Asian Drama

Post-war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.

(Source: IMDb)

Aruo, the dragon girl from the East China Sea, is determined to find her beloved, and comes to the mortal Wang Sheng at all costs. However, the fox demon Xiaoman wants to get the most precious spiritual leaf from the dragon girl, and designs to break Wang Sheng's heart. Aruo has no choice but to use Lingye made up for Wang Sheng's heart, so the two women started a "heart-stealing" contest with Wang Sheng as the center.

Facing an unacceptable reality, a teacher is trying to reclaim relationships with his family, students and former friends. Reassessing his past, he contemplates how to go on with his life.

When the world is hit with a naturally occuring virus that spreads among all living things, humans begin to turn into insatiable zombies. In a blink, the world as we know it collapses. Furthermore, the few remaining survivors are unable to use the available food resources. They therefore develop a new crop to support themselves. Survivors depend on one profession, their only hope; someone in this profession must brave the dangers to send and recieve food and packages of necessities. These people are called Riders.

Based on the hit anime of the same name, "Honey and Clover" deals with five college art students. While the premise may sound simple, it's quite the opposite; the characters struggle through school, work, and love. All within the confines of a university, "Honey and Clover" showcases the journey that everyone must take from being a young adult and following the long and challenging road to becoming a full fledged adult.First off, the cast is wonderfully presented. Their likeliness to their anime counterparts is great and for the most part (albeit hair color) spot on. The mannerisms of the cast also reflected the anime greatly and fans of the anime will certainly enjoy this aspect of the film. Another great aspect of the film is definitely the cinematography. Since this film's environment is mostly held at or around an art school, you would expect for most part, as viewer, to be stimulated visually, right? Indeed this is the case with "Honey and Clover". The film accurately displays the happenings of an art school, from the constant unfinished student projects scattered about, to the multiple classes that art students participate in, it is faithfully recreated here.The musical score by famous composer Yoko Kanno is wonderfully implemented into the movie too. I for one have taken notice that Kanno is starting to produce more film scores, and she has done great job so far. With her most recent contributions to Su-ki-da and Kamikaze Girls, her slow transition from anime composition to film composition can only be seen as a good thing. I hope to see her contribute more to the realm of films in the future. Putting music aside though, "Honey and Clover" does run into some slight problems… Based on an anime series, one can truly see the tremendous amount of time and effort it would take to condense 26 episodes into roughly a two hour film. What happens in most cases when this occurs in other adaptations is that entire story arcs, characters, and original endings are left out. "Honey and Clover" suffers from the all these. While significantly better in many regards than most anime to film conversions, the story of "Honey and Clover" is just too character driven for a film. Maybe a Japanese TV drama would perhaps work well, but due to the time constraints of a film, it doesn't provide the adequate depth that the anime series does. This leaves viewers who aren't fans of the anime or manga sometimes clueless as to what is happening on screen. Some characters relationships might be questionable for those viewers who haven't seen the anime or read the manga. Some characters just pop in with little to no background and the viewer is expected to already know who they are, what their purpose is, and what their relationship is to plot. By the end of the film, all we are left is with a cast we don't really care for (even if you have seen the anime/read the manga). This hurts a film that otherwise is a moderately accurate retelling of a rather well crafted anime series.With all but one minor quibble (a major one if you haven't seen the series or read the manga), "Honey and Clover" is one of the better anime adaptations out there. While fans of the anime will definitely enjoy this film, non-fans will probably be asking themselves why certain characters do this or that, unknowing to the fact that their questions are clearly explained in anime. In the end though, I recommend this film for fans, but I have to say pass if you haven't seen anything that has to do with 'Honey and Clover".

The real winner is the survivor.

From illegal gambling to match-fixing, discover the seedy underworld behind the once-revered sport of Muay Thai.

Inspired by real events.

"Every village has it's fool", this is basically what happens in a Miracle of the giving fool (BA:BO), Seung-ryong Cha Tae-Hyun at a young age suffers an accident with his father. His father get killed but he survives with some cerebral injuries. At age 27 he has the intelligence of a six-year-old child. Some years after the accident, his mother dies and he sees himself alone in the world with her younger sister Jee-nin, who simply sees her brother as something disgusting and hateful. The movie begins with Seung-ryong waiting for something, or someone who finally arrives, after some years. She's Ji-ho, a childhoods Seung-ryong love. He makes his living selling the most famous toasts in his village in front of his sister school, that way being able to "keep an eye on her".

Resuming, it's a romance, a story that tells us how strong and deep all kinds of love can be...

Lost in White takes places in the north-east of China, where two bodies have been found under the ice of a frozen lake, their remains made unidentifiable by carnivorous fish, but still bearing the mark of having been dragged with...

Seoul, 1910. HONG Jin-ho, who will become Joseon's first detective, travels around solving trivial family disputes for pocket money as a private detective. However, he is determined to go to America someday and is saving up for the trip. Then one night, Gwang-soo, a medical physician in training, discovers a corpse in the woods and secretly takes it to practice dissecting. But the corpse turns out to be the son of Seoul's most powerful man. While planning to flee in the middle of the night and afraid of murder accusations, Gwang-soo meets Jin-ho, and asks him to find the killer. When another corpse turns up in the woods, murdered in the same way as the first victim, Jin-ho and Gwang-soo use a piece of cloth they find in the victim's hand as the lead they need to bring them one step closer to the real killer.

Lighthearted drama, originally released as five web episodes, featuring idol group Momoiro Clover Z.

Myung Seok has attempted to pass the bar exam for the past 8 years. Dal Soo works at a call center as a contract employee and he is a big fan of a female idol group. Hae Goo is a salesman, selling an impotence drug. These three men are friends. They gather together to spend a carefree weekend at Haeundae Beach in Busan. They then find themselves in the most problematic situation they have ever encountered.

On New Year's Day 1716, Munenaga of Owari and Yoshinao of Kii were both named as candidates for the title of 8th Shogun. The wise and just Munenaga is plunged into a dispute with Tokugawa Yoshinao that will lead to one of them ascending the throne. This is an exciting and informative film that brings the brilliant history of Japan to the surface in a new light.