One of my favorite manga growing up was Hana Yori Dango, or Boys Over Flowers. It's an unconventional shojo series by Yoko Kamio. The heroine is a girl named Tsukushi Makino—she's neither rich nor pretty, but her parents decide to dig into their savings and send her to a snobby private school. There, Tsukushi has multiple run-ins with the Flower 4—four handsome, wealthy, extremely cocky guys who dominate the school's social life. My girl friends and I loved the story so much that four of us called ourselves the Flower 4 all throughout high school. Stupid, I know.
In the movie—which came out in theaters last month—Tsukushi and the leader of the F4, Tsukasa Domyoji, are about to get married but get sent on a transnational adventure in search of a missing tiara. I watched it on the airplane over to Tokyo (like JAL, ANA has great food and a highly maneuvrable entertainment system). I missed the entire TV series so was super curious to see how they portrayed my favorite manga with real humans. The verdict? It was okay. I was slightly disappointed by the random plot and the nonsensical turns it took (if they're in a rush to get to Vegas, why are they driving idly through the desert and not flying into Las Vegas airport??), but still, I was entertained and I didn't fall asleep. That says a lot, because I usually fall asleep during movies.
Oh, I didn't know they made a movie, I guess I'll wait until it comes on DVD and take a look at it.
Posted by: MeaningOfLife | November 10, 2008 at 09:19 AM
I remember there was a Chinese drama based on Hana Yori Dango, the title was Meteor Garden.
Just correct me if Im wrong :)
Posted by: sandalian | November 10, 2008 at 10:46 AM
I don't think the movie could be appreciated by anyone other than fans of the drama, honestly xD It wasn't great, and in many cases didn't even live up to the drama, but for fans of the series I think it was nice.
Personally, I very much enjoyed it while I was in Japan this summer :P
Posted by: Brighty | November 10, 2008 at 02:30 PM
@sandalian
You are correct, and then they made a sequel called Meteor Garden II and a spin-off called Meteor Rain or something.
Posted by: MeaningOfLife | November 10, 2008 at 02:50 PM
Yeaaah I have to admit that I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of Hana Yori Dango. If you watch the dorama it somewhat follows the manga better.
I just really want to see Tsukushi and Domyoji get married >_<
Posted by: Risachan | November 11, 2008 at 11:28 AM