Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

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...

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...

It's for my review of The Art of Sarah . Be careful, though, because this mini-series has a lot of complex twists and turns. It's practically a Walking Spoiler of a TV series. Shin Hye Sun is the lead actress who plays the role of a very complicated character. The series is a mystery thriller that makes you ask, "Who is Sarah Kim? What did she do?" The series opens with what could be the end of Sarah Kim. However, what if the truth isn't as simple as it looks? That's what this show is about, as Hye Sun presents her excellent acting skills in every flashback.  The whole series is full of suspense. The flashbacks can be rather complex. Was there really a Sarah Kim, or was she just another alias? Every flashback Hye Sun plays is played to a T. Every step of the way reveals a new mystery. The dead body found may not be hers. This is a case of mistaken identity, which creates a paper trail revealing the truth behind the Sarah Kim persona. How did the murder happen?...

  I just finished watching the Netflix series Can This Love be Translated?. This is where Sota Fukushi reveals his polyglot reality. Sota was able to speak in English and now he's shown his ability to speak Hangul. Yes, and I tend to get confused between Hangul and Nihongo! Sota plays a side character, but when he does show up -- he NAILS it. The show was released all at once, presumably to compensate for the delay in release after it finished filming. Basically, it feels weird that Sota (who plays the side character Hiro Kurosawa), with Kim Seon-Ho acting as the polyglot Joo Ho-Jin. Ho Jin is a character that could speak  Chinese, English, Italian, and Japanese as his second languages. Go Yoon-Jung acts as an actress playing as, Cha Mu-Hi (an actress), who has her imaginary ego as the ghost Do Ra-Mi. She gets into a not-so-dramatic love triangle. What interested me was the show moving between four different countries. Going from South Korea to Japan to Italy to Canada ca...

Soompi I confess that Korean legal dramas can get more appealing. There are police genres and law genres. This is another legal drama, but there's a subtle love story. This is a drama that tries to explore what it's like to be a lawyer. Newbie lawyer vs. seasoned lawyer while working together? That's what  Kang Hyo-min (Jung Chae-yeon) a rookie lawyer, and Yoon Seok-hoon (Lee Jin-wook), a senior lawyer.  What does it take to be a lawyer? Hyo-min is still learning the ropes. Graduation isn't the end, but the BEGINNING OF NEW STUFF! That's what Hyo-min discovers when she enters into the REAL TOUGH WORLD OF LEGAL DRAMA. Hyo-min discovers that THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE will never be enough to survive the lawyering profession. Fortunately, Seok-hoon becomes her constant partner who must teach her from experience. There's a 16-year age gap betwen the two -- which can be UNSETTLING FOR SOME.  The romance is rather sidelined. Pride and Prejudice featured romance, but it was...

Is it me or am I addicted to Korean crime drama these days? Japanese crime drama can be good. However, I feel that the Korean way of filming and narrating crime dramas is better. I couldn't exactly explain it. South Korea is known to have strict gun control. This is a great debate for gun control. There are people in this story who say free guns. The others are against free guns. I, for one, believe in strict gun control, that NOT ANYONE should be allowed to own a gun.  The story isn't so black and white either. What makes a drama compelling isn't always some who's Pure Evil. No, instead, the antagonist Moon Baek (Kim Young-Kwang) isn't all in black and white. The guy's motive isn't power. The main character Lee Do (Kim Nam-Gil) is a police officer who's seen so many losses due to unrestrained usage of guns. Does a bad childhood justify a terrible present? Lee Do had a bad childhood but was given proper therapy. Moon Baek never had the proper support -- ...

Drama Beans I decided to watch the Korean drama Karma . Crime drama has its own way of being appealing yet frightening. I decided to put some spoilers because some things were just OH SO SATISFYING. The whole K-Drama has some villains who pay for their crimes -- in the most gruesome ways. It's got some questions like, "If I my revenge then what?" It's the question that nags the mind of Dr. Lee Ju Yeon (played by Park Min-A). It's because Lee Ju Yeon was victimized by gang rape as a teenager. Ju Yeon wants revenge. Would she pursue the revenge or not? The criminal elements here are downright gritty. You've got an evil landlord (and he's apparently a Karma Houdini, so maybe we'll need a second season to kill him off) and his organ harvesting. The true main antagonist is Kim Beon Jun -- a man who stole the identity of another crook known as Park Jae Young. It's nice to actually have Park Sae Hoo play a villain -- after his role as a delinquent in Squi...

Korea Herald I could say it's easy to be obsessed with crime drama . I watched Innocent Defendant during the Legacy Virus pandemic. I'd say that watching Give Up Tomorrow -- a documentary on the Chiong Sisters' MISHANDLED case gave me an interest in legal dramas. What will you do if you're actually an innocent defendant? This crime drama made me think about what Paco Larranaga and Hubert Webb went through -- being charged over a crime they COULD'VE NOT COMMITTED. The main character, Goh Jeong-woo (Byun Yo-han), was mistakenly charged with murdering two of his classmates. Several years of his life wasted over a crime HE DIDN'T COMMIT. A public that still believes in the trial by publicity. If it wasn't Jeong-woo, then who murdered two of his classmates? It gets difficult to talk about the situation WITHOUT the Walking Spoilers involved. It's because a good crime drama knows how to hide things and slowly unravel them. It's difficult to talk about who ...

Countless times, I tend to watch something NOT for the plot but for the attractive actress. It should be strange that I dropped Power Rangers Megaforce despite its attractive females. I watched Doctor Prisoner partly because of Kwon Nara. However, a good plot always overrides a pretty face. I was feeling down and thought watching Resident Playbook would give me some mindless fun. However, like any good show with a pretty lady, the pretty lady is but a BONUS TO THE SHOW. I'm not too fond of medical dramas. I watched The Hospital starring Jerry Yan. I don't feel too compelled to rewatch it. However, I rewatched Black and White starring Vic Zhou because of the PLOT. I ended up liking Doctor Prisoner because of is thriller setting. However, watching the melodrama of Resident Playbook got me to think about the difficulty of the OB/GYN residents. Such is the case of resident doctor Oh Yi Young -- as played bo Yoon Jung!  There are a lot of details to pay attention to. Yoon Jung'...

As always, blogging is just a hobby. I'm going to have to wait for Can This Love Be Translated? which will be late this year. I decided to watch another Korean crime drama. This almost takes me back to the Netflix series Narco Saints . This one involves a dilemma with an investigator who runs into a reporter. It's a recent project but with more senior actors. It's hard to belive that Ji Sung was born in 1977 and Jeon Mi-Do was born in 1982? Like WUT? Are people finding an elixir to prolong life? It's already something when I'm seeing attractive-looking OLD people. Ji Sung plays as main lead Jang Jae-Kyung and Mi-Do plays the reporter Oh Yeon-Jin. This show is DIFFICULT to talk without spoilers. Crime dramas are meant to be discussed without spoilers. It's because there's really a lot of stuff going on and to keep the audience engaged.  Jae-Kyung is professional ace detective who works for the FICTIONAL Anhyeon Police Station. Jae-Kyung is forcibly fed a drug...

I've been obsessing over South Korean legal dramas. This time, it's The Auditors . The plot deals with auditors and corporate corruption. It may remind some of Love Story in Harvard where legal matters were added. It doesn't have romance as a plot. Instead, it's all about investigating corporate corruption within JU Construction. It also talks about business ethics. It can make you ask the question, "Are you willing to have a quick profit at the cost of others?" The main character Shin Ah Il (Shin Ka Hyun) is a sharp loner. The other auditors are Goo Han Soo (Lee Jung Ha) as a rookie employee and Yeon Seo Jin (Jo A Ram). Fortunately, A Ram isn't used for eye candy and contributes to the plot. The team gets involved with a family feud. Jing Woo delightfully plays the main villain Hwang Dae Woong -- a man who harmed his own two older siblings just so he could slowly take over. Corporate corruption has caused many lives -- both employees and customers alike. ...

Crime drama can be that complex. I'd admit that my squeamish side entered as the show ended yesterday. I'd avoid writing spoilers unless I specify in the title otherwise. Talking about crime drama without inciting spoilers is difficult or even impossible.  Jang Tae-Soo (Han Suk-Kyu) is a legendary criminal profiler Korea. He was one of the first in his field and paved the way for criminal behavior analyst in the country. He has gained the absolute respect and trust within the police organization. At home, he is a single parent and raises his daughter Jang Ha-Bin (Chae Won-Bin) by himself. Jang Tae-Soo works on a murder case and realizes that his daughter is involved in the case. The discovery shakes everything in his professional beliefs and his relationship with his daughter. To protect his daughter, Jang Tae-Soo struggles to reveal the truth. It's difficult to handle a task when one's child might be involved in a crime. A single-parent household and strains between fa...

It's October and it's time for a Halloween post. I didn't watch Gyeongseong Creature Season 1 immediately. However, I decided to watch it at my own pace and watch the second season. I've noticed that Korean shows in Netflix are somewhat following the American format. The world's a digital market now and we learn from each other. Some American shows extend with one season after the other -- depending on the popularity. The same treatment was given to several Marvel Comics and DC Comics TV adaptations. Fortunately, most K-Dramas usually end after one season and the second season usually doesn't do as well.  The two seasons are set decades apart. As warned, there are spoilers. It's a fictionalized account of Imperial Japan's takeover of South Korea (before the split) in 1945. The second season takes place in 2024 -- with a not-so-surprising twist. Strangely, neither Jang Tae-Sang (Park Seo-Jun) and Yoon Chae-Ok (Han So Hee) aged between 1945 and 2024. It tu...

My fondness for crime drama happened in 2019 because of Kill It. However, after watching the K-Drama Justice -- I developed a liking for realistic fiction of a crime drama. I watched The Frog after I watched other East Asian dramas like Mind Game and Copycat Killer from Taiwan. Most of these dramas focus more on the investigation than the crime. In this case, The Frog focuses on the crime rather than the investigation.  True, the drama is just fiction. However, part of it was based on a real incident . People have to get their inspiration somewhere -- such as how Narco Saints is partly based on the Jonestown Massacre. What makes it a breath of fresh air for me is the use of older cast members. It's going to be a crime drama after all. Veteran actor Kim Yeon-Seok plays the main character Jeon Yeong-Ha. Yeong-Ha lived in a secluded town with his dying wife. Yeong-Ha's wife dies and he's stayed in that area. Yeong-Ha's daughter  Jeon Eui-Seon (played by Roh Yoon-Seo) pl...

It's been some time since I studied Korean history. After some time -- I decided to check some older Korean dramas that I hadn't watched on Netflix. I was disappointed that My Country: The New Age was bordered on realistic fiction rather than a historical show itself. The disclaimer gave it off that it was realistic fiction. Pretty much, it's trying to explore the end of the Goryeo Dynasty and the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty.  Two friends come into conflict over how the country should be run. Seo Hwi (Yang Se-jong) is the son of a swordsman wrongfully put to death. Nam Seon-ho (Woo Do-hwan) is the illegitimate son of a high ranking official. Both would have their own personal vendettas along the way. A political maelstrom is there since the two have different ideals on how to run the country. The conflict between the two sides can be fun to watch.  It should be interesting that the show has some history mixed into it. We have Yi Bang-Won (Taejong) -- based on the monarc...

There are times when I feel watching some older stuff I haven't checked out -- can be better. It's because I usually prefer watching shows at their own pace. Currently, I'm watching Tale of the Nine-Tailed Fox -- a K-Drama that aired during the Legacy Virus outbreak. I confess I'm more into K-Drama over Super Sentai and Kamen Rider these days. It's already noticeable that I haven't been writing episode reviews. However, as I was watching Tale of the Nine-Tailed Fox -- I couldn't help but make fun of it. It's because Lee Dong Guk looks like Katsumi Hyodo and Jo Bo Ah looks like Kazusa Okuyama (but she hasn't married yet). What came into my mind watching it? The romantic interactions between Lee Yeon and Yi Ah Eum were something Canalo from Kishinryu Sentai Ryusoulger could dream of. Yes, that hilarious scene where Canalo tried to court Tsukasa Myojin of Kaito Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Lupinranger  -- only for it to become an epic fail!  I...

I just finished watching Midnight Photo Studio and I feel it's a bizarre combination of ghost stories and forensics. It's got some Anime-ish or Japanese J-Drama kind of humor. One may think of X-Files and Mentalist  with some K-Drama twist. The supernatural element is done c/o Seo Ki-Joo (Joo Woon) and Han Bom (Kwon Nara) who is a lawyer It was fun to see Nara act in a legal drama again after seeing her in a secondary role in the crime drama  Suspicious Partner . The novel was written by Kim Yi-Rang. I'll admit supernatural crime drama may not be my biggest cup of tea. I prefer non-supernatural crime drama because the inspiration is closer to real events. In this case, I was able to say that Nara has been more versatile than Erika Toda-Matsuzaka ever was in J-Drama. I find Nara's acting more convincing than Erika. Not that I find Erika to be a bad actress. Erika was able to do her job in Death Note . However, Nara could still do a better performance even if she's us...

Resonate I have an obsession with Korean crime drama huh? Sure, I do enjoy Taiwanese crime drama (still considered Chinese though since Taiwan is called the Republic of CHINA) and Japanese crime drama. The show A Killer Paradox explores the world of vigilante justice. The show can be so full of spoilers and the budget seems so high that it was cut into only eight episodes. Yes, they did the same thing with My Name which obviously had a high budget. There's also what I'd call to be an unnecessary nude scene which hardly contributed to the plot.  The plot has Lee Tang (Choi Woo-Shik) who starts out as an ordinary college student. The warning is about the first taste of blood. Tang accidentally murders a person (in a convenience store), readies to turn himself in, and discovers that the person he killed is a wanted serial murderer. This causes a series of dark events that create a domino effect. Tang becomes a bloody vigilante of sorts.  This causes Jang Nan-Gam (Son Suk-Ku)...

It's known that I don't find Jin A Nana all too great. There are times I feel that she's good as a sideline character but not as the mainline. Sure, I enjoyed her in Oh My Ladylord or Memorials. However, I feel Nana's acting is simply meant to be meant for the sideline. So yeah, her role as Baek Ryun in My Man is Cupid was okay. It's because Baek Ryun isn't the main character. Baek-Ryun as a vet does fit Nana well. Catwoman in the Batman series is pretty much an animal lover. Meanwhile, Cheon Sang Ruk still does a good job as Jang Dong Yun. The story involves the romance of fairies and humans. Obviously, such stories tend to have predictable (or unpredictable) ones. Maybe, some Chinese people are familiar with the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl . That was the Chinese story of a farmer who married an Elder Goddess, and even had demigod children with her, much to the chagrin of his mother-in-law, the Empress of Heaven, Xi Wangmu. Here, the fairies are male cupi...

Gwencha Noona There are two ongoing mythological supernatural shows namely My Demon and My Man is Cupid . These are still ONGOING so I can't expect to write a review any time soon. I'm just a casual fan so I tend to marathon some shows every now and then. I think about the two odd romances that I felt were released at the wrong time. I think My Demon should've been released in October, not November... Horror doesn't always have to be scary, right? My Demon introduces Korean folklore in a modern setting. The story of a 200-year-old demon turned human named Jeung Gu-Won (Song Kang) and a businesswoman named Do Do-Hee (Kim Yoo-Jung) creates a comedy horror. Unlike Bulgasal which is a total scare - this mixes some funny and scary elements. Sure, there are some tragic scenes to avoid this flick from becoming nonsense. Meanwhile, be ready for some Anime-ish humor as this show progresses. Let's face it October is Halloween month. That means any kind of horror goes. It coul...