Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

  There have been some South Korean crime drama I've enjoyed. Some of them were rather intense like Kill It, IRIS , Stranger , Voice ,   and Justice . Others were on the simpler side like Pride and Prejudice and You're All Surrounded . Live is a police-themed K-Drama that focuses on the daily lives of policemen. The whole series tries to show how young cops try to struggle to stay on the force, a police couple's midlife crisis that temporarily ends in a divorce, and some situations that call beyond the manual to determine something. How does Live get into the daily lives? You've got a love triangle and some love stories involved. You have main character Han Jung Oh (Jung Yu Mi) whose heart is torn between two colleagues. However, the love triangle is hardly focused on. There's also unfortunate butt monkey cop Yeom Sang Soo (Lee Kwang Soo) who has feelings for Jung Oh and would be willing to let her go if it makes her happy. Oh Yang Cheon (Bae Sung Woo) a police capt...

  I was thinking about the flak that Kamen Rider Saber has been receiving . Right now, I feel it's rightly so considering that a lot of stuff that is best "saved for last" is suddenly thrown at full decibel. How in the world are we suddenly getting this and that?  Until now, I do agree with what  Dryed Mangoez  has to say about Saber : I think Saber‘s biggest problem right now is its inability to juggle all these characters and all the different plot threads they’ve started, but have yet to expand upon. The villains are very underdeveloped. There’s no real endgame even being teased. And all we have so far is all these characters who are likeable, but are thrown into very convoluted situations that either don’t make sense or don’t illicit any strong feelings. I do agree the characters are likable. It's what actually gave a changed mind over Ressha Sentai ToQGer - something that didn't happen immediately probably due to taste fatigue. Right now, I think I may have K...

  This week's Start-Up final episodes really get what's the typical happy ending. Won In Jae finally gets her adoption dissolved before moving back to her biological family. I guess her stepfather wasn't so ideal after all, right? Also, I just find it weird that Pi Jyeung just keeps handing over Dal Mi to Do San on a silver platter. WTF is wrong with the other guy being too passive? It just gets rid of the thrill factor when you think about it. Love or just stupid? I can't decide on that! In Jae manages to move in back with her paternal grandmother after her reconciliation with her sister Dal Mi. The finale arc just gets into the typical side of winning the competition. There's not much of a challenge either in their dream of creating the self-driving car and the like. I feel the finale arc doesn't do much of a story in contrast to a lot of past series I've watched. For instance, While You Were Sleeping was busy building up tensions that eventually got Yo Bu...

Right now, I don't know if I should really still continue doing Kamen Rider Saber reviews. For one, I do feel like Daichi (to a certain extent) in wanting the eternal truth. Though, I don't like what Daichi did in becoming the current Kamen Rider Calibur to do so. I'm wondering how I'd do episode reviews. The current story of Daichi as Calibur really feels rushed. Suddenly revealing the current Calibur was indeed the previous Kamen Rider Saber should've been saved for later! Kento thought that his father was Calibur but it's Daichi. Daichi's story in the past has him saving Touma (as a child) from danger. As an adult, Touma now faces that his childhood hero has become Calibur. I thought about how the mantle of a Kamen Rider can go from good to evil. In Kamen Rider OOO - the previous OOO himself was a villain and a greedy man. Fortunately, Eiji managed to use the OOO mantle for good to combat the Greeed. In this one, the previous Saber becomes a villain for a...

Some television dramas do have a habit of having a time jump between episodes, right? The Jin Yong Manwha series Return of Condor Heroes had a huge time jump in between the poisoning and recovery of its heroine Xiao Longnu. In this one, three years passed between Week 6 and Week 7. Much has changed since the foul contract was turned down and Samsam Tech had to dissolve as a result. Much of the team has changed since three years after it was turned down. What happens is Do San actually goes to America with his two best friends. Meanwhile, Dal Mi decides to work for her sister In Jae's company. Is this the beginning of patching up between the two estranged sisters? What's really going on with the marriage between their mother and their stepfather? Suddenly, In Jae wants her adoption by her stepfather dissolved. Much has changed in three years once you think about it. A problem of virus infection and hacking hit Injae Company. This then lets Do San (who's now successful) to ar...

This week's episodes of Start-Up really focuses on one theme - crashing away from Delu-World - wait, wrong show! Well, that's been the issue of childhood vs. adulthood. Remember that some things you believe in are a child are shattered? Dal Mi ends up bringing up the issue that it's time to grow-up. It's because the Do San who wrote the letters is different from the Do San that she has met years later. The Do San who wrote the letters is Ji Pyeung. Speaking of which, Pi Jyeung plays a very important role in this episode. The sibling rivalry goes intensely in the demonstration. For Dal Mi, she's still bitter about her mother remarrying a rich man. However, it turns out Dal Mi's mother isn't happy in her second marriage. Dal Mi's group manages to beat In Jae in the security features. This causes them to actually get the offer to be bought over by money. What they don't realize is that Alex Kwon maybe a guy too focused on profits. Alex himself hires onl...

Start-Up has hit the NUMBER ONE in the weekly ratings in Netflix for Filipino subscribers. Though, I'd like to lament how the "better shows" (at least, for me) like Voice , You're All Surrounded ,   or Pride and Prejudice don't get that much love from Filipino viewers. Anyway, it seems to be getting more and more cliche for Suzy Bae to get drunk. Did the Korean viewers think Maaya Uchida getting drunk in Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger was funny that Suzy had to get drunk too? This week's episodes focus on risk management and demo day. Not to mention, the cliche love triangle based on a misunderstanding. I would confess that I'm vying for Dal Mi and Ji Pyeung more than I'm for Dal Mi and Do San. Granted, Do San is someone who feels out-of-place in this world due to his unusually high intelligence. Some people would wish they had Do San's intelligence until they realize he can't easily fit in. Also, no surprise, Dal Mi discovers that Ji Pyeung has b...