Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

I guess even after she's long gone due to her old age, I still can't forget her, can I? Well, I would like to recall the time my paternal grandmother would borrow Betamax at a local video store every week by the bundle. I would remember the fond memory of going there to borrow cartoons while she watched Chinese films. Chinese entertainment was something very foreign to me considering that I didn't take interest in the subject back then. If I can recall my memory correctly, she would be borrowing mostly Wuxia shows. I didn't know who Andy Lau and Idy Chan were back then so I didn't really care. What was funny was that when I first saw Magic Kitchen at the age of 19 then a couple of Andy Lau movies, I was able to recognize Andy Lau's face because I saw him while my my paternal grandma watched those videos. It was that old fashioned TV set, betamax and me not being particularly interested in them but a part of them burned into my mind. I also remembered some of t...

In Kamen Rider Agito, I thought it does also stem from the ancient myths of olden times with the idea of both the Overlords. The Lords were supposedly the holy protectors of humanity along with two Overlords - Light and Darkness. Both twins existed in harmony for a time until it came to the creation of man. In the Greek myths, that would remind me of two titans namely Prometheus and Epimetheus who were twin brothers responsible for the creation of man . Remembering my Greek mythology class, both twin brothers were in charge with creating man so I wonder if there's anybody above the two Overlords. Based on the tapestry, it seems there is a high god who would be equivalent to Zeus. The name Prometheus means forethought and the name Epimetheus means hindsight or afterthought. Lacking foresight, Epimetheus wasn't able to give anything positive to man while the other animals evolved overtime. Prometheus was depicted as ingenious and clever while Epimetheus was depicted as foo...

While watching Kamen Rider Drive, I am tempted to keep on saying, "Oh boy who will be the final villain?" with some villains dropping like flies.  Nira has been arrested and the actor has left the set and Freeze was destroyed prior to that... now we have Heart, Brain and Medic.  As of late, we have Banno (the father of both Kiriko and Gou), the secret of Krim Steinbelt (a Japanese speaking Wester scientist who looks like... Tony Stark of Marvel Comics) and how the Roidmudes were even created in the first place.  The latest episode features this "goddess" who might be Medic, a girl whom Medic is based from and I am really excited to think where the show is going through, I have to admit this is another situation where the father is a villain, the son is a hero and the reverse also happens.  I thought it's a tough situation to have your own parent or offspring go against you.  Banno might be the show's final villain based on this episode guide from Orends ...

Here's the song that was sung in the Qiong Yao drama (and movie) where Qin Han starred as the leading guy.  While his leading lady in the movie was Brigitte Lin, his leading lady in the series was Liu Xuehua. Below is the lyrics of the song with the original Chinese, pinyin and English translation for non-Chinese speakers. 在水一方 (zai shui yi fang) On The Other Side Of The Water 綠草蒼蒼 白霧茫茫 (lu cao cang cang, bai wu mang mang) Deep green grass, endless white fog 有位佳人 在水一方 (you wei jia ren, zai shui yi fang) A beautiful lady is on the other side of the water 綠草萋萋 白霧迷離 (lu cao qi qi, bai wu mi li) Green grass thinning out, white fog getting blurry 有位佳人 靠水而居 (you wei jia ren, kao shui er ju) A beautiful lady lives by the waterside.

Whether you like it or not, not so many stuff we see these days are completely original.  More often than not, I can only say something like, "It's not really a matter of which came first but who did it better and that we acknowledge where we borrow our ideas."  I thought about it that Meteor Garden was very first Chinese series that I watched from start to end .  Only later did I find out that Meteor Garden was actually based on a Japanese Anime and Manga called Hana Yori Dango. Hana Yori Dango began as an adaptation from scratch, while the script is not entirely original but all the footage has start from scratch starting from the set as a live adaptation of Hana Yori Dango.  The whole story shifts from Japan to Taiwan (Republic of China), Japanese characters were given Chinese names more or less equivalent to their counterparts like Daoming Si is equivalent ti the surname Doumyoji or Shan Tsai is equivalent to the name Tsukushi.

Kamen Rider Decade (as the name implies) is the TENTH Heisei era series which means it was time for an anniversary season.  It was an interesting concept to have the nine Kamen Rider worlds involved namely Alternate Reality versions of Kuuga, Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, Blade, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O and Kiva.  I personally respect Kamen Rider Decade fans and remember, I am writing on my opinion that I find this series to be poorly executed! The first scene has the original Kiva (Wataru) talking to the hero Tsukasa who must try to save the nine Rider Worlds from colliding unto each other.  On paper, the whole idea was good but a lot of trashy writing really ruined the show.  Now there was a budget for special effects, better acting but writing-wise it's almost as horrid as Saban's Masked Rider.  I personally find this show's Alternate Reality worlds to be horridly done for most of its run especially with how Kamen Rider Agito was treated to be a loser in hiding or Kiv...

I will list some of the Chinese drama I've seen that made me want to tear my heart off. This is just a warning for people who can't stand overly weepy dramas. I may update this list sooner or later. The list here is done chronologically which ones I've watched from start to end. At the Dolphin Bay I consider this TV series to be pretty sad and while I didn't cry in Lavender, I really cried in this one. Believe me, I cried buckets at the beginning especially that Tianbian's biological mother in spite of her scandalous relationship (which I think she might have been the ex-girlfriend of Tianbian's father) and later, Tianbian had no idea who she really was nor the fact she was the love child of her father and she has a half-sister and stepmother. I cried at the beginning when it came to her meeting Zerya and how they were separated. Now I did have my biases especially I came to hate Zerya for stupid reasons and I was rooting for Hsiaokang... because in the rea...