American Dramas vs. Japanese Ones: High School dramas II
Another all time favorite: any variation of the Cinderella story. Disney especially likes those. Here is a girl whom nobody notices, and then she puts on a beautiful dress and comes to the ball, where she meets a prince (or a jock, or a pop idol). And the prince immediately falls in love with her, and despite all interfering (step)relatives and (step)friends they happily ride into the sunset. The end.
Enter Hana Yori Dango (Boys over Flowers) (season 1 - 2005; season 2 -2007; SP - 2008; movie is coming)
Or as Disney with its flare for originality would probably call it “Yet Another Cinderella Story”.
This was my very first jdrama, so it has a special place in my heart. I was surfing the ‘net and stumbled onto an interesting piece of news telling about this strange phenomenon: the TV drama everybody in Asia seems to be crazy about. It started as a manga, turned into an extremely popular anime series, and then into a live action drama. And on top of it every country wanted its own version; there are Korean and Taiwanese versions as well. Of course I became curious. And that was it.
But back to the drama. The girl is from a very poor family; she does not dress well, does not look good, has not much of an education, and basically has no manners. But she is very smart and has sparkling personality. She got into the elite private school by sheer desire and hard work. The boy is an heir to a large financial corporation. Enough said. And make no mistake: there is nothing of the Western “all people are equal” lies. They are not equal at all: he is gorgeous, rich and educated and she is plain, poor and unsophisticated. In fact most of the drama is based on this difference.
And he has 3 rich and handsome friends, so she suddenly finds herself with 4 princes, not just one. And she never turns into a princess. Not on the outside. The cruel director did not let her wear a beautiful gown even to her own ball.
Anyway, the prince falls in love with the cinder girl. And before long he is ready to kill anybody who dares to say that she is not beautiful. Excellent example of “there are all kinds of beauty”. Because of this love he is slowly becoming a different person.
The two of them will fall in and out of love several times over 2 seasons, develop a love triangle with one of his friends, battle relatives and (step)friends. And there is even a happy end. Sort of.
A “must see” for anybody who likes any kind of drama. But be warned: once started it’s almost impossible to stop until all 20 episodes (for both seasons) are finished. The special can be skipped. I really did not like it; it looked like the producers just wanted to make more money from a successful franchise. Just like their American counterparts.
Enter Hana Yori Dango (Boys over Flowers) (season 1 - 2005; season 2 -2007; SP - 2008; movie is coming)
Or as Disney with its flare for originality would probably call it “Yet Another Cinderella Story”.
This was my very first jdrama, so it has a special place in my heart. I was surfing the ‘net and stumbled onto an interesting piece of news telling about this strange phenomenon: the TV drama everybody in Asia seems to be crazy about. It started as a manga, turned into an extremely popular anime series, and then into a live action drama. And on top of it every country wanted its own version; there are Korean and Taiwanese versions as well. Of course I became curious. And that was it.
But back to the drama. The girl is from a very poor family; she does not dress well, does not look good, has not much of an education, and basically has no manners. But she is very smart and has sparkling personality. She got into the elite private school by sheer desire and hard work. The boy is an heir to a large financial corporation. Enough said. And make no mistake: there is nothing of the Western “all people are equal” lies. They are not equal at all: he is gorgeous, rich and educated and she is plain, poor and unsophisticated. In fact most of the drama is based on this difference.
And he has 3 rich and handsome friends, so she suddenly finds herself with 4 princes, not just one. And she never turns into a princess. Not on the outside. The cruel director did not let her wear a beautiful gown even to her own ball.
Anyway, the prince falls in love with the cinder girl. And before long he is ready to kill anybody who dares to say that she is not beautiful. Excellent example of “there are all kinds of beauty”. Because of this love he is slowly becoming a different person.
The two of them will fall in and out of love several times over 2 seasons, develop a love triangle with one of his friends, battle relatives and (step)friends. And there is even a happy end. Sort of.
A “must see” for anybody who likes any kind of drama. But be warned: once started it’s almost impossible to stop until all 20 episodes (for both seasons) are finished. The special can be skipped. I really did not like it; it looked like the producers just wanted to make more money from a successful franchise. Just like their American counterparts.