Live Action: Romantic Princess

This probably doesn't belong on this blog. Oh well, I'm going to talk about it anyway.

I started watching this show a few months ago and I was really into it. The story starts with a girl, Shao-Mai, who happily lives with her parents in a run-down part of Taiwan. Shao-Mai dreams of earning a lot of money one day so she can buy a castle. Ah, but be careful what you wish for ... One day some very important men show up at her door and tell Shao-Mai's parents that Shao-Mai is actually the long lost granddaughter of the richest man in Taiwan, Huangfu, and that her grandfather wants Shao-Mai to live with him.

Huangfu has no heirs, so he brought in four brothers to raise to possibly be his heir. The front runner is Jin, a serious, intelligent, and handsome young man who does not want to handed over the position of heir. He would rather earn his position through his own hard work. Huangfu has planned for Jin to married his granddaughter. And so goes the story -- Jin and Shao-Mai fall in love, but Jin's desire to be free of the Huangfu keeps them apart.

As I said before, I was really into this show and then suddenly during the 7th episode, I lost all interest. I can't completely figure out why, but now I don't care and the show seems really stupid. I guess I was waiting for Jin to do something bright like run away with Shao-Mai so they could live the simple existence of hard work that they wanted. I'm tired of the glamour shots of boys in cars, boats, and luxury hotel rooms. Sigh ... Oh, well ... it makes me feel like I'm old and fuddy-duddy to give up this way.

The Devil Beside You -- Live Action Taiwanese Version

I honestly tried watching this drama since it came highly recommended from the Crunchy Roll drama forum. The first 5 or so episodes were really good and then the show went to repetitive suckdom and I became bored. I read the manga a couple of years ago and I remembered the basic premise -- high school deliquent who is also the son of the school's director decides he "wants" the main character who's mother is going to marry the school's director, the result being a pair of "dangerous" siblings. For whatever reason the two don't realize since they aren't blood related that it's okay. I remember reading the manga and getting tired of the main female character asking "what should I do?" every other page as repeated misfortune and misunderstanding followed one after another. It felt the same way watching this too and to a greater extent since the actress playing the main character is really good at pouting. The main male character is played by an actor with lots of charisma, but even his charisma isn't enough to keep me hooked. Oh well ...

Series Review: Hanazakarino Kimitachi e -- Taiwanese Live Action Version

I finally finished this series last night and it was good until the last two episode. This series follows the manga pretty closely and concluded with the photo shoot. It seemed, though, as if the screen writers didn't know how to end the series, so there was a lot of filler and Rei Xi (Mizuki) and Shu Yi (Nakatsu) became louder, shriller, and more over dramatic as things wore on. I got so irritated with the actors that I fast-forwarded through a lot of the hystronics. I, also, still was bugged by the appearance of the actress who played Rei Xi. No matter how I looked at her, she was not cute. Her way of moving and her expressions were not that of someone who is a girl or of someone 16/17 year old. In the outdoor photoshoot scene I finally figured it out. She looks like a chubby cheeked ten year old, very much like the curly headed Coke-girl from about 10-years back. She also acted like a very loud and very hyper 10-year boy, which made it hard for me to believe that her character could feel romantic love -- which may have actually been a reflection of the heart of the actress, because she had absolutely no chemistry with Jian (Sano) so the sexual tension the two experience while living together doesn't get expressed (or rather it's expressed one-sidedly by the actor that plays Jian, but comes off all wrong because of the Rei Xi's actress). The actor that played Jian is very good and definitely looks the part. I felt so bad, though, that he had to act like he was romantically in love with a chubby-cheeked androgenous child. It felt more like a big-brother looking after little brother more than anything. I did like that they added the extra element of Shu Yi falling in love with Julia. I had hoped that that would happen in the manga and I was disappointed when it didn't. It seemed that the way that they argued indicated an underlying attraction, or so I had hoped.

Anyhow, I think this version of the story really understood the craziness of the situation of both Mizuki and Sano holding on tightly to an illusion so they can be together, but at the same time using the illusion to protect themselves from hurt. I think it also dealt well with Sano's internal struggle against himself with regards to high-jump, keeping Mizuki's secret and how he uses her secret to toy with her. I think though, I would have like to have seen this actor go through the emotions of finally breaking down and his efforts to finally get he and Mizuki to move toward to confess their feelings. Instead, they left them in the illusion. I also like the way they handle the doctor and his gayness in such matter-of-fact and straightforward way.

I give this 5/5 for Jian and doctor and an overall 3/5 because Rei Xi wasn't convincing and the last two episodes were really annoying. They really missed the point that Mizuki in no way looks like a boy or acts like one, but rather she cuts her hair, puts on boys clothing, goes to a boy's school and convinces herself into believing that everyone takes her as a boy. And most everyone believes she's a boy because they assume that a girl wouldn't choose to go to an all boys school. It's a circle arguement.

Hanazakarino Kimitachi e -- Taiwanese Live Action Version

I have watched the first 5 episodes of this 15 episode long version of Hana-Kimi and I find it quite good. At first I didn't like that the actress that plays the Mizuki character (Mizuki is called Rei Xi in the version) because she actually looks like a chubby unattactractive boy -- well more like a "Pat" type from SNL -- but I think I've gotten used to her (and her overacting). The other characters are well played and well cast, especially the Sano character (Jian or Quan depending on the fansubber group) and the Nakatsu character (Shu Yi). This version, so far, follows the manga very closely, so it's very satisfying to watch. There are some deviations that had to be made to account for the casting of the Rei Xi. Instead of Jian inspiring her when she was being teased at home for being Asian, Rei Xi was teased instead for being fat. It's a change that doesn't affect the story at all. Anyhow, I'm really enjoying it and I'm wondering at what point in the story it will end it since at the end of episode 5, the story is at the beginning of the 3rd volume of the manga. Hmm ... we'll see ...