Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

What's on Netflix There was the first Victims' Game where the crew dealt with a secret death cult . I wouldn't be giving out spoilers since the real antagonist -- like in the first season -- is a Walking Spoiler. The first season was released during the Legacy Virus pandemic last April 2020. It kept me entertained after watching some Korean crime drama before the Legacy Virus took over the world. It was nice to have the original cast such as Joseph Chang (Zhang Xiaoquan) returning as his Fang Yijen and Tiffany Ann Hsu returning as Hsu Haiyin (the surname is spelled as Xu in Mainland Pinyin, take note this is Taiwanese Chinese). The first season investigated a death cult where the culprit turned herself in. The second season involves the gruesome deaths of people from an incident 15 years ago. A vengeful person is out there and they don't know who it is. I'll avoid spoiling the antagonist's identity but I'll give some minor spoilers. The antagonist gets so in...

When it comes to crime dramas--I think South Korean and Taiwanese Chinese ones provide the best suspense. This is coming from someone who can't stand realistic torture scenes! I watched Crisis: Special Security Squad and it was good. Vivant was also interesting . I may have not enjoyed this as much as South Korean or Taiwanese Chinese crime dramas--it still deserves some praise.  The drama doesn't take things too far like Copycat Killer  -- the Taiwanese adaptation of a Japanese crime novel . I enjoyed Copycat Killer for balancing gore (and not prolonging torture scenes or not focusing on them) and the GOOD WRITING. Unnatural also goes with a mysterious serial killer who goes by the Goldfish. Finding corpses with a goldfish mark in the mouth hints that it wasn't an accident. Instead, they're on the hunt for a serial killer while working on ongoing cases. The J-Drama goes for 10 episodes -- a tad bit longer than overbudgeted K-Dramas.  The main character Mikoto Misumi (...

Right now, I want to re-explore Chinese drama whether it be from the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China (Taiwan). I watched a few Taiwanese Chinese crime dramas such as Copycat Killer   (based on a Japanese suspense novel) and Victim's Game . These dramas aren't for the weak-hearted. They may not be as gory as American mature series but there's still generous amounts of blood. I may cringe at torture scenes and THANKFULLY we don't get to see that. However, I do love a good investigation drama not ever since I watched the documentary Give Up Tomorrow . It's as long as Copycat Killer which was worth 10 episodes. To avoid leaking out spoilers -- there's a certain person who only goes by the identity of Fei Ke. Okay, it's really a pun considering Fei Ke sounds TOO SIMILAR to Fake. Fei Ke apparently died but they discovered there was no body. Female journalist He Shan (Zhou Yiran) meets with five other strangers. The five other strangers are ...

Chinese romance drama can be stereotyped as overly sentimental -- whether the entries are from China or Taiwan. I remember my late paternal grandmother borrowing those sappy Chinese dramas such as those written by Qiong Yao. There's even that black car and the rain. However, watching Amidst a Snowstorm of Love - I confess that the show focuses more on romance without those moments from stories by Qiong Yao.  I found t his interesting reason to watch the drama from Soompi:  “Amidst a Snowstorm of Love” is an uncomplicated narrative of love and second chances. There are no unnecessary subplots, neither are there scheming troublemakers, wrecking havoc or creating misunderstandings. The story does not shift focus from Lin Yi Yang and Yin Guo and their journey. Yi Yang is well aware that he has to undo the mistakes he has made, which had a lot to do with his own inflexible attitude. He may be calmer and restrained, but he realizes it is difficult to break perceptions, especially w...

I just finished watching Midnight Photo Studio and I feel it's a bizarre combination of ghost stories and forensics. It's got some Anime-ish or Japanese J-Drama kind of humor. One may think of X-Files and Mentalist  with some K-Drama twist. The supernatural element is done c/o Seo Ki-Joo (Joo Woon) and Han Bom (Kwon Nara) who is a lawyer It was fun to see Nara act in a legal drama again after seeing her in a secondary role in the crime drama  Suspicious Partner . The novel was written by Kim Yi-Rang. I'll admit supernatural crime drama may not be my biggest cup of tea. I prefer non-supernatural crime drama because the inspiration is closer to real events. In this case, I was able to say that Nara has been more versatile than Erika Toda-Matsuzaka ever was in J-Drama. I find Nara's acting more convincing than Erika. Not that I find Erika to be a bad actress. Erika was able to do her job in Death Note . However, Nara could still do a better performance even if she's us...

  It's been some time since I watched a Chinese drama. I was planning to watch another crazy martial arts-themed drama. However, watching a typical love story would be a nice break. Sure, I'm also watching Midnight Photo Studio . However, I was intrigued by the unique filming of Amidst a Snowstorm.  The drama's opening starts in Helsinki, Finland. I was expecting the love team of Leo Wu and Zhao Jinmai to go to China after one episode. Instead, I'm already in the tens and we're still in FINLAND with all the white people. I did some Googling and I can expect to "fly to France" before everything wraps up in CHINA. The Chinese title is 在暴雪时分 (Zài bàoxuě shífēn) literally meaning "Amidst the Snowstorm". Speaking of which, 时分 (shífēn) means "hour and minute". There's also the Chinese song "梦醒时分" (Mèng xǐng shífēn) meaning "Awakening from a Dream". Could the literal context and meaning be "Awakening from a Snowsto...

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...