Boys Before Flowers

I have always been crazy about those corny love stories around and most people would probably recognise the Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango's crazy plot of four rich and ridiculously handsome guys, a poor girl, a hateful witch and the girl's hilarious family companions. Not surprised that most girls would probably scorn at the idea being able to transcend into reality, but a girl can always dream, right? ;)

Initially I wasn't aware of the Japanese manga, the first existence of something from this manga was the Taiwanese version of Boys Before Flowers re-named as Meteor Garden. Yes, I admit the guys were tall and some was quite handsome (the lead was too masculine for my taste) and that was probably the first time I was ever exposed to mainstream Asian dramas. Quite a sad reality. But I enjoyed watching it nonetheless until I encountered other Asian dramas and realised how badly the actors in Meteor Garden acted! I never really like the Japanese drama version of Hana Yori Dango since it wasn't my exact kind of eye candy ;P and realising that the storyline is still the same as the two seasoned Meteor Garden I didn't give it a chance to entertain me.

So I was slightly skeptical when Boys Before Flowers Korean version was announced late (or mid) 2008, but after looking through the cast I was anticipating it! I mean, for goodness' sake! Look at all the eye candies in it!!! But I was still skeptical nonetheless since I remembered Meteor Garden actually went for about 40 or so episodes just to get to the end of the bloody story. I was hoping that the Korean version would be slightly or even more less than that. Not to mention I already know the storyline which makes it much worse for the director and script writers knowing that most people would've been aware of the original manga and thus the storyline... But it appears that I have gotten my wish! Well, I'm not too entirely sure about it myself but it will only go for around 20 or so episodes, which is a relief given the duration of each episode is around one hour and having to go through 40 episodes worth one hour each will definitely consume too much of my time.

Truthfully, even though there are 10 episodes available for viewing now I have hardly watch beyond the second episode, which is a shame because I really enjoyed the first two. The only complaint I really have is that the main actress really does look older than the guys, not much of a surprise given the actress actually is older than the guys. But either way I grew fond of her in the role of Geum Jan Di (or Tsukasa in the original manga). As for the main actor, I never knew a guy could don a carefully styled perm to such elegance! No I was not being sarcastic, I admit I like it and it also suits him as well. Oh! Before I forget also another complaint is that Kim Hyun Joong the real name of the 'other' guy (yes, as you may have noted by this point I clearly can't remember names) really lacks in the acting department. Maybe it's notably because it's his first debut as an actor (he is one of the member of a Korean boyband SS501) so he appeared nervous and quite awkward at times with the other characters. According to a friend of mine, who has viewed more episodes than me, his acting skill developed with each episode and became better as a part of it. I hope so. I don't want to be disappointed all over again that's for sure.