Hana Yori Dango / 花より男 / Boys Over Flowers

We all know the details about this one, eh?

2005 and 2007 drama based on an Anime about four, rich boys who rule an upper-class high school, where a poor girl is fortunate (or not) enough to be able to attend because she's smart, and when girl first meets boy, there is no love - that's for sure.

The cast for the Japanese version include Inoue Mao as Makino Tsukushi, Matsumoto Jun as Domyoji Tsukasa, Oguri Shun as Hanazawa Rui, Matsuda Shota as Nishikado Sojiro, and Abe Tsuyoshi as Mimasaka Akira.

Sorry fans, but I still think that Meteor Garden had the best cast, the best storyline, and the neatest way of telling an over-done and blown-totally-out-of-proportion anime.

However, despite the fact I think Matsumoto Jun isn't handsome at all or even a great actor, he managed to pull off the Domyoji character best.

I'll always, ALWAYS love Jerry Yan the most of the three, different versions of the F4 leader of this far-fetched tale, and poor Jun will always be at the bottom of this list, but that doesn't mean I didn't appreciate his efforts, because he nailed it afaic.

The fact that I hardly remember the rest of cast says something about Japan's version of this story, too.

No one is capable of pulling off ruthless bitch like a Taiwanese girl can, and no one can pull off macho supremacy the way a Korean dude can, which leaves our poor, Japanese grass-eater actors hanging, so to speak.

I hardly recall the bitch mother in Meteor Garden, and I'm still trying to figure out who won the bitch mother award in the Japan vs Korean versions, too.

The jury is still out on this one.

I can say that Barbi was just, too beautiful to portray the poor, picked on girl, and that the differences between the Japanese and Korean versions of the same character weren't, all that significant, either, but I can tell you that Barbi's character left the biggest impression on me, but that doesn't mean I didn't like all three or prefer one over the other.

I never was like most girls who have no qualms about falling in love with female actresses.
I, for one, think it's creepy and just, plain wrong to gush over a chick when I'm one, too.

I'm in it for the gorgeous guys, and that's basically all I care about - unless the female lead is a whining, sniveling beotch with zero personality or no reason under the sun to have hot dudes after her scrawny ass. It's only THEN that I'm likely to go on about a female character.

Regardless of which version of this surprisingly popular tale I watched, it has to be said that the only reason it became as popular as it did was because of the male leads from each, respective country who generated the hype; not the story.

As an aside: I think the girls who gush about female actresses are actually jealous and wish they could be that close to so, many hunky guys - but to keep from having to admit their inner demons are real, they compliment the female stars like they are talking about a popular girl in school they wish they were cool enough to be able to hang out with.