My general thoughts on movies, dramas, anime, RPG games, and music from East Asia.(Japan, South Korea, and China.(Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China)
Please note that this blog is not a review blog nor do I clam to be a professional. I just like talking about East Asian pop culture. My opinions are my opinions good or bad. It's no hard feelings. Feel free to comment your thoughts as well.
Youtube/Twitter/Instagram @Rico is 에리코(Erico)
Crazy Fist is a 2019 Chinese film directed by Qing Guo and stars Collin Chou, Steve Yoo, and Xiaoming Hiang. There's also a special appearance by retired bodybuilder Kai Greene......
A retired mix martial arts fighter takes revenge on an undercover investigation after his friend is killed in the ring......
Crazy Fist was a film that I neither loved of hated. I was honestly on the middle of both emotions. The film just felt super over the top. The acting was over the top along with the fight matches. Who would fight a match with a ring surrounded by alligator infested water?? That's so unrealistic that it's sort of funny. The plot was there just enough to justify a means for the film to progress forward but still generic all the same. There's not much else to say about this film story wise.
Steve Yoo had more screen time than the actor listed as the star of the film..... We got more of him shirtless or in tight fitted shirts just over acting in the camera. If you want to see Steve as eye candy then this film is for you. Kai Greene was in this film for all of a few seconds. I wasn't surprised at this since Chinese films use foreigners as promotion like this constantly.
I honestly watched this film as a fan of Steve's music, so I kinda got what I came for. I didn't expect this film to be a masterpiece. The misleading cover art stopped the expectation.
Yoru Sumino is a Japanese author who's works have been adapted into Manga, films, dramas, and anime. He is most know for his novel: I Want To Eat Your Pancreas which was made into a film after the novel sold many copies. This novel is his third to be translated into English language.
A student becomes a monster at night when he can't sleep and watches his classmate be greatly bullied during the day. He though that him and his bullied classmate live in two different worlds inside the same space, until he runs into her in his monster form at school during the night.....
This novel is a complete idea with incomplete structuring. As you read about the main character's experience from night to day, you find yourself not going anywhere in the flow of the story. At Night, I Become A Monster stays this way and only really progresses in character development as Adachi learns what kind of person he wants to be as the story continues to shift. The idea of what one might see has a monster is very figurative because Adachi is the real unknown beast in this story who is surrounded by other beings who seem much more frightening than him: his classmates. I found myself more on edge when reading about the classroom situation than I did about Adachi protecting Yano at night. There's also a lot of Japanese cultural customs that are present in how the classmates socialize with each other. Even Sumino's writing style is very indirect in what he's trying to convey. It's not always clear what Yano is trying to say or even the way some of the other classmates use different ways to express themselves. I for one, wouldn't try to have a full conversation with someone who answers every question I have with "mmh". So what I ended up focusing on was wether or not Yano deserved to be bullied. She's a strange girl who deals with situations on her own but feels pretty nonhuman until toward the end of the novel. A sadness invokes through the pages when you really get a chance to peak inside Yano's head. Then you see the whole picture of what is happening in her head as she gets bullied by her whole class. Pages start to turn quickly for me when Adachi is forced to choose who he wants to be. It seemed that Yano saw who Adachi was from the start opposite to the fact that it took the whole book for Adachi to see everything that Yano always was.
Monster isn't a scary novel at all. The plot touches more on psychological issues mixed together with fantasy. Adachi's monster form is honestly a big symbolism for mental health issues. The bullying scenes are annoying since Adachi is a bystander to all the goes on. He gets in on the action a little bit and watches as another classmate becomes a second target before Yano puts a stops to it on the low.
At Night, I Become a Monster is not a fun read. It's just very tedious until the final chapter. Nothing much happens before then to justify a means to an end. You just basically learn that people wear masks to hide who they are. Who was the real monster here?
Ideal Man is a 2021 Japanese drama directed by Ryo Miyawaki and written by Eriko Komatsu for television. The drama is based off the manga of the same name created by Chika. Misako Renbutsu, Masanobu Ando, Mina Fujii, Ryosuke Mikata, and Toshiki Seto were casted in the television adaptation.
A female in her thirties looks for the man of her dreams, all while juggling work, friends, and a Manga creator she met through her best friend.
Ideal Man is the kind of drama you sit down to watch after a long day of hardships. The viewer doesn't have to think about much because the plot isn't super complicated to understand. It's a romantic comedy that touches on the subjects such as, age, infidelity, and, communication. A lot of the problems that happen in the relationships are due to things not being said or something not being cleared up. It was like just when things were going well, awkwardness would come into play. You then sit there cringing until the next joke that you're clearly not in on(If you're nonJapanese) comes up. What I enjoyed most about Ideal Man was the writing's ability to keep a simplistic vibe about the show while quickly covering many topics in eight episodes. For such a short show with each episode being a half an hour, Ideal Man hits a heart string. The opening and closing themes fit the story's vibe too. I've never understood those who that turning age thirty is you being old..... Living just thirty years on this earth isn't very long....
I found the performances made the drama fun. There were different dynamics to the two "couples". Each had their own set of issues. The mystery what man sh would pick wasn't a mystery at all. The story lets on strong who she's into and I loved it because their relationship was outside the norm. In the regular world, She would have picked the obvious choice instead. Ando was defiantly the shining star of the cast. I like Misako as an actress I've seen in quite a bit of stuff over the years.
Ideal man is a mature drama for those who want to see a romance mixed with comedy bloom. It's not a hard drama to watch since it's not long. The characters also are likable.
BtoB has been in the Korean Pop music game killing it for a long time. They have multiple number one albums under their belts and I've been a fan since their debut in 2012. Then I suddenly stopped following this band until I got into the "Get Real" podcast on Youtube, where BtoB's rapper Peniel and two other host talk about various issues. His personality really got me back into checking out BtoB again just in time for their new mini album titled 4U: OUTSIDE.
Track List: 01. DREAMER 02. Outsider 03. 미치고 싶어 (Can’t breathe) 04. 여행 (Traveler) 05. Waiting 4 U 06. 피날레 (Show And Prove)
4U doesn't give too much of an indicator that BtoB is trying to revise who they are musically or trying to change the Kpop industry. The guys instead come back with an effort that focuses on giving their fans as well as new listeners tunes that stick in your head. Outsider is a normal pop track however, the play on infectious melodies paired to English phrasing uplifts the track to one that you can dance to for weeks. Even the opening song does the same formula: gives general pop music sweetness to suck everything out of because of the strong chorus's catchy flavor. BtoB settles into their Kpop bag for most of the album to a degree that nothing is really earth defining here. Still, the album has some great moments and moments that weren't to me taste. Overall, BotB's 4U: OUTSIDE should please fans who have been waiting for new music from the band.
BotB is called Born to Beat because their vocals literally beat a hold in most songs. I think that that was one of the reasons the debut track, Insane(Secret) hit listeners so hard back in 2012. I still can't recognize Peniel in their first video...... I thought for the longest time that he was a member that was added later on.
Midnight Diner is a 2019 Chinese film directed by Tony Leung as he tries out the director chair and stars an all star cast lead by the veteran actor. The television version of the story was also released around the same time to negative reviews from viewers. Midnight Diner is based off the 2009 two season Japanese drama and 2014 films which won high acclaim as well as an occult following throughout the world.
Many different kinds of people stumble upon a little dinner at midnight, located in a back alley, run by a quit man with a scar on his eye. The food brings them in while their stories make us listen......
This adaption has gain mostly negative reviews. I honestly the reason being that the film has the same title as a series that set such a high standard that many people go in watching with an expectation that just won't be met. For one thing, I couldn't watching this film readying myself to compare it to Japan's Midnight Diner. I knew that I was setting this film up to fail, so I watch with a mindset that this film is in an alternative universe away from the Midnight Diner that everyone knows. China's Midnight Diner had to make changes based on their own cultural norms and it very apparent as you watch the film progress. Nothing about these changes mess up the flow of the story or even the way the food is being presented. This Midnight Dinner still keeps that feel of home and togetherness with people that the original contains deep at it's core of stories. If you don't know, the formate of Midnight Diner is to tell stories of the customers who visit the restaurant. A man known as Master is the restaurants owner who is quiet, yet welcoming to all that enter into his establishment. Master in this universe gets a bit more involved in the customer's problems while the original Master did not. He pretty much let events naturally happen around him, only showing support through his food. Tony's portrayal of Master was what he knew, casing the character to come off as a middle aged cook who cooked simple food just to preach to customers when the time was right, I wouldn't say that I loved or disliked his acting. He kinda was just there. What I did love about Midnight Diner was the stories that ranged from happy to a slap in the face with harsh reality. My favorite story was the last one, however, I liked all of them overall. Some reviewers say that the stories are sad.... I don't agree mostly. Only one story is sad and that deals with the same old East Asian storyline of somebody having cancer.... Other than that, the stories are more on the realistic side of the scale. Maybe being true to life isn't for everyone.
Leung's vision missed the mark on giving Chinese viewers that in depth character background story that for Master that many were blessed with in the Japanese version. Stops where that was missed, Leung did however, make a point to create a feeling of "home" with this film that I believe every adaption of Midnight Diner should ultimately have. There's an interview documentary as the credits roll too that drives this idea further. No matter where you are in life, No matter what problems you may have, There will always be a Midnight Diner waiting for you to stop in.
My final thoughts are that I would watch most film adaptions of Midnight Diner mainly because spending an hour and some minutes to watch a film isn't that big of a commitment but I'm not wasting my time watching the drama adaptions. I'll just stick with the original Japanese classic for that. Looking at those reviews across East Asia, Many people agree with me whole heartily.
