Hana Yori Dango Live Action!
Just finished watching all 9 episodes of the Hana Yori Dango live action. Absolutely loved it by the way ^-^ Definitely worth the approximately 2 weeks I've been downloading it.
The story was okay. I was wondering how they were going to manage to trim down 33 volumes of manga to 9 45 minute episodes but they did alright. They severely cut back on the minor characters and eliminated virtually all the subplots in favor of the main one but that was to be expected. I didn't get to see the fun Soujiro/Yuuki stuff! *sob* Yuuki was made out to be a fangirl more than anything else. The subplot with Akira and the dango shop owner was fun, sweet, and sad at the same time. Tsukushi's family was clueless and sweet, unlike the heavy-duty gold diggers they were in the manga. Tsubaki was fun although she didn't get the screentime she deserved. Rui was Rui. No violin though. So sad. But he does love Tsukushi!!!
Plot qualm: SHIZUKA DID NOT COME BACK TO JAPAN TO SEE RUI AFTER SHE LEFT FOR PARIS!!!! Gaahhh!!! -- in case I'm wrong and she did come back later in the series, chalk it up to a selective memory. And Rui does love Tsukushi!
Weak ending. Argh. Guess that's to be expected since the manga had a weak ending too. HYD has a great buildup but lousy conclusion. Makes you feel that you were cheated out of a decent ending.
The actors were great! *bow* Best looking guys were the ones playing Soujiro and Tsukasa. *swoon* The guy playing Akira looks like my orgmate Mark :p Must be the hair, chin, and coloring. Oh, but Mark's gay. You know, the live action actually made the Tsukasa/Tsukushi pairing more believable, although it was at great cost to the Rui/Tsukushi ship. Tsukasa actually comes out as sympathetic in the live action.
I guess my main rants would be regarding how Rui was treated in the live action. Because they had to compress the story, the Rui/Tsukushi friendship was almost completely written out in the later parts of the story to make way for the Tsukasa/Tsukushi moments. And the way Rui tells it, he was never in love with Tsukushi and he was just pursuing her to make Tsukasa open his eyes and as payback for taking away his ability to eat apples. Gaahhh... So wrong. Rui is in love with Tsukushi. Absolutely in love with her. But he stepped aside because Tsukasa was his best friend. Gah. The whole ending with Shizuka coming back was bullshit. So basically they're saying that Rui never got over her and still continued to pine away after he left Paris. Gah.
Anyway, have to sleep. Will have to be up in a few hours for tutoring.
The story was okay. I was wondering how they were going to manage to trim down 33 volumes of manga to 9 45 minute episodes but they did alright. They severely cut back on the minor characters and eliminated virtually all the subplots in favor of the main one but that was to be expected. I didn't get to see the fun Soujiro/Yuuki stuff! *sob* Yuuki was made out to be a fangirl more than anything else. The subplot with Akira and the dango shop owner was fun, sweet, and sad at the same time. Tsukushi's family was clueless and sweet, unlike the heavy-duty gold diggers they were in the manga. Tsubaki was fun although she didn't get the screentime she deserved. Rui was Rui. No violin though. So sad. But he does love Tsukushi!!!
Plot qualm: SHIZUKA DID NOT COME BACK TO JAPAN TO SEE RUI AFTER SHE LEFT FOR PARIS!!!! Gaahhh!!! -- in case I'm wrong and she did come back later in the series, chalk it up to a selective memory. And Rui does love Tsukushi!
Weak ending. Argh. Guess that's to be expected since the manga had a weak ending too. HYD has a great buildup but lousy conclusion. Makes you feel that you were cheated out of a decent ending.
The actors were great! *bow* Best looking guys were the ones playing Soujiro and Tsukasa. *swoon* The guy playing Akira looks like my orgmate Mark :p Must be the hair, chin, and coloring. Oh, but Mark's gay. You know, the live action actually made the Tsukasa/Tsukushi pairing more believable, although it was at great cost to the Rui/Tsukushi ship. Tsukasa actually comes out as sympathetic in the live action.
I guess my main rants would be regarding how Rui was treated in the live action. Because they had to compress the story, the Rui/Tsukushi friendship was almost completely written out in the later parts of the story to make way for the Tsukasa/Tsukushi moments. And the way Rui tells it, he was never in love with Tsukushi and he was just pursuing her to make Tsukasa open his eyes and as payback for taking away his ability to eat apples. Gaahhh... So wrong. Rui is in love with Tsukushi. Absolutely in love with her. But he stepped aside because Tsukasa was his best friend. Gah. The whole ending with Shizuka coming back was bullshit. So basically they're saying that Rui never got over her and still continued to pine away after he left Paris. Gah.
Anyway, have to sleep. Will have to be up in a few hours for tutoring.