Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Now here's my latest viewing aside from "Mischievous Kiss" which I am slowed down on it, here's something that keeps me interested is Kamen Rider Gaim.  At first, I have my biases on how silly it seems but I am starting to get interested.  So here's what I think about it- nothing wrong with recycling ideas, sometimes some ideas were great but fail the first time.  And plus, I have to avoid my pretending to hate Naomi Takebe already.  It's getting old. Right now I'm just eight episodes and I say I'm liking where it's going.  I can't really analyze much of it since I hardly know Gen Urobuchi.  Kouta and his fellow members at Team Gaim for me, are really a great set of protagonists.  They have their battles in the Inves games, which are established by Yggsdrassil Corporation which is the show's main enemy organization.  And I am also introduced to Pierre Oren the artist/fighter villain who I think can go from annoying because he's a bragg...

With the surging back of Meteor Garden back (but really, please get other shows already), I was also thinking of the rather coincidental events in Meteor Garden that happened in Romance in the Rain or at least, similar plot elements.  Here they are: Dao Ming Si and Shantsai to 1986 version of Shuhuan and Yiping- I can talk about the actors Jerry Yan and Qin Han with their leading ladies Barbie Xu and Liu Xuehua.  In both stories, the relationships are POINTLESS.  I mean, pointless.  I mean, whenever the leading ladies try to get away from their leading guys, the leading guys can go as far as to pinning the leading lady to a fence or it's very kiss/slap/kiss relationship.  I mean, I even felt like Shantsai should have broken up with Dao Ming Si already and same for Yiping and Shuhuan.  And Shantsai like Yiping was out there fore revenge at first and in order to love a certain man, plucks their spines away and are left defenseless.  Shantsai during Me...

With the ongoing proposal to ban Koreanovelas and the like from the Philippines and protect Pinoy garbage, one might really consider what's wrong with Pinoy Drama.  Here are some that I can name and what I can learn as I progress and learn from my mistakes as well: 1.) The protagonists tend to encourage rebellion and the idea that the poor are always oppressed and worth pitying even if it's not always true.  On the other hand, you might see in the Chinese, Japanese and Korean drama that though they may be blinded by revenge or rebellion at first, they do see through their mistakes and start to become better persons. 2.) The antagonists on the other hand seem to be very trim and proper, always rich and are always pictured with the misconception that wealth is evil (by the Pinoy leftists).  I was thinking that many of the protagonists are always pictured to be dignified villains all the time rather than a mix of different protagonists. 3.) Over-extension of the story...

I wasn't so happy about Hana Yori Dango's cast (except for Mao Inoue) so what if we used Tokusatsu cast members?  Wild imagination but here's my dream cast at least to go in par with F4 with mostly my favorites: Emi Takei as Tsukushi Makino- I don't see any reason why she and Tori Matsuzaka can't be paired again!  If she can be Kaoru Kamiya in Rurouni Kenshin so why not as Makino Tsukushi?  She may not be as great as Barbie Xu but the role should probably shape her up for future roles. Tori Matsuzaka for Doumyoji Tsukasa- I think he can really kick serious ass!  I thought he can beat Jun Matsumoto and he in his later roles, can deliver a fierce character.  So yeah, he and Emi Takei as Tsukasa and Tsukushi could be really a blast. Yasuka Saito as Soujiro Mimasaka- I think he can pull off a womanizing role as well as Toshihide Wakamatsu can.  After all, he did pull quite a performance in Boukenger. Yuki Yamada as Akira Mimasaka- He does look like ...

Watching Meteor Garden all over again out of nostalgia, I was thinking of how the two carried out their love team in both seasons.  And after watching the 1986 version of Romance in the Rain, I was thinking that Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu could have nearly become an overused love team like the classic Qin Han/Brigitte Lin pairing or the one I'm more familiar with, Qin Han/Liu Xuehua pairing.  I thought Jerry Yan really has the charm, an aunt of mine calls him "Qin Han Jr."  And I thought Dao Ming Si's relationship with Shan Tsai in Meteor Garden almost felt like Shuhuan's relationship with Yiping in the 1986 version of Romance in the Rain. The possibilities for Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu would probably prompt the remake of other Qin Han classics.  Qiong Yao might pick "Ting Yuan Shen Shen", "After Many Red Sunsets" and then she might also cast Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu also with other remakes like "Zai Shui Yi Fang" and "Seagull'...

Well I do have my research to work on so don't expect much updates from me.  Next week and more I'll be pretty busy so yeah, my blogs won't be as updated as they used to since I'm trying to meet a deadline for my research work.  On the other hand, here's my planned watching of Qiong Yao's heartwarming story Princess Pearl where Vicki Zhao and Ruby Lin are set in ancient China in the heartwarming drama known as Princess Pearl.  It has three seasons but I might watch the first season after I'm done.  Here's a basic introduction from the Manga Book Shelf . On the other hand I'm already overly reminded of my former crush back then who looked like Vicki Zhao but she wasn't Chinese but a Filipino woman who has Spanish and well Chinese descent (she was 1/4 Chinese after all).  I would admit it was a short term infatuation not meant to be.  She like Vicki Zhao married a Singaporean businessman... COINCIDENCE?!  Speaking of Vicki Zhao, she is one of my...

Watching the 1986 version and the 2001 version has its own sets of advantages and disadvantage.  So here's some things I thought were stuff I dislike, that the 2001 version for me is better: As if Meteor Garden wasn't enough for me to say that Shantsai should dump Daoming Si, in here you have Shuhuan being abusive to Yiping.  Really what kind of boyfriend is that?  Yiping wants to get away then Shuhuan picks her up and pins her to a fence?  I personally thought that 1986 Shuhuan was almost as bad as Dao Ming Si and both characters really are stubborn mules, maybe that's why they both develop a crush on both their leading ladies who are strong panthers.  And one thing also, the more fierce Yiping is, the more attracted Shuhuan is to her.  The 2001 version managed to make Shuhuan much better though Qin Han is the better actor over Leo Ku.  Returning Shuhuan and Yiping works in real life for the 2001 version, the 1986 version you have Shuhuan as pretty...