i finished the final episode of Boys Over Flowers just minutes ago, but i've decided. and i think i've decided eversince episode 14? of BOF.
i vote for Hana Yori Dango as the best adaptation.
Meteor Garden was the first adaptation i've watched, it was aired locally in the country. and i truthfully admit that it became a big dope to me. not only me but the whole country as well. it was so big that they even made the taiwanese F4 come here.
and MG started all asianovela/ koreanovela craze in our country. MG was also responsible for making me go home straight after classes are over and not stay behind and chat with friends. yes, i was as addicted to MG back then, as i was addicted to some of the jdoramas i've watched and at some length, i guess even more.
i loved jerry yen and vic zhou and memorized Qing fei de yi (opening song).
that was how MG affected my life back then.
MG was good when there was no standards to compare with. i mean, it was good because it made me squeal and glued and it was the first adaptation. but, when a new version came, i think it's just natural that you start to compare.
when MG was filmed, asian dramas wasn't really a big thing, so let's give the consideration of F4 not being able to look luxurious and filthy rich, and cinematography isn't that good as to how they shoot taiwanese dramas nowadays.
now, i will be leaving behind my opinions over MG. it's really not substantial to compare it with the newer and more high-budgeted versions.
these are my opinions about HYD and BoF.
some would probably be a bit biased sinced i am more inclined with jdoramas than kdramas.
and also, these are just my opinions, nothing to start chaos with.
i chose HYD because
first of all, i was never irritated with Makino. she was yelling at times but it never really got me into being pissed. it was a whole different story with Jandi, i need not exaggerate, i was always annoyed with her character. particularly during those episodes where junpyo has confessed love for her, and she thinks about ji hoo. given that she initially liked jihoo, it was really annoying that she can't make up her mind of dismissing junpyo. and when she was dating jihoo, she was thinking of junpyo. i mean, what is with this very indecisive character?
also, it seemed like she slipped off the character of the episode 1 jandi - the "i-will-fight-and-save-humanity" simple girl. though, she remained the jandi-we-can-count-on until the end, it seemed like when she started getting complications with being in a relationship with junpyo, we lost the other character that is in her. it became just the serious, problematic jandi.
forgive me also for saying this, because this is a very superficial criterion, but i never really liked the actress they chose as jandi. i never found her cute, i rarely saw the chemistry she has with lee min ho (junpyo) and she was a bit old-looking to be jandi-the-high schooler.
i was able to finish HYD1 in one-sitting, HYD2 did not make me feel like giving up on watching.
while, BoF wasn't really able to maintain the interest level althroughout the duration of the drama.
for me, i didn't really enjoy how it started, i only got the 'i-can't-wait-to-watch-the-next-episode' feeling probably around episode 9. then by episode 12, it again sloped down my interest, and it recovered only by epoisode 18, i guess.
it was such a roller-coaster ride, and it somewhat made the loops less appreciated and exciting.
i have to admit though, that BoF had the most gorgeous F4. it was pretty obvious though, that they did not build the character of woo bin at all, poor guy. and though jihoo is sparkingly awesome and gorgeous, oguri shun will be the best hanazawa rui for me. as for other characters, i really can't pinpoint who among each version portrayed it the best. i have to add also that matsujun's 'baka domyouji' will forever be the awesomEST.
BoF also lost me when they lost all the comedy in the succeeding episodes.
it was fun, with all the dorkiness of junpyo, but come mid episodes, funny scenes were very scarce. that made me lose interest even more.
on the HYD part, there was rarely a dull and dragging moment. they throw in cute scenes and funny scenes and happy scenes and sad scenes and lovey-dovey scenes at a nice rate, frequency and timing.
what made matters worst for me was how much they gave emphasis to the 'friendly' realationship of jandi and jihoo. i really disliked that they had more scenes with jihoo/jandi than with junpyo-jandi, to the point that i even thought that korea would make a bold move of changing how the story goes and make jandi end up with jihoo.
i even told myself that if i were jandi and this is the kind of close relationship i'll have with jihoo, why would i even waste time chasing junpyo, who is perfectly obvious in avoiding me. I WOULD CHOSE JIHOO and with that kind of kindness and dependence to jihoo, who wouldn't fall for him?
it's just that they gave so much attention to the relationship of jihoo and jandi, that i think they weren't able to deepen the relationship between junpyo and jandi.
and this wasn't the case in HYD. sure hanazawa rui was always there when makino needed someone, but you know clearly the boundary that they have in their relationship. and up until the last scenes of hyd2 (i can still remeber this), makino only referred to rui as her first love , best friend and driver, and that was clearly what i've witnessed in the duration of the drama.
sadly, i was flailing more over the gaeul-ee jung story than the junpyo-jandi one. this is how i felt less over how they made the relationship of the latter just not that deep enough.
with BoF's ending everything was like left without definite closure. jandi has no answer to the marriage proposal, eejung and gaeul's real relationship lies upon the viewer's imagination, poor woobin still has no story and junpyo mama became warm-hearted in a blink.
though, there are also things i flailed on. particularly, the eejung and gaeul scenes and ji hoo in glasses, hot. and yes LEE MIN HO is SCREAMING HOT AND SEXY not just in the ending but ALTHROUGHOUT THE SERIES.
also, i have to give props to BoF for not being very selfish with junpyo-jandi kiss scenes. i was happy with that. this was what hyd lacked on the other hand.
what i also loved in BoF is that it was a combination of scenes in both MG and HYD. some scenes that i loved in MG that weren't in HYD, i saw a more visually beautiful counterpart in BoF. and i was grateful that they included such parts, like when they visited the zoo with the kid.
overall, BoF made me want to watch HYD again, sad but true.
it was a brave deed for korea to make their own adaptation when they know that there were standards already set and that they will meet comparison whatever happens . IMO, though they've not surpassed what japan has delivered to me, they've succeeded in their own ways.
i vote for Hana Yori Dango as the best adaptation.
Meteor Garden was the first adaptation i've watched, it was aired locally in the country. and i truthfully admit that it became a big dope to me. not only me but the whole country as well. it was so big that they even made the taiwanese F4 come here.
and MG started all asianovela/ koreanovela craze in our country. MG was also responsible for making me go home straight after classes are over and not stay behind and chat with friends. yes, i was as addicted to MG back then, as i was addicted to some of the jdoramas i've watched and at some length, i guess even more.
i loved jerry yen and vic zhou and memorized Qing fei de yi (opening song).
that was how MG affected my life back then.
MG was good when there was no standards to compare with. i mean, it was good because it made me squeal and glued and it was the first adaptation. but, when a new version came, i think it's just natural that you start to compare.
when MG was filmed, asian dramas wasn't really a big thing, so let's give the consideration of F4 not being able to look luxurious and filthy rich, and cinematography isn't that good as to how they shoot taiwanese dramas nowadays.
now, i will be leaving behind my opinions over MG. it's really not substantial to compare it with the newer and more high-budgeted versions.
these are my opinions about HYD and BoF.
some would probably be a bit biased sinced i am more inclined with jdoramas than kdramas.
and also, these are just my opinions, nothing to start chaos with.
i chose HYD because
first of all, i was never irritated with Makino. she was yelling at times but it never really got me into being pissed. it was a whole different story with Jandi, i need not exaggerate, i was always annoyed with her character. particularly during those episodes where junpyo has confessed love for her, and she thinks about ji hoo. given that she initially liked jihoo, it was really annoying that she can't make up her mind of dismissing junpyo. and when she was dating jihoo, she was thinking of junpyo. i mean, what is with this very indecisive character?
also, it seemed like she slipped off the character of the episode 1 jandi - the "i-will-fight-and-save-humanity" simple girl. though, she remained the jandi-we-can-count-on until the end, it seemed like when she started getting complications with being in a relationship with junpyo, we lost the other character that is in her. it became just the serious, problematic jandi.
forgive me also for saying this, because this is a very superficial criterion, but i never really liked the actress they chose as jandi. i never found her cute, i rarely saw the chemistry she has with lee min ho (junpyo) and she was a bit old-looking to be jandi-the-high schooler.
i was able to finish HYD1 in one-sitting, HYD2 did not make me feel like giving up on watching.
while, BoF wasn't really able to maintain the interest level althroughout the duration of the drama.
for me, i didn't really enjoy how it started, i only got the 'i-can't-wait-to-watch-the-next-episode' feeling probably around episode 9. then by episode 12, it again sloped down my interest, and it recovered only by epoisode 18, i guess.
it was such a roller-coaster ride, and it somewhat made the loops less appreciated and exciting.
i have to admit though, that BoF had the most gorgeous F4. it was pretty obvious though, that they did not build the character of woo bin at all, poor guy. and though jihoo is sparkingly awesome and gorgeous, oguri shun will be the best hanazawa rui for me. as for other characters, i really can't pinpoint who among each version portrayed it the best. i have to add also that matsujun's 'baka domyouji' will forever be the awesomEST.
BoF also lost me when they lost all the comedy in the succeeding episodes.
it was fun, with all the dorkiness of junpyo, but come mid episodes, funny scenes were very scarce. that made me lose interest even more.
on the HYD part, there was rarely a dull and dragging moment. they throw in cute scenes and funny scenes and happy scenes and sad scenes and lovey-dovey scenes at a nice rate, frequency and timing.
what made matters worst for me was how much they gave emphasis to the 'friendly' realationship of jandi and jihoo. i really disliked that they had more scenes with jihoo/jandi than with junpyo-jandi, to the point that i even thought that korea would make a bold move of changing how the story goes and make jandi end up with jihoo.
i even told myself that if i were jandi and this is the kind of close relationship i'll have with jihoo, why would i even waste time chasing junpyo, who is perfectly obvious in avoiding me. I WOULD CHOSE JIHOO and with that kind of kindness and dependence to jihoo, who wouldn't fall for him?
it's just that they gave so much attention to the relationship of jihoo and jandi, that i think they weren't able to deepen the relationship between junpyo and jandi.
and this wasn't the case in HYD. sure hanazawa rui was always there when makino needed someone, but you know clearly the boundary that they have in their relationship. and up until the last scenes of hyd2 (i can still remeber this), makino only referred to rui as her first love , best friend and driver, and that was clearly what i've witnessed in the duration of the drama.
sadly, i was flailing more over the gaeul-ee jung story than the junpyo-jandi one. this is how i felt less over how they made the relationship of the latter just not that deep enough.
with BoF's ending everything was like left without definite closure. jandi has no answer to the marriage proposal, eejung and gaeul's real relationship lies upon the viewer's imagination, poor woobin still has no story and junpyo mama became warm-hearted in a blink.
though, there are also things i flailed on. particularly, the eejung and gaeul scenes and ji hoo in glasses, hot. and yes LEE MIN HO is SCREAMING HOT AND SEXY not just in the ending but ALTHROUGHOUT THE SERIES.
also, i have to give props to BoF for not being very selfish with junpyo-jandi kiss scenes. i was happy with that. this was what hyd lacked on the other hand.
what i also loved in BoF is that it was a combination of scenes in both MG and HYD. some scenes that i loved in MG that weren't in HYD, i saw a more visually beautiful counterpart in BoF. and i was grateful that they included such parts, like when they visited the zoo with the kid.
overall, BoF made me want to watch HYD again, sad but true.
it was a brave deed for korea to make their own adaptation when they know that there were standards already set and that they will meet comparison whatever happens . IMO, though they've not surpassed what japan has delivered to me, they've succeeded in their own ways.
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