Meteor Garden is back!
Meteor Garden reboot is a Chinese drama based on our favorite Shojo manga written by Yoko Kamio. In the new Meteor garden, our heroine, DaoMing Si is played by Dylan Wang while Dong Shancai is played by Shen Yue. Other that those two, the main cast of this series also include Darren Chen as Hua Ze Lei, Liang Jing Kang as Feng Mei Zuo, and Wu Xi Ze as Xi Men Yan. These bright yet young actress and actors make the series even more interesting to watch and definitely one you don't want to miss.
People were filled with excitement to see the series. Since it's been aired on 19th of July 2018, you can't help but notice some people starting to compare the series with the previous live action adaptation of the manga. But the question remain, is it fair to compare them?
After watching the first 14 episodes I have noticed that the story line were influenced by the previous Taiwanese series with the same title from 2001. It does have some similarities to the Korean (Boys Over Flower, 2009) and the Japanese ( Hana Yori Dango, 2005) serieses but still have a color of it's own.
Daoming Si as our main heroine in this new Meteor Garden reboot 2018 is a lot tamer compare to Doumyouji Tsukasa or Gu Jun-Pyo. By tamer I mean, the bully he did to those who received the red note from F4 is a lot less violence compare what Doumyouji and Jun-Pyo did. I remember a scene where Makino were going to get raped by Doumyouji minions only to be stopped by Hanazawa Rui. This probably due to the increasing awareness of school bully and sexual harassment, in my opinion at least. In addition, I noticed that A-Si has some kind of anger management issues, as it's seems to me that he failed to channel his anger in the best way. I have never saw the Taiwanese DaoMing Si, but it's safe to say that the other Daoming Si has the same problem with anger management.
The lovely Shanchai is pretty much the same character as Makino Tsukusi and Geum Jandi. Although, I feel like there's more dilemma moments faced by Shanchai. Shanchai is also indecisive, I swear one second i could almost certain she's super into Hua Ze Lai, the next she's all over DaoMing Si. Having said that, I also think both Makino and Jandi have the same problem.
Our Second male lead, Hua Ze Lei, my personal favorite, is just... he's grown on me. at first I'm not really into Hua Ze Lei, i feel like he's character is not well shown in this series. I get that he's supposed to be the icy-cold-mysterious-will-there-wont-there type of guy, but seriously, give us some actions! through out the episodes Hua Ze Lai stays basically the same, while with Hanazawa Rui and Yoon JiHoo, the character develops and changes throughout the important scene of the story ( like when Shizuka Left Him). After reaching the Climax of the story, Hanazawa Rui and Yoon Jihoo was definitely into Makino and Jandi, I even remember how Rui tell Doumyouji that he's not gonna give up on Makino, Those determinations are missing in Hua Ze Lei. In most episodes i couldn't tell how Hua Ze Lei feels toward Shenchai, does he into her? does he hates her? His gestures and expression seems constant no matter what the circumstances. Although there are still some more episodes to see Hua Ze Lei grow, I actually feel that Hua Ze Lai is a lot sweeter compare to Rui and Jihoo.
Overall this is a good Hana Yori Dango drama and totally have it's own unique way of retelling our favorite F4 story. And I have to say that the pictures are aesthetically pleasing.
The story is expected to have 47 episodes, with the duration of around 45 minutes in each episodes. You guys can catch it on Netflix, or if you guys live in Indonesia you could also see it via VIU!
Be sure to watch!
best regards,
cha-
