Anyways, the TW version was the first one I watched and at that time I loved it. I got obsessed and couldn't stop watching it. I like the story overall and it gets interesting with a love triangle.
About the cast, I really like Vic Zhou, Jerry Yan, Barbie Hsu and Rainie Yang are great actors. I don't really like the other actors in the drama.
I liked the music, it was ok. Nothing special, but it wasn't very remarkable. When I watched this series once again I felt like it was ok. It didn't give me that WOW feeling like when I was younger.
Overall this drama is very good in my eyes.
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This has 27 episodes in one season and has more time to tell the story, it feel more natural yet the chemistry is not there. You know he loves her, she hangs out with like 5 other guys while trying to distance herself from Dao Ming Si I am not sure that was in the manga, it sure wasn't in the other three versions.
This version has no amnesia and no "Lost in Snow" Incident which the other three did.
Lei's character (Rui) is ok TBH the Korean version fleshed him out so much better and while I love Oguri Shun as Rui there just wasn't much meat to his story.
Xi Men -The potters son/Tea maker/ who knows what his fathers job is in this, is an interesting story arc, and better done than Hana Dan this couple was my favorite in both BOF and MG.
So here's my recommendation Watch HanaDan for Domiyogi/Makino, watch BOF and MG for other F4 love stories.
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A Classic Adaptation, Filled With All The Beloved Tropes...
Along with its international cousins Boys over Flowers and Hana Yori Dango, and the recent eponymous 2018 version, Meteor Garden (2001) is often seen by international fans as one of the most “essential” and “ classic” versions out there . With the talents of Barbie Hsu as our female lead Shan Cai, Jerry Yan as our brooding male lead Dao Ming Si and Vic Chou as our second male lead Hua Ze Lei, it is no surprise that the Taiwanese version captivated a whole generation of youths by prominently kick-starting the drama adaptations with its own flare.The storyline is fairly familiar for those who have watched the previous versions ; poor girl Shan Cai and rich boy Dao Ming Si turn from enemies to lovers at a prestigious university. Rich boy Si is the leader of the clique F4 (Flower Four) and routinely bullies students who irritate him . Poor girl Shan Cai stands up for a friend and receives the dreaded red card (signal for the student body to bully a person) and surprises everyone when she does not back down from the repeated bullying incidents. Instead, Shan Cai declares war on the F4 earning their respect and rich boy Si’s affection alongside the interest of second male lead Ze Lei .
Yet like all of the adaptations, Meteor Garden still prominently has many things it did better than other versions and elements which weren’t as well tackled, either. Perhaps the most notable elements which still stand strong across all the versions are centralised upon the decision to “ age-up” the characters in comparison to most of their counterparts ( sans the recent Chinese version) , the more well-rounded complexity of Ming Si as a character and the interactions between Shan Cai and Ming Si feeling often a lot more “ natural” than other versions.
For those who may be unaware, most of the adaptations centralise the romance between the female lead and the male lead in high school. Although this has led many of the adaptations to explore more mature themes than typical “ sugary teen” dramas, it often felt questionable towards the exact nature of some of these themes in a high school setting. Perhaps to avoid as much controversy as well as being able to explore these themes for a more mature audience, Meteor Garden made the prominent decision of “ ageing-up” characters as university students allowing elements of the show to seem more natural within a young adult environment, rather than an immature teen high-school setting .
In addition to these themes of maturity and complexity, it still remains striking that out of most of the versions,
Jerry Yun arguably did possibly one of the best portrayals of making Daoming Si, a nuanced character. Yun is able to channel a level of complexity to his character than the “ stock comedy figure” taken in many versions . Frustratingly, he’s never given a chance to reconcile for some of his actions, but he’s still ultimately a well-rounded male lead; imperfect and often despicable at times , yet still a lot more than meets eye.
Parallel to Yun, Barbie Hsu is a refreshing change from the typical “ spineless” female lead in previous adaptations. Shan Cai is fierce, strong and able to determine her own wants and desires over the course of the series, leading her to maturely develop her relationship with Dao Ming Si from rivalry to close contact. Yet, as much as Barbie Hsu is undeniably a good actress,her acting skills did often come off as a little wooden in this adaptation, often resulting in some cheesy line deliverances and acting moments. In addition to this, a prominent complaint which may arise for modern day viewers is that ‘ Meteor Garden’ often normalised many scenes of physical abuse ( slapping and inappropriate touching ) against the female lead, which were neither raised nor touched upon as an “issue”.
The next prominent character to touch upon is Vic Chou’s role as the second male lead Zei Lei. It is often striking for a character who followed his manga version prominently ( not least touching upon the character having autism), Lei seemed a little lacklustre in comparison to his other counterparts. This is prominently because there’s little motivation or defining personality traits given to Lei which make him stick out or root him for prominently as a character. In Hana Yori Dango, Rui was mysterious and cool often leading to his true feelings being in the dark for viewers when it came to the female lead , in Boys Over Flowers, Ji Hoo was kind-hearted and even in the recent Chinese version, Lei is shown to be more evident within his motives for chasing Shan Cai. Yet in the Taiwanese version, his reasoning and personality often felt half-baked and consequently more of a “ stock” male lead, than an individual.
Additionally , it’s important to not gloss over the fact that Meteor Garden has all the shortcomings you’d expect from a drama of this bygone era — the music is inappropriate at times , it looks and feels outdated and its production values are bargain basement for a series ironically focusing upon the lavish and affluent upper-class members of Taiwanese society.
It’s probably fair to say that although every Hana Yori Dango adaptation is based on the same source material, it is outstanding how different the final products are and Meteor Garden is no exception . It is ultimately dated by fashion, age and certain tropes, but out of all the versions, still probably remains one of the most well-written in terms of the character bond between Shan Cai and Si of all the versions. Nevertheless, Meteor Garden’s ultimate flaws can additionally be found through pacing ( which ultimately snags at times before the interference of Si’s mother in the storyline), poorly written-tropes and questionable characterisation. Arguably still one of the best versions from the series, but not flawless.
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*THIS SHOW IS NOT FOR FAINT HEART*
THIS SHOW WILL WRECK UR HEART INSIDE & OUT
*WATCH AT UR OWN RISK*
DON'T GO CRYING AT ME AND TELLING ME I DIDN'T WARN U.
ONE OF GREATEST CLASSICS DRAMA THAT I'VE WATCHED.
YOU GOTTA BE STRONG TO WATCH THIS HEART-WRECKING DRAMA.
IF YOU'RE GOING TO WATCH THIS PREPARE YOUR HEART UNLESS U DON'T WANT TO BAWL LIKE A BABY
IK THIS REVIEW IS SO EXAGGERATED BUT I'M JUST STATING FACT.
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Outdated but the casting is still great
I'm gradually making my way through all the Hana Yori Dango adaptations to compare them, and had saved this one for two slightly contradictory reasons: One, I knew it was older and it might've been more problematic, and two, I knew how much of a craze this drama started and actually had pretty high expectations.I'm not going to talk too much about the plot — we all know what the story is and it's true that most of this doesn't age well, and this being from 2001, it's a lot less sanitized than the newer versions like China's 2018 Meteor Garden and Thailand's F4: Thailand in 2021.
However, I do think the pacing was just...sort of off. I felt like it was really slow in between plots — 29 episodes is way too much for this type of story. At the same time, when one plot moved to the next it felt kind of abrupt. I also just felt like the level of drama didn't necessarily match up what was actually happening on screen, maybe because of screentime distribution, or because side characters often came in and out without enough exposition.
Ultimately, I think the strongest part of this drama was the casting. This is maybe the only version where you really feel F4's commanding presence. Dao Ming Si is actually a good balance of intimidating/imposing and brainless loser, and Lei manages to pull off aloof and gentle but also powerful. The other two are a little less memorable, though.
I also think the casting and acting for Shan Cai was great. Compared to the other versions, she's still spunky but feels much more down to earth. There's no overacting (which the Korean FL is the ultimate culprit of), and she all around seems much more grounded and logical, and less whiny than the others.
A final comment I have is — and this might be more of a fault of the source material than the drama itself (which I haven't read) — but I just think this version had too many boys fall for Shan Cai when they could've just kept it platonic.
I haven't watched season 2 of this one yet, but so far my favorite adaptation of HYD is still the Japanese one, which seemed to hit the perfect pace with many less episodes.
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I realize it's from 2001, but this one did NOT age well
Not only is the actual look of the drama grainy and bad, the sound leaves a lot to be desired. There are big gaps in the story - we go from ep 3 where everything is fine, to episode 4 where she is getting beat up by a guy. Then, there's the acting. It's bad. The clothing, the hairstyles contribute to the aged look of this drama. And F4 is supposed to be a group of extremely attractive young men, not in this drama. I have to say, that this story works better in a high school environment like the Korean version, because there is no way these guys could control a college.Then there's the actual story line. I'm watching all of them because they are so famous and everyone raves about them, but I've got to be honest, I just don't get it. It's a group of bullies, with the ML being the worst of them all. He bullies her mercilessly and yet she likes him? He's nice for a moment but then reverts back to his normal, terrible personality. When they are "together" they fight all the time and continuously call each other names.
This story line is the poster child for toxic relationships.
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This review may contain spoilers
Drama that I won't be able to forget :) Purely my opinion and its kinda long :D
Let me start by saying that this is just my 3rd time watching this Taiwanese version of Meteor Garden. The first time was way way back long ago, 2002 or 2003 I think, but all I can remember is that I was still in 2nd grade at that time. It was even dubbed in my country's language and is a daily afternoon TV drama. So me and my friends would run home after class to watch and cheer for DaoMingSi. :DSecond time was when I was already pursuing my college degree. Internet was already available and I was able to rematch with their actual audio. 3rd time was few days ago when I have nothing to do. :D
So review wise, I can say that I have different views depending of when I actually saw this drama. Back when I was a child, the concept/story was so new for me. The plot line isn't much used at that time thus the drama really captured wide audience especially in international market. No internet yet to promote, mostly word of mouth only. Thus, the drama was indeed considered as a masterpiece at that time. Acting was done flawlessly in my opinion as I can relate due to being a student as well. The music was even more catchy as local language version was been released. The kind of widespread this drama caused at that time was really phenomenal. Asian dramas weren't that aggressive yet until Meteor Garden was introduced to international market thus starts the so called Asian Drama fever.
So for the 2nd time of watching, I can say that it kinda lessen my expectations as I was able to watch the Japanese and Korean versions (still on TV and dubbed in my native tongue. Forgive me as internet is still limited during my time.:D ) Story wise, the plot was already over used and having so many versions just feel useless for me. So I mainly focused on comparing the different versions then. I could say, each version has their own corresponding pros and cons. But each new version tried to surpass the previous ones. Thus I could say that maybe for later generations, they would be more biased towards more updated versions than the old ones. This is kinda true in my case as well since I am more inclined too with those drama versions created during my time rather than those before I was even born.
Overall, I would still recommend for younger generations to watch this version, or maybe not, their choice. :D Anyway, music wise, I still love the original ones especially those dubbed in my language. :D
End of my two cents. :D
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A Classic
I say it's a classic, because not only it has so many remakes (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Thai versions), there are also so many spin offs like Dragon Day You're Dead.I probably should just rate this by not comparing it with the other versions, but I'm gonna do that anyway. I waited to watch the other versions first (except Japanese) before I wrote this. Each one shares the same basic story but have different details added to some to prolong the story.
Violent arrogant rich boy met his match when a poor girl who wasn't afraid of his power put him in his place. ML has a super powerful evil mother that FL isn't afraid of either. There was a moment when I wanted to root for the FL and 2ML, but it only lasted like an episode.
This one is still my favorite. Yes you can't compare the cinematography and production of this one to the more recent ones like Thai and Chinese (which is my favorite as far as cinematography goes), but I think this one has the most depth as far as characters go.
FL is the fiercest character compared to the other versions, and I can feel the ML's feeling as Jerry Yan did awesome in portraying Dao Ming Si. Although the ML is the most violent here compared to the other versions.
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I write review for each version
This drama came out when I was 1 so this is not the fist version that I watch, the fist want is the korean one and then I found out about his drama around my senior grade and I just rewatched it again because I saw F4 performing last year in an award program and that made me shocked how Jerry Yan has old but still amazing 😍😍The
I don’t watch the manga version and the japanese 1995 adaptation
Korean version - I bet a lot of people start in korean drama because of this, I really enjoy it, everything is perfect, but somehow I enjoy Gaeul and Yijung couple more, in term of visual, the korean version got the best !
China version (2009) - It has been so long since I watched this, I just remembered the main character zheng shuang and zhang han, I kinda forgot most of it so I think that this version is not that good, this is just my opinion.
Taiwan version (2001) - THIS IS THE BEST ! I watched it 15 years after it came out and daomingsi lead by jerry yan just so amaazingggggg ( note that everyone has different taste ) the chemistry between him and barbie hsu is the best, he is the funniest out of all leader of F4, the way he angry, he even laugh at himself when he saw the short clip 😂😂😂, I really hope that Jerry Yan meet his soulmate.. all the f4 member has already married, just left with him.
Japanese version - I saw a lot of people love this version, but there is some part that is not logic.. I’m watching the season 2 now, I don’t hate it.. but I don’t really like it too
China (2018) - the best cinematography!! The budget for this drama paid off for all of the quality, but because of the young actors, some part is just lacking, Shen Yue present the character a little bit different for me, Dylan Wang have kind of similar vibe with Jerry Yan, good job 👍
It came out a long time ago so the photography and fashion is just not that comfortable too watched it, but Jerry Yan pull it out so well, even though it has been so long but I’m sure if I was the teenager at that time he will be my top idol, he really look so cool duhh... I rarely enjoy old cinematography, but I love the 2001 version the most, I think what catch me the most is the chemistry between the main character, No one can beat the chemistry between Jerry Yan and Barbie Hsu ❤️❤️❤️
No doubt with 10 points for the music !!! For that era this must be the best, and the OST that they have.. most of my friend around my age know it even though they never watched it before.. YASS it is that popular !!
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The Original And Classic F4
This drama, was the first of all F4 Meteor Garden (Taiwan). Remakes and various versions from Japan, Thailand etc. is truly beyond comparison to this original classic. Watching again now (for more than 10 times already), the drama looks dated and production, simple in it's 2001 release, but the actors and the story to me is still the BEST version.The Taiwan F4 selection for this original cast were equal in height, compatible in looks and persona, the aura magnificent and un-conditional brotherhood/friendship is both natural and warm to our hearts. One can not help but agree that the roles were a perfect fit for the entire cast. Jerry Yan's portrayal of Dao Ming Si can never be replaced. His arrogance, pride, coupled with a heart of gold that is loyal and determined in pursuing his first love Shan Cai, carried us from the start of the drama to it's much anticipated happy ending. In completion, one could not help but feel so happy for him, for he deserved it so.
.....(sigh)..... yes, I will watch this drama again, whenever I miss the many memorable moment and scenes. The entire album, OST and songs are also very good.
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