Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Well I'm done with Kamen Rider W and I'd say it's like a mix of detective TV drama x Kamen Rider with some of those "hard to replicate" charms.  So the story revolves in Fuuto City where Shoutaro and Philip are part of an agency with Akiko as a funny sidekick who compared to Cassidy Cornhell in Dino Thunder, she's really a very useful character even if she does sometimes screw things up but overall she's useful. Fuuto is powered by wind power hence its name.  At the same time, people buy this addictive "dope" called GaiaMemory which without a filter, it becomes a dangerous drug.  Compared to W who uses a filter hence its unaddictive to the main hero Shoutaro, the Dopants are dopes to the GaiaMemory to the point of insanity.  What I also find unusual is that for Shoutaro to become W, he needs Philip to do so... and the latter has a background story I'd say adds plot complexity.  It does remind me of Ultraman Ace requiring two people before th...

It's good to take advantage of break periods.  Now moving on... I've just finished watching Kamen Rider Ryuki which is really I'd say a good series.  A review is due for it and I would write it as one of my recommended riders.  Now... I've just given Ryuki a second chance and since I was Biased about it.  Now I just started viewing it and I'd say it really, really has gotten into me.  I believe it will get more addictive.  Well I'll do what I'd call mandatory review to Kamen Rider W then on to a really big deal with Kamen Rider Ryuki.

First is Yu Takahashi who was in Kamen Rider Kiva as Yuri Aso.  I guess not so many people discover she's born from a Japanese father and a Filipino mother.  Even I didn't expect it due to her slight resemblance to Vivian Hsu.  So yeah, there's one. The second is Sayaka Akimoto who's obviously half-Filipino (and she does strikingly resemble Lovi Poe from the Philippines).  I haven't seen her in any J-Drama yet so I can't comment on her acting.

While I was watching Kamen Rider Kiva, I had my thoughts that Japanese-Filipino actress Yu Takahashi does resemble Vivian Hsu in some way but she's better-looking but more importantly, she's a better actress who acts just all natural because if she were so annoying, I would have already gotten rid of Kamen Rider Kiva. I would really admit this with Vivian Hsu... She's a HORRIBLE actress.  I really hate any show she appears in and she PISSES me off as much as some person I greatly dislike.  Overall, I dodge any show she's in even if it was that Jackie Chan movie Accidental Spy. Now only if Yu Takahashi can enroll in China to learn Mandarin. =)

The story of the 14 Blades.  I would dare say this movie is one of those really swoosh, swash and a LOT of swordplay with Donnie Yen as Qinglong an imperial guard,  Zhao Wei as Qiaohua a poor man's daughter who becomes a heroine and Wu Chun as "Judge of the Sands".  In the story, the Chinese empire has an incompetent emperor, his group of "samurai" called the Jinyiwei are tasked with fourteen blades each with a different task (and the last blade is for hara-kiri!) and Prince Qing (Sammo Hung) an exiled noble as well as his adoptive daughter the beautiful witch Tuotuo (Kate Tsui).  This is one of Daniel Lee's masterpieces that I would recommend and as you read through, you'll see why.  The Jinyiwei are like the Japanese samurai. They are trained from childhood, they are tasked to protect the imperial courts and should they fail their mission, get the fourteenth blade and KILL themselves.  The first thirteen blades have their own purposes like torture, de...

While it might be intended that Kamen Rider is a male market but I think it can also appeal to females for these reasons... but these may also be true for the Showa era: Deep complex plots.  As a guy, I would admit most men don't like to think much while women tend to like complex stories because they tend to think deeper.  I do enjoy women who are deep thinkers, even if they may not be always tough but they have the brain to decode things.  Now for the role of women in Kamen Rider of the Heisei era. Supporting female characters that aren't just personal friends who run away when battle comes (and then again, even the male friends run away too) but rather the necessary brain of the Kamen Riders.  In the Showa era, I thought that they were just there to be friends and didn't really participate in battle (but Reiko in Black RX may have revolutionized that thought, Tackle was a female superhero in Stronger but too bad she died to early and so did her actress) ...

Just a lot of tears, yes a lot of tears with this one and perhaps Vanness Wu's first really teary eyed drama.  I also had my like for Ady An's part as the leading lady.  The story is about Guang Xi (Vanness Wu) and Mu Cheng (Ady An) which ties into two different worlds.  So Guang Xi's a pretty cocky law student because he's from a rich family and his mom (Bernice Liu) is the head of the school.  So his mom is pretty annoying for a lot of scenes but later, we can see she's not all so mean compared to most of the mothers-in-law in typical Chinese dramas oft he past.  I had my thought also on the Guang Xi/Tuo Ye (Chris Wu) and Mu Cheng was also really a tearjerker since Tuo Ye is very in love with Mu Cheng yet for the latter, she has been too attached to the guy who she never thought she would love.  And fortunately Ady An's part here isn't like her part in Yun Niang so not too many tears happen. It's not exactly a very typical love story since I thought...