Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

I got to admit there was this time my my grandmother would watch those Chinese soap operas.  Here were some I could remember... There were the Liu Xue Hua soap operas where she worked with Ivy Ling Po's husband Chin Han.  Okay I got to admit the gap is 13 years.  Yikes!  But Chin Han really looks SO YOUNG!  Some of their best projects were "Love in the Rain" (which had a remake starring Vicki Zhao and Alec Su), "Seagull's Home" and "Courtyard".   There was also her borrowing those wuxia style novel soap operas.  I can't be certain to which was her favorite but I guess her favorite was Andy Lau's version of Return of Condor Heroes.  However they had to have a love story or she won't watch it.

Westside Story, perhaps my favorite 5566 drama of all time.  I would like to give credit that without "My MVP Valentine" but there is something about Westside Story that made it my favorite.  So where does it start?  So it feels like Anime but there is no Anime, it seems that Taiwanese people prefer live over animation and this show does it quite right.  It has the Anime feel without the need to be animated.  And yup this show caused me to like watching live shows more than Anime. The characters of the script You Ya Yu (acted by Tony Sun) is one who lives with his delusional mother Yao Lan Lan (acted by Zhong Qin) and his maternal half-brother You Ya Wa (acted by Wu Huai En) who was born from an unknown man.  Well from an irresponsible mother who is obsessed with Hello Kitty stuff, it does get more disturbing than funny.  Then there is Xing Wang (acted by Wallace Huo) who is a young genius bored with life, the feisty Lan Yu Yi (played by my favorite ...

If there was any type of series that I could say I never expected Wallace Huo, George Hu and Miriam Yeung to be in is a comedy.  However I can't help but say that the three of them (with everybody else here) had done a good job with how they act. When they were meant to make us cry, they do cry and when they are meant to make us laugh, they laugh.  So what's it about? So everything goes back to old traditions that don't work. The protagonist Wu Shi Lang (acted by Miriam Yeung) was born as the tenth of ten sisters.  Her grandmother who was eager to get a grandson threatened to kill herself (but seriously it wasn't even scary) and even wanted her son to marry a widow who had 10 sons so she can get a grandson.  So to make sure she stays alive, they lied that she was a he. Fortunately her grandmother died but her dad kept believing that she was a he until much later in her life.  Obviously her dad is quite stupid because even in men's clothing, it's obvious she wa...

I can't help but think of the unusual love story of Shan Cai and Dao Ming Si or originally known as Tsukushi and Tsukasa in Hana Yori Dango. From all the portrayals, I'd like to put Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu since they do make a real chemistry over Inoue Mao and Jun Matsumoto. Who would have expect that such a love story would happen like this- Dao Ming Si who is an anti-hero with a bad attitude due to his wealth and insecurity would suddenly fall in love with Shan Tsai who is but an ordinary girl which causes a series of tensions as Hua Tze Lei also falls in love with her. The whole series itself had focused on them two especially when fans felt Dao Ming Si wasn't fit for Shan Tsai but as HYD goes, that's how it ends. Dao Ming Si slowly changes from an obnoxious individual to somebody more responsible and caring towards others because of his love for Shan Tsai- even to dare oppose his mother Dao Ming Feng who he originally fears. All these end up in a test where he...

If there's one trend that seems to delight me is when Japanese anime does not only go live in Japan but also if it gets a Chinese adaptation. Yeah.  So it seems that Taiwan likes soap operas over Animes, even the children too! Here are just a few of the Anime series that have been given a live Chinese adaptation and what I think of how they go: Hana Yori Dango- It became the basis for Meteor Garden 1.  However the ending was pretty different for the Anime vs. the Taiwanese version by F4.  Kaede Doumyoji was way scarier in the live version or maybe it's because the actress Zhen Xiu Zhen is really an awesome actress (I wish the actress were my mom and she'd teach me a thing or two about acting!).  It had a second season which wasn't as good while being original, it did deserve some praise. Marmalade Boy- Ken Zhu and Stella Huang do their parts as Miki and Yuu rather well. The Poor Prince- Vic Zhou manages to get his first main part here.  However there was a...

I may normally not be a fan of Korean drama but Brilliant Legacy actually took my attention because it was showing how wrong decisions can lead to disasters.  So what's the real point?  Although set in South Korea but it does show how pampering destroys the family.  So first meet the Sun Woo family.  Jang Sak Ja as charitable as she is, however has two pampered grandchildren namely Sun Woo Hwan (the anti-hero whose character is far more complex than the main character Go Eun Sung, acted by Han Hyo Joo) and Sun Woo Jung (who for me is extremely annoying that I could imagine her do more damage than Hwan ever did).  So how it happened may be because Jang Sak Ja committed the mistake of not dealing with their mistakes way earlier than she should causing her to make extremely difficult decisions later.  Typical grandma complex if you ask me.  Man seriously do have to wait until your grandson punches your company manager or you realize he's turning into a pa...

Black and White... it's my currently favorite Chinese drama as of late. While it may suggest at first it wouldn't be that good with Vic Zhou taking the lead role as Chen Zai Tien, it turned out different. It was in fact a pretty good script if I'm to say so, with the twist and turns, murders, deception and crime solving which involves a lot of personalities from the police officers to the antagonists while chasing after a huge syndicate they never knew of, while trying to put an end to the local mafia known as the San Lian Hui.  For acting, it was really well done even for Vic Zhou who was at first berated for his lack of effort. Mark Chao acting out as Wu Ying Xiong even if he's not that good but he had a respectable performance. The rest, well they did their best but not anything spectacular compared to Vic Zhou's rise to improvement in this series. Vic Zhou and Mark Chao's parts as contrasting cops was something. Vic Zhou who is somewhat corrupt and simple ...