Well I figured that for my first post I may as well start from the beginning and talk about the first drama I ever watched. Boys Before Flowers was perhaps the drama which got me into my now full blown obsession and it is without a doubt one of my favourites to this day. There is alot that I want to say about this drama so I had better get started.
Boys Before Flowers (BBF) is a South Korean drama based of the Japanese Manga 'Hana Yori Dango'. Whilst the Korean one is not the only version of this manga which has been produced for television it was by far means the most successful and since it is the only version I have seen so far, my own personal favourite.
Watch online for free!Story Line:
Geum Jan Di is your typical teenage girl who works in her family's business; a dry cleaners. Due to this, Jan Di soon finds herself in a situation which leads to her eventual admission into the famous Shin Hwa High School where only the countries richest and best are able to attend. Soon after entering the school through a swimming scholarship, Jan Di meets the schools richest and most sought after guys; F4 or Flower Four.
However, Jan Di soon runs into trouble with this group of handsome and powerful guys, finding herself the unlucky recipient of the groups attention and everything that comes with it.
Characters:
Geum Jan Di: Played by Ku Hye Sun. The strong female lead who despite being the daughter of a dry cleaner, manages to gain entrance into Shin Hwa High School after she saves the life of one of it's students after he is bullied into attempted suicide by his fellow students. To save face the school offers her a spot. She soon attracts the attention of Gu Jun Pyo and the rest of F4 after she gets on the leaders bad side....in a very serious way.
Gu Jun Pyo: Played by Lee Min Ho. The leader of the F4 gang and most popular guy within Shin Hwa High School, Jun Pyo is also the heir to one of the most powerful global empires (and the son of one reeeeeally scary woman) Jun Pyo does not know how to get along with others and it is not long before Jan Di does something to royally tick him off.
Yoon Ji Hoon: Played by Kim Hyun Joong. Ji Hoon is one of the members of F4 and probably Jun Pyo's closest friend within the group. With an incredible talent for music, Ji Hoon is also the grandson of Korea's ex-president. Despite being one of the F4 members, Ji Hoon stands out from the rest for him soft heart and the fact that he always comes to the rescue of Jan Di in some form or another.
So Yi Jung: Played by Kim Bum. Yi Jung is another member of the infamous F4 and the Casanova of the group. A talented and famous potter, Yi Jung's family also owns the countries largest Art Museum. Yi Jung's involvement in the sometimes heartless actions of F4 is more due to what appears to be excessive boredom and less to do with a bad nature, though he often seems amused by what he sees happening around him.
Song Woo Bin: Played by Kim Joon. Woo Bin is the last and final member of F4 and another one of the group's playboys. From a family which owns a large company but also has strong connections to what appears to be the Mafia. Woo Bin is another one that seems to be driven by boredom and with his partner in crime Yi Jung, he is often amused by Jun Pyo and the drama which seems to surround him. Both appear to welcome the entertaining entrance of Jan Di into their school.
Chu Ga Eul: Played by Kim So Eun. Ga Eul is the sweet best friend of Jan Di, who despite not attending Shin Hwa High School herself soon becomes increasingly involved in Jan Di's life at the school and her connection to F4.
Okay so there is many many more characters/actors who deserve recognition than who I have listed here. So for a further list or if your looking for the actor of someone I have not mentioned (coz I'll be honest, I'm too lazy to type out the 30+ others who appeared in the drama) please look here for a more extensive list
My Say:
(Read at own risk: may contain spoilers and you may not agree with what I have to say)
Despite the completely out there and 'its-never-gonna-happen' aspect of this drama, I completely fell in love with both its storyline and characters. There were bits and pieces that drove me nuts about this drama as there has been with almost every drama I've ever watched. When I first watched this drama I had yet to master the skill of pronouncing Korean names and after my sister and two best friends had watched the drama in full we all came to an agreement. They needed nicknames, something we had been doing for Kpop groups. With our collective genius put together we were able to come up with easy-to-pronounce-and-remember names for each of the some of the characters..........
Jun Pyo was sadly reduced to Curly Hair Dude (for obvious reasons) Ji Hoon was Hyun Joong (again for obvious reasons and as SS501 fans we had had time to learn that name) Yi Jung had two names, Potter Dude to begin with but eventually he was upgraded to Smiley Dude (simply because my best friend and I would melt into whimpering mushy puddles every time he smiled) and then Woo Bin became Gangsta Dude and Ga Eul became The Best Friend.......... brilliant weren't we >_< I am not proud of it but even to this day we refer to them in this way despite having learnt there names.
Jan Di is a character I loved for being a strong female lead rather than the pathetic ones I see quite often in dramas....However there is such a thing as too strong. Sometimes I just wanted to strangle the girl and i believe that it was her stubborn nature which caused so many of the problems which affected her relationship with Jun Pyo.
Jun Pyo is in my opinion a gorgeous character (and not simply because he himself is gorgeous) I have always and will always love the slightly awkward and clueless character of Jun Pyo and the fact that despite his sometimes harsh nature, he is simply a young man damaged by the lot that life has given him.
The Relationships:
Ahhhhhh the relationships of this drama are as tangled as the necklaces in my jewellery box.
First of all we have the love triangle between Ji Hoon, Jan Di and Jun Pyo. Complicated indeed and made even more so by the bad timing this lot seem to possess. Whilst it is Ji Hoon who originally catches the eye of Jan Di due to the fact that he has been a absolute saving grace to her since she started at the school, Ji Hoon is otherwise preoccupied by his first love and it is not until said love disappears that his eyes turn towards Jan Di. But alas by this point it is too late and not only had Jun Pyo fallen in love with Jan Di (and stopped tormenting her..... he leaves that to his mother) Jan Di has also begun to return his feelings in some way and the two begin to date......or rather Jun Pyo announces it with little encouragement of her end.
And so begins the great battle for love, which sadly enough Ji Hoon has lost some time ago and is yet to realise.
Now don't get me wrong, I loved Ji Hoon my heart was torn between wanting Jan Di to end up with Jun Pyo and wanting her to end up with Ji Hoon. Eventually I admit that I rooted for Jun Pyo due to the fact that from the very start it was Jan Di who he loved, despite his pathetic attempts at making her his *shakes head* I'm surprised he got the girl at all with his cluelessness... though it was strangely endearing.
Now this drama has more than one love story to it and I think almost everyone was rooting for Ga Eul and Yi Jung to get together......well except for my sister who wanted Yi Jung to get with Woo Bin but I doubt she was alone. Even I have got to admit there was something funny going on there at times.... did anyone else see the skipping and closeness in the background whilst on the ski trip???? O_o
Unfortunately for Ga Eul, it takes a veeeery long time before she sees any sort of encouragement from Yi Jung as he appears emotionally scarred by what he has experienced both with his own parents marriage and with the lose of his first love.
Sadly Woo Bin appears to be the only one left without a love interest through out the drama (well unless you agree with my sister and think he's secretly having a thing with Yi Jung)
Of course I have to at least mention the relationships between:
Jun Pyo and his fiancee Ha Jae Kyung, who annoyed me at times but boy did my heart go out to that girl and I loved her towards the end.
Then theres Jan Di and the crazy Min Jae Ha who falls for her after she saves his brothers life and yet is trying to kill Jun Pyo O_O'
Ji Hoon and Ming (the soooo obviously gay guy from Macau).....yeah I know it was one sided but boy did it make me laugh.
Jun Pyo and Jang Yu Mi, who i personally wanted to push into the pool and stand on her head until she stopped struggling..... shes the crazy hospital patient who seems to latch onto Jun Pyo after the car accident.
There's probably others Im forgetting >_<The Bad Guys:Well this drama was ripe and plump full of bad guys from the very beginning.
Starting with the slightly insane yet GENERALLY harmless but incredibly annoying school girls: Ginger, Sunny and Miranda. These girls like to cause havoc and are your typical I-think-im-going-to-marry-him-so-any-girl-who-comes-close-shall-suffer-the-wrath-of-my-insanity kinda girls.
Next we've got the crazy student and model, Ja Ha who comes to Shin Hwa to seek revenge against F4 for what happened to his brother. I felt sorry for him at times and he was a pretty cool character to throw into the drama to shake things up but boy was that guy crazy with his throwing flower pots, gassing rooms and kidnapping.
The last bad guy I'm going to mention is the most evil and crazy of them all....... *insert DUN DUN DUN music* ........... Jun Pyo's mother. Man was that women a piece of work who seemed determined to destroy the lives of not only Jan Di for her relationship with his son but also the lives of anyone she came into contact with.Overall and The Ending:I loved this Drama and I can see why it was so successful. The casting was brilliant, from the crazy parents (may I add I loved Lee Hye Yeong as Jun Pyo's mother) right down to the lead characters who's actors and actresses I have continued to follow. I loved the character of Joon Hee ( Jun Pyo's sister) and got a good laugh out of every time she would wallop him.
I have to say I was happy with the ending of this drama with all its neatly tied ends, though it left room for more.
RATING
Definitely a drama to see and one I have recommended to all my friends ^_^
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