I've watched three - but one was a repeat. The repeat was *KISS ME*(Thai version of Itazura na Kiss); this version is really good and I've watched it a few times. I think the fact that King (the Kinnosuke role in InK) was a real contender for Taliw (the Kotoko character) and NOT just the 'comic relief' as he is in all the other versions. Added to that TenTen (Irie-kun) is brilliant and not as harsh as the original - he has a lot more 'softer' moments.
The first new one was *PRETTY LI HUI ZHEN* - it was the Chinese version of She Was Pretty. It was MUCH longer and it did drag in places. Zhang Vin as Lin Yi Mu was excellent and most of us who watched it on Viki (which allows real time comments) were rooting for him even more than the cheeky Kim Shin Hyeok (played by the great Choi Shi Won). The downside was that there was more, a TON more, chemistry between Li Hui Zhen (played nicely by Dilmurat Dilraba) and Lin Yi Mu than then anything between the main leads of Hui Zhen and her childhood sweetheart Bai Hao Yu (played by the clearly struggling Sheng Peter). It's good and it's worth a watch, but you will find yourself hitting the fastforward buttons and, whilst we did end up rooting for Kim Hye Jin and her childhood sweetheart Ji Seong Jun - you won't be doing the same for Hui Zhen and Hao Yu. Oh and the best friend in this version is just nasty, rather than desperately unhappy as Ha Ri was.
The second new one was *MISS IN KISS* (Taiwanese reboot of It Started With a Kiss (ISWaK) and The Kiss Again (TKA), which are themselves the original (and superior) Taiwanese versions of the InK franchise). Sadly this was TERRIBLE - I got through it reasonably well until episode 18 (out of....gulp.....39), but by that point I was losing the will to live. So I managed to get episodes 19 to 25 by breaking them into 15 minute chunks and then, from episode 26 to 30 down to 10 minutes. I only got to episode 34 by breaking it down even further into 5 minutes episodes. The last four episodes to 39 were alright - it seemed the cast, especially the two leads (Xiang Yue Qin being the Kotoko of this version and played APPALLINGLY badly by Wu Esther and Jiang Zhi Shu played by the almost robotic Lee Dino).
I'd say Wu Esther's as dumb as a rock, but I'm worried the rock would sue me for slander; I wouldn't mind but she played EVERY scene like an escaped mental patient with learning difficulties and, as there was zero chemistry between her and ANYONE, it made you wonder WHY her character was even there. They could've turned it into a BL story between Jiang Zhi Shu and (the second male lead) Jin Zhi Zhu and it would've made MORE sense. Jin Zhi Zhu was played more convincingly by Gong Yi Teng - but then again my two dogs and a pineapple could've played out THIS love triangle better. I am only praying to any diety that exists that there's NO second season for the marriage section of the franchise....unless they just use and ENTIRE new cast.
