Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

I did like some the episodes of Kamen Rider Ghost but I'll admit that I may still have had a hangover from at least two shows namely Kamen Rider Gaim succeeded by Kamen Rider Drive . Gaim was responsible for filling my void when neither Super Sentai nor Power Rangers could fill it that time. Then there was Kamen Rider Drive which IMO drives miles better than Ninninger (which I felt made dead ninjas glad they're dead) and now it's time for Kamen Rider Ghost. So what's with Ghost ? I really felt like maybe I'm not really liking it, it's not good, or is a soft spot for Kamen Rider Kiva causing it? While I was excited for yet another what could be a "Danny Phantom" like season but unlike Kiva -  I don't feel too excited for Ghost even if it is kind of entertaining. Although I watched Kiva much later in my life - I'll admit, I found myself entertained even by Kiva's first 20+ episodes even if I hear some criticisms. I feel like I might ...

After watching some Qiong Yao series both new and old, I decided to reimagine what if Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu-Wang became Qiong Yao cast members after Meteor Garden II . After watching Romance in the Rain's two versions namely the 1986 version and the 2001 version, I really thought Jerry and Barbie should've been Shu Huan and Yi Ping . But what if they became a couple for all six TV series let's say Romance in the Rain happened in 2002, no Meteor Garden II and we'd be having Jerry and Barbie play the characters that were once assigned to Chin Han and Leanne Liu/Liu Xue Hua. These TV drama shows are Romance in the Rain, The Unforgettable Character, After Many Red Sunsets, Seagull's Home, Courtyard and Red Love. Starting with Romance in the Rain (which I'm most familiar with), the two might get more or less a softened-down version of the sadder versions of the story. Barbie as Yi Ping would be able to deliver more or less the same performance as Leanne did in t...

Last year's Tokusatsu year wasn't so good for me with Super Sentai so I really decided to stick through some Kamen Rider. So I'd like to discuss about my road trip with Kamen Rider Drive and how it really affected me as a just flying through Tokusatsu fan. Hearing that Riku Sanjo would do Kamen Rider AFTER Kyoryuger triggered me the panic button. I felt like that "Oh no! It's going to be a disaster." I've always had some biases towards Kyoryuger and no matter how much its fans think that, "It's the best dinosaur Super Sentai ever." I'd pick Abaranger or Zyuranger anyday. While Kyoryuger was horrid but there was some Kamen Rider Gaim to keep me occupied and entertained so I don't go completely backwards with Toku watching. Then it came, Kamen Rider Drive was one show I wanted to give a chance even after Kyoryuger left a bad taste in my mouth.

Are there times you watch a Taiwanese or Korean TV series and you think that the leading lady was going to die? I guess it's because people got too used to tragedies but there are some cases where the dying leading lady got a happy ending instead. Was it meant to be a happy ending all along or did executive meddling change the ending? 100% Senorita had its leading lady Fei Xiang getting some kind of infection that could hit her heart. During that time, she decided that she would use whatever remaining ounce of life she had left to get revenge on Peter. The plot almost made me think that she would die from the infection. So I thought that I wouldn't want to finish it. In the finale, it's revealed that she survived the two operations and came back pretty fine.

While watching Romance in the Rain (2001 version) and the 1986 version, I really could raise the issue of NOT ENOUGH CHEMISTRY. I did learn that Qin Han and Liu Xue Hua were the leading stars of "After Many Sunsets", "Romance in the Rain", "Seagull's Home", "The Unforgettable Character", "Courtyard" and "Red Love". That was six whopping series where the chemistry stood out. Now it's time to discuss my bigger problem on the chemistry with Leo Ku and Vicki Zhao. I'm a fan of Vicki Zhao but I really have all the trouble in the world adjusting to Leo Ku's performance as Shu Huan. Just seeing him as Shu Huan was not my type. Sure the show got some awards and Vicki deserved them. But Leo Ku? I really couldn't help but poke at him too much with his role as Shuhuan. After seeing the 1986 version, I really have to say that as much as I prefer most of the cast of the 2001 version but there was really a serious...

When Meteor Garden started out as a 19 episode TV drama based on the Japanese Manga series series known as Hana Yori Dango, it became a big hit. Jerry Yan and Barbie Xu really had a great chemistry, most of the cast was great and even after Meteor Garden ended after two seasons, I still watched their other TV series. Vic Chou improved greatly as an actor, Jerry Yan has a lot of charm as an actor and Barbie Xu cries so beautifully on-screen. Meteor Garden became so popular for so many reasons. The cast of F4 really make the characters come to life. I always felt like Barbie Xu's acting was really better than Mao Inoue's. Jerry Yan really makes the complicated character of Daoming Si come to life. The rest of the cast was really well done. The actress Zhen Xiu Zhen really knew how to make her character Daoming Feng as the most scary version of Kaede Doumyoji - she made Kaga Mariko look so mild! There was really a lot of good acting that made Meteor Garden memorable. The popula...

It can't be denied that after Gobusters, Kyoryuger came and then came Kamen Rider Wizard. Considering Kamen Rider seasons these days premiere around September to October, then it's normal that Kamen Rider Gaim aired during Kyoryuger's broadcast and ToQGer's broadcast. It would also be normal that Kamen Rider Drive aired during ToQGer's broadcast and Ninninger's broadcast... while Kamen Rider Ghost airs during the second half of Ninninger's broadcast. Kamen Rider Gaim had a lot of what Power Rangers Samurai, Power Rangers Megaforce, Kyoryuger and ToQGer didn't have which was hard to imitate, high quality writing. I felt the concept of fruits was just stupid so I didn't want to watch it at first. The first episode wasn't all that interesting but I wanted another Battle Royale season and this show gave it to me and it gave me more interesting stuff. Kamen Rider Ryuki could have become better if it wasn't for all that unnecessary executive med...