Hana Yori Dango!

So, a few months ago I stumbled across a Taiwanese drama, called Meteor Garden.
I soon got to know it had been a big hit on Taiwanese televisions, so I decided to try it. Rainie Yang had also gotten a little part in it (she was younger and less expert at the time), and you know how obsessed I am with her.
The drama had good premises, and I was so eager to start it.
However, after a few episodes, I realized:
a) the acting sucked. I'm sorry, but it's true;
b) the clothes were so horrible I couldn't even look at them;
c) the lines were stupid;
d ) I didn't like the actors.

So all these elements were kind of a throw-off, and I gave up on the drama.
However, considering my latest obsession for SS501, I realized Kim Hyun Joong (ex leader of the band) acted in Boys Over Flowers, the Korean version of Meteor Garden.
So I told myself, "Why not?" The plot was already nice, and I'd change actors, so maybe it would be better.
In the mean time I also discovered there was yet another version of it, a Japanese one.
And here you have me unable to decide which one to try first.
My friend Erica, who studies Japanese, adviced me to 'absolutely read Hana Yori Dango', which is the title given to the Japanese version, coming right from the inspiring manga.
I decided to trust her taste and try that one.

..


AWESOME.

Hana Yori Dango stars Inoue Mao and Matsumoto Jun as main characters, respectively Makino Tsukushi and Domyouji Tsukasa. The other names I still have to learn.
Basically, in the drama you have Makino, a poor girl studying at a prestigious school, thanks to her parents' continuous sacrifices. She has a strong sense of justice and doesn't like people comanding her.
Domyouji is the leader of the F4, a worldwide-famous 'group' formed by Domyouji and three other friends of his: Hanazawa Rui, I-can't-remember-your-name Soujiroh and I-can't remember-your-name-at-all. (Hey! They're Japanese. It's hard enough in Chinese, give me a break.)
The F4 are bullies who don't care about anyone or anything, and always get what they want. Since they're probably the richest heirs in all Japan, no one can tell a thing to them. Not even the teachers. So they basically have complete freedom wherever they go.
Well, Makino and Domyouji's fates encounter when he makes fun of her friend, Sakurako, and she can't stand it. She stands up and finally tells Domyouji to back off.
Isn't he surprised at this show of courage, especially coming from a pennyless girl. And especially when she punches him in front of the whole school and then takes off.
Reaction? Domyouji gives her the 'red notice', a red paper signed F4, which basically announces that you're in deep shit. Since the F4 rule on the whole school, you're now at the mercee of everybody, ready to be picked on and assaulted.
When she doesn't back off, Domyouji appeals to more drastic ways to scare Makino. Only everytime she's in serious danger, Hanazawa Rui is always around. He's the 'angel' of the group. (he always dresses in white!) He doesn't like having all this power, he doesn't want it. He's the more reflective and introspective one of the F4. And when Makino needs him, he's always there to help her, even though he clearly states he's not doing for her, but only because he hates that sort of things (the attacks).
That doesn't prevent Makino from developing a huge crush on him.
And Domyouji's reaction? He's jealous. He's slowly coming to admire Makino's strength and courage, and he feels something deep in his chest telling him to know more about her.
So what will happen, with Makino in love with an ngel, and a demon in love with her?
Who will she choose in the end?

I totally loved this drama.
It's composed of two seasons, plus a movie. I'm currently watching the movie.
Season one was really good, and it made you think, at the end, that everything was going to be just fine. Then season two, anyway, was an emotional roller coaster. I kept sighing and being sad while watching the episode. It was so heartbreaking yet so addicting, I couldn't stop watching even though I was mentally suffering.
It ended AMAZINGLY. And maybe they should've stopped there.
The movie I'm watching right now is cool, and I like having more of M. and D., but maybe if they left it at the end of season two it would have been better. That ending was just perfect.
Anyway, I'm gonna see the end of this movie and find out how it all finally ends.

---

I felt like sharing this with you, since I liked it so much.
It took me some time to get used to Japanese, since I usually watch Taiwanese drama, but it was fun. I actually learned something of the language, haha.
So, in case you were thinking about watching HYD (Hana Yori Dango), DO IT DO IT DO IT!
It's awesome.




xx darkwriter

New design!.. again.

Hola guys.
I changed for the twentieth time my layout and background.
Don't get me wrong--I loved the last one. Seriously, that black and those flames were totally badass (LOL), but I felt it was kind of.. heavy. Like you couldn't fully concentrate on what was written on the blog. So I changed it. Snow is pure and silence hangs on the landscape, so I think it's perfect. (:


So, what's up with you?
Christmas's come and gone! And so is New Year's Eve. So now we're finally in 2012.
Do you think we're all going to die? I personally hope so.
Not because one of my last wishes is to hear people screaming in my hears pulling their hair out and going mad because the world is revolting on itself (though that would be fun to see), but because it would mean something.
Wouldn't it be cool to know that somewhere, somehow, somebody was able, more than two thousand years ago, to predict the end of the whole world? That must be pretty badass.
If there's something after death, I was a Maya, and the world really did end, I'd be laughing my ass off at people's faces when they realize after all the Mexican guys were right.
Of course, there are more than a million possibilities, which would state the world is not ending, for why they stoppped their calendar at year 2012. Like, they had finished paper (or whatever they wrote on or something). Or they grew bored. Or they wanted to play a trick on the fools who would believe them. LOL. Or maybe they were right.
Anyway, I was doing one of my usual wandering on google/wikipedia, so I looked up the Maya Calendar on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_calendar This is what's written about it. It explains how their calendar is formed, and why would people think 2012 will be the last year of our lives.
But it also states there are some inscriptions regarding years after 2012, so it's improbable our end-of-the-world supposition is true.
Still, hoping doesn't hurt.


Lately I've been obsessed with a Korean band called ss501. Even though their fans hate them to be called this (screw you! mwah. I'm saying it and proud of it), they kind of sound like the Korean backstreet boys. Just go listen to them, it's totally true, and it's stupid to try denying it.
I personally love Love ya, Love Like This and Not Alone. The others were cool but basically these three are the only ones I really like.
Also, I learned that in 2010 (or was it 2009?) the group disbanded because their contract ended. So they kept making music, but everybody on his own, as a solo artist.
Right now I only listened to Kiss Kiss and Please by Kim Hyun Joong, the ex-lead of the band, and I liked them. Kiss Kiss is kind of commercial, but it's cute. Please, on the other hand, is really really beautiful. I love the lyrics.
I also listened to a song by some other guy of the group, but I can't remember the name or the song. >.< (Hey, Korean names are difficult!)
And oh, sorry. I just realized that Not Alone is actually a solo song, by Park Jung Min. It's not SS501's. It's just that this was the first Korean song I heard, and I'd read that he was part of that band so I thought the song was by them. Wrong. (:


I'm also feeding my obsession for Rainie Yang, watching another taiwanese drama with her in it. It's called Drunken To Love You, starring Joseph Chang and her and other people I don't know the names of.
It's basically the story of two people who are both going to get married, but they both get dumped by their respective boyfriend/girlfriend. So they get drunk together, not knowing each other, and end up marrying. The next morning they wake up not knowing what happened and finding their status on their ID cards changed from 'single' to 'married'. No need to say they're in deep shit.
The problem now with getting a fast divorse is that Jie Xiu's (Joseph Chang) is Tang Ai Wei, a famous movie star. And she's apologizing to him, telling him she wants him back, but at the same time saying they can't become public and the moment because it would ruin her movie contract. So she proposes something:
Xiao Ru (Rainie Yang) and Jie Xiu could stay married as a fake couple, so that Ai Wei and Jie Xiu won't have trouble with paparazzi. Xiao Ru reluctantly accepts under the offer of one million RMB (Ren Min Bi, Chinese coin) (while she was drunk, she left her rent house and spent all her 600.000 RMB somewhere. She doesn't know where.), but things get complicated when Jie Xiu and her start feeling something they shouldn't for each other.
So where will this take us..?
This is the second installment of a trilogy which started with another drama, Fated To Love You. (this one was basically about a girl losing her virginity to a stranger, because she thought he was her boyfriend. While he made love to her thinking she was his girlfriend. She gets pregnant and BAM! They're in deep shit, too, and have to handle the situation. And of course they fall in love in the process. I didn't personally watch this drama. I only saw the first two or three episodes, but I totally loathed the main character so I abandoned it. But I hear it had record audience.)
Like FTLU, it had a great audience and an enormous success in Taiwan.
Rainie cut her hair and for once played a more mature character. It was a great turn for her, and she did it really well.
I currently have three episodes left to see, then I'm off to the next drama, haha.




Right now I'm reading Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bronte. I'd arranged to finish it in one week, but I'm at the end of the second and still stuck on the same point since almost a week now. I'm gonna finish in the next few days though. I will. u.u
Also, I'm reading Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia but I'm stuck with that one, too.
One of the reasons is that I got hooked up with this Taiwanese drama so I was concentrated on that, but also this book isn't has good as I was hoping. It's not that it's bad, it's just plain boring. x'D
I'd picked it up because I'd heard nice reviews about it, and maybe it's all in the ending, but so far I haven't found anything special about it. 


So, it's past one a.m. in the morning and I have school tomorrow, so I'll leave you guys now.
I hope this background satifies me still tomorrow, so I won't have to change it again.
Goodnight, love! 


xx