumi Kinoshita made an appearance as the character Asuka- she's an awesome actress.  Well, the Kamen Rider Club is set on a mission where they are supposedly set for space.  There's the bus scene which they are going to go to the "secret headquarters" and the fight with Inga Blink.  There's also the short came...

I had just finished viewing Super Hero Taisen and seriously, I'll really write a review that's really what I'd call a series of mixed emotions that came along the way.  At first, I was pretty excited at the concept of Super Sentai and Kamen Riders joining together, I mean Decade's crossover with Shinkenger succeeded where Saban's Mashed Rider failed but apparently this film is what I'd call as if Shoji Yunemura really teaming up with a bunch of morons to write this and for Shinichiro Shirakura, he just wants to make everything look cool when in fact it's nothing more than childish fan wars in the beginning.  This is a lengthy review on how much I really hate this crossover! Nice aesthetics, nice concepts but eventually it's ruined by bad writing to a huge extent!  It's just like Operation Overdrive's got a nice concept of the Corona Aurora but ends up being one of the worst seasons because of the way it was written.  Now only if we can all avo...

Well I'll probably say that Ayumi Kinoshita hasn't stepped down despite her recent marriage and now she's working with Nao Nagasawa for a really sexy movie called "Traveler's: Dimension Police".  Now here's what UkiyaSeed from Orends Range says: Here's another project coming from director Koichi Sakamoto! Entitled "Travelers: Dimension Police", it stars Nao Nagasawa (Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger) and Ayumi Kinoshita (Special Police Dekaranger)!  Pursuing dimensional criminals, policewoman Ai (Nagasawa) travels to the "Retroworld" and encounters her former partner, Yui (Kinoshita). As it seems Yui is now with the dimensional terrorists, they hold the guns against each other.  Why did Yui turn to the enemy? Will Ai find out the truth behind the continuing incidents? The battle of these women across dimensions begins now!  Also staring in this movie are Yuuko Takayama (Kamen Rider Wizard, Kamen Rider Chou Den-O Episode Blue), Ke...

With the idea that Rin Takanashi and Emi Takei were in one movie with Tori Matsuzaka namely "Love for Beginners"... just a thought why I think Emi Takei was more suited. I just had my thoughts that both girls are pretty in their own way.  However Rin Takanashi looks more like the antagonistic beauty like Poison Ivy is in Batman while Emi Takei has the "childlike innocent look" for me. I would say Rin Takanashi could play as a pretty geek (without emphasizing the appearance) while the main lead sort of required the "unpopular school girl" image thus Emi Takei is qualified to play the role while Rin Takanashi after showing her acting ability to play a bad person in Kamen Rider W: Eternal, so why not let her play a regular villain?

Here's the screen shot from the film "Love for Beginners" where my wishful thinking for Kaoru and Kenshin was actually turned into a twist.  Tori Matsuzaka starred with Emi Takei as his leading lady and Rin Takanashi as his lover who's some kind of liberated hippy.  It's not surprising either that Rin Takanashi played a villain since in Kamen Rider W: Eternal she was also one.  Quite different from their characters in Shinkenger. =P

So I'm not the first one, Orends Range had gone ahead of me but I'll now share my expanded thoughts on the movie.  First, since it's an adaptation and NOT from the original source, don't expect a frame-by-frame adaptation but all I can say is, despite that fact the movie was executed pretty well.  I'm a fan of Kenshin, yes I am and he's my favorite in the whole show so I went to watch this movie though I'm not really similar to him in personality.  Behind the scenes, I'd like to thank Nobohiru Watsuki for supporting the film and to Keishi Otomo for the job well done.  And of course, to Takeru Sato for going from henshin to Kenshin. Everything starts where Kenshin as Battousai.  After his bloody history, he pretty much gives up his title as Battousai the slasher after killing many people even to the point of making the absurd reverse-edged sword.  As a teenager, I always got WTFed at the philosophy of the reverse edged sword, so no reason that Takeru ...

As a fan of Rurouni Kenshin (but not really) I had some small expectations from this film such as Tori Matsuzaka as Kenshin, Hiroki Aiba as Sanosuke, Emi Takei as Kaoru and well maybe Mitsuru Karahashi as Jin'e who could be Juzo's inspiration in Shinkenger but alas none.  But however there's LOTS of good stuff like even if I'm not very familiar with the rest of the cast but they did good.  And maybe I should talk about the portrayal of the main characters... Takeru Sato as Kenshin.  Last time I knew, he was acting as Kamen Rider Den-O which is a radical departure here.  So it's kinda pun intended that the actor's name is Takeru and Takeru is also the name of Shinken Red.  Moving on, his acting is really quite good.  He could really display Kenshin's emotions.  I may not like him as much as Tori Matsuzaka but his acting DOES compensate for that overly trivial disappointment I had.  And for Emi Takei, she may still be struggling but I'm glad she...