Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

The last J-Drama I watched was Crisis: Special Security Squad . This would be my first exposure to Masato Sakai, who's in his late 40s and a family man. There would be some familiar faces here such as Tori Matsuzaka and Ryo Ryusei as sidekicks - both red ranger actors. I'm amazed that Tori still has a life after Samurai Sentai Shinkenger . It was also nice for Rin Takanashi to play a minor but important role as the main protagonist's mother in some flashbacks. There may be some Easter eggs that only Toku viewers can notice but I'm not going to put them in.  Masato plays Yusuke Nogi - a big-time worker at the Energy Development Division. A huge sum of money was laundered and Yusuke gets the blame. It's form there that he must work together with the two red rangers Kotaro Shinjo (Ryo) from the police department and Shun Kurosu from Beppan (Tori) to help clear his name. They also go against a mysterious organization known as "Tent". "Tent" has its o...

Resonate I have an obsession with Korean crime drama huh? Sure, I do enjoy Taiwanese crime drama (still considered Chinese though since Taiwan is called the Republic of CHINA) and Japanese crime drama. The show A Killer Paradox explores the world of vigilante justice. The show can be so full of spoilers and the budget seems so high that it was cut into only eight episodes. Yes, they did the same thing with My Name which obviously had a high budget. There's also what I'd call to be an unnecessary nude scene which hardly contributed to the plot.  The plot has Lee Tang (Choi Woo-Shik) who starts out as an ordinary college student. The warning is about the first taste of blood. Tang accidentally murders a person (in a convenience store), readies to turn himself in, and discovers that the person he killed is a wanted serial murderer. This causes a series of dark events that create a domino effect. Tang becomes a bloody vigilante of sorts.  This causes Jang Nan-Gam (Son Suk-Ku)...

  It's no secret that I got critical about Super Sentai last 2013-2016, I was in denial about me being a fan of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters , and that I soon enjoyed Kamen Rider more than Super Sentai . However, I find myself detached from Kamen Rider Gotchard presumably due to the extremely young cast. I could recall a conversation where me and a person compared the newer Kamen Rider to a telenovela. Kamen Rider Drive was something that I'd call sort of a dream come true. The whole series might be compared to Knight Rider or Automan for its inspiration.  Drive isn't exactly the best Kamen Rider series there is. I think the best entries are Kamen Rider Kuuga and  Kamen Rider Agito . I think the worst is still Kamen Rider Decade . Drive started off as a rather campy series. Shinnosuke Tomari is pretty much a comical character but he has a dark secret that gets unveiled midseason. The show featured the dangers of unethical experimentation, parents who you literally need ...

It's known that I don't find Jin A Nana all too great. There are times I feel that she's good as a sideline character but not as the mainline. Sure, I enjoyed her in Oh My Ladylord or Memorials. However, I feel Nana's acting is simply meant to be meant for the sideline. So yeah, her role as Baek Ryun in My Man is Cupid was okay. It's because Baek Ryun isn't the main character. Baek-Ryun as a vet does fit Nana well. Catwoman in the Batman series is pretty much an animal lover. Meanwhile, Cheon Sang Ruk still does a good job as Jang Dong Yun. The story involves the romance of fairies and humans. Obviously, such stories tend to have predictable (or unpredictable) ones. Maybe, some Chinese people are familiar with the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl . That was the Chinese story of a farmer who married an Elder Goddess, and even had demigod children with her, much to the chagrin of his mother-in-law, the Empress of Heaven, Xi Wangmu. Here, the fairies are male cupi...

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...