Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

  This week's Start-Up final episodes really get what's the typical happy ending. Won In Jae finally gets her adoption dissolved before moving back to her biological family. I guess her stepfather wasn't so ideal after all, right? Also, I just find it weird that Pi Jyeung just keeps handing over Dal Mi to Do San on a silver platter. WTF is wrong with the other guy being too passive? It just gets rid of the thrill factor when you think about it. Love or just stupid? I can't decide on that! In Jae manages to move in back with her paternal grandmother after her reconciliation with her sister Dal Mi. The finale arc just gets into the typical side of winning the competition. There's not much of a challenge either in their dream of creating the self-driving car and the like. I feel the finale arc doesn't do much of a story in contrast to a lot of past series I've watched. For instance, While You Were Sleeping was busy building up tensions that eventually got Yo Bu...

Some television dramas do have a habit of having a time jump between episodes, right? The Jin Yong Manwha series Return of Condor Heroes had a huge time jump in between the poisoning and recovery of its heroine Xiao Longnu. In this one, three years passed between Week 6 and Week 7. Much has changed since the foul contract was turned down and Samsam Tech had to dissolve as a result. Much of the team has changed since three years after it was turned down. What happens is Do San actually goes to America with his two best friends. Meanwhile, Dal Mi decides to work for her sister In Jae's company. Is this the beginning of patching up between the two estranged sisters? What's really going on with the marriage between their mother and their stepfather? Suddenly, In Jae wants her adoption by her stepfather dissolved. Much has changed in three years once you think about it. A problem of virus infection and hacking hit Injae Company. This then lets Do San (who's now successful) to ar...

This week's episodes of Start-Up really focuses on one theme - crashing away from Delu-World - wait, wrong show! Well, that's been the issue of childhood vs. adulthood. Remember that some things you believe in are a child are shattered? Dal Mi ends up bringing up the issue that it's time to grow-up. It's because the Do San who wrote the letters is different from the Do San that she has met years later. The Do San who wrote the letters is Ji Pyeung. Speaking of which, Pi Jyeung plays a very important role in this episode. The sibling rivalry goes intensely in the demonstration. For Dal Mi, she's still bitter about her mother remarrying a rich man. However, it turns out Dal Mi's mother isn't happy in her second marriage. Dal Mi's group manages to beat In Jae in the security features. This causes them to actually get the offer to be bought over by money. What they don't realize is that Alex Kwon maybe a guy too focused on profits. Alex himself hires onl...

Start-Up has hit the NUMBER ONE in the weekly ratings in Netflix for Filipino subscribers. Though, I'd like to lament how the "better shows" (at least, for me) like Voice , You're All Surrounded ,   or Pride and Prejudice don't get that much love from Filipino viewers. Anyway, it seems to be getting more and more cliche for Suzy Bae to get drunk. Did the Korean viewers think Maaya Uchida getting drunk in Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger was funny that Suzy had to get drunk too? This week's episodes focus on risk management and demo day. Not to mention, the cliche love triangle based on a misunderstanding. I would confess that I'm vying for Dal Mi and Ji Pyeung more than I'm for Dal Mi and Do San. Granted, Do San is someone who feels out-of-place in this world due to his unusually high intelligence. Some people would wish they had Do San's intelligence until they realize he can't easily fit in. Also, no surprise, Dal Mi discovers that Ji Pyeung has b...

So, it's time for a bit of a random drop for Start-Up . So far, I don't know if I'm going take a momentary break from Kamen Rider because I'm currently exploring Netflix and the digital age for other stuff to watch. Also, Kamen Rider Saber has been receiving flak for trying to sell too many toys in too short a time. This week focuses on a bit of the love triangle of Ji Pyeong and Do San for Dal Mi. Ji Pyeong avoids Dal Mi. Meanwhile, Dal Mi's paternal grandmother Won Deok tries to help Dal Mi sort things out between her two possible suitors as they try to set up Samsam Tech. The rivalry between the sisters is on. Du Jeong is still as materialistic as ever and you wonder if she's a filial granddaughter to Won Deok. Won Deok has her deteriorating eyesight which inspires a medical application for Samsam tech. Du Jeong is still as spiteful as ever when she considers teaching Dal Mi a lesson. However, this spitefulness of Du Jeong ends up backfiring when the new appl...

Right now, I'm still watching Sandbox because of Suzy Bae though the plot is also engaging. So, how can a loser entrepreneur without ambition and a college dropout making money, well, make it? This week's two episodes reveal some things as to why Dal Mi chose to be with her father, that Do San felt he was out-of-place due to his high intellect and chooses to lose to fit in with the others, and Ji-Pyeong's possible feelings for Dal Mi since he tries to set up a fake office using his condominium unit for the still-struggling Samsam Tech. The family estrangement really goes this way. If you remember, Dal Mi's father was a member of office abuse and divorced Dal Mi's mother. Later, Dal Mi's mother remarries a rich CEO hence In Jae's surname is changed to Won from Seo via adoption. Dal Mi can be seen to be pretty much self-sufficient but emotionally a grandma's girl. Dal Mi herself probably didn't want to get adopted by her stepfather (hence she still car...

Well, it's the second week of the K-Drama series Start-Up and things might become hilariously bad. The audience knows that Nam Do San is a financial loser while Han Pi Jeung is a financial winner. Su Ho himself was a pen pal (and never revealed himself yet) to Seo Dal Mi. Dal Mi doesn't know yet that the "Do San" that wrote to her back then is actually Su Ho himself. This creates what might be a hilarious situation since a once-academic math winner is a financial loser now. It would be that Do San has his ambitions to start Samsam Tech but they're still in a struggle. The hilarity may ensue when Dal Mi thinks that Do San is a winner but is a loser. What's the best solution? Well, it's really half-brained at best. Financial wizard Pi Jeung starts off a rather stupid plan to prsent Do San as a successful businessman in the start-up business. Really? Do we really want to sacrifice that brand-new Mercedes Benz and the like for such a half-brained plan? Pi Jeun...

Well, there are times I end up backtracking and times when I focus on what's new. In short, it depends on my mood and I guess my superficiality is hard to get rid of, right? Currently, I'm watching Akibaranger Season Three Start-Up which stars Suzy Bae as the main character. While I was actually planning to watch some Korean realistic legal drama again (and I think I'd probably be watching Vice City and Voice Season 2 ) - I think something lighthearted will do for now. The plot follows a business x romance plot. Suzy Bae stars as Hiroyo Hakase  Seo Dal Mi who tempoarily drops out of college to make some money to start-up a business. Nam Joo Hyuk stars as Nam Do San - a math wizard who, unfortunately, is failing in real-life applications in his planned computer company. Kim Su-Ho is a business wizard Han Pi Jeung who has a history with Dal Mi's paternal grandmother. Kang Han Na is acting as Won In Jae - Dal Mi's older sister who changed her surname presumably due to...