Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Countless times, I tend to watch something NOT for the plot but for the attractive actress. It should be strange that I dropped Power Rangers Megaforce despite its attractive females. I watched Doctor Prisoner partly because of Kwon Nara. However, a good plot always overrides a pretty face. I was feeling down and thought watching Resident Playbook would give me some mindless fun. However, like any good show with a pretty lady, the pretty lady is but a BONUS TO THE SHOW. I'm not too fond of medical dramas. I watched The Hospital starring Jerry Yan. I don't feel too compelled to rewatch it. However, I rewatched Black and White starring Vic Zhou because of the PLOT. I ended up liking Doctor Prisoner because of is thriller setting. However, watching the melodrama of Resident Playbook got me to think about the difficulty of the OB/GYN residents. Such is the case of resident doctor Oh Yi Young -- as played bo Yoon Jung!  There are a lot of details to pay attention to. Yoon Jung'...

What I found weird was that F4 led me to listen to the music of the late Teresa Teng. F4 was also the reason why I became a fan of Jolin Tsai -- once dubbed the Britney of Taiwan though I prefer to call her Madonna of Taiwan. Take note that I have nothing against Louise Wong and she still did the part well. However, I felt that someone else could've played the late actress. That actress is Taiwanese actress Jolin Tsai.  It was because of Jolin Tsai that I learned to appreciate Anita Mui's music. I only listened to Anita's songs after she died on December 30, 2023. It was my time to appreciate more of the Cantonese language and its songs.  Before that, I saw Jolin Tsai perform the song "Love Love Love" on MYX -- which is a cover of "Stop Stop Stop" by Nu Virgo. It was easy to see why Jolin was compared to Britney. However, the more I saw her, the more I thought about Madonna instead. There were several other songs, but her song "Love Love Love" ...

As always, blogging is just a hobby. I'm going to have to wait for Can This Love Be Translated? which will be late this year. I decided to watch another Korean crime drama. This almost takes me back to the Netflix series Narco Saints . This one involves a dilemma with an investigator who runs into a reporter. It's a recent project but with more senior actors. It's hard to belive that Ji Sung was born in 1977 and Jeon Mi-Do was born in 1982? Like WUT? Are people finding an elixir to prolong life? It's already something when I'm seeing attractive-looking OLD people. Ji Sung plays as main lead Jang Jae-Kyung and Mi-Do plays the reporter Oh Yeon-Jin. This show is DIFFICULT to talk without spoilers. Crime dramas are meant to be discussed without spoilers. It's because there's really a lot of stuff going on and to keep the audience engaged.  Jae-Kyung is professional ace detective who works for the FICTIONAL Anhyeon Police Station. Jae-Kyung is forcibly fed a drug...

It can be realized that my reviews reflect a casual fan of just about anything. I watched Story of Pearl Girl but didn't write a review immediately. So sorry in advance to all the readers! The story is with Zhao Lusi (who I first saw in Who Rules the World alongside Yang Yang). Lusi plays the role of Duanwu/Su Muzhe (both one character) -- a woman who escapes the brutal conditions of an exploitative pearl farm. The Cai family of merchants get involved in dirty money -- using cheap slave labor and selling pearls at what may be ridiculous prices.  The romance may seem forced for some. How could the leading guy Yan Ziying (Liu Yuning) have the time for romance? I didn't mind that part too much. It was interesting to see the family feuds -- especially with the Cai Family. Yu Shi (Tang Xiao Tian) is the secondary love interest -- even if he's the one with whom Duanwu (as Muzhe) does business with. Is it me or do bad boys tend to become more attractive? Muzhe's actually too s...

Asian Drama News   Xu (or alternatively spelled as Hsu) can be spelled the same in English but mean different in Chinese! Why? Some people thought that the late Beatrice Xu shared the same surname. However, if one knew basic Chinese -- certain characters may be spelled nearly the same in English but NOT the same in Chinese characters. Yes, Chinese can be a confusing language! It's good that encoding in Chinese with a standard keyboard is now easier thanks to Pinyin. One no longer needs to learn another alphabet to master Chinese. However, you need to learn Pinyin first and its different tones! The late Barbie Xu and the late Mary Hsu share the same Chinese character. The Xu in Barbie Xu and Mary Xu is spelled out as 徐 (Xú) -- which is Shui in Hokkien. However, Beatrice's surname is spelled out as 许 (Xǔ) which is Co in Hokkien. Notice the accents too. Chinese is a tonal language similar to Tagalog. The Xú would be similar to the mabilis tone in Tagalog. Meanwhile, the Xǔ t...

  Was it too sudden or was it not too sudden? Barbie Xu (or Hsu in Taiwanese Pinyin) died during the Chinese New Year cycle. What's verified is that she had a history of epilepsy and heart problems .  Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu's passing at age 48 due to pneumonia from influenza complications sparked conversation online regarding the Taiwanese star's past health battles. Barbie was known to have a heart disease called mitral valve prolapse, as well as epilepsy. Focus Taiwan reported Barbie once opened up during an interview that she had "a history of mitral valve prolapse and epilepsy," and that she "nearly died from a seizure" during the birth of her son in 2016. In late January 2025, Barbie and her family, including younger sister Dee Hsu, flew to Japan for vacation. Barbie caught the flu (influenza) and was hospitalized, but her condition progressed into pneumonia that led to her death. Dee confirmed her passing on February 3 through a statement rel...

It's the Year of the Snake. Japan also celebrates the Lunar New Year, which lasts 15 days in China (and Taiwan). It's back to work today. Let's take a look back at memory lane for snake-themed Kamen Riders. Evil Kamen Riders have become a staple -- sometimes even being the final villains such as N-Daguva-Zeba, Evolt, and Kamen Rider Ark One (who keeps reminding me of Venjix from Power Rangers RPM ). Snakes have been a common theme for the MOTW in Kamen Rider . However, Kamen Rider these days have the more serialized storytelling akin to a telenovela. That's why I write about Kamen Rider here but only from Kamen Rider Kuuga up to the present. However, I decided not to do episode reviews and just do random drops of newer stuff and older stuff. Now, for the time when a snake-themed Kamen Rider was created. Takeshi Asakura/Kamen Rider Ouja is a truly terrifying cobra The Cobra is often a popular theme for villains. Who can remember G.I. Joe's main villain organization i...