Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

It's been some time since I studied Korean history. After some time -- I decided to check some older Korean dramas that I hadn't watched on Netflix. I was disappointed that My Country: The New Age was bordered on realistic fiction rather than a historical show itself. The disclaimer gave it off that it was realistic fiction. Pretty much, it's trying to explore the end of the Goryeo Dynasty and the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty.  Two friends come into conflict over how the country should be run. Seo Hwi (Yang Se-jong) is the son of a swordsman wrongfully put to death. Nam Seon-ho (Woo Do-hwan) is the illegitimate son of a high ranking official. Both would have their own personal vendettas along the way. A political maelstrom is there since the two have different ideals on how to run the country. The conflict between the two sides can be fun to watch.  It should be interesting that the show has some history mixed into it. We have Yi Bang-Won (Taejong) -- based on the monarc...

Writing episode reviews can be tiresome. One may notice that I never gave updates on Kamen Rider Gotchard here. I finally finished the final episode. At first, I felt it was awkward since Gotchard's main cast is all that young. The main hero Junsei Motojima was born in 2005. Reiyo Matsumoto was born in 2008. It's only normal to expect it since the main cast are usually newbie actors. A lot of Super Sentai and Power Rangers main casts are expectedly young.  The show presents the Digimon vibe. I'm neither a fan of Pokemon (by Nintendo) nor Digimon (by Toei). Speaking of which, Saban Entertainment also dubbed Digimon in English. However, it doesn't try to become the second coming of Digimon . People get inspiration from old stuff. Fortunately, Gotchard tries to keep it focused on its intended target audience -- children. The Digimon inspiration is there but it's pretty much NOT Digimon at the same time. It's nice to see Toei try the schoolboy Kamen Rider theme agai...

As Kamen Rider Gotchard is coming to an end (and I'm having a hard time adjusting to its really young cast) -- I decided to react to the updates for  Kamen Rider Gavv . It looks like Toei's starting to shake things up with Gavv . As I was reading through the plot -- this is the synopsis given as of late: A looming threat of monsters, Granute, from another world. The humans don’t know. These monsters have secretly come to the human world. The humans don’t know. These monsters are attacking and kidnapping humans. To protect them, one boy has risen to the challenge! Shouma, a young man who loves to eat, stands up to protect humanity from the Granute! By eating sweets, he produces beings called “Gochizou” and gains the power to transform into Kamen Rider Gavv! First, we need to take a look at the protagonists of the series Kamen Rider has taken  a way more different route since 2000 up to the present. After seeing all the Heisei era entries (but barely on the Showa era, which I fe...

  Gumihos seems to be the theme of several K-Dramas. My first exposure was with Forbidden Love where Kim Tae Hee played Gumiho. My second exposure was with Gu Family Book but the Gumiho acted by Lee Seung Gi (Kang Chi) was a Hanyo like Inuyasha. In this case, it's a pure-blooded Gumiho man named Lee Yeon (acted by Lee Dong Wuk) and Yi Ah Eum (Jo Bo Ah). I should've watched this years ago but I was more obsessed with Korean crime drama. I decided to watch this because I felt "bored". I was making fun of it because Dong Wuk looks like Katsumi Hyodo and Bo Ah looks like Kazusa Okuyama. The love story was something that only Canalo could dream of in  Kishinryu Sentai Ryusoulger vs. Kaito Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Patranger . Yes, it's moments like this that really make it almost impossible to break a clean cut from Tokusatsu in general. Lee Yeon is hundreds of years old but is considered biologically young (and so is Canalo) while Ah Eum is human. However...

There are times when I feel watching some older stuff I haven't checked out -- can be better. It's because I usually prefer watching shows at their own pace. Currently, I'm watching Tale of the Nine-Tailed Fox -- a K-Drama that aired during the Legacy Virus outbreak. I confess I'm more into K-Drama over Super Sentai and Kamen Rider these days. It's already noticeable that I haven't been writing episode reviews. However, as I was watching Tale of the Nine-Tailed Fox -- I couldn't help but make fun of it. It's because Lee Dong Guk looks like Katsumi Hyodo and Jo Bo Ah looks like Kazusa Okuyama (but she hasn't married yet). What came into my mind watching it? The romantic interactions between Lee Yeon and Yi Ah Eum were something Canalo from Kishinryu Sentai Ryusoulger could dream of. Yes, that hilarious scene where Canalo tried to court Tsukasa Myojin of Kaito Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Lupinranger  -- only for it to become an epic fail!  I...

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 (...