The first 2010 drama on my avoid list
Awwww, Group 8, it's rather touching to see your continued dedication to consistent FAIL.
The wonderhouse that brought us Goong S (*shudder*), Boys Over Flowers (the only kdrama that makes me RAGE just thinking of it), and the upcoming disaster that Tamna the Island looks set up to be (it's like a period version of BOF only with an albino - even the trailers make me cringe) is back with yet another disaster - that's right, boys and girls, they are going to adopt It Started with a Kiss into a Korean drama.
SHUDDER.
Why?
Now, the Taiwanese version of ISWAK is one of the most famous dramas out there and the Korean one will just beg a comparison with it - seeing their track record playing in someone else's pool with already famous versions and modifying them for 'the better,' ISWAK will be a disaster.
ISWAK is polarizing - it was a crazy hit and I adore it, but a lot of flisters I know do not like it at all. But that is the whole point - I found ISWAK worked for me because it had a light touch, amazing chemistry (Ariel Lin and Joe Chen are one of the biggest drama pairings out there), and a good script. BOF, to take another Group 8 project taken from a famous manga and with famous previous adaptations, had overacting, an awful script, and a chemistry that went missing.
Let me put it this way - those who liked the manga or Taiwanese ISWAK are not likely to find Group 8 adaptation to their liking, and those who disliked it because of gender issues are going to hate this version even more because whatever else Group 8 is going to muck with, an inferior script and acting would make the concept a harder sell, and seeing that they turned legendarily tough Makino into a weepy dishrag Jandi, what they would do to Ariel Lin's character in ISWAK, who is often interpreted as weak, is horrifying to contemplate (I never found Qiang Xin weak myself but that is because she was written as so cheerful, stubborn, and knowing what she wanted. I doubt Group 8 with their horrible scripts and directing can sell me on it, or get an actress half as cool as Ariel Lin.)
Seriously - ugh. I just hope they don't cast anyone I like, though even if they do, I won't watch - after BOF, I will never watch Gu Hye Sun in anything else if I can help it, and Lee Min Ho is teetering on very shaky ground. Just the thought of their characters in BOF gives me rage. I don't want to subject any other actors to that...
To be fair, Group 8 did make the amazing Return of Iljimae - I have no idea how that fluke happened. Permit me to doubt that ISWAK would be RoI-caliber and not the usual Group 8 horrifying mess.
The wonderhouse that brought us Goong S (*shudder*), Boys Over Flowers (the only kdrama that makes me RAGE just thinking of it), and the upcoming disaster that Tamna the Island looks set up to be (it's like a period version of BOF only with an albino - even the trailers make me cringe) is back with yet another disaster - that's right, boys and girls, they are going to adopt It Started with a Kiss into a Korean drama.
SHUDDER.
Why?
Now, the Taiwanese version of ISWAK is one of the most famous dramas out there and the Korean one will just beg a comparison with it - seeing their track record playing in someone else's pool with already famous versions and modifying them for 'the better,' ISWAK will be a disaster.
ISWAK is polarizing - it was a crazy hit and I adore it, but a lot of flisters I know do not like it at all. But that is the whole point - I found ISWAK worked for me because it had a light touch, amazing chemistry (Ariel Lin and Joe Chen are one of the biggest drama pairings out there), and a good script. BOF, to take another Group 8 project taken from a famous manga and with famous previous adaptations, had overacting, an awful script, and a chemistry that went missing.
Let me put it this way - those who liked the manga or Taiwanese ISWAK are not likely to find Group 8 adaptation to their liking, and those who disliked it because of gender issues are going to hate this version even more because whatever else Group 8 is going to muck with, an inferior script and acting would make the concept a harder sell, and seeing that they turned legendarily tough Makino into a weepy dishrag Jandi, what they would do to Ariel Lin's character in ISWAK, who is often interpreted as weak, is horrifying to contemplate (I never found Qiang Xin weak myself but that is because she was written as so cheerful, stubborn, and knowing what she wanted. I doubt Group 8 with their horrible scripts and directing can sell me on it, or get an actress half as cool as Ariel Lin.)
Seriously - ugh. I just hope they don't cast anyone I like, though even if they do, I won't watch - after BOF, I will never watch Gu Hye Sun in anything else if I can help it, and Lee Min Ho is teetering on very shaky ground. Just the thought of their characters in BOF gives me rage. I don't want to subject any other actors to that...
To be fair, Group 8 did make the amazing Return of Iljimae - I have no idea how that fluke happened. Permit me to doubt that ISWAK would be RoI-caliber and not the usual Group 8 horrifying mess.