Post by Eun Jae on Jun 5, 2006 11:22:16 GMT 7
Hana Yori Dango
Tsukushi is a girl from a lower-middle class family who goes to a snooty expensive high school where everyone else comes from rich families - and I mean unrealistically and ridiculously manga-style rich. They all get dropped off by their chauffeurs in expensive cars every morning, bringing lunch boxes filled with caviar. This school is ruled by four boys who call themselves the "Flower 4" or "F4" for short. They are among the richest of the students and their parents make generous grants to the school, thus they are allowed to do whatever they want and not even the teachers are allowed to stop them. They are Doumyouji Tsukasa (Matsumoto Jun), Hanazawa Rui (Oguri Shun), Nishikado Soujirou (Matsuda Shouta), and Mimasaka Akira (Abe Tsuyoshi). Tsukasa and Rui are played by current popular male idols while the other two are played by newcomers. Anyway, if you like cute boys you should like this cast.
Whenever anyone at the school does something that the F4 doesn't like, they get an "F4" flag in their locker and they are ostracized and bullied by the F4 and the whole school until they leave. Tsukasa is the ring leader and the meanest of the bunch.
Tsukushi hates the whole school and doesn't actively go along with the F4 or any of the school's other strange traditions. However, she doesn't openly oppose them either as she doesn't want to make any enemies there. Her family is very proud of the fact that she was able to enter such a prestigious school, and she doesn't want to disappoint them, so she is doing her best to survive her three years there.
She manages to get through her first two years and most of her last year without encountering any major problems, but when her new friend, Sakurako gets on F4's bad side, she decides to defend Sakurako. By openly opposing the F4, they forget all about her friend and give Tsukushi the F4 flag the next day. Tsukushi is at the top of F4's blacklist now. The school's hate for her is compounded and amplified by her family's lower class status.
Instead of giving in and leaving the school as everyone in the past has, Tsukushi decides to fight against the F4. In the first episode, she even punches Tsukasa. The repercussions that Tsukushi will face for opposing the F4 and damaging Tsukasa's pride are unimaginable. (The ending will probably say differently, but I've already learned from this drama that you should never f#ck with rich people.) Lucky for her, another equally powerful F4 member, Rui has taken a liking to her, so she won't be alone in her fight.
Apparently, she will end up in the middle of several love triangles, hexagons, etc. involving the F4 boys; but since they are bigger actors and appear to be much bigger characters, most of the attention will be from Tsukasa and Rui.
I'll assume that most of you Japanophiles have heard of the shoujo manga "hana yori dango". If you don't know the story of the anime/manga, there are some good reviews here at J-Fan by Katze and Lana . There was a live action TV movie featuring Fujiki Naohito made in 1995, but it wasn't until now, 10 years later, that it was finally made into a full drama series. I will be telling you about this new drama series here, but before that I have a confession to make: I never got around to seeing/reading the anime/manga series. (Fans of the anime/manga who found this page are mentally kicking me right now.) Nevertheless, I am prepared to give you my honest opinions of the drama series at face value.
The basic story goes like this: Tsukushi is a girl from a lower-middle class family who goes to a snooty expensive high school where everyone else comes from rich families - and I mean unrealistically and ridiculously manga-style rich. They all get dropped off by their chauffeurs in expensive cars every morning, bringing lunch boxes filled with caviar. This school is ruled by four boys who call themselves the "Flower 4" or "F4" for short. They are among the richest of the students and their parents make generous grants to the school, thus they are allowed to do whatever they want and not even the teachers are allowed to stop them. They are Doumyouji Tsukasa (Matsumoto Jun), Hanazawa Rui (Oguri Shun), Nishikado Soujirou (Matsuda Shouta), and Mimasaka Akira (Abe Tsuyoshi). Tsukasa and Rui are played by current popular male idols while the other two are played by newcomers. Anyway, if you like cute boys you should like this cast.
Whenever anyone at the school does something that the F4 doesn't like, they get an "F4" flag in their locker and they are ostracized and bullied by the F4 and the whole school until they leave. Tsukasa is the ring leader and the meanest of the bunch.
Tsukushi hates the whole school and doesn't actively go along with the F4 or any of the school's other strange traditions. However, she doesn't openly oppose them either as she doesn't want to make any enemies there. Her family is very proud of the fact that she was able to enter such a prestigious school, and she doesn't want to disappoint them, so she is doing her best to survive her three years there.
She manages to get through her first two years and most of her last year without encountering any major problems, but when her new friend, Sakurako gets on F4's bad side, she decides to defend Sakurako. By openly opposing the F4, they forget all about her friend and give Tsukushi the F4 flag the next day. Tsukushi is at the top of F4's blacklist now. The school's hate for her is compounded and amplified by her family's lower class status.
Instead of giving in and leaving the school as everyone in the past has, Tsukushi decides to fight against the F4. In the first episode, she even punches Tsukasa. The repercussions that Tsukushi will face for opposing the F4 and damaging Tsukasa's pride are unimaginable. (The ending will probably say differently, but I've already learned from this drama that you should never f#ck with rich people.) Lucky for her, another equally powerful F4 member, Rui has taken a liking to her, so she won't be alone in her fight.
Apparently, she will end up in the middle of several love triangles, hexagons, etc. involving the F4 boys; but since they are bigger actors and appear to be much bigger characters, most of the attention will be from Tsukasa and Rui.
I don't know how it compares to the manga, but so far I like this drama a lot. You don't have to be a girl to enjoy this. I really hated the F4 and the school in the first episode, I enjoyed seeing Tsukushi getting back at those rich @$$holes. The second episode was great too. A lot of things in this drama are so ridiculous they could have only come from a manga. I guess that's why I specified "comedy" as one of the genres for this drama. Not because the characters have particularly funny lines or actions, but because it's very hard to take the story very seriously and you will probably find yourself laughing at the ridiculous characters and the luxury that they live in. I don't say this in offence toward the drama since it is clearly all intentional and they did a great job of making it funny.
I love it. It's still early in the game, but this is clearly one of the best - if not the best - drama of the season as far as I'm concerned. The only drawback is that it's only nine episodes long, making it a little on the short side for a regular seasonal TV drama. Perhaps some hardcore fans might say the story has been ruined or something by squeezing it into nine episodes (I don't know, I'm just hypothesizing since I've never read the manga and I don't know how the fans would react.), but it has to be better than the short live action offering from 1995 at least. I will bet my money that hardcore fans and newcomers alike will love this drama. This is a gem. Seek it out.
Tsukushi is a girl from a lower-middle class family who goes to a snooty expensive high school where everyone else comes from rich families - and I mean unrealistically and ridiculously manga-style rich. They all get dropped off by their chauffeurs in expensive cars every morning, bringing lunch boxes filled with caviar. This school is ruled by four boys who call themselves the "Flower 4" or "F4" for short. They are among the richest of the students and their parents make generous grants to the school, thus they are allowed to do whatever they want and not even the teachers are allowed to stop them. They are Doumyouji Tsukasa (Matsumoto Jun), Hanazawa Rui (Oguri Shun), Nishikado Soujirou (Matsuda Shouta), and Mimasaka Akira (Abe Tsuyoshi). Tsukasa and Rui are played by current popular male idols while the other two are played by newcomers. Anyway, if you like cute boys you should like this cast.
Whenever anyone at the school does something that the F4 doesn't like, they get an "F4" flag in their locker and they are ostracized and bullied by the F4 and the whole school until they leave. Tsukasa is the ring leader and the meanest of the bunch.
Tsukushi hates the whole school and doesn't actively go along with the F4 or any of the school's other strange traditions. However, she doesn't openly oppose them either as she doesn't want to make any enemies there. Her family is very proud of the fact that she was able to enter such a prestigious school, and she doesn't want to disappoint them, so she is doing her best to survive her three years there.
She manages to get through her first two years and most of her last year without encountering any major problems, but when her new friend, Sakurako gets on F4's bad side, she decides to defend Sakurako. By openly opposing the F4, they forget all about her friend and give Tsukushi the F4 flag the next day. Tsukushi is at the top of F4's blacklist now. The school's hate for her is compounded and amplified by her family's lower class status.
Instead of giving in and leaving the school as everyone in the past has, Tsukushi decides to fight against the F4. In the first episode, she even punches Tsukasa. The repercussions that Tsukushi will face for opposing the F4 and damaging Tsukasa's pride are unimaginable. (The ending will probably say differently, but I've already learned from this drama that you should never f#ck with rich people.) Lucky for her, another equally powerful F4 member, Rui has taken a liking to her, so she won't be alone in her fight.
Apparently, she will end up in the middle of several love triangles, hexagons, etc. involving the F4 boys; but since they are bigger actors and appear to be much bigger characters, most of the attention will be from Tsukasa and Rui.
I'll assume that most of you Japanophiles have heard of the shoujo manga "hana yori dango". If you don't know the story of the anime/manga, there are some good reviews here at J-Fan by Katze and Lana . There was a live action TV movie featuring Fujiki Naohito made in 1995, but it wasn't until now, 10 years later, that it was finally made into a full drama series. I will be telling you about this new drama series here, but before that I have a confession to make: I never got around to seeing/reading the anime/manga series. (Fans of the anime/manga who found this page are mentally kicking me right now.) Nevertheless, I am prepared to give you my honest opinions of the drama series at face value.
The basic story goes like this: Tsukushi is a girl from a lower-middle class family who goes to a snooty expensive high school where everyone else comes from rich families - and I mean unrealistically and ridiculously manga-style rich. They all get dropped off by their chauffeurs in expensive cars every morning, bringing lunch boxes filled with caviar. This school is ruled by four boys who call themselves the "Flower 4" or "F4" for short. They are among the richest of the students and their parents make generous grants to the school, thus they are allowed to do whatever they want and not even the teachers are allowed to stop them. They are Doumyouji Tsukasa (Matsumoto Jun), Hanazawa Rui (Oguri Shun), Nishikado Soujirou (Matsuda Shouta), and Mimasaka Akira (Abe Tsuyoshi). Tsukasa and Rui are played by current popular male idols while the other two are played by newcomers. Anyway, if you like cute boys you should like this cast.
Whenever anyone at the school does something that the F4 doesn't like, they get an "F4" flag in their locker and they are ostracized and bullied by the F4 and the whole school until they leave. Tsukasa is the ring leader and the meanest of the bunch.
Tsukushi hates the whole school and doesn't actively go along with the F4 or any of the school's other strange traditions. However, she doesn't openly oppose them either as she doesn't want to make any enemies there. Her family is very proud of the fact that she was able to enter such a prestigious school, and she doesn't want to disappoint them, so she is doing her best to survive her three years there.
She manages to get through her first two years and most of her last year without encountering any major problems, but when her new friend, Sakurako gets on F4's bad side, she decides to defend Sakurako. By openly opposing the F4, they forget all about her friend and give Tsukushi the F4 flag the next day. Tsukushi is at the top of F4's blacklist now. The school's hate for her is compounded and amplified by her family's lower class status.
Instead of giving in and leaving the school as everyone in the past has, Tsukushi decides to fight against the F4. In the first episode, she even punches Tsukasa. The repercussions that Tsukushi will face for opposing the F4 and damaging Tsukasa's pride are unimaginable. (The ending will probably say differently, but I've already learned from this drama that you should never f#ck with rich people.) Lucky for her, another equally powerful F4 member, Rui has taken a liking to her, so she won't be alone in her fight.
Apparently, she will end up in the middle of several love triangles, hexagons, etc. involving the F4 boys; but since they are bigger actors and appear to be much bigger characters, most of the attention will be from Tsukasa and Rui.
I don't know how it compares to the manga, but so far I like this drama a lot. You don't have to be a girl to enjoy this. I really hated the F4 and the school in the first episode, I enjoyed seeing Tsukushi getting back at those rich @$$holes. The second episode was great too. A lot of things in this drama are so ridiculous they could have only come from a manga. I guess that's why I specified "comedy" as one of the genres for this drama. Not because the characters have particularly funny lines or actions, but because it's very hard to take the story very seriously and you will probably find yourself laughing at the ridiculous characters and the luxury that they live in. I don't say this in offence toward the drama since it is clearly all intentional and they did a great job of making it funny.
I love it. It's still early in the game, but this is clearly one of the best - if not the best - drama of the season as far as I'm concerned. The only drawback is that it's only nine episodes long, making it a little on the short side for a regular seasonal TV drama. Perhaps some hardcore fans might say the story has been ruined or something by squeezing it into nine episodes (I don't know, I'm just hypothesizing since I've never read the manga and I don't know how the fans would react.), but it has to be better than the short live action offering from 1995 at least. I will bet my money that hardcore fans and newcomers alike will love this drama. This is a gem. Seek it out.
