Posted: November 2, 2005 (I know this is a little old but we haven't discussed this yet)
Manga mania led to a dizzying ride to fame for Taiwan's F4. Now Japan puts its hemogrown teen heros on the small screen. Will the Japanese Hana Yori Dango boys send fans into a frenzy as well? We asked a diehard follower to compare them.
FOUR guys who are 'prettier than flowers' are set to stir up another fan frenzy.
By Chang May Choon
FOUR guys who are 'prettier than flowers' are set to stir up another fan frenzy.
They are Japan's version of F4 - the four rich but bratty school bullies in the popular Japanese manga, Hana Yori Dango (literally, boys prettier than flowers).
Four years after Taiwan's F4 took Asia by storm - and a decade since a Japanese movie was adapted from the comic series by Yoko Kamio - Japan's Tokyo Broadcasting Station has finally decided to play catch-up on TV and cast its own F4.
The result: Teenyboppers Jun Matsumoto, Shun Oguri, Shota Matsuda and Tsuyoshi Abe come together to tease, torture and romance a plain but feisty girl played by rising starlet Mao Inoue.
The drama debuted on TV in Japan two weeks ago, and the initial rating of 18.3 per cent seems encouraging enough.
In a bid to boost ratings, the production team even persuaded A-lister Nanako Matsushima to make a guest appearance as the bossy elder sister of leader Tsukasa Domyoji in episode three.
But will Jun, Shun, Shota and Tsuyoshi become as hugely popular as Taiwan's F4 - namely Jerry Yen, Vic Chou, Ken Chu and Vanness Wu?
Comparisons are inevitable. Both China's and Taiwan's media had earlier voiced doubts, arguing that Japan's F4 look nowhere as gorgeous as Taiwan's F4.
Taiwan's F4 is also enjoying a renewed lease on fame in Japan with the recent telecast of their drama there, which has sparked a Taiwan Wave in the country.
Another question is, will Mao, as the new feisty girl Tsukushi Makino, be able to make as big an impression as her plucky predecessors, Yuki Uchida and Barbie Hsu?
And who will turn out to be the biggest star of the show?
The movie version, for instance, catapulted to fame newbie-turned-leading hunk Naohito Fujiki as the brooding Rui Hanazawa.
Also spotted in the movie as a forgettable girl bully was Japan's reigning sex goddess, Norika Fujiwara.
Taiwan's TV version, titled Meteor Garden, introduced Rainie Yang in a supporting role, but look at how she has blossomed in the last four years to sell truckloads of albums and top music charts today.
It is still too early to tell if Japan's F4 can outdo Taiwan's F4 - at least not until Japan's TV version is exported overseas. But we venture to rate their performances, with the help of a Hana Yori Dango fan, Christine Tan, 19.
She has watched Japan's movie version, Taiwan's drama version and also the pilot episode of Japan's TV version.
Tsukasa Domyoji (Dao Ming Si in Mandrin)
Jerry Yan (Left) and Jun Matsumoto.
Manga: A short-tempered bully who's a softie on the inside. The leader and the meanest of the rich F4 bullies.
Movie: Shosuke Tanihara, 32, a B-list veteran actor with numerous dramas to his name, like Gokusen II, Shiawase Ni Naritai, and the ongoing historical drama, Oku - Hana No Ran.
Taiwan TV: Jerry Yen, 28. Once the most handsome and most popular member of F4, now Oral B spokesman and rumoured boyfriend of Taiwanese top model Lin Chi-ling. Now busy filming his first TV serial in three years, the Japanese-adapted medical drama, White Tower.
Japan TV: Jun Matsumoto, 22, of popular boy band Arashi. Star of hit dramas Gokusen and Files Of Young Kindaichi III. Incidentally, when he introduced himself as Jun from F4 during a visit to Taipei recently, fans thought he was joking.
Christine's verdict: 'Jerry makes the strongest impact as Dao Ming Si, because he is really hunky and he brings his fiery character to life. He is also the closest fit to the manga character.
'Actually I like Jun and I was looking forward to seeing him in the drama, but I was quite disappointed. He has the manga look of big eyes and ruby lips, but his hair is way too curly and oily. And how can Dao Ming Si be the shortest (Jun stands at 1.73m against the 1.77m group average) when he is the leader of F4?
Rui Hanazawa (Hua Ze Lei)
Vic Chou(right) and Shun Oguri
Manga: A dreamer with an aura of mystery. Plays the violin. The free spirit in F4.
Movie: Naohito Fujiki, 33, A-list actor-turned-singer with hits like Love Revolution and Slow Dance. Now in the midst of a concert tour in Japan.
Taiwan TV: Vic Chou, 24. Goofy F4 member-turned-love scandals magnet. Just broke up with Hsu Wei-lun and now dating Barbie Hsu, his co-star in Meteor Garden. There is even talk of marriage, though he is busy filming a new drama, Silence: Love Code, with Korea's Park Eun Hye.
Japan TV: Shun Oguri, 23, rising idol who debuted as an abused boy in Great Teacher Onizuka in 1998. Also seen in supporting roles in hit dramas like Summer Snow and Emergency Room 24 Hours 3, and has a newly-released pictorial book to his name.
Christine's verdict: 'Naohito is the best Hua Ze Lei because he has everything. He's got the Prince Charming image, the brooding aura, and also the cool I-don't-care factor.
'Vic is a close second, and he looks like a Prince Charming too, except his acting was raw then.
'As for Shun, I've seen his other dramas but it never crossed my mind that he can be Hua Ze Lei. He is not that handsome and he can't pull off that brooding dreamer look.'
Tsukushi Makino (Shan Cai)
Barbie Hsu(left) and Mao Inoue
Manga: A tough girl who will fight tooth and nail against the F4 bullies.
Movie: Yuki Uchida, 30. Star of hit dramas like Big Wing, who bowed out of showbiz in 2002 after marrying actor Hidetaka Yoshioka in a fairytale wedding in Hokkaido. But there has been recent speculation that their marriage is on the rocks and they have filed for divorce.
Taiwan TV: Barbie Hsu, 29, Pantene model and spunky host of the daily Taiwanese entertainment programme, 100% Entertainment. Also famously known as the blissfully lovesick girlfriend of Vic Chou.
Japan TV: Mao Inoue, 19, a sweet-faced but relatively unknown newbie who has starred in dramas like Emergency Room 24 Hours 3.
Christine's verdict: 'Barbie really stands out as Shan Cai because she is not only the prettiest of the lot, but she also manages to convey Shan Cai's never-say-die spirit in the best way.
'Mao is a newbie and her acting is raw, while Yuki comes across as a country bumpkin.'
Hana Yori Dango: The timeline
# 1992: Hana Yori Dango the manga is created by Yoko Kamio. It becomes a long-running series in the bi-weekly manga magazine, Margaret Comics.
Her realistic portrayal of high school life, romance and occasional violence soon make the magazine a regular on the best-sellers list. It did so well that it was later turned into a comic-book series with 36 volumes.
# 1995: Hana Yori Dango the movie released in Japan, starring Yuki Uchida, Naohito Fujiki, Shosuke Tanihara. It fails to make a huge impact at the box office, but earns Naohito a legion of female fans.
# 1996: Hana Yori Dango makes its debut on Japanese TV as an anime series spanning 51 episodes, which runs from September to August the next year. An animated movie version was also made.
# 2001: Taiwanese producer Angie Chai buys the rights to adapt the manga into a drama called Meteor Garden on Taiwanese TV channel Chinese Television System. She hand-picks the main cast of four 1.8m-tall fresh-faced hunks - Jerry Yen, Vic Chou, Ken Chu and Vanness Wu - who have since become mega stars worshipped by teenage girls all over Asia.
As the female protagonist, Tsukushi, Asos' Barbie Hsu also sees her popularity rise.
# 2005: Japan's own TV version of Hana Yori Dango makes its debut in Japan on 21 Oct, starring Jun Matsumoto, Shun Oguri, Shota Matsuda and Tsuyoshi Abe as F4, and Mao Inoue as Tsukushi.
Source: http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story/0,4139,96830,00.html
