#hydblog

[hydtrash-blog]

Introduction - In which a drama from China inspires me to blog

So I’ve been obsessed with Hana Yori Dango for the last ten years or so.

It was my gateway drama: from the Japanese drama starring Mao Inoue and Matsumoto Jun, I quickly devoured the other adaptations of this story, and then dove fully into Asian drama fandom with wild abandon. Ten years later, my tastes have expanded and refined themselves, but I remain HYD trash.

This brings me to last month, when I learned about the latest adaptation of HYD, this time from mainland China. Needless to say, I immediately began watching, and I have so much to say. So much! But sadly, no one to say it to, as most of my friends aren’t into Asian dramas (and those who are are currently living in different time zones, so squeeing over Cute Moments is done at odd hours and usually belatedly). So here I am: blogging about it.

I’ll be playing catch-up with Meteor Garden 2018, as I’m starting this about 22 episodes into its 48 episode run. I would have loved to start with a recap series of Hana Yori Dango and Meteor Garden (Taiwan) first, to contextualize my thoughts, but hopefully if you’re reading this, you’re familiar enough with the story that you’ll know what I mean when I start talking about red cards and such nonsense.

But in case you aren’t: the drama I’ll be talking about to start off with is Meteor Garden, a mainland Chinese reboot of the Taiwanese drama of the same name, which itself is an adaptation of the Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango. Having only watched the Taiwanese version once, I have retained very little of what went down (though, being familiar with all of the major plot points of HYD, I can piece together the general story…maybe just not the order in which everything happened. Again, maybe one day I’ll recap a rewatch of it). Since this is a reboot of an adaptation, let’s outline the basic plot of the original, so that we all know what we’re working with.

The Japanese manga follows the story of Makino Tsukushi, a poor, fiery-tempered student of Eitoku Academy, a prestigious school populated by the rich and privileged students of Tokyo. Of those students, the four richest, most popular, and most-admired boys, collectively known as F4 (or Flower Four), rule the school. F4 are led by the arrogant and cruel Domyouji Tsukasa, who terrorizes the student body by periodically sending individual students a red tag whenever they piss him off or get in his way. The red tag brands the student as a general target for harassment and hazing, until said student drops out of Eitoku. Inevitably, Makino receives a red card after she stands up for her friend, who spills food on Domyouji. However, despite the intense bullying she faces, from the student body and Domyouji himself, Makino refuses to back down, and soon Domyouji finds himself drawn to her, especially when he realizes she can’t be bought or won over by his wealth. From these troubling begins springs a reluctant romance, dogged by numerous obstacles and conflicts, from Domyouji’s domineering personality to Makino’s crush on his best friend, Hanazawa Rui.

Basically… it’s a lot. It’s cliché. I love it.

It’s also very popular. As you’ve probably gathered, it’s been adapted numerous times, notably in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China (technically twice, but one of those adaptations only kinda counts... but we’ll get into that later). So there will be a lot of material to work with as we go on.

I do feel compelled to address the fact that this story (and, by extension, all of its adaptations) is extremely problematic. Like, incredibly so, at points. And I’ll be getting into that more as I go through the recaps, because I think it’s important to look at the entertainment we consume critically. But I also hope that we can all still have fun with this story, as there are some pretty heart-warming moments to be had, and let’s face it, it’s addicting as fuck. Like I said before: ten years later, and I’m still coming back for another hit.

So, now that the introductions are out of the way, onto the recaps! Please don’t forget to let me know your thoughts as we go through. Also! As an English (only) speaker, I am relying heavily on subtitles and the internet as I watch, so if you speak Mandarin (or Korean, or Japanese, etc., as we move through the different adaptations), and you spot something isn’t translated quite right, or some nuance is lost, please let me know! I’m always happy to learn from the experts!