Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

It's the Year of the Snake. Japan also celebrates the Lunar New Year, which lasts 15 days in China (and Taiwan). It's back to work today. Let's take a look back at memory lane for snake-themed Kamen Riders. Evil Kamen Riders have become a staple -- sometimes even being the final villains such as N-Daguva-Zeba, Evolt, and Kamen Rider Ark One (who keeps reminding me of Venjix from Power Rangers RPM ). Snakes have been a common theme for the MOTW in Kamen Rider . However, Kamen Rider these days have the more serialized storytelling akin to a telenovela. That's why I write about Kamen Rider here but only from Kamen Rider Kuuga up to the present. However, I decided not to do episode reviews and just do random drops of newer stuff and older stuff. Now, for the time when a snake-themed Kamen Rider was created. Takeshi Asakura/Kamen Rider Ouja is a truly terrifying cobra The Cobra is often a popular theme for villains. Who can remember G.I. Joe's main villain organization i...

  Well, it's the end of Kamen Rider Revice and the beginning of Kamen Rider Geats . Yup, Geats may be intentionally a Battle Royale in tribute to Kamen Rider Ryuki - a series I believe failed to meet its potential . I was watching through it and I felt there are some good and bad points. Now, I'd like to give my thoughts on how the series went. I think it'd be a good time to actually give my thoughts.  SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! I felt the show was trying to do plenty of family drama and about humanity. For instance, even the Deadmen have their humanity involved. We have Giff's plot. We also have the betrayal within Fenix - a plot that I felt dragged itself for too long. I could remember enjoying Kamen Rider Zero-One but I felt the whole plot where Yua Yaiba hangs around Gai Amatsu is DRAGGING. I felt that the five-part challenge should've been a FIVE EPISODE PLOT and NOT TEN EPISODES. I feel the same thing happened when Daiji Igarashi becomes a misguid...

  I guess readers know by now that I'm watching Kamen Rider Revice at a very irregular pace. You've got an evil guy on the organization in a good faction. Talk about a mole, a Judas Iscariot, or call it whateve ryou want. This time, Fenix does have a mole and it's the very director himself known as Hideo Akaishi (Jun Hashimoto). So, it turns out that Hideo is a founder of Deadmen and has betrayed HIS OWN TEAM. It's pretty much a plot device where you've got somebody supposedly on the side of good who backstabs you sooner or later. Sometimes, the person has good intentions but selfish intentions start to enter.  Episodes 19-20 which has Chigusa Yamagiri who was hired to be a double agent. Chigusa becomes a misguided person who just wants to do what's right but ends up doing it wrong. I dunno if it was a mistake to write her off. Granted, Kazusa Okuyama has her OWN SCHEDULE so I guess she doesn't want to stay in the show. It was interesting that her two-parter...

I decided to do some binge-watching of the latest episodes of Kamen Rider Revice . One good reason why I haven't done episodes is because I'm also trying to watch some other shows on Netflix . Currently, I'm watching Light the Night (Taiwanese series) and I'm trying to enjoy the reality TV show New World which has South Korea celebrities on an island resort. I'll give another random drop thought on the idea of Revice - it turns out that the family that fights together, stays together! It's pretty much like how Fiveman , GoGoFive , and Magiranger were all sibling Super Sentai entries.  The first plot with the siblings is Daiji's jealousy of his older brother Ikki. Daiji produces an inner demon known as Kagero - born out of resentment for his older brother. Kagero was defeated allowing Ikki to transform into Live without a demon. The arc built on Daiji was talking about the power of the sibling bond. Ikki wasn't qualified at first but proved he too could f...

As said, I don't really give updates but I only react to updates when I can or when I feel like it. I decided to do some watching with Kamen Rider Revice even if one of its cast members Subaru Kimura had that annoying blackface incident. Well, I decided to watch the series and think about how I feel more and more distant from Tokusatsu these days. I guess it's because I've watched every Heisei-era Kamen Rider series from Kamen Rider Kuuga up to Kamen Rider Zi-O . Now, it's time for me to think that I decided to give Revice a shot to see how it'd do. I've watched up to the latest episode. As always, don't expect any more episode reviews because of real-life stuff. Now, I'd like to share my thoughts on it in eight episodes. The Igarashi family has them running the Happy Spa. They are Ikki (the hero), Daiji (who is secretly jealous), Sakura, and the parents Yukimi and Genta. Daiji works at Fenix but, for some reason, wasn't allowed to use the Rider Bel...

I guess by now you'd notice that I don't give updates - I REACT to updates! Right now, my wish for the first DINOSAUR-THEMED Kamen Rider has come true! 2017 was the year when I got my wish for a space Super Sentai and we had it in Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger . I confess that the last two dino Super Sentai just didn't give me much of what I want. Now, thanks to Orends Range,  I got the update,  and here's the first update that I felt I wanted to give my own reaction towards: In the series, our heroes will fight a demon worship organization called Dead Man. This organization uses a mysterious stamp called Bi-Stamp to materialize the devil hidden inside humans to create a monster called Deadmen. To protect an important family from the hands of a Deadman, Ikki Igarashi forms a contract with the device called Vice to transform into Kamen Rider Revi, while the devil transforms into Kamen Rider Vice! Playing the role of Ikki Igarashi is newcomer Kentaro Maeda, while Vice will be vo...