Meteor Garden (Chinese Drama, New)
The newest TV version of the Japanese popular comic and beloved story of Hana Yori Dango. There have been so many different versions (there was actually already a C-web drama based on the same comic earlier this year) that I have kinda lost interest in most of them. However, this particular one caught my attention because it is produced by Angie Chai, the same producer who gave us the Taiwanese classic Meteor Garden of 2001 with Barbie Hsu and Jerry Yan. Apparently, Angie Chai had always had two regrets about the 2001 Meteor Garden: 1. Back in 2001, the comic Hana Yori Dango wasn’t finished yet, so the drama of course didn’t have a proper ending. Now that the comic is finished, this new version can give the audience the full story. 2. Because of the modest budget in the original, there were a few big scenes that involved oversea shooting that was cut but this time, that wouldn’t be a problem.
I only had time to check out the first episode and was pretty surprised that the producer had decided to make some changes to the story (for example, our hero is supposedly quite smart and shrewd in business in this version) but I guess with so many versions out there, she probably felt a lot of pressure to make the story a little different to keep the viewers’ interest.
Mr. Sunshine (Korean Drama, New)
Lee Byung Hun plays a US marine officer who is deployed back to his homeland. With the vivid memory of how his parents died as lowly servants and how he had to escape his own country while being chased by slave hunters, our hero holds no love for his homeland. However…what is our hero to do when he falls in love with an aristocrat’s daughter AND discover a plot devised by the foreign powers against his homeland?
Coming from the team that gave us The Lonely and Great God – Goblin and Descendents of the Sun, there is obviously a high expectation set for Mr. Sunshine. Thankfully, after watching the first two episodes of Mr. Sunshine, I walked away quite impressed. The show is beautiful all around both in terms of the cast and…well, everything else you can think of. All of our lead characters are compelling with my favorite being the two super cool and strong female leads. Our male leads are of course quite swoon worthy as well but it is always nice to see such cool strong female leads. I read some complaints from viewers that Lee Byung Hun seems much too old to be paired with our young heroine and that they look more like father and daughter. I will admit that before watching episode two I had some concerns as well (the age difference between our two leads in real life is 20 years), but after seeing our two leads’ onscreen chemistry I think this particular pairing actually works…much to my surprise and relief.
This one is a tvN drama BUT internationally it is being distributed by Netflix, so we don’t even have to wait for the big sites to pick this one up!
Eighteen Year Old* (Chinese Drama, New)
This one is a coming of age story set in 1990s of China. The story follows three teenage boys as they caused chaos and havoc while trying to figure out what it means to grow up. Since we are dealing with teenage boys, do expect lots of jokes involving girl bodies…at least in the beginning of the story.
I have way too many shows on my watch list to be interested in this one but it was interesting to see what life was like during that period of time in China.
* I couldn’t find the show’s English name so this is a straight translation of the Chinese name.
The Destiny of White Snake (Chinese Drama, New)
VERY loosely based on the Chinese folk legend of The White Snake, this C-web drama tells the epic love story between our two leads through two lifetimes. I used the word epic but I am pretty certain this one will have a happy ending…after a lot of tears of course.
I went into this one with really low expectations but ended up enjoying it quite a bit. While the CGI could be painful to watch at parts, the story and the acting are all fairly solid.
Stepmom and Daughter Blues (Japanese Drama, New)
As a workaholic who is extremely capable and efficient, our heroine Akiko Iwaki (Haruka Ayase) approaches everything in her life like she would for work…including convincing an eight year old girl that she should accept her as her new mom.
I liked the first episode. This one is based on a comic so the show’s vibe is a bit wacky but I find all the characters (including our stoic looking heroine) very endearing. It is fairly obvious from the beginning that our heroine’s impending marriage with the little girl’s dad is probably due to some reason other than love. I am a bit afraid the answer to the question might be that the dad is about to die from some terminal illness so that’s why he has convinced our heroine to take care of his daughter after he dies. However, the synopsis does mention miracles so I am hoping even if my worst prediction comes true the story will still end happily.
Takane No Hana (Japanese Drama, New)
As the eldest daughter of a distinguished family famous for their flower arranging style, our heroine, Tsukishima Momo has everything a woman would wish in life- beauty, talent, impressive family background, wealth, and a man she loves deeply she is about to marry. Her perfect world destroyed when her fiance tearfully confess on the day of their wedding that he has another woman…a woman who is pregnant with his child, Momo’s confidence in herself is shattered along with her heart. Deep in her self exile, Momo laughs when her father suggests that she should find a warm and gentle man to heal her heart…then toss the man away. With no intention of taking her father’s advice, our heroine continues on her self exile existence until she meets our hero…an ordinary bike shop owner seemingly in possession of nothing worth envying but has something special that soothes her soul.
Ahh!!! A J-romance! I liked the first episode quite a bit so I am squeezing this one in on my watch list.
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