Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Gwencha Noona There are two ongoing mythological supernatural shows namely My Demon and My Man is Cupid . These are still ONGOING so I can't expect to write a review any time soon. I'm just a casual fan so I tend to marathon some shows every now and then. I think about the two odd romances that I felt were released at the wrong time. I think My Demon should've been released in October, not November... Horror doesn't always have to be scary, right? My Demon introduces Korean folklore in a modern setting. The story of a 200-year-old demon turned human named Jeung Gu-Won (Song Kang) and a businesswoman named Do Do-Hee (Kim Yoo-Jung) creates a comedy horror. Unlike Bulgasal which is a total scare - this mixes some funny and scary elements. Sure, there are some tragic scenes to avoid this flick from becoming nonsense. Meanwhile, be ready for some Anime-ish humor as this show progresses. Let's face it October is Halloween month. That means any kind of horror goes. It coul...

Sure, Halloween is OVER but I decided to finish watching this Manga-style Anime anyway. I still thank Japan for actually creating Manga and Anime. I still think Chinese entertainment, Taiwanese entertainment, and South Korean entertainment learned a lot from Japan. A shame really that Japan tries to be more exclusive than not. I watched through Devil Punisher which is actually 天巡者 (Tiān xún zhě) or Skywatcher . I don't exactly get what's with the international distribution vs. the localized titles. I guess the title Devil's Punisher is a lot more appealing to Western audiences. The international title is cooler actually than the real title. It's like I prefer to call Rockman by his international distribution title namely MEGAMAN. It's a crazy twist on Chinese mythology. This is the love story of Zhong Kui (Mike He) and Lady Meng (Ivy Shao). The two are Taoist saints who ended up as humans after some unfortunate incident in the afterlife. Lady Meng (also known as Xin...

I didn't expect myself to be too captivated by the performance of Uyghur actress, Dilraba Dilmurat. Her name's obviously not Chinese and she's from an ethnic minority. I tend to joke how Dilraba, not Naomi Scott, should've played Princess Jasmine in the Aladdin movie. I tend to joke Naomi herself should've been playing the Goddess Guanyin in Journey to the West instead. I always thought of Dilraba as an, "She can do it, she's fine." actress. It's pretty much how I treat some South Korean celebrities who can act but can't act that well. I think Dilraba still did a good job overall in her role as Di Ziyuan who later calls herself Ren Anle. I wonder if having sole survivors of a family is really a cliche in Wuxia drama. The last I remembered that was in the show Princess Weiyoung . Ziyuan was the sole survivor of a wrongful accusation. Like WTF was the emperor thinking of an entire family out of spite rather than just finding the culprit? Yeah, yo...

I decided to watch the nine-episode-long Doona!  starring Suzy Bae and Yang Se Jong. The first time I saw Se Jong was with Shin Hye Syun in Still 17 . I'll admit that Hye Sun can be a better actress than Suzy. It's not that Suzy can't act. The difference is that I watch any show with Hye Sun for the content. I tend to watch Suzy only for the eye candy. Ironically, I skip the ABiaS-CBN teleseryes even if their female actresses are prettier than those shows I watch.  Suzy's first time to play in a music-themed drama was Dream High in 2011. After that, Suzy got more focused on other roles. I still feel it's a bummer that Vagabond never had a second season. I guess the chances of it getting a continuation are slim because Lee Seung Gi (who she also starred with in Gu Family Book ) got married to actress Lee Da In. I still remember her in While You Were Sleeping and Start-Up . She moved away from the idol status to play multiple types of roles. Here, Suzy becomes the lea...

Nothing is that original these days, right? We have Asian shows taking inspiration from American shows and American shows adapting Eastern shows. In my case, I kinda prefer Asian shows inspired by American shows (such as Toei heroes that blatantly copy from American superheroes) over the American licensed adaptation of Japanese shows (ex. Power Rangers though I was a fan of Saban's Super Mario Bros. Super Show ).  Bulgasal would be copying elements from stuff like Twilight and the late Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles . The Bulgasal is the Korean take on the vampire. The one I'm most familiar with is Kwon Nara. I'd say that it's good that Hello Venus disbanded due to Nara's more professional image. Imagine her as a vampiric version of Misa from the Death Note movies. Her resemblance to Erika Toda-Matsuzaka makes me wish she held the titular object from the Japanese film. Nara plays two characters namely Min Sang Woon and Kim Hwa Yeon. Sang Woon is the Bulgasal sel...

  There are times I feel too embarrassed to admit that I do enjoy some messy shows. For example, I was afraid to admit that I liked the unpopular Kamen Rider BLACK RX . I could agree that BLACK RX is a mess but it still deserves some credit for trying out new stuff - just that it wasn't done properly. Right now, I feel somewhat similar to Kamen Rider Faiz . Heck, there are times I feel that Faiz could've potentially been better than the fan-favorite Kamen Rider BLACK . The show may be full of unlikable characters, Toshiki Inoue trying to get as dark as he could (and he even made a cameo here for a reason), and it was the time when Inoue was also starting to lose charge. Eventually, Inoue hit Burnout Ville during Kamen Rider Kiva - a show I enjoy but I also must acknowledge what other fans say that it's a mess. I find Faiz a mess but it's basically a watchable mess! Faiz has that depressing scenario belonging to the seven nightmare fuel Heisei era riders . It's quite...

Knowing that Shin Hye Sun has been doing movies like Target (where she becomes the victim of a scam) and the legal movie Innocent - I really look back at her role in Stranger . I really must admire her versatile acting and I can't help but drop a tear after her character got killed off too soon. I really feel like the second season was boring without her incredibly intelligent character. After that, she was put into typical love stories like My Golden Life and Still 17 . She was also put into Mr. Queen which she proved herself. Overall, she's been that lady who you'd admire for her intelligence. Every interview she has shows how intelligent she really is. I watched other K-Dramas after Stranger . There were some I watched for the eye candy such as Kill It and Justice . I confess that Jin A Nana's beauty tends to overshadow her performance since she's more on the passable side. Cafe Minamdang was pretty much more light though I felt Oh Yeon Seo was "unjustly...