Anyway, I do recommend this drama. I think you guys will enjoy this too. :)
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There are multiple remakes with the same story line, but ISWAK is by far the best. (Please completely skip over the Korean one -- "Playful Kiss", it's really awful.) Unlike the Korean version, the casting/acting here is excellent. Ariel Lin does a really great job of being the silly but still likeable main female lead, Yuan Xian Qin, and is perfect with Joe Cheng, who plays the cold-hearted/genius male lead, Zhang Zhi Shu. The second male lead, Ah Jin, is also extremely funny and played by the awesome actor Jiro Wang!
Plus, the OST is also amazing, especially the main theme, "Practical Joke". There also are a bunch of other background songs that fit perfectly, like "Hear" and "The Whole World Knows".
If you can't tell, I would highly highly recommend this drama! ^__^ It's happy and funny and filled with memorable characters!
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I loved the family in this drama the supporting cast being superb the mother provided some excellent comedy moments, all helped, I think by not having the ususal authoritative grandfather/father character to hinder their relationship; they do that themselves anyway.
All in all a sweet, cheerful, romantic comedy that in my humble opinion is one of the best TDramas out there.
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personal fav drama ever.
my first drama + greatest drama i've ever seen. the aesthetic is so perfect (this drama is likely responsible for my addiction to 2000s taiwanese media, as niche of an interest as that is), the ost is so memorable, xiangqin is THE CUTEST portrayal of kotoko i've literally ever witnessed she is simply SO ADORABLE!!! i think i first watched this as a kid? maybe 12 or 13 or so, i was quite young so it definitely left an impact on me. this one gets rewatched frequently it's absolutely my comfort drama of all time. DEFINITELY watch if you're a fan of itakiss in any capacity, it's hands-down my fav adaptation of it, ugh just quit reading this review and watch it already, it's available for free on youtube with captions!Was this review helpful to you?
A true classic
I've finally finished "It Started with a Kiss." I found it hard to binge because of the pretty low quality version I was watching. Luckily, GTV uploaded it with subs on YouTube so I was able to watch it without frustration lol. Note: I've read part of the manga, seen the anime and the 1996 drama, so these are what I'll compare ISWAK to.I absolutely loved "It Started with a Kiss." From the beginning, you can sense the care the production took to be faithful to the manga while still localizing it to Taiwan. My one complaint would be that the drama is quite long at twenty episode with a running time of one hour and ten minutes. I feel the story could've been trimmed down a bit. The last three episodes before the finale I found to be quite draggy too. In terms of writing, "It Started with a Kiss" still manages to beat out 1996 Itazura na Kiss by several leagues and is on par with the anime.
Ariel Lin and Joseph Cheng are perfect as Xiang Qin (Kotoko) and Zhi Shu (Naoki). Their acting was absolutely superb. Ariel managed to be clumsy, dumb, and at times annoying without me absolutely hating her. I could actually relate to her since I sometimes feel useless too. Joseph was able to use facial expressions and certain movements to make his character more likeable while still staying true to the manga. Zhi Shu's and Xiang Qin's families were really on the nose; they all suited their characters perfectly. Watching the family together was my favorite part of the drama. There were some really funny moments.
I wasn't particularly charmed by Ah Jin aka Kinnosuke (played by the good-looking Jiro Wang); I'm afraid I'll find him exhausting in every version. Tiffany Hsu was great playing Zi Yu (Yuko), adding quite a bit of dimension to the character. She had a lot of especially funny moments with Xiang Qin and wasn't just some evil rival. Hao Qian (Sudou) was fun to watch, though his hair was a bit ridiculous. Also, out of the short side stories, I enjoyed Zi Qi's and Wu Ren's parts the most.
Some special notes I want to mention are: I loved that they changed the characters style and hair cuts over time since the drama takes place over five years or so. I guess the only discrepancy is that Yu Shu stays a child the whole time XD. It was a nice touch in the finale to bring back some characters from earlier on, such as Xiang Qin's teacher and Ah Jin's friends. Lastly, the OST of this drama is one of my faves. "Say That U Love" is super catchy and the opening sequence is perfect. Now on to the honeymoon in "They Kiss Again."
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My favorite drama!
I love this drama, and yes, I am giving it 10/10 all across the board. I have seen every adaptation of this series, the anime, manga, taiwanese, korean and Japanese versions. I will continue to love it, and have seen it over 50 times. The story follows the manga pretty closely, the music is wonderful and catchy, and the actors are wonderful and have great chemistry.The Taiwanese and Japanese versions are 100x better then the Korean version, I would suggest skipping it as it doesn't cover even half of the story.
Definitely one of the best series I've ever seen, and I'm a huge romcom fan!
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I had a hard time finding links that would play the drama but I looked everywhere & finished it. Glad I did too b/c the end was the bestest!
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Nevertheless,it's a very interesting story between a guy with high IQ and a girl with high EQ.
Enjoyment - 10 (Because of their contrast character,it's really enjoyable to watch)
Soundtracks- 10
Story- 9.5
Rewatch Value - The story is really interesting so I've already watched all 3 versions from Korea,Japan and Taiwan but if you'll ask me which version has the most rewatch value,i'll go for Itazura Na Kiss(Kotoko and Naoki)
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The acting of the cast was okay, the chemistry wasn't sizzling like the japanese version! However, I loved the second male lead a lot here. He wasn't annoying and did not over exaggerate his acting like in the Japanese version (partially due to my bias for jiro wang keke). The male lead was also less cold than in the japanese version .
The music, well, I didn't pay much attention to the osts because they did not stand out. As for rewatch value, I think I would prefer rewatching the japanese version even though this couple was cute too.
Thought Itazura na kiss (Japanese version was better) but what I liked a lot about this version is that the female lead acknowledges the feelings of the second male lead.
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Best Classic Modern Drama Ever
We Watch this Drama every few years because it has so many good parts and the characters are very endearing. I hope the actors are getting their royalties from this drama. I continue to watch it over and over again every few years. This drama is the first or second on top of my recommend list for friend to watch. Along with Go princes Go, and Faith. Good clean entertainment. I continue to watch it over and over again every few years. This drama is the in the first top five, on top of my recommend list for friend to start watching. Along with Go princes Go, and Faith. Good clean entertainment.Was this review helpful to you?
Like i said the acting was average and came off cheesy in most scenes, but it was just one of those things that just for some reason or another captivated me and kept me thoroughly entertained. I guess you could say i in some ways or another related to the main character Xiang Qin. A unrequited love throughout high school not knowing how to call it quits even when the other party does not seem the slightest bit interested. Now i can't say that i ever have lived with one of my crushes before but that was one of the things i loved the most about the story. Was how funny and out there it was.
I guess one of the main reasons why i loved this version so much is because of how much detail they put in the story line. IF you watch season 1 and 2 they cover from their high school years all the way up to the point they are old enough to go out there and try to chase the their careers. I also loved how the portrayed Zhi Shu's character. I thought Cheng Joe did an amazing job portraying that character. At least out of all the other male leads in the different versions of this drama. He was cold, mean, nasty at times and yet could be gentle, kindhearted and loving and not even know it. I will admit for the first time i watched this i absolutely hated his character. I kept thinking is there really a reason to make him so dang nasty all the time. But there was. Out of all the characters in this story he grew the most. From the first episode to the very last you could see how much his character had changed. And yet even though he had changed his character didn't end being one of those wishy washy characters that you just find annoying at the end of the series. Another thing i will give credit was they didn't add in a lot of cheesy dialogue where you are thinking oh my goodness please just end it already. I thought it was rightly timed and executed. It is really hard as well when making a romance to not have cheesy lines, because to most people anything romance related is pretty cheesy. Now i know a lot of people will disagree with my rating of this drama but at the end of the day, at the end of each episode i finished it with a smile on my face and constantly going back in for more. Now if that's not what you want an audience to feel then how should one feel after watching a romantic comedy? But again this is all in my humble opinion.
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