Welcome to this week’s edition of streaming updates for Asian dramas, movies, and anime. Of course, with English subtitles.
On the anime front, Crunchyroll has only added one new one since last week – Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA 2wei Herz. What a mouthful! And the plot synopsis given isn’t really complete, but we have Illya who is a typical young girl attending an academy and who is in love with her brother-in-law. A special magic wand falls into her lap one day, forcing her to sign some sort of contract.
DramaFever does have some new dramas added. They are now streaming Last starring the awesome Yoon Kye Sang (I’ve liked him since My Sister-in-law is 19 or something like that) and Lee Bum Soo. Yoon Kye Sang plays a man who was once a financial bigwig, but who is now homeless thanks to his company failing. He’s on the run from loan sharks and discovers a new world with new rules in this homeless realm. The final Korean drama added is Lee Jun Ki’s The Scholar Who Walks the Night (for licensing purposes, this title is running on a two week delay). This drama follows a cross-dressing book seller who is on the run after her father is falsely accused of a crime. She runs into Lee Joon Ki who is a scholar…and a vampire! We must, of course, have a struggle for the thrown as well for good measure.
In the movie department, DramaFever has added If You Are the One II. This drama stars Ge You and Shu Qi as our main characters who are not certain if matrimony should be in their future, so they give it a trial run. Will they end up heading down the aisle or discover they really aren’t meant to be after all?
Hulu has added DramaFever titles Last and Scholar Who Walks the Night. As always, they are adding more anime than dramas. They have added Needless set in the post-apocalyptic time after WWIII. Certain humans have developed mutant abilities and of course there’s an evil corporation bent on hunting them down searching for a very powerful mutant named Adam Blade. We have the classic anime ItaKiss which any drama watcher should be familiar with what with the jdrama versions of Itzura na Kiss, the kdrama Playful Kiss, the Taiwanese drama It Started With a Kiss, and now they are doing a Thai version called Kiss Me starring Mike and Aom (who were the leads in the Thai version of Full House, btw). Another classic added is Wallflower aka Perfect Girl Evolution aka Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge in which 4 ikemen are tasked with turning a horror-loving girl into the perfect Japanese lady (I couldn’t resist adding the image for the jdrama live action below, lol). And don’t forget to check out Venus Project -Climax-, The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls, or God Eater.
Wow, something new on Netflix finally. There is the action movie The Avenging Eagle starring Sheng Fu, Lung Ti, and Feng Ku about a one-time enforcer whose conscience forces him to leave his job. As always, there are those pursuing him and we have to have a run in with a mysterious stranger to boot. Another period movie added is Come Drink With Me starring Pei-pei Cheng, Hua Yueh, and Hung Lieh Chen. A governor’s son is kidnapped and it’s up to the daughter-in-law and a local beggar to rescue him from the evil monk. Netflix would not be Netflix if they don’t add more Jet Li movies! Another Shaolin film and revenge film. Go figure. Check out Martial Arts of Shaolin which also stars Jiangqiang Hu and Qiuyan Huang.
Since Israel is technically part of the Asian continent…you can watch the Israeli movie Zero Motivation about a female-only army division which fights boredom and themselves in a remote desert outpost. And not to be confused with the already mentioned Jet Li movie, there is Shaolin Martial Arts starring Sheng Fu, Kuan-Chun Chi, and Yi Ling Chen. This movie follows two students defending their school from the thugs the rulers of the dynasty sent to dissolve it.
Soooo. Viki, after years of making promises, has finally released a Roku app! I’m doing a little happy dance inside…Although, if we’re honest, Viki apps don’t allow access to fan channels (to my knowledge), so that does temper the joy.
Kamenashi’s new drama seems intresting.
I haven’t looked at his new drama yet. What’s it called?
I don’t know the name, but it’s about ikemen boys turning a girl who is very close,to an out going and fashionable one. Haven’t watched it yet.
Ah, the 2010 drama Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge? Based off the manga of the same name (although the official name of the manga in English is Wallflower for whatever reason). Kame is one of the four college ikemen who are tasked with turning their landlord’s niece into the perfect Japanese lady for free rent.
I thought it was new, have you watched is it good?
Japanese dramas never fail to impress, I will put on my “plan to watch” list.
I haven’t heard of any news about a Yamato Nadeshiko kdrama version.