Meteor Garden

Nothing

Dont compare this to the original one both of all versions are good but something is not good about here 1. The Clothing of the Characters are extremely poor just like the original hoping it will have a season 2 but it not the show has been ended in one season cause they all gather all important details here and in complete version of the manga 2. The acting of all the characters are not strong as the original one the original version has been strong and powerful and their aura on this their acting skills are only beginners 3. So many people are generally favored airing original than the remake you will see all their post when this one is reairing but some people dont know that all of the remakes have all different casts now cause of their past prime and their age are not enough than i todays generation 4. Unfinished business the show should have a season two cause they are all graduating in the University just like the original one but they couldnt the director says its over

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Before I start rambling about this wonderful drama: I never saw the original Meteor Garden (the chinese version), but I saw a lot of HYD remakes, even the japanese ones, and I have to say this one wins it all for me.

Spoiler alert!
Let's start with the things i didn't like:
- Caina & Meizuo: unnecessary drama, a bit dragged on, didn't feel like Meizuo was really into her (not the way Si is into Shancai for sure) and I admit I skipped many fragments of this storyline cause I found it boring to say the least.
- Unnecessary cringy moments in episode 48. Another filler just to see if they can pull it off and gain some more viewership i think

So-so moments:
- the full force push and pull between the two leads is sometimes too much, expecially approaching the last 20 episodes.
They said goodbye to one another so many times. I get that this is the plot and it's fine, but I wish I could've seen some logical actions going towards the end (i would've prefer they drag a little bit more the mom's debate with Si since London instead of giving us hope it was all over and then hit us during the last 4 episodes).

What I liked:
I must admit this is one of that dramas that I was waiting for every single week. It was thrillin' from the very beginning, and even though they didn't go into much detail with Lei's storyline (i wish they did) I loved every single character.
Dylan Wang is exceptionally good at portraying Daoming Si, he got the sass, the charm and he's adorable.
I knew Shen Yue from "A love so Beautiful" and i'm not surprised by her acting skills (i wish she would kiss with a little bit of emphasys, but it's okay).
Caesar Wu. I LOVEEEED HIM. He's just perfect in my opinion. (I also admire his vocal skills)
Along with Darren Chen, of course. Connor Leong was okay, but didn't blow my mind.
The chemistry between the leads was phenomenal and the main story was never boring.

Overall, I recommend this drama to slice of life and romance's lovers.
You'll not regret this!

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Hmmmm I have to say this, I did enjoy this drama a lot. I enjoyed it more than the Korean version. But, I do have to say that the plot was dragged out and I wished that there were not as many episodes. It is a very cliché though and I had wished that Shang Cai and Daoming Si had gone through far less problems then they had to go through. After watching them go through problem after problem I started to get annoyed and angry. I was questioning, "can they not enjoy one moment of peace together?" I do have questions remaining as well, "what happened to Daoming Si's dad? (They did mention it briefly) but, the the one thing that bothered me is that they did not go into depth about Daoming Si's dad and what their relationship was and why Daoming Si became so angry after his father had passed.
I do think that there should be at least one episode that explained that.
One more thing that I had wished they had done, and people can either agree or disagree, but I do enjoy Ximen and Xiao You's characters a lot. I enjoyed watching them grow from their struggles and past. I had wished they had done more episodes that focused on them. I do understand Shang Cai and dooming Si are the main characters, but with all their problems it got annoying and it was a nice break to see how Ximen and Xiao You's relationship was developing. Like we saw Meizuo's character go through hardship with love for many episodes. But we did not see a lot for Ximen's until the end. Throughout the drama you just see them flirting, but no moves until later and the scenes we kinda brief to me. So for me when Ximen and Xiao you had a long segment in episodes 44, 45, 46, and 47 it made me happy. Lei's was also explained in a few episodes, but I wished to see more.
The cast hands down all did an amazing job. They all played their characters well. The music was also awesome. Do not get me wrong I did enjoy the drama, but I feel like I enjoyed it because of the actors and actresses, not the plot so much.

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== !! Very Minor Spoilers Ahead !! ==

I unintentionally had a somewhat unique perspective going into this drama, since I have just recently finished re-watching all of the Japanese version (Hana Yori Dango) which made it easy to compare the two. Getting right in to it—My first thought when I finished Meteor Garden 2018 was: ‘OMG…Finally…Done.’

Which was soon followed by a little pang of sadness because as much as I desperately wanted this series to be over, I am truly going to miss some of the characters (especially after spending forty…nine…episodes with them).

To preface this a bit: I have seen Hana Yori Dango multiple times, and I did obsessively watch Boys Over Flowers (the Korean version) when it aired, although I pretty much hated it. I have also seen a few episodes of the Taiwanese Version (Meteor Garden) and the first Chinese version that aired years ago (Meteor Shower…which apparently is unlicensed and “loosely” based) but I was never able or interested in finishing either.

We’ll start with the good then: this series has my favorite version of the Domiyoji character, Dao Ming Si. He had some of the character’s irrational characteristics (especially in the beginning) but overall, he was the most endearing and sweetest of them all. I think this had a lot to do with his actor, Dylan Wang. His expressions were adorable, and you just couldn’t help but fall in love with him.

I also really enjoyed this version of Soujiro (Xi Men Yan). He’s so good looking (I’m not shallow at aaaall haha) and of the 3 versions I’ve completed, this is the only one where his relationship with Yuki (Xiao You) actually becomes a real thing. I was so freaking happy!

The directing was really great as well. While I did feel bored frequently during this FOURTY-NINE episode journey, the directing kept bringing it back with some really well timed scenes that had just the right angles and all the right feeling.

Now let’s look at the mediocre:

Dong Shan Cai was not my least favorite version of Makino (looking at you, Boys Before Flowers *cringe*), but she wasn’t my favorite either. I actually really like the actress Shen Yue, who I saw recently in “A Love So Beautiful.” But her character in general really went up and down for me. For the majority of the series, I was pretty annoyed with her.

I also wasn’t really a huge fan of this Hanazawa Rui (Hua Ze Lei). He did grow on me more towards the end but let’s be honest—it’s damn hard to compete with Oguri Shun. #sorrynotsorry

The writing’s portrayal of this story was also pretty “meh.” The source material (the Hana Yori Dango manga) is pretty outdated and I think a lot of things could have changed to give this a fresher take. I did see the effort they made, and some of the interesting changes (for example, this was the least violent and intimidating of all the F4’s…as instead of being regular bullies, they just play a card game that everyone wants to beat them at). If someone has gone into this series without having seen any of the other versions, they might not find this point to be quite as pertinent. I still feel like the trajectory of the story and some of the traditional elements they stuck with could have been updated better while keeping the initial “wild-rich-boy-falls-for-good-poor-girl” premise.

That brings me to the bad—

Once again this has to do with the writing. Some of the dialogue was awful and the things they said and their actions seemed really cut-and-paste (not to mention, choppy).

Some of that could also have to do with the overwhelming lack of chemistry between the leads. I hate to say this, since I like them both individually and I think they are good at what they do…but, damn. For such an epic couple I felt almost nothing when they were together. Nothing that made my heartbeat quicken or anything. The closest they came to moving me was when they were in London, at the Chinese restaurant, having what they thought my be their last meal together. My heart ached for them then.

Also? All. The. Flashbacks. I guess they had to get to that 49th episode somehow but holly molly. I feel like the last 5 episodes or so for-sure where just one big repeat of the entire series. It was pretty annoying. This should have been maybe 30 episodes at most. As it stands, we were left with 19 episodes of wasted time.

Overall this was a good remake. It was definitely a step in the right direction towards updating this beloved classic, I’m just left feeling disappointed that they didn’t do more with it.

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I, similar to many other viewers of the show, anticipated the release of this remake as I loved the previous BOF remakes. This was a disappointment, the main issue was the extra and unneeded focus on Feng Mei Zuo's love story. Some people may have enjoyed it but personally I wish they would have picked a more interesting or relevant storyline, they focused on this too much and for me it ruined the whole 'playboy' look F4 was meant to have. I mean if they're all good boys who believe in true love then it goes against the whole concept of rich playboys.

Another big issue was Shan Cai's character. I love loved Gaeul's character in the Korean BOF and in this show instead of making her innocent and naive they just made her seem really dumb. In the Japanese version, Yuuki Matsuoka was made to be more clingy but it wasn't obnoxious or embarrassing to watch. In this show, I just got second-hand embarrassment from her as I loved the Korean 'best-friend' support character so much.

The boy's in F4 in general, I wished they touched on their personal stories more as they did in the other versions. I haven't finished it so maybe they do in the end but Xi Men's character in the Korean version and in the Japanese version had so much more soul and his story was so interesting and human. While the boys are very pretty their storylines were lacking and it just made this F4 seem to half-assed, I understand most of the audience already knew them before watching but it feels like the writers took that as a way to get lazy with the script and skip the initial build-up and connection of the boys.

Lastly, a common issue many see, the plot dragged on and on and on. Seriously, it became way too predictable and annoying to watch. I love watching remakes and usually when remakes come around the plot is still interesting or there will be some new plot twists so seeing as there were 49 episodes I imagined more depth and some new ideas. I didn't expect them to rush through iconic moments and add a boring side love story that I constantly wanted to skip through.

Overall it is light-hearted and maybe some people really enjoy it. Maybe if you haven't seen the other remakes I suggest watching this first so you're not burdened by the butchering of the originals like I was. Just be ready to skip a lot of scenes and take long breaks as the show isn't very binge-worthy.

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Disturbing behavior and a lack of actual relationship development

Ok, Daoming Si is the first male lead and he seems unpleasant to be around, disturbingly immature, and is unnecessarily violent, at one point smashing a paper takeout box full of food into the female lead's (Dong Shancai's) head and at another, slamming her against a wall and forcing a kiss on her. Additionally, while I haven't seen the entire show, I did watch 21 episodes before the characters' behavior became too ridiculous to handle, but the two leads barely spent any time together where they weren't fighting or dragging each other around against the other's will. Their relationship was so dysfunctional; they refused to explain their feelings or actions to each other and were always making each other mad or uncomfortable. I have seen Boys Over Flowers, and I know that that male lead (Gu Jun Pyo) was also somewhat immature and initially unpleasant and violent, but there was something endearing about Gu Jun Pyo that Daoming Si completely lacks.

I do think the second male lead (Huaze Lei) was a pretty good character and a much more appealing partner than Daoming Si. He never attacked anyone or blurted out rude and disturbing things and he acted his age. Also, he and Dong Shancai had a far better, more stable relationship. I usually don't think the second male lead should be with the female lead, because I tend to just go with what the story wants me to go with, but in this case, the male lead was so horrible, I could not see him and the female lead ending up together.

When it comes to acting, I thought it was subpar. Sometimes, the actors' actions felt jilted and forced. Also, Dong Shancai's facial expressions during moments that were supposed to be sexy or romantic made it look like she was disgusted and upset, which added to the disturbing effect Daoming Si was creating.

Also, I feel like this goes without saying, but isn't this plot just a little trite? Rich, cool, emotionally distant boy falls for the first quirky, poor girl who stands up to him? I am not interested, honestly. I know that Hana Yori Dango and Boys Over Flowers and Meteor Garden are kind of staples, but I feel like, in 2018, you could be doing something else

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Horrible. DONT watch this

I originally never wanted to watch this adaptation cause I saw clips and thought it looked horrific (the main guy’s hair didn’t help the matter as well) but I decided to give it a shot cause caesar was in the cast lineup. Worst mistake ever this drama started as maybe somewhat hopeful? I did like that they changed the backdrop to uni rather than high school, however, the immediate response to the introduction of main dude was horrible. His hair did him so wrong and genuinely maybe if they made his hair normal he would’ve been less insufferable to see. While this version removed the f4 bullying basically it still included the harassment courting of main girl by main guy?? One forced kiss scene should’ve been enough but they added 2??? The relationship started off as toxic straight off the bat and only continued to progressively get worse with them breaking up over practically anything also this version took out many of the romantic scenes found in others and replaced them or altered them in a very dissatisfactory way. Never mind how main guy made it a job to insult main girl while other versions did play into this as well this version was by far the worst with him coming up with more creative ways to insult main girl each ep rather than idk? Helping their relationship? The second male lead was decent in this , however, in comparison to other versions he was fairly dull and a very static character as the rest of f4. The story centres basically only around the main leads despite being 50 eps with more than enough time to develop side characters it does a horrible job and the side characters are practically just accessories to stand around the main couple which made the story even more repulsive. The drama also seemed like it wanted to stand out from other remakes by adding in other plotlines such as the chef who works with her which I found pointless cause lei was already bland as a second lead what was the point of having essentially another second lead? However, I did like the cooking aspect they added so that’s probably the only plus I’ll give to this remake. Caesar played the playboy (a role taken by Kim bum and Shota Matsuda in other adaptations) and was a very watered down version of the character which was very disappointing also his romance with the main girl’s BFF seemed bland as well and I didn’t really care for it despite it being one of the things I was looking forward to in this drama :( . The show was decently funny so at least there was that but it was definitely not enough to out weight the cons. The ost was HORRIFIC and very disappointing I was wondering if they might try to make a Chinese version of paradise and add it in since it was a very popular and good ost however they did not and instead they only had like 2? Chinese songs which were nothing special and didn’t stand out. The remainder of the ost consisted of English songs which was so out of place and made it at times very awkward (especially the playing of run me like a river? Who even came up with that idea???!) overall this drama was a huge let down and by far is the worst remake of bof. If you wanna watch an actual good remake of bof just watch Hana yori dango instead of this garbage

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I cannot understand why people like this drama

Two things for the start. First, I haven't watched any of the previews installements and I didn't read the book. So, I don't compare any version. Second, I dropped the drama. I watched about the half.
I cannot understand why someone likes this drama or how they can finish it. And it was really hyped, even in Netflix. I understand the cliches of the concept and the story (the school theme, rich male/poor female, bad mother-in-law etc) but it has the worst and the most tiring plot and use ever. There are a lot of similar dramas with the same themes, Heirs is the best, that use them in an interesting way. Bad female lead but I think it is the role bad written not the actress and she had chemistry with no one. Every episode with a new incident with no logic, only for the dramatics and more episodes.

Second, the whole bully turned lover is a problematic trope. It is a really dangerous standard that we teach the men that can do anything to women and not be punished and women to not speak up because "boys are boys" . It is wrong. Also, in general this thing is full of misogyny and patriarchal views from the evil mother to the belief that the girl has to be perfect and cooks "because it is a woman job".

But there was two things I apreciated. The acting of the F4 actors, especially Dylan Wang and Darren Chen.

(Sorry of any mistakes. English is not my first language.)

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I am a sucker for tropes where there is a group of cute boys being protective of a girl and there's that one bad boy who falls in love with the girl, but tbh actually kind of bullies her and isn't the best example of a good human but then kind of redeems himself at the end. (Yes, there are probably multiple things wrong with that but blame society for making me think that such story lines are cute). I watched the Korean version of this and I think I liked it, but I prefer this version much more! I'v rewatched maybe 2/3 times now!

Liked:
- Dylan Wong and Shen Yue have really good chemistry. Even though I find the character of Shan Cai to be kind of annoying at times, I think their on screen chemistry is really good. They match each other's vibes really well.
- All the characters get really great storylines and it all pieces together nicely. Somehow I don't get annoyed by the side characters which is very rare.
- It's just all so cute!!!! As mentioned before, this trope really does it for me.

Disliked:
- I think the drama with the family and stuff was draggy for me. It was unnecessary.
- I also think the love triangle was unnecessary but I know a lot of people ship Shan Cai and Hua Ze Lei. And tbh if I were to pick the not so toxic boy, I should definitely go with Hua Ze Lei. But again, there is something about the bad boy character that really is intriguing. I blame society for this.

WATCH!!! and then REWATCH!!! and then REWATCH again. Even though I didn't give it 10/10 stars, I think this is one of the most easy to watch and just overall fun and can squeal often dramas.

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It was a beautiful story

This was my first 'Boys over Flowers' adaptation that I watched. I was hooked on the first episode.

The relationship between Dao Ming Si and Dong Shancai was phenomenal, although I wish there had been more 'drama' in it. The acting was amazing, but I know a few scenes had left me wanting more. From the very first 'date' when Dao Ming Si was waiting in the rain for Shancai had me in all of my feels. From that moment, you could tell that he was already starting to fall for her.
I love a good enemies to lovers story, and this one certainly took that cake to new standards. I felt every emotion that the characters felt and the entirety of the story was beautifully done.

Although, some people will say they didn't like the ending, I found myself to enjoy it very much. I love that they had written in that they had gotten married and the way that Dao Ming Si's mother had became accepting of them, it was an un-expecting surprise to see.

To be honest though, the whole Caina storyline was a bore to me. I wanted to skip every scene.

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I didn’t like it

So, this was my first official Chinese drama back in 2020, and I couldn’t get behind the toxicity of the male lead, or the romantic relationship. I now know that modern dramas are not my thing, so that may have influenced my rating.

I saw their relationship as toxic because the male lead seemed to force the female lead into liking him, of course, she chose him in the end, but it left a queasy feeling in my stomach.

I also didn’t love the OST. I usually adore OSTs in Chinese dramas, but this one did not do it for me.

If I could say good things about it, all the actors and actresses are attractive, and the locations in the show are fun to watch.

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Probably my favorite adaption of boys over flowers

I started watching Boys Over Flowers (the korean ver.) and i couldn't even finish it because of how bad it was because of all the bullying and how dumb the male lead is. i'm also in the middle of watching F4 thailand which isn't much better. I'm a person that can handle a good amount of angst but only if it goes on for a specific amount of time and isn't drawn out angst like BOF and F4. I haven't watched the other adaptions because i don't know where to watch..

My beginning point, though, is that I kind of like the soft upbeat spin they put on this version of the story. Without the bullying and stuff and it's just overall funny and non-dramatic. Every character had their own story and I fell in love with each and every one of them unlike other adaptions of this story. again, im a person who usually enjoys dramatic stuff and thrillers but this one is refreshing since the drama isn't drawn out like the rest of them

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