Ummm, I am kinda obsessed with Ikemen Desu Ne. They took all the parts of YAB that I adored and seemed to fix a lot of the parts I found problematic. Now watch me marathon first three eps (first ep alone is close to two hours!!!) as my pile of unwatched kdramas from last week gets longer.
I am continuing to watch Ikemen Desu Ne and am honestly adoring it to the extent that I have been spending the evening watching it instead of Warrior BDS/Myung Wol/Heartstrings on which I am behind. It is largely a remake of YAB but it does bring its own, rather different vibe - less stylized, more 'maybe this could actually happen' (yeah, well, maybe not). None of the guys are attractive to me with the possible exception of Ren (maybe I am just adoring the height difference btw him and Mio - most jdrama leading men are pretty short so I rarely get the height difference I crave) but I am entertained by them. The actress who plays Mio is awesome and adorable and can actually pass for a JE boy :P
I am enjoying Ren/Mio's vibe so far - it's similar but different from the original. He's a lot less drama-queenish than Tae Kyung and is much quieter (even if just as high-maintenance), but he's so very odd and so baffled by her, it makes me LOL and LOL and LOL. Here she is, imitating a "Ren face" at him:
Or take this. I giggled like a lunatic (and how fitting that the OCD perfectionist who is the opposite of a people person is going to end up with the extremely friendly and messy and impulsive Mio. Heh).
The actor isn't as awesome as Jang Geun Seuk (but then who is?) but he makes the funniest faces and has lovely chemistry with Mio. Somehow, Ren and Mio come across as less childlike than Tae Kyung and Minam, which is an interesting choice and one I like (though I have no problem with the original take either).
This about sums them up:
Best change is that the bond between Mio and her brother comes through very strongly, which is not something I felt in the original at all. Plus, it's interesting which things this choses to highlight - teamwork and hard work, which is again, not something dwelled on in the original which focused on other things. And also I kinda adored the orphan subplot because I didn't think this version could make Ren's mommy/abandonment issues any more huge than the original but they managed. He first starts getting fixated on Mio when she gets obsessed about helping orphans!
(Also, this is a random comment but the whole subplot with the orphans? The orphanage director needs to go on some serious meds. He's got ISSUES. GTFO or your kids are going to grow up warped. Or maybe he only likes enka :P).
Have a love triangle MV of the first two eps:
Click to view
You know, I can't remember the last time I followed an airing jdrama and now I am following two (this and Ouran). And both involve cross-dressing girls who attract high-maintenance guys with parental issues. I guess they know my weakness.
To conclude for those who usually prefer second lead love:
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