Tale of Pig-Bunny
After watching Rakshasa Street, I figure I'd watch something with Jiro Wang that's not dubbed so that ended up being Fabulous Boys, which is a remake of Korea's You're Beautiful. I never seen the original, but the internet keeps telling me the Taiwan version is the superior version (probably because it has Jiro Wang). Based on my experience with Korean dramas, I don't have a huge urge to watch the original, so I guess that everything worked out for the best.
The story is the standard, girl-dresses-up-as-a-guy-for-reasons-and-gender-bending-comedy-ensues drama. This time, orphan Gao Mei Nu (literally meaning "Tall Beautiful Girl") dresses up as her twin brother, Gao Mei Nan (literally meaning "Tall Beautiful Boy") after her brother was incapacitated by plastic surgery gone wrong. His dream was to join a successful boy band while at the same time finding their parents through fame. So after he was incapacitated, she fills in for him and joins A.N. Jell, a band consisting of cool guy Huang Tai Jing, nice guy Jiang Xin Yu, and funny guy Jeremy (too funny to have a full name).
From left to right: Nice Guy, Cool Guy, Funny Guy, rabid fans.
Cast and Characters
Lyan Cheng plays Gao Mei Nu and her brother Gao Mei Nan.
Lyan Cheng does a passably okay job of looking like a pretty guy when she's dressed up. But her overly shy and cringy body language makes it a fail.
That's not to mention that her voice is incredibly feminine so I don't know how anyone would not have been clued in to the fact that she's a woman. At least the drama made it clear that two out of three boy band members were pretty much instantly aware he's a girl. That still leaves one incredibly clueless guy.
Jiro Wang plays Huang Tai Jing, the super cool band leader that falls in love with Gao Mei Nu.
I'm a fan of Jiro Wang and he usually does cheerful characters. So it's refreshing to see him do something else where he's the too-cool-for-life character that is kind of rageful at times. But when he's charming, he's charming.
His character is sort of the standard drama male lead that mistreats the female lead but she still ends up falling in love with him somehow. It's pretty dickish and I hate romances where the guy is constantly putting down the girl. But I'll give it a pass because it's Jiro Wang. And the ending [spoilers]...did have him apologize to the girl about what an emotionally unavailable and selfish dick he was. So at least's he self-aware and there's character growth/change.
Hwang In Deok plays Jiang Xin Yu, the nice, observant guy that falls in love with Gao Mei Nu after realizing Gao Mei Nan a woman.
Jiang Xin Yu is the standard nice guy in a drama and I don't know if I really care for his character. He started off being not that creepy. But then towards the end, it was just full on stalker mode.
I suppose maybe female drama fans would like how he's a supportive guy or whatever. But I'm just turned off by these "watch-from-afar-and-silently-protect-you characters". The shorter term for that is "stalker". I can give it a pass and it can work in a story where he may have known this person for years and years, not days. I don't understand that drive and motivation in this situation where he barely knows Gao Mei Nu. Then even after it's clear to him that Gao Mei Nu (obviously) like Huang Tai Jing and vice versa, he still tries to insert himself into their relationship (hehe...insert). Like, just butt out at that point, man! Bow out with some grace and dignity and go have hot pot by yourself in the middle of the day!
Evan Yo plays the cheerful guy Jeremy, who falls in love with Gao Mei Nan, not knowing that he's a woman and then gets all confused.
Jeremy is clearly that guy in a boy band that's the most unattractive but blends in with the more attractive band members to be passably attractive. And personality, or whatever. That's all well and fine, since there's clearly going to be a least attractive person in any group of people. But Jeremy is just such an uninteresting character. He's also supposed to be the comic relief, but I find his whole character kind of forced. Not China levels of forced humor, but getting there.
Jenna Wang plays Liu Xin Ning, the two-faced actress that tries to get together with Tai Jing
Jenna Wang does a fairly good job playing the scheming actress. She's called "the nation's fairy" so she maintains this really nice image on the outside. But she's actually bitchy on the inside...but has a heart of gold? The drama kind of can't make up its mind on this character. On one hand, she's one of the "villains" of the drama where she blackmails Tai Jing into going out with her and blackmails Mei Nu into breaking up with Tai Jing. On the other hand, she obviously has morals and tries not to outright hurt people. So, in general, she's probably like some sort of Sunday morning cartoon villain that will rob people blind but stop short of mass murder. I don't think the drama makes it clear what her motivations are for being a giant bitch in trying to blackmail Tai Jing and later Mei Nu. But I like to think it's because Tai Jing constantly calls her out for being a liar while everyone else loves Gao Mei Nu, who she sees as lying to everyone every single day.
The Good
Music
Some of the soundtrack were ripped from the Korean drama with Mandarin slapped over the tunes. Other songs are newly written. In a drama about a boy band, those tunes had better be good and they're pretty good. I gave a quick listen to the Korean soundtrack and I like the Taiwanese soundtrack better. From the times I tried to listen to Korean drama OST and pop music, I really can't get into it.
Jiro Wang and Evan Yo sang most of the songs with additional singing by Pets Tseng on behalf of Lyan Cheng, who doesn't do her own singing in the drama. But at least she knows how to lip sync convincingly. And that's another thing with this drama. Everyone at least has the capability to pretend to sing/play an instrument if they don't already actually have the capability to sing/play an instrument.
Evan Yo does the insert song. It's like crack and it's forced upon the viewers because it plays between every commercial break. So I dig it even though the lyrics are questionable:
He goes:
我就是要跟你白頭到老 (I just want to be with you until we're both old)
好不好 好不好 (Yes or no? Yes or no?)
不准你說不好 (I won't allow you to say no)
Geeze, man, "no" means no!
Pets Tseng's 愛情怎麼喊停 is less weirdly stalkery but still pretty stalkery. It's a different song for Mei Nan to sing than the one from the Korean version and I have to say I like this version better.
And Jiro Wang contributes with 半個人, which is not at all stalkery! Yay! I like Jiro Wang's voice so I prefer this over the songs in the Korean drama.
Comedy
"Well, that's good," you say, since this drama is a comedy. But after going through mainland China's brand of comedy in Fights Break Sphere, I'm all the more appreciative of Taiwan's competent comedy.
At one point, the boy band has to shoot an MV for one of Gao Mei Nan's solo songs. For some reason, they came up with the idea that there should be a love triangle between Tai Jing, Mei Nan, and Xin Ning. In this scene, Tai Jing and Mei Nan are supposed to be sketching (of all things) by an ancient ruin and then look up longingly as Xin Ning enters their fields of vision.
Then Tai Jing turns and looks at Mei Nan and they end up staring longingly at each other while everyone looks on befuddled.
Then allergy sidelines Tai Jing so they bring in Xin Yu as a replacement. Once again, the two of them are supposed to sit and sketch like what good bros do when Xin Ning appears.
Instead of staring longingly at Xin Ning, Xin Yu also ends up staring longingly at Mei Nan. At that point, the MV director gives up and asks Mei Nan and Xin Yu to just shoot "sketching like good bros" scenes.
Tai Jing asks as he watches Mei Nan and Xin Yu frolic around while sketching.
I like that, at times, the drama is self-aware of how silly it is and makes fun of itself. That's always a plus.
Jiro Wang's Huang Tai Jing
Jiro Wang saves his drama character from being totally unwatchable and thereby rendering this whole drama unwatchable. His character is supposed to be the standard drama male lead. He can't emote properly and therefore treats the female lead with detached scorn most of the time. But Jiro Wang saves the day.
Tai Jing may go around glaring at Mei Nu and bosses her about. But then he looks at her this way when he thinks no one else is looking:
Or he's actually there for her in her times of need. He may act like he's too cool for life when people are looking, but he's okay with cracking smiles and being goofy when no one else is around:
And that's actually a logical character trait considering Tai Jing's need to maintain a public image as the lead singer of a boy band versus his private insecurities. I've seen similar things done in drama to try to redeem asshole male leads like this but this is probably an instance where it actually works because Jiro Wang just comes off as naturally likable. He can look scary and intimidating.
But the next moment, he can look very sweet and sincere.
The Bad
Boy Band Hair?
I'm obviously a fan of Jiro Wang and I'm assuming the other people in this drama are also attractive people. But you'd never know it from the horrible hair everyone has.
Gao Mei Nu should be a woman pretending to be a man, so maybe they gave her a bad haircut to emphasize the lack of femininity. But does it have to be such a bowl haircut? I don't understand this styling decision at all.
Tai Jing and Xin Yu's hair make their heads look tiny, which also doesn't help that they're both too jacked and were styled to emphasize their size. They both need better hair and wardrobe. And maybe Jeremy isn't supposed to look good, but at least give him a nice coloring?
Internal Thoughts, Externalized
This is a problem with Taiwanese dramas in general: they just can't allow actors to convey their inner thoughts through acting. It's not that they're not good actors. They're perfectly fine for this rom com. But the characters constantly have to verbalize their internal thoughts to hammer the point home to audiences. It's a little needless and kind of sells the actors short, too.
Romantic Comedy?
There's the comedy, but I don't find controlling and/or stalkery men attractive. I guess I'm just not their target audience.
Conclusion
And I got tired of screencapping so I'm going to stop my review here. In short, it's an okay drama to pass the time and a plus if you like any of the actors in it, which I do, so it was good for me. Nothing is overwhelmingly good in it and nothing is overly offensive. I did think the last four episodes were more draggy and artificially dramatic than it needed to be but I also think the very last episode was fairly good. It's got an overly cliched get-together scene for Tai Jing and Mei Nu, but it's a romantic comedy so that's how it's supposed to be.
The story is the standard, girl-dresses-up-as-a-guy-for-reasons-and-gender-bending-comedy-ensues drama. This time, orphan Gao Mei Nu (literally meaning "Tall Beautiful Girl") dresses up as her twin brother, Gao Mei Nan (literally meaning "Tall Beautiful Boy") after her brother was incapacitated by plastic surgery gone wrong. His dream was to join a successful boy band while at the same time finding their parents through fame. So after he was incapacitated, she fills in for him and joins A.N. Jell, a band consisting of cool guy Huang Tai Jing, nice guy Jiang Xin Yu, and funny guy Jeremy (too funny to have a full name).
From left to right: Nice Guy, Cool Guy, Funny Guy, rabid fans.
Cast and Characters
Lyan Cheng plays Gao Mei Nu and her brother Gao Mei Nan.
Lyan Cheng does a passably okay job of looking like a pretty guy when she's dressed up. But her overly shy and cringy body language makes it a fail.
That's not to mention that her voice is incredibly feminine so I don't know how anyone would not have been clued in to the fact that she's a woman. At least the drama made it clear that two out of three boy band members were pretty much instantly aware he's a girl. That still leaves one incredibly clueless guy.
Jiro Wang plays Huang Tai Jing, the super cool band leader that falls in love with Gao Mei Nu.
I'm a fan of Jiro Wang and he usually does cheerful characters. So it's refreshing to see him do something else where he's the too-cool-for-life character that is kind of rageful at times. But when he's charming, he's charming.
His character is sort of the standard drama male lead that mistreats the female lead but she still ends up falling in love with him somehow. It's pretty dickish and I hate romances where the guy is constantly putting down the girl. But I'll give it a pass because it's Jiro Wang. And the ending [spoilers]...did have him apologize to the girl about what an emotionally unavailable and selfish dick he was. So at least's he self-aware and there's character growth/change.
Hwang In Deok plays Jiang Xin Yu, the nice, observant guy that falls in love with Gao Mei Nu after realizing Gao Mei Nan a woman.
Jiang Xin Yu is the standard nice guy in a drama and I don't know if I really care for his character. He started off being not that creepy. But then towards the end, it was just full on stalker mode.
I suppose maybe female drama fans would like how he's a supportive guy or whatever. But I'm just turned off by these "watch-from-afar-and-silently-protect-you characters". The shorter term for that is "stalker". I can give it a pass and it can work in a story where he may have known this person for years and years, not days. I don't understand that drive and motivation in this situation where he barely knows Gao Mei Nu. Then even after it's clear to him that Gao Mei Nu (obviously) like Huang Tai Jing and vice versa, he still tries to insert himself into their relationship (hehe...insert). Like, just butt out at that point, man! Bow out with some grace and dignity and go have hot pot by yourself in the middle of the day!
Evan Yo plays the cheerful guy Jeremy, who falls in love with Gao Mei Nan, not knowing that he's a woman and then gets all confused.
Jeremy is clearly that guy in a boy band that's the most unattractive but blends in with the more attractive band members to be passably attractive. And personality, or whatever. That's all well and fine, since there's clearly going to be a least attractive person in any group of people. But Jeremy is just such an uninteresting character. He's also supposed to be the comic relief, but I find his whole character kind of forced. Not China levels of forced humor, but getting there.
Jenna Wang plays Liu Xin Ning, the two-faced actress that tries to get together with Tai Jing
Jenna Wang does a fairly good job playing the scheming actress. She's called "the nation's fairy" so she maintains this really nice image on the outside. But she's actually bitchy on the inside...but has a heart of gold? The drama kind of can't make up its mind on this character. On one hand, she's one of the "villains" of the drama where she blackmails Tai Jing into going out with her and blackmails Mei Nu into breaking up with Tai Jing. On the other hand, she obviously has morals and tries not to outright hurt people. So, in general, she's probably like some sort of Sunday morning cartoon villain that will rob people blind but stop short of mass murder. I don't think the drama makes it clear what her motivations are for being a giant bitch in trying to blackmail Tai Jing and later Mei Nu. But I like to think it's because Tai Jing constantly calls her out for being a liar while everyone else loves Gao Mei Nu, who she sees as lying to everyone every single day.
The Good
Music
Some of the soundtrack were ripped from the Korean drama with Mandarin slapped over the tunes. Other songs are newly written. In a drama about a boy band, those tunes had better be good and they're pretty good. I gave a quick listen to the Korean soundtrack and I like the Taiwanese soundtrack better. From the times I tried to listen to Korean drama OST and pop music, I really can't get into it.
Jiro Wang and Evan Yo sang most of the songs with additional singing by Pets Tseng on behalf of Lyan Cheng, who doesn't do her own singing in the drama. But at least she knows how to lip sync convincingly. And that's another thing with this drama. Everyone at least has the capability to pretend to sing/play an instrument if they don't already actually have the capability to sing/play an instrument.
Evan Yo does the insert song. It's like crack and it's forced upon the viewers because it plays between every commercial break. So I dig it even though the lyrics are questionable:
Click to viewHe goes:
我就是要跟你白頭到老 (I just want to be with you until we're both old)
好不好 好不好 (Yes or no? Yes or no?)
不准你說不好 (I won't allow you to say no)
Geeze, man, "no" means no!
Pets Tseng's 愛情怎麼喊停 is less weirdly stalkery but still pretty stalkery. It's a different song for Mei Nan to sing than the one from the Korean version and I have to say I like this version better.
And Jiro Wang contributes with 半個人, which is not at all stalkery! Yay! I like Jiro Wang's voice so I prefer this over the songs in the Korean drama.
Comedy
"Well, that's good," you say, since this drama is a comedy. But after going through mainland China's brand of comedy in Fights Break Sphere, I'm all the more appreciative of Taiwan's competent comedy.
At one point, the boy band has to shoot an MV for one of Gao Mei Nan's solo songs. For some reason, they came up with the idea that there should be a love triangle between Tai Jing, Mei Nan, and Xin Ning. In this scene, Tai Jing and Mei Nan are supposed to be sketching (of all things) by an ancient ruin and then look up longingly as Xin Ning enters their fields of vision.
Then Tai Jing turns and looks at Mei Nan and they end up staring longingly at each other while everyone looks on befuddled.
Then allergy sidelines Tai Jing so they bring in Xin Yu as a replacement. Once again, the two of them are supposed to sit and sketch like what good bros do when Xin Ning appears.
Instead of staring longingly at Xin Ning, Xin Yu also ends up staring longingly at Mei Nan. At that point, the MV director gives up and asks Mei Nan and Xin Yu to just shoot "sketching like good bros" scenes.
Tai Jing asks as he watches Mei Nan and Xin Yu frolic around while sketching.
I like that, at times, the drama is self-aware of how silly it is and makes fun of itself. That's always a plus.
Jiro Wang's Huang Tai Jing
Jiro Wang saves his drama character from being totally unwatchable and thereby rendering this whole drama unwatchable. His character is supposed to be the standard drama male lead. He can't emote properly and therefore treats the female lead with detached scorn most of the time. But Jiro Wang saves the day.
Tai Jing may go around glaring at Mei Nu and bosses her about. But then he looks at her this way when he thinks no one else is looking:
Or he's actually there for her in her times of need. He may act like he's too cool for life when people are looking, but he's okay with cracking smiles and being goofy when no one else is around:
And that's actually a logical character trait considering Tai Jing's need to maintain a public image as the lead singer of a boy band versus his private insecurities. I've seen similar things done in drama to try to redeem asshole male leads like this but this is probably an instance where it actually works because Jiro Wang just comes off as naturally likable. He can look scary and intimidating.
But the next moment, he can look very sweet and sincere.
The Bad
Boy Band Hair?
I'm obviously a fan of Jiro Wang and I'm assuming the other people in this drama are also attractive people. But you'd never know it from the horrible hair everyone has.
Gao Mei Nu should be a woman pretending to be a man, so maybe they gave her a bad haircut to emphasize the lack of femininity. But does it have to be such a bowl haircut? I don't understand this styling decision at all.
Tai Jing and Xin Yu's hair make their heads look tiny, which also doesn't help that they're both too jacked and were styled to emphasize their size. They both need better hair and wardrobe. And maybe Jeremy isn't supposed to look good, but at least give him a nice coloring?
Internal Thoughts, Externalized
This is a problem with Taiwanese dramas in general: they just can't allow actors to convey their inner thoughts through acting. It's not that they're not good actors. They're perfectly fine for this rom com. But the characters constantly have to verbalize their internal thoughts to hammer the point home to audiences. It's a little needless and kind of sells the actors short, too.
Romantic Comedy?
There's the comedy, but I don't find controlling and/or stalkery men attractive. I guess I'm just not their target audience.
Conclusion
And I got tired of screencapping so I'm going to stop my review here. In short, it's an okay drama to pass the time and a plus if you like any of the actors in it, which I do, so it was good for me. Nothing is overwhelmingly good in it and nothing is overly offensive. I did think the last four episodes were more draggy and artificially dramatic than it needed to be but I also think the very last episode was fairly good. It's got an overly cliched get-together scene for Tai Jing and Mei Nu, but it's a romantic comedy so that's how it's supposed to be.