Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

KDrama Review If you can't decide between a legal drama and a love story when why not get the whole package? You could get it in a show like Pride and Prejudice and Suspicious Partner .  That had me thinking about K-Drama. This one features Cha Tae Hyun who is now in his late 40s and a well-known actor. I did remember seeing Tae Hyun in First Love of the Royal Prince where he was a spoiled son but never finished it. He was also in Sassy Girl which I didn't finish because I wasn't deep into K-Drama. Here, I see a more mature Tae Hyun who acts as Professor Yu Dong Man - a detective turned professor. The guy has some bad blood towards someone which can be full of spoilers. So, I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum.  The story involves avoiding a judgmental, biased attitude in serving law enforcement. Professor Yu has bad blood with Kang Seo Ho (Jung Jin Young) who was a former hacking criminal. There's that online gambling ring that surprise-surprise (or not) use...

  Some works of fiction can be used as an eye-opener. I remembered watching Lawless Lawyer and my mind warped back to the Vizconde Massacre. Yes, it turns out that Hubert Webb was innocent. One thing I never realized was how Judge Cha Moon Sook's actress, Lee Hye Young (who was also Jun Pyo's mother in that abomination called  Boys Over Flowers ) looks a bit like retired judge Amelita G. Tolentino. Yes, Tolentino the very person who presided over the Vizconde Trial. I think Hye Young is a nice person in real life. I heard she had a blast doing her role as a wicked judge.  I have a feeling that Studio Dragon caught wind of the Vizconde Massacre case. Maybe, it's no coincidence that Hye Young was chosen for the role. I bet after many auditions - Hye Young makes a terrifying character real. I bet that during the filming - I guess cast members may have joked, "She looks like you!" to Hye Young. Maybe, the directors had a photograph of Tolentino. Behind the scenes, Hye...

I guess I already have a strange obsession with Korean crime drama now. Okay, Through the Darkness did end around March this year. I only saw it now and I'm thinking about a couple of crime dramas I've watched. Some had sci-fi elements while others bordered on realism. Some of them had a love story attached (ex. Pride and Prejudice ). This one is a fictional story based on the experiences of the first Korean criminal profiler, Kwon Il-Young, and writer Goo Na Mo. Writer Seol Yi Na takes elements from two non-fiction novel and writes this grizzly piece of fiction not for the faint of heart.  Once again, watching Korean K-Drama is more of a taking out of the comfort zone. There's no eye candy (my guilty pleasure). Instead, it's all focused on a somewhat academic approach while telling a fictional story. You have the story of criminal profilers who seek to understand the mind of serial killers. The whole drama is focused on investigation than action. It's a far cry fro...

If there's any nightmare that goes beyond the end of Halloween - it's how I can still remember how Boys Over Flowers gave me those bad vibes over K-Drama . If there was anyone who I wanted to dub the "Kris Aquino of South Korea" - it was Goo Hye Sun. Although Goo Hye Sun isn't a wreck of a woman - I still feel that she just can't escape the shadow of her bad acting . Heck, Goo Hye Sun was later part of the Korean drama Blood where her performance was a blot. It reminds me of how actresses Kaya Hirasawa and Jennifer Yen both played their respective parts in Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive and Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue TERRIBLY. That's why I couldn't even shed a tear when Denus gave her life for Zylpheeza or when Queen Bansheera absorbed Vypra into her. Both actresses were just not what was needed for their shows.  My first exposure to Asianovela to greater degrees, was no doubt, Meteor Garden . I wasn't too intrigued with The Amazing Twins . I even hav...

Kamen Rider has been no stranger to anti-heroes, especially during the Heisei era. Having watched the entirety of Heisei era Kamen Rider entries - I could really say that the Heisei era has bee more daring than what the late Shotaro Ishinomori started. I practically ended up thinking of how someone back then which the website Classic Henshin screwed up and decided to dedicate the page to the 15 Kamen Riders, saying that the shows deviated from Ishinomori's "original vision". Screw that really! I've watched the Heisei era Kamen Riders (and now, with the Reiwa era) to say that anti-heroes have been a good addition. They've added what I'd call some conflict whether it'd be Hojo Toru from Kamen Rider Agito or Renn Kiriyama from Kamen Rider Ryuki . Now, we have Michinaga Azuma who's practically a Gai Yuki or Masumi Inou. Though, we don't have Toshiki Inoue here because he's busy with Avatar Sentai Donbrothers. I'm watching these shows at irregul...

Credits to actor Kohei Murakami for this photo I was running out of ideas until I realized that it'd be Halloween tomorrow. Yes, it's time for a good scare and I decided to revisit Toshiki Inoue's previous works. Inoue was an important secondary writer during the Hirohisa Soda era of Super Sentai . Later, Inoue was tasked as the head writer of Chojin Sentai Jetman - the series that saved Super Sentai  from cancellation. Oh yeah, I could remember the statement he was called the Frank Miller of Tokusatsu - for the good he did he also got so bad. Though, I confess I'm enjoying Avatar Sentai Donbrothers and was wondering why didn't Toei Ltd. assign him as a secondary writer for Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters after he wrote one episode for Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger . Before Kamen Rider was revived - there was the cult hit Changerion . Yes, that same show where Takeshi Hagino played a hero before the role the Kamen Rider Ryuki villain, Takeshi Asakura/Kamen Rider Ouja, populariz...

  Certain shows with the same title and not the same as the Glitch Australian TV series - also available on Netflix . The two shows don't share the same plot so the comparison isn't going to work. Instead, maybe one should instead compare it to Close Encounters or the famed X-Files TV series from the West. We know how East meets West and West meets East happens, right? The show has both action girls, Jeon Yeo Bin (Hong Ji Hyo) and Jin A Nana (Heo Bo Ra) in one show. Though, Nana doesn't show up until the second episode and she's RIGHTFULLY a secondary character. I never had much admiration for Nana as a main character (such as in Oh My Ladylord ) but she does well as a secondary character. I've seen some shows with clear references to Western media. A good example is how Partners for Justice is clearly inspired by the documentary series Forensic Files . It seems part of the concept takes with X-Files except the latter had 200+ seasons. I'd really not bother to w...