Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

While watching Princess Weiyang - I really got into a discussion with people who think Vanness Wu did well as Tuoba Yu. However, having never been a huge fan of Vanness Wu - I could be biased here. While he's impressive in his role as a villain - I always had a better opinion of Jerry Yan. Jerry did play as the rival gangster Michael Lee in the Lupin III movie from Japan. My opinion? Jerry himself should've been Yu instead of Vanness! Who could remember Jerry's character as Tsukasa Doumyoji or Daoming Si(Ah Si) in Meteor Garden ? For me, the guy overshadowed every other Tsuakasa after him such as Dylan Wang, Lee Min Ho, and Jun Matsumoto. Who can remember the intimidating face Jerry makes before he started to change for the better? Just remember, Ah Si is hero, villain, victor, and victim rolled into one package. Ah Si is an anti-hero of sorts but started out pretty villainous for a couple of episodes. Royal brat? Check! Good actor? Check! That's why no matter ho...

I remembered times in high school and college when there were some literature assignments required. One thing I could remember was the need for book reports. I could remember this one - if the story is so good I can't put the book down! If the book was so good - I wrote a very wholehearted summary and got a high grade. If the book was so bad - I would write a haphazard report and my performance suffered a lot. There was no Internet yet to help me get recommended readings so I had to take the risk! Princess Weiyoung itself (or should I call it WeiYANG because Yang is the Mandarin version of the Chinese surname Young or Yu) turned out to that kind of show. If I was reading an English version of the novel called The Poisonous Daughter (which it's based from) then I would certainly not be able to put it down!  Watching it - I've decided to marathon it like I would read more than three chapters a day if the novel is pretty good. So, there are some weird plots like poison...

If there's anything expect from Wuxia - you can always expect stupid rulers, right? I'm almost done with  Princess Weiyoung  and one thing I noticed is that the emperor is incorrigibly stupid. It seems stupid monarchs tend to be a trend. I wonder did the Chinese royalty get into that much inbreeding like other royals from other countries? Seems like it considering that Emperor Taiwu is that stupid. Now, I'd like to do historical research on the real Tuoba clan vs. the fictional version as presented by this fictional novel. How stupid is the emperor? Well, he tends to punish the whole clan for the fault of one member. The beginning's story is a result of Emperor Taiwu's stupidity that resulted in the Liang Kingdom's collapse. Also, like how many times does he fall for Weiyoung or Xiner getting framed and her being innocent? He would rather keep his own reputation than his character. He could've made himself better by cutting ties with the Chiyun and apolo...

Personally, I'm not a fan of Chinese Wuxia series if they take a long time to finish. Though, I can take comfort in the fact that they have a 40+ minute run each. So, it's really something when I consider that Ashes of Love wasn't so interesting. Meanwhile, I never thought I'd be captivated by Princess Weiyoung after having my kimchi overdose. Maybe, it's just time to rewatch Chinese series whether they're from Taiwan (Republic of China) or the People's Republic of China. This is in a setting where women tend to be treated rather lightly. Women were usually married off to pay debts or become concubines because most of them had no choice. Sometimes, you had to make sure you're the first wife or empress of the household. This was a time when double standards played so high as to men having more than one woman but a woman can't have more than one man. Man, that's screwed up if you ask me! Princess Weiyoung has a princess named Feng Xiner assumes...

Well, before I decided to get Netflix for digital subscriptions - I really had no access to more Chinese drama. Looks like I may decide to check some older drama first before I decide to watch some ongoing newer ones. For me, it's never been an issue of newer or older but will the plot interest me? Then again, there's also the "Does the show have a pretty actress?" as icing though some of my favorite dramas. Princess Weiyoung has a princess assume the identity of a lower class daughter of a prime minister to avenge her family's death. So the series was very last 2016 and it's already 2020. So? I really think about watching this series because I hear it's a good series. I had little to no access to such shows from 2016 up to 2018. I think that trying to "catch up" with what was new school last decade can be something. I watched the rather lighthearted Lingjian Mountain though I think I could use some serious TV series right now. Hmmm... the...