More Boys Before Flowers News

The average ratings of the last episode (25th) of the hit Korean adaptation of Hana Yori Dango - Boys Before Flowers (or Boys Over Flowers), which aired on 31st March, was a very respectable 34.8%. And the all-time highest rating of the series was a staggering 42.9% (on the 18th episode)! By all accounts, Boys Before Flowers has been one of the more successful adaptations of Hana Yori Dango. With a combination of good-looking leads (arguably the most F4-like of all the F4s), flashy sets and high production standards, the series brought the manga to life like never before. And now there are two more adaptations coming up, the Mainland Chinese version is currently filming and a planned Hong Kong version is rumored to be in the works. Hana Yori Dango is going pan-Asia woo-hoo! I wonder if a Thai, Singaporean or Indian version will be next in line...

The Mainland Chinese adaptation, titled Meteor Rain, stars newcomers like Zhang Han as Murong Yun Hai (the Chinese version of Domyooji), Zheng Shuang as Chu Yu Xun (Makino) and Yu Hao Ming as Duanmu Lei (Rui). Check out the pics of Mainland China's F4 here and Makino here. This version will reportedly not just focus on the love stories of the protagonists like the other adaptations but will also be an "uplifting tale that shows the bravery and persistence of youths and the challenges they face" - ahem in other words, you can be sure that the main characters will all become wise and useful members of society at the end of the show haha. Adding this factor in may make the series a little too serious and moralistic for such a whimsical story like Boys but... who knows, it may still work out... If all goes well, the serial shoud be aired on Hunan TV this summer.

And according to a Chinese news article, there are rumours that Hong Kong's TVB station is also planning to make a series based on Boys, although to date there have been no official news on this. Rumored cast members include well established stars like Hong Kong actor Shawn Yue (as Domyoji), Taiwanese pop star Wu Zun (as Rui) and Hong Kong sweetie-pie Charlene Choi (as Makino). Hmm this cast is famous enough but aren't they a bit too er "mature" to play high school kids? But since these are just rumors, I guess there is no need to be too concerned about this as yet...

More drama news next time.

Source: http://news.cyworld.com/view/20090401n02159, http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Boys_Before_Flowers/Episode_Ratings, http://news.xinmin.cn/rollnews/2009/04/02/1767123.html, http://yule.baidu.com/tv/2009-03-23/113116218056.html, http://asianfanatics.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=604823

Tags: Boys Before Flowers, Boys Over Flowers, Meteor Rain, Liu Xing Yu, Hana Yori Dango, Korean drama series, Chinese drama series.

Chinese Classics Come To Life On The Small Screen

The television version of the classic epic Romance Of The Three Kingdoms (三国) (on which the hit movie Red Cliff is based on) has just begun shooting yesterday. Starring well-known Chinese television personalities like Ruby Lin, Lu Yi, Nie Yuan, Peter Ho, Chen Hao, Huang Wei De and Chen Jian Bin in the principal roles, shooting for this 60-episode television adaptation will last for one year and is scheduled to debut on Chinese television in 2010. Pics of the main cast in costume can be found here.

This is the second classic novel out of the The Four Great Classic Novels Of Chinese Literature that has been adapted for television this year. Another classic Dream Of The Red Mansions has already started filming in May this year. This version will star newcomers in many of the principal roles, (e.g. Yang Yang as chief protagonist Jia Baoyu and Bai Bing as Lin Daiyu's love rival Xue Baochai). To date there is still no confirmation on who will play Jia Baoyu's love interest Lin Daiyu. Pics of the cast can be found here. Hmmm... very "Chinese opera-ish" costumes...

No news yet on when the other two classics, Journey To The West and Water Margin will start filming although there have been some news that Zhang Ji Zhong, the director of Journey will start filming this series after he has finished shooting the latest version of Louis Cha's Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre (gawd..... yet another remake :-P).

And for something different, I found this video on YouTube of the famous flower burying scene from the original CCTV version of the Dream Of Red Chambers... If you have not seen 1980's TV serials from China, you can get a taste of in in this vid below... Enjoy :-)



Tags: Dream Of Red Mansions, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, Red Cliff, Chinese classic novels, Journey To The West.

East Asian Film And TV News & Trends In 2007

It's almost the end of the year and time once again for reflections on what happened in this past year ;-P Wow time flies, it seems that it was only yesterday that I was celebrating the 2007 New Year. I think that this has been a pretty decent year for East Asian films and TV dramas on a whole. Here is a general recap of the news and trends that have caught my attention this year.

1. Chinese Movie Of The Year: Lust, Caution

This film was the most talked about Chinese movie in 2007. With Ang Lee's signature low-key approach, attention to detail, the engrossing storyline and great acting by Tony Leung and Tang Wei in some of the most daring erotic scenes ever seen in an Asian movie, it comes as no surprise that this film enjoyed fantastic box-office takings throughout Asia and won the Golden Lion and seven awards at this year's Golden Horse Awards.

2. Ancient Is Golden

Period movies and drama serials continue to be popular in Korean and Chinese dramas and films in 2007. Big-budget period movies with star-studded casts and state-of-the-art CGI like The Warlords performed very well at the box-office. The period drama boom was also seen in Korean drama serials with period dramas like Jumong and Taewangsasingi snaring the top positions in television ratings. This period boom looks set to continue in 2008 with the release of the most expensive Chinese film ever made - Red Cliff during the Beijing Olympics.

3. More Pan-Asian Co-productions

Co-productions between different Asian countries seem to have become the norm in 2007. From arthouse productions like director Kim Ki-duk's Breath starring Taiwanese actor Chang Chen to Japanese hits like Hero with Korean actor Lee Byung-hun in a cameo role to big-budget Chinese flicks like The Warlords and Red Cliff that are financed by investors throughout East Asia, filmmakers are cooperating in more ways than ever to expand a film's appeal to a wider pan-Asian audience.

4. Quest For New Themes

To counter the whimsical and fast-changing tastes of viewers, movie and drama makers must come up with new themes at an ever-increasing speed. This is especially apparent in the Korean TV drama market where it seems that viewers have become increasingly tired of the same romantic drama plot used countless times in the past. To maintain viewer interest, TV stations and production houses have had to come up with new themes for their dramas. This has resulted in the type and range of drama serials expanding considerably this year. From dramas about money lenders to police action thrillers to romantic comedies with "cross-dressing"themes, this aggressive search for new themes have already yielded gems like War Of Money, Time Between Dog And Wolf and First Shop Of Coffee Prince. It remains to be seen if this exploratory approach will continue into 2008...

5. International Recognition

East Asian films continue to perform well in international film awards in 2007. Lust, Caution took home the Golden Lion and Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon won the prestigious Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine, only the second time an Asian actress has won this award in the history of the Cannes Film Festival.


All-in-all, 2007 has been a good year for Asian films and dramas. Let's hope for an even better 2008 :-)

Have A Happy New Year!

Tags: Lust, Caution, Asian Movie Trends, Chinese Movie, Korean Movie, Japanese movie, Drama Serial, Drama Series, Korean Drama Series, co-productions, Pan-Asian Films, Asian Drama Themes,

A Behind The Scenes Look At The Making Of A Chinese Gongfu Drama Series

I found this interesting clip on the Chinese video site Tudou.com that shows a behind the scenes look at the making of the latest Jin Yong (Louis Cha) remake - Legend Of The Condor Heroes starring Hu Ge and Ariel Lin Yi Chen.

Although the 15-minute clip is in Chinese with no English subtitles, it is still a really interesting video clip that is worth watching as it shows how incredibly difficult it is to make a gongfu drama serial in China and the sacrifices that the actors have to go through while filming.

The first half shows mostly some scenes from the drama and the actors talking about their roles but the most interesting parts are in the second half of the video - there are scenes of the actors strapped to wire harnesses rehersing their gongfu sequences, having their wigs and shoes fall off while somersaulting in mid-air (quite funny actually ;-P), cycling like crazy to build up their physical stamina, and filming in scorching hot summer temperatures outdoor.

Wow... after watching this, I have even more respect for the actors who act in such dramas and the whole process of making a martial arts period drama...

The link to the video clip: here

Till next time :-)

Technorati tags: Legend Of The Condor Heroes, Condor Heroes, LOCH, period dramas, costume dramas, gongfu dramas, drama serial, Chinese drama series, Hu Ge, Ariel Lin.

Endless Remakes of Louis Cha's Novels ... Sigh...

When I found out that there will be another remake of the swordfighting novel Legend Of The Condor Heroes (LOCH) by Louis Cha or Jin Yong, I shook my head in disbelief. Why? Because the novel was adapted into a 40+ episode mainland drama serial starring Li Ya Peng and Zhou Xun (of Perhaps Love fame) in 2003, just 4 years ago! And it was also made into drama serials in 1994 (with Athena Chu and Julian Cheung), in 1982 (with Barbara Yung and Felix Wong) and a long time ago in 1976 (with Michelle Yim in the title role of Wong Yung or Huang Rong).

A total of 5 times if I include the current remake which stars mainland actor Hu Ge as Guo Jing and Taiwanese sweetie pie Ariel Lin as Huang Rong, and this is not counting the movie and anime adaptations :-P

In fact, not only LOCH, practically all of Jin Yong's novels have been remade numerous times.

Actually I cannot understand why the directors and TV stations keep remaking the same novels time and time again, don't they understand the law of diminishing returns? I know a good story is hard to come by but I am not sure if viewers like to watch the same story over and over again...

Anyway, here are pics of the the latest incarnation of the main characters of LOCH, the super smart Huang Rong (Ariel Lin) and the dumb but upright Guo Jing (Hu Ge).

[pictures from spcnet forum: http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=15272&page=1&pp=20]

Tags: Chinese drama serial, swordfighting drama series, condor heroes, LOCH, gongfu drama, Jin Yong, Louis Cha, Wuxia.

From Manga To Idol Drama

Japanese anime and manga have always been extremely popular in East Asia, especially Taiwan and Hong Kong. Popular manga titles in Japanese have been known to fly off the shelves of bookstores faster than books published by local authors in the local language. Many people flock to language schools to learn Japanese for the sole purpose of reading untranslated manga and watching Japanese anime and drama. In fact, I personally feel that anime and manga have a greater cultural impact in East Asia than cartoons from Disney or Warner Bros.

Especially in Taiwan, the Japanese love of all things "kawaii" (cute) have so successfully taken root that many of the pop stars or actresses that have became famous in the last 4 to 5 years look very much like shojo manga (young girl's manga) characters themselves - big round eyes, long hair, peachy complexions, super sweet smiles and slim girlish figures... Classic examples include Jolin Tsai, Cyndi Wang and Rainie Yang...

Adaptations of popular Japanese manga into Taiwanese "idol" dramas are also extremely common. The only "localization" done is usually that the setting of the story is changed to Taipei instead of Tokyo. The names of the characters are more often than not the same... even if the Japanese names sound strange in Chinese. A good example is Meteor Garden's "Dao Ming Si", in the Taiwanese adaptation, the character's surname becomes "Dao Ming" and his given name becomes "Ah Si" which is a direct translation of the character's surname Domyoji in the manga.

Examples of manga that have been made into Taiwanese idol dramas include:

Meteor Garden 流星花園 (2001)
Based on manga Hana Yori Dango(花より男子) by Yoko Kamio
Starring Barbie Hsu and pop group F4 (Jerry Yen, Vic Zhou, Ken Zhu and Vanness Wu)

Peach Girl 蜜桃女孩 (2002)
Based on manga Peach Girl (ピーチガール) by Miwa Ueda
Starring Annie Wu and Vanness Wu

Marmalade Boy 橘子醬男孩 (2002)
Based on manga Marmalade Boy (ママレード・ボーイ) by Wataru Yoshizumi
Starring Stella Huang Xiangyi and Ken Zhu

The Rose 薔薇之戀 (2003)
Based on manga Bara No Tame Ni (薔薇のために) by Yoshimura Akemi
Starring Ella (from pop group S.H.E), Zheng Yuan Chang and Jerry Huang

Mars 戰神 (2004)
Based on manga Mars by Fuyumi Soryo
Starring Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu

It Started With A Kiss 惡作劇之吻 (2005)
Based on manga Itazura Na Kiss (イタズラなKiss) by Kaoru Tada
Starring Ariel Lin Yichen and Joe Cheng

Devil Beside You 惡魔在身邊 (2005)
Based on manga Akuma de Soro (悪魔で候) by Mitsuba Takanashi
Starring Rainie Yang and Mike He

Tokyo Juliet 東方茱麗葉 (2006)
Based on manga Tokyo Juliet (東京ジュリエット) by Miyuki Kitagawa Starring Ariel Lin Yi Chen, Wu Zun and Simon Yam

Hanazakarino Kimitachihe 花樣少年少女 (2006/07) (picture)
Based on manga Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (花ざかりの君たちへ) or Hana-Kimi by Hisaya Nakajo
Starring Ella (S.H.E), Wu Zun and Jiro Wang

As you can see, creating idol dramas based on manga is really common. One reason could be that the ratings for such dramas are usually pretty good as there exists a ready audience from fans of the popular manga and also because the boy-girl relationship issues in manga suit the Taiwanese idol drama genre to a tee.

So... expect more such manga/anime based drama serials in the years to come...

Tags: idol drama, Taiwanese drama, Chinese drama series, drama serial, manga, anime, shojo manga