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Boys Over Flowers (Korean Hana Yori Dango)

The second Korean drama series that I will be featuring here is none other than the wildly popular Korean comic adaptation version of the famous manga series Hana Yori Dango, Boys Over Flowers or Boys Before Flowers!  

Synopsis: 

Boys Over Flowers is the story of a poor but strong-spirited high-school student Geum Jandi.  After saving a student from committing suicide at Shin Hwa College, she is awarded a scholarship to attend the prestigious and ultra-rich educational institution.  Here she meets face-to-face the notorious F4 members (Flower Four Boys), the four richest and most privileged students who reign over the entire school.  Jandi attempts to avoid any confrontation with the F4 for woe betides anyone who goes against them.  Of course this is not possible with her strong sense of justice and she is forced to declare war against the F4 leader, Gu Joon Pyo.  In the process, she develops a serious crush on one of the F4 members, Yoon Ji Hoo and Gu Joon Pyo falls in love with the indomitable Jandi. 

Main Characters:      

a) Geum Jan Di (Korean Makino Tsukushi)

An average girl whose parents own a small dry cleaning business and has a younger brother who is a computer geek.  She works in several part-time jobs to support her family.  Her passions are swimming and eating (hey, sounds a little like me!) :)  Dubbed ‘Wonder Woman’ for saving a Shin Hwa student’s life, her stay in the luxurious school was to remain in obscurity until one fateful day when she defended her friend from being bullied by Gu Joon Pyo, F4’s leader.  Soon after, she is tagged with the infamous F4 red card which is the green light for the F4 and the rest of the student population to bully her mercilessly until she concedes defeat.  With her bright, energetic and strong personality, she endures these trials and in fact stands up to the F4.  She becomes attracted to Yoon Ji Hoo because he is different from the rest of F4 and helps her during times of need.  However, Gu Joon Pyo eventually falls in love with her and does everything to win her heart.  As the meaning of her name implies (’weed’ in Korean), Jandi has an optimistic and honorable spirit which is not impressed with financial wealth and social status; always remaining firm on her principles.

 

b) Gu Joon Pyo (Korean Domyoji Tsukasa)  

 The leader of F4 and heir of Shin Hwa Group conglomerate (which owns the Shin Hwa College), his trademark is his curly hair.  He is violent and has a short fuse of a temper.  Being used to getting his way all the time (except with his elder sister who has no qualms using force to discipline her errant brother), Jandi’s act of defiance irks him and he makes life hell for her.  However, seeing  that his attempts to bring her down are futile, he becomes attracted to her as she is the first person to stand up to him.  Underneath the steely hard exterior is a person who craves for the love and attention that his high-flying parents never gave him.  He has a fear of insects and swimming.  His devotion to Jandi never wavered despite familial objections and love rivalry from his best friend Yoon Ji Hoo.  Over time, he becomes a better and more humane person. 

 

 c) Yoon Ji Hoo (Korean Hanazawa Rui)

The sole grandchild of former president of South Korea.  He became an orphan at the age of five when his parents perished in a car accident.  He has Asperger’s syndrome which means that he has a very introverted personality, faces difficulty in socialising and cannot recognise facial expressions.  He expresses his emotions through playing various musical instruments (violin, piano and guitar).  He likes sleeping and horse-riding but has a phobia of driving.  Generally he has a quiet and cold demeanour but he cares deeply for loved ones and F4 friends.  His compassionate nature reveals itself as he helps Jandi in and out of school.  While Jun Pyo is the one who normally gets her into trouble (whether intentional or not), Ji Hoo is her knight in shining armour and ‘firefighter’.  Jandi develops a serious romantic interest for him.  Initially, the feelings were not reciprocrated due to his first love but later on, he has conflicting emotions of love and friendship towards Jandi as the relationship between Jandi and Jun Pyo develops. 

         

d) So Yi Jung (Korean Nishikado Soujirou)

He is a gifted potter and successor to a prestigious art museum, but more recognised for his talents in womanising.  Women cannot resist his devilish charms and ‘5-second Kill’.  He is happy to be in casual relationships but at the same time despises his father for having many extra-marital affairs and causing his mother much heartache.  Jandi’s best friend Ga Eul is in love with him.  While he could have easily hurt her, he is nice enough to be kind to her, treat her as a friend and not play with her feelings.  At one point of his life, he was in love with his childhood friend but he broke a promise to her and thus lost her.  With Ga Eul’s help, he realises that he has always been looking for his one true love.      

 

e) Song Woo Bin (Korean Mimasaka Akira)

The heir to a construction enterprise with strong ties to the underworld.  He has a closer bond to Yi Jung because both of them are playboys; Yi Jung is the cold-blooded Cassanova while Woo Bin is Don Juan.  His gangster-rap-inflected English is pretty hilarious (yo, yo, wassup, my bro!) and he has amazing fighting skills.  Even though he has a very laid-back personality (the way he speaks reminds me of a languid wild cat; feline and dangerous in nature), he is the most matured of the F4 and the peacemaker of the group.  

 

Review:   

What’s there to say about this drama series when almost everyone everywhere has given their 2-cents’ worth?  For those who are not in the crazy loop, there are two other versions of Hana Yori Dango.  One of them is the original Japanese drama with the same title and the other is the Taiwanese Meteor Garden (which brought instant fame to the four actors and spawned the popular Taiwanese music group F4 made up of the said-actors).  I can’t make any comparisons among the three versions since I only watched the Korean remake but I can understand why Boys Over Flowers has elicited such a massively positive and heart-fluttering response from ladies of all races, ages and creeds (you can check up the discussion boards, forums and blogs if you don’t believe me ). 

There are a number of reasons and the most obvious ones are the extremely good-looking cast and fantasy-like storyline.  Good-looking in a pretty-boy way, tall with good physique and close resemblance to the manga characters are the casting criteria with solid acting chops taking a backseat.  It’s not that they were horrible actors (in fact, I think as acting rookies and/or freshmen they have done their roles justice) but the series wouldn’t have taken off to such great heights if the boys weren’t so pretty to look at. 

Boys Over Flowers further cements the pretty-boy pop culture.  Gone are the days where the rugged and cowboy-ish male is the ideal.  The current metrosexual trend is prevalent where males are conscientious about personal grooming and fashion.  Hey, a lot of them look prettier and have smoother complexions than women (like moi, sigh)!  Of course men and a number of women would find these pretty boys effeminate (EL commented that they looked and sounded gay!) but the general consensus is that pretty boys are sizzling hot!   And if you think this is an Asian phenomenon, the West has its fair share of pretty boys/men such as the popular boy groups, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, David Beckham and et cetera.            

I have read the manga series, and as usual, I prefer the written rather than the screen version.  Instead of writing a ’thesis’ about my observations , here are my bouquets and brickbats for Boys Over Flowers (and I’m being lenient with my contentions), bullet-point form:

 

Bouquets:

1. The cast and locations - The pretty boys fitted adequately in their respective roles with passable acting skills (you know I can’t pretend to you, beloved reader); all of them are about my brother’s age and younger (eek!); the pretty actress who displayed good acting skills at serious moments but was WAY annoying when she is screeching her head off; Gu Joon Pyo’s witch-y mother (gives a whole new meaning to the adage ’if looks can kill, you’ll be dead’) and the beautiful drama locations.  

2. Highly entertaining – I guess the girl in all of us loves a fairy-tale story with a fairy-tale ending.

Brickbats:

1. The portrayal of the protagonist – If you read the manga, Tsukushi is a person that you highly respect and admire (a role model for girls) because she is a strong character.  She is not a damsel in distress (needing a man to help and/or save her and make her happy) and is a person of principles (e.g. didn’t succumb to the materialism around her and insisting on not having pre-marital sex, although she changed her mind in the end, which made it bleh).  That was what made Tsukushi attractive and beautiful; not her physical appearance (she’s just average looking) but her character.  However, the Kdrama made Jandi the contrary even though it tried not to; she seemed to be a pushover, a weakling and a typical damsel-in-distress.

2. Poor storytelling and directing – I blame it on the extremely tight shooting schedule.

 

Before I end, a collage of pretty pictures for the girls to drool over

• Do visit Boys Over Flowers’s official website (Korean) here.
• For great and witty recaps of the Kdrama series, do visit Dramabeans.
• If you want to read the ‘Hana Yori Dango’ manga, click here.