Drama review, Meteor Garden, Hana Yori Dango, Boys over Flower

Now, I'm going to tell you about the 3 succesfuls dramas adaptation of the legen -wait for it- dary (don't mind that xD) manga Hana Yori Dango ^__^ All the 3 had a huge success around Asia and are really popular. For the summary and more infos about the plot, look the post I made about the manga in the mangas review, since the dramas have basically the same story plot as the manga of course.





Meteor Garden (Taïwanese)

About it: This the 1st drama adaptation. There are 2 seasons : the 1st broadcast in 2001 featuring 20 episodes and the 2nd in 2002 with 31 episodes.

Cast: Barbie Xu as Shan Cai (Tsukushi Makino)
Jerry Yan as Dao Ming Si (Tsukasa Domyoji)
Vic Zhou as Hua Ze Lei ( Rui Hanazawa)
Ken Zhu as Xi Men ( Soujiro Nishikado)
Vanness Wu as Mei Zuo (Akira Mimasaka)

My opinion : Well, I have to say that I didn't like this one very much though so many people loved it. It's the adaptation which respects the most the story line of the manga, (except 2 things: the fact that they're in college not in high school and the fact that there's not Tsukushi's little brother), but somehow ,to me, it still didn't have the manga's atmosphere and I didn't like the actors's play ( I didn't even like Rainie Yang's act who plays Xiao You here, aka Yuuki in the manga). However, this only my opinion so give it a shot if you are interested, afterall it was a huge success and it's still popular 7 years later ^ ^

Hana Yori Dango (Japanese)

About it: 2nd drama adapation with also 2 seasons: 1st season aired in 2005 with 9 episodes and 2nd in 2007 with 11 episodes. There's also a live action movie sequel to this drama which came out in june 2008.

Cast: Inoue Mao as Makino Tsukushi
Matsumoto Jun as Domyoji Tsukasa
Oguri Shun as Hanazawa Rui
Matsuda Shota as Nishikado Sojiro
Abe Tsuyoshi as Mimasaka Akira 

My opinion : The 1st drama I watched 3 years ago and it still my favorite even now x3 It keeps the important events of the manga but it's really different from it for the rest, however it has the manga spirit and atmosphere. It's hilarious and you never got the time to get bored cuz there is always something happening, there some really touching, sad and sweet moments which add some diversity to it and satisfy everybody's tastes. The actors's acting is refreshing and you can tell that they had a good time playing together, I especially liked how Inoue Mao portrayed Tsukushi, I think her Tsukushi is the best and the most convincing compared to the one of the actresses in the taïwanese and the korean versions. It's a little bit childish than the manga sometimes though and there's not enough episodes I think (seriously did someone ever seen a japanese drama with more than 14 episodes ? xD ) but except these two things I highly recommends you to watch this, if you're bored and want to watch something fun then this is for you =) I also recommend you the movie (Hana Yori Dango Final) which has nothing to do with the manga but is enjoyable to watch!

Boys over Flower (Korean)

About it: It has 25 episodes and it aired from January to March 2009

Cast: Koo Hye Sun as Geum Jan Di (Tsukushi Makino), Lee Min Ho as Goo Jun Pyo (Tsukasa Domyoji), Kim Hyung, Joong as Yoo Ji Hoo (Rui Hanazawa),Kim Bum as So Yi Jung (Sojiro Nishikado), Kim Joon as Song Woo Bin (Akira Mimasaka)

My opinion : This is one of the most popular korean drama since the begining of 2009 and the latest drama adaptation of Hana Yori Dango for the moment. It is really well made, it is a more modern version of the manga (the manga went out in the 90's)and though it respect a lot the manga's story, it has his own personality and originality. And, very important *cough*, to me this is where there is the hottest F4 Ah, Kim Bum and Lee Min Ho *drools* xD Seriously the 4 actors are really good looking and not only they are good looking they also act really well, actually all the actors, even the minors ones, gave an amazing act, the only one who didn't make a good impression to me is Kim Hyung Joong who played the korean version of Rui...He made me dislike him, one of my favorite character in the manga =__= But, Lee Min Ho plays the most convincing Domyoji and Kim Bum gives us a finaly decent Nishikado while Kim Joon is just lovable x3 And for the guys, Koo Hye Sun who plays korean version of Tsukushi and Kim So Eun who plays korean version of Yuuki are really very pretty girls ^__^ My only disappointement was that it grow really melodramatic at a point and almost depressing near the end =( But some will say that it only makes the story more mature and realistic, anyway I'll just finish by saying that the OST is great and that you should definitely try this out someday ^__^