Last week, I found out that the last episode of the Jdrama (Japanese drama) of Hanazakiri no Kimitachi e, a live action TV series based on the manga of the same title, was out. It started in Japan in June this year, and ended just a few days ago.

The manga Hanazakiri no Kimitachi e ("For You In Full Blossom", also known as "HanaKimi") was written by Hisaya Nakajo way back in 1996, and ended in 2004... right about the time I first started reading it.

The story revolves around Mizuki Ashiya, a Japanese girl who grew up in the States. One day when watching a track and field competition, she sees Izumi Sano competing in the high jump. She begins to idolize him for the way he jumps, and also for the way he lives. Eventually she transfers to Japan in order to attend the same school that Sano attends. It's not just any school, though: it's an all-boys high school!

Even though I absolutely love the manga series, I tried not to watch the J-drama first... Partly because I was never a "manga turned live action" fan -- I've got nothing against it, though -- and partly because I wanted to marathon it. Harhar. (And also partly because I was too busy to bother with it.)

So, this weekend, I decided to marathon all 12 episodes.

And, suprisingly... Read full post...

I was slightly disappointed.

*sigh*

"But why?!" you ask. "Isn't the acting good?"

It was, actually.

"Isn't the casting good?"

Argh. Near perfect. I think everyone fit their characters well! Tomo Ikuta (playing Nakatsu) is, like, a scene stealer. Haha! But still everyone did an awesome job.
"Isn't the story good?"

Hmm... Well... Er...

*ahem*

The story is , I suppose. That is, if you completely forget the manga. True, the J-drama followed the original general plot, and they kept the characters as they were (that is, if you ignore the additional characters inserted here and there), but the events in the story were too different.

I also felt kind of rushed... The development of chemistry between Mizuki and the Dorm 2 boys was a bit sudden, the whole "Sano going back to high jump" issue wasn't simmered, and the Sano+Mizuki build-up was a bit off in the beginning... Argh. And I missed Umeda-sensei's bishieness (and ecchiness. LOL!)

Of course, this is all me.

And, I suppose if I DID forget the manga, maybe I'd be thinking differently.

And so, after watching for 12 hours (not continuous, though, as I had to eat and have a life) and finished a bit disappointed, I was driven into checking out the 2006 Taiwanese version.
That made Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nu the first Taiwanese drama I ever watched. Whoopee. (No. Unlike the rest of the Philippine female population, I did NOT watch Meteor Garden.)

At first I was raising my eyebrows because of Ella, the girl acting as Rui Xi (the Taiwanese counterpart of Mizuki). I mean, hey, no offense to Ella or anything, but Mizuki had to look like a pretty girl and a cute boy. At the same time. Now, Ella's actually pretty and all, but when Rui Xi was acting like a boy, she looked too... tomboyish. They seemed to forget that, even though Mizuki had the whole school fooled, she was still supposed to fail at acting like a boy, and she was supposed to look immensely girly that a lot of guys thought she was a girly boy, and it should be a wonder why everyone else didn't become seriously suspicious of her.

As the series progressed, though, I began to warm up to her. But still I maintain that the haircut could've been better, and the acting might have been more fitting... Horikita Maki did an awesome job in the Japanese version, so... Yeah. I'm comparing. Heh.

The rest of the cast was okay. Quan (TW counter of Sano) was a bit too smiley too early for me, though. Hm. Then again, Shun Oguri's Sano was a bit too... frowny.

The best part about the Taiwanese series, though, is how faithful it was to the manga. Sure, a lot of the original events were omitted (unavoidable, unless we want a LONG series), but still, it was as faithful as they can make it. And they even gave some scenes nice twists of their own.

I'm just annoyed that Rui Xi didn't look (and, sometimes, act) like Mizuki. If Rui Xi was another girl who is NOT Mizuki, it'd be fine. But no. She's supposed to be Mizuki, just with another name. Rawr. Quan got an awesome Wu Chun, though. *insert fangirl screech here* Heeheehee.

So, in summary....

HanaKimi J-drama: awesome casting, awesome acting, but diverges from the manga.

Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nu: okay adaptation, but a bit overacted Rui Xi >_<>

Labels: anime, hanakimi, hanazakiri no kimitachi e, manga, reviews, tv

Posted by sarah on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 8:53 PM | Permalink