Moon River - Taiwanese Drama

Title: 明若曉溪 (明若晓溪) / Ming Ruo Xiao Xi

English Title: Moon River

Also known as: 愛情迴旋踢 (爱情回旋踢) / Ai Qing Hui Xuan Ti

Genre: Romance, martial arts

Episodes: 29

Cast

• Pets Tseng  as Ming Xiao Xi 明曉溪
• Lin Zi Hong  as Mu Liu Bing 牧流冰
• Luo Xuan Ming  as childhood Mu Liu Bing
• Evan Ma   as Feng Jian Che 風澗澈
• Xu Kai Pin  (徐开聘) as Dong Hao Nan 東浩男
• Bernice Tsai  as Dong Hao Xue 東浩雪
• Cao Xi Yue  as Tie Sha Xing 铁纱杏
• Hu Huan Wei  (胡桓瑋) as Rui Xi 瑞喜
• Wang Wei  (王薇) as Min Rong 敏容
• Hannah Quinlivan  (昆凌) as Lucy 露西
• Yang Yong Chun  (陽詠存) as Fei Fei 菲菲
• Ge Lei  as Dong Shui Yue 東水月
• Shara Lin  as Coco

Moon River is a Taiwanese Drama from 2015. I just finished watching it this week and I gotta say it reminds me of Boys Over Flower. There are some differences between them, like the main girl know kungfu and the F4 is now F3. But the story similarities are hard to miss. The story is about a girl going to a university for rich people and find herself in love with the rich hot shot guy named Mu Liu Bing. The girl comes from a poor martial art family from a little village. She was offered a scholarship to go to the university in the big city, so she went. She isn't really pretty. She wear that lame skirt and jogging jumping suit everywhere. And also wear the famous toes sock. Her face is okay. It's just that hairdo and clothes that make her look lame and ugly. Her name is Ming Xiao Xi.

These are the F3....

This guy here is the main character played by Sam Lin. Liu Bing comes from one of the rich family. He is cold and arrogant. His mother commit suicide when he was little. He promises to get revenge when he gets older. To be honest, I think his plan for vengeance is stupid. His father's plan too. I could come up with a better plan than lose all the money or the girl and couldn't even make a scratch to the evil guy. =/

This guy remind me of Hanazawa Rui in Boys over Flowers, doesn't he? Maybe it's the playing violin and he also fall for the main girl. And sadly his love get rejected. :/  

This guy is also one of the F3.  He love the rich girl who think she is all that because she is rich and pretty. In this shows, I really want to slap her so many times. I hate spoil kid. 

The rich spoil girl, the main antagonist of the story. She of course love Liu Bing and will do anything to get him. But because Liu Bing hate her father, so there is no future for them. Shoo shoo go away. Let the couple below be together already..

This is the main char, Ming Xiao Xi, friends/roommates. The guy is a chicken (I also want to slap). The girl is okay.

These 2 girls are the evil girl minions and listen to her every command.

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Overall this TV series is also a must watch in my book. I like Boys over Flowers and so I like this one too.  I guess I do love romantic comedy after all. hehe. Liu Bing is also hot as long as his hair is not blond. hehe.



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Wolf Girl and Black Prince - Ōkami Shōjo to Kuro Ōji

I really like this story, Wolf Girl and Black Prince. I even read the whole manga! I guess I am a girl after all, liking the romance and stuff. The anime only has 12 episodes and it is not a complete story. So everyone must read the manga too! I actually read part of the manga first then I stumble and find it in youtube. There is no dub by the way. BOOOOO! Read the manga. It is better.

Anyway, the story is about a girl named Erika Shinohara . She is a high school student who desperately wants to fit in with the girls so she lies about having a boyfriend. To prove to the girls that this is the true, she must give them a photo. Yes a PHOTO! She decided to take a picture of the random boy she saw in the street. Unfortunately for her, the guy, Kyoya Sata, turns out to be the most popular guy from her school. Scare of being found out, Erika asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend. Shockingly enough this guy agree to it if she would turn around 3x, hold his hands and bark. Kyoya on the outside seems nice, a perfect charming prince; but in reality he is a dark hearted, emo liked, who doesn't really care much about other. Eventually their fake relationship turn into the real thing. Kyoya kun life is change from been a loner to having friends and having fun. He finally know what happiness and love is. Watching them go through the ups and downs and eventually be together, make my heart all.. idk happy and warm? Their relationship remind me of Irie Kun and Kotoko Aihara in " Itazura Na Kiss ". I also love that story.

I am not good with writing summary of story. But really this is a must watch. I think I have falling for Kyoya kun too. ^^

I know there are some that hate this anime because they strongly feel a girl shouldn't accept a relationship where the man bully her and treat her like crap. Or vice versa. But this is not real life. It's just an anime, a fantasy world. So just chill and enjoy it. Men in real life wont change. If they treat u like garbage then it is highly likely they will still do in 10 years. But for now, just enjoy a world where love can change a human being and where love is all one needed.

As for the main character, Erika, she is a normal teenager. I dont get why people hate her. To fit in, she lies. Don't you all do that, whether girl or boy , old or young? We all lie. Lying is bad? Yes, yes it is. But don't hate something when you do  it yourself. That I dislike the most.

Well enough of me rambling for the day. Hmm.. I am better at writing my own thought than summary of the story.  >..>

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The Disguiser

SUMMARY:

The story follows the Ming family through the period when Japan invaded China during the late 1930s to 1940s. The movie was based on a book, Spy War on Shanghai Bond, written by Zhang Yong. It was produced by Hou Hongliang and directed by Li Xue, and stars Hu Ge, Jin Dong, Liu Mintao and Wang Kai as the members of the Ming family. It has 48 episodes, produced in 2015.

Ming King is the oldest member of the family, the big sister. Her parents died early and she has to take care of the whole family. She works very hard and never gets married. She was loved and respected by her 3 younger brothers. She is also an undercover for the Communist party.

Ming Tai , played by Hu Ge, is the youngest member of the Ming family. He was adopted into the Ming family when he was little. His mom died in an auto accident trying to save him and Ming Kin. Ming Kin is very grateful and adopted Ming Tai. She treated him like a precious jewel, wanting him to have a good education and to stay away from government and politics. Unfortunately, as fate have it, Ming Tai was kidnapped and forced to join the army under Wang Tianfeng. He is trained how to fight, how to shoot, and how to be a good spy. With his 2 comrades, he took on many missions including (bomb the train, murder Japanese officer) and eventually become a very good spy in the KMT. He has a nickname the Scorpion.

Ming Lou, the oldest brother, work for the Japanese government. Most people don’t know where his legion lies. The Chinese think he is a traitor. The Japanese don’t trust him enough, after all he is Chinese. He appears cold and strict. He is very smart and calculated. Code name, "Viper".

Ming Ah Cheng, was also adopted to the Ming family when he was young. His mother worked for the Ming family as a maid. Once she found out that Ah Cheng wasn’t her real son, she started to treat him badly. Ming Kin saw this one day and fire Ah Cheng’s mother and took in Ah Cheng. Ah Cheng work for Ming Lou as his secretary/butler. He is very loyal to Ming Lou.


PERSONAL REVIEW:

At first I watched this series because Hu Ge is in it, in time I grow to like it. It has suspense, mystery and betrayal . You are always on edge as to when the Japanese will find out that Ming Tai is a spy or about Ming Lou. I do not know why they have to do the mission where Ming Tai comrade all get kill. What is the point in killing everyone? Isn’t there another way to gain the Japanese trust? That’s just very odd to me. Ming Lou’s plan could work if they would just tell Ming Tai about it, instead of letting him do what he wants. He always seems to be the one that mess the plan up.

My favorite character in this series would have to be Ming Lou. He is very smart and manly. =D To be where he is , he must have to endure a lot. He cannot say anything about his identity to anyone and always get blame for being a Chinese traitor.

Is it just me or Hu Ge gun fight scene seems to be flashy and unreal? One scene he was shooting at Yamaha. He just walk closer to her and start shooting. All his shot hits her. But her shots never hit him once. She command an army. I would think she is not that suck at shooting. They keep making Hu Ge look cool and godly at gun fight scene. >.>

The ending is very sad. ‘Big sis’ got capture by the Japanese general and the 3 Ming brothers went to rescue her. Unfortunately she ended up dying right in front of them. The ending leave you hanging. I want to know further especially if they succeed in driving the Japanese away. Of course if you know history, the Japanese did go away, but still it seems like an incomplete story.

Overall this series is a must watch. It has same cast as Nirvana in Fire. Hu Ge is in it so must watch him. :D

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A Certain Magical Index

This anime is about a high school boy named Tōma Kamijō. His right hand has the ability to nullify any form of supernatural power. Super op right? Unfortunately for Touma, his arm also seems to nullify good luck. All thru his life, he suffers from a bunch of bad lucks. His dad has to send him to another city, Academy City, because the people in his village avoided and hated him for his bad luck. They called him a Jinx.

One day he finds a girl hanging on his balcony. She turns out to be a nun of the Church of England. She had a photographic memory and has memorized the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum - a collection of 103,000 forbidden texts. Her name is Index. From then on Touma's world turn upside down as he begins to battle against people with special abilities in order to save Index and his new friends. Touma also finds himself in the midst of a war between the magicians and the Espers (people who power come from science). What will our hero do to save the world? You have to watch to find out. O.O Seriously, I didn't finish this anime yet. You have to watch itttt..

My reviews:
Watching a couple of episodes of these I thought ' hmm this could be a good anime'. Unfortunately as time went on, I lost interest. I kinda get bore of Touma fighting evil people and then made friend with them afterward. Also he has OP power that can avoid all magic attack. But if I was the bad guy, after I learn of this power, I would just get a bunch of tough strong guys and attack him with brute force. Taadaa I win! No mere high school boy can win over bunch of strong men. But of course this is just a story, so the evil villain in here is not that clever as us viewers.

There are 24 episodes of this anime. Overall I think this is okay to watch if you have nothing to watch. I, on the other hand, stop midway and move on to the next anime. =/


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Eden of the East

Eden of the East is a 11 episodes anime series produce in 2009 with 2 additional movies call King of Eden and Paradise Love. After watching it this weekend, I cannot help but want moreeee. The ending feel incomplete and confusing at some part. But overall this is a good anime. I am getting tire of all those anime where all the girls in the show love one boy and boobs and stuff like that. Although this anime has 20,000++ naked guy, it's funny and awkward. ^^ (If this were 20000 naked girls, it might turn out to be something else entirely. *ahem*) The story is good with mystery and action. I would definitely recommend this to anyone to watch.

So here is the summary: 
On November 22, 2010, some unknown terrorist attacked Japan with 10 missiles, but oddly there are no casualties. They called this “Careless Monday”. The anime started 3 months later . A Japanese girl named Saki Morimi visits the White House in Washington D.C. for her graduation trip. Standing outside the white house , she took a coin out and tried to throw it inside the white house's water fountain, to make a wish. The police saw her, uh oh. What to do ? Should she run ? ... Luckily a knight in shiny armor come to help. *cough cough* I mean, a knight with no armor or clothes appears. In his hands are a phone and a gun. Who is this man? Why is he naked? Thanks to the naked man, the police ran off after him. Saved. Saki decided to give him her hat, scarf and coat. Then they both go their separate ways. :/ Is this the end of our two main chars? no no. Saki forgot her passport inside her coat! She needs it to go back to Japan. And there she goes, running after the no pant man. :D She follow him to his apartment to get her passport back. They both return to Japan afterward. And this is where the story really begins.

The naked guy who has lost all his memory, decided to take the identity of Akira Takizawa. He finds out that he has $8.2 billion to spend to save Japan. Apparently he was given $10 billion to save Japan. The phone he has can do anything he ask for, even murder, but charge a fee for it.   If his money gets to zero, the supporter will come and eliminate him. This game was created by a billionaire businessman named Saizō Atō. There are 12 players in this game. They are called the Selecao. Here are the list of the players. Some spoiler added. Cover your eyes.... as a matter of fact, just don't read anymore and go watch the anime. This is a good place to stop. Come back to read later . =P

1.  1) Daiju Mononobe -  former bureaucrat, he wears glasses. the strongest and clever player. He want to rule Japan by taking people freedom away, like a dictator.
2. 2) Jintarō Tsuji   - this guy just want out of the game so he join with #1 and 10.
3. 3) Toshiko Kitabayash - an elderly purple-haired woman in the hospital (appear at the end of 2nd movie)
4. 4) Yūsei Kondō - A detective who try to steal money from Takizawa phone. He died by his wife. The cheater >.<
5. 5) Hajime Hiura - a neurosurgeon who open up a hospital with help from Juiz, the phone operator.
6. 6) Taishi Naomoto  - a film maker that want to film Saki and Takizawa as the main char for his film and trying to kill them off. (Appear in the 1st movie)
7. 7) unknown
8. 8) a middle-aged man. Appears at the end of 2nd movie.
9. 9) Akira Takizawa - our naked shiny knight
10. 10) Ryō Yūki - responsible for the missiles
11. 11) Kuroha Diana Shiratori - a serial 'Johnnie' killer 
12. 12) Mr Outside 

In his journey to find who he is, he found out that he was involved in Careless Monday. But not as the one that attacked Japan but the savior. He recruited 20000 NEETS (the unemployed) to help get everyone out of the city before the missiles come. Unfortunately they don't recognize him as the savior but start to question if maybe he is the terrorist instead. He decided to hide these 20000 NEETs in a cargo and send them to Dubai for 3 months until everything die down. He then decided to erase his memory in order to keep this a secret. Aww our knight *_*

Mononobe, selecao number1, approaches Takizawa. He want Takizawa to join his team to win the game. Takizawa refuses to join after learning more about the game, his past, and Mononobe's plan for world domination. muahahaa. Any who. Mononobe plan to attack again with 60 missiles this time. What will our fearless knight do now? Takizawa ran back to his home, a shopping mall in Toyosu. Yes, his house is a shopping mall. =D Saki and her friends are there, along with the 20000 naked NEETS. Takizawa draw everyone to the roof and tell them about the new terrorist attack. He ask them to post how to stop the missiles on Eden website. (The anime is name after the company that Saki and her friend founded. They created a cell phone app that can recognize and provide details on the items that people posted via social networking. ) Then he ask Juiz, his cell phone concierge, to find the best solution for the missile crisis and stop it.  Juiz send the JSDF to attack the missiles and save the day. Takizawa knows that being a terrorist won't save him now, so he ask Juiz to make him the King of Japan. He erase his memory once again. Before he disappear he put his cell phone into Saki's pocket. THE END.


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