This review may contain spoilers
Amazing so far
I'm reviewing this from the perspective of someone who have watch the 2018 Meteor Garden and Boys Over Flower and read the Original Manga Hana Yori Dango.
I like the cinematography of F4 Thailand ALOT. As someone who work in the field of cinematography, I can tell the director put a lot of effort to condense all the details into each scenes in each episodes. Unlike the 2018 meteor garden that has 40 plus episodes, this one only has 16.
The wardrobe choice is amazing, they use branded clothing in a lot of the scene and i love it because that's how the F4 dress in Hana Yori Dango. Flashy and stylish. It's also realistic to me since i'm used to seeing real life Thai conglomerate's son and daughters dress in real life and in social media, these days they use exactly how Thyme and the other f4 dress lol. The flashy Balenciaga jacket, Louis Vuitton outfit, the fancy cars etc In my opinion it really suits the characters. I prefer the wardrobe of the F4 thailand than 2018 Meteor Garden. Not to mention i love that the setting is in highschool and the others use uniform. It really is like Hana Yori Dango! Unlike the 2018 meteor garden that uses the university setting, i prefer the highschool setting because i love when movie adaptation don't change the important aspects such as the settings of the original plot . (highschool/uni) it really is a point plus for me.
I like Gorya's character more than Shanchai of 2018 Meteor garden. Gorya's character is the perfect balance of smart, independent, nice and she doesn't look dumb. And the way the episodes goes you can see Gorya's feelings for Thyme develop so it's more realistic if in the end she likes Thyme. Shanchai on the other hand always seems to dislike Dao Ming Si and she's always rejecting his advances and overall didn't look like she's into him in general lol and it took so many episodes and draggy plot for her to finally seems to be into Dao Ming Si? Even now I forgot which episodes in the 2018 Meteor Graden where Shanchai actually make the first move for Dao Min Si or is willing to receive his advances. Is there even any? hmm. In the same plot and scenes, Gorya and Shanchai both gives different reaction, and for me Gorya's reaction is the best because she's actually seems to be into the male lead which is Thyme. And it's so refreshing to watch. I didn't have the feeling of "I feel so bad for ML because FL keeps rejecting him" that I had when I watch 2018 Meteor Garden.
Thyme was acted by the actor really great so far. I've never watch Bright before, this was my first time. I think his acting skill is nice, It was shocking to see reviews that say his acting is bad? It shows that people really does have different opinion. I thought the actor of Thyme really was good at expressing his facial emotions to show his feelings. The characters of Thyme is better in this version than Dao Ming Si or Gu Jun Pyo. Dao Ming Si threw food at Shanchai's face and Gu Jun Pyo and Domyouji Tsukasa in the manga ordered boys to as*ault the female lead and I'm glad they didn't add those in this adaptation. It's 2022 I'm glad they figured those shouldn't be romanticized. Oh and I love in episode 5 Thyme said to Hana the only person she should love is herself. Yasssss. We love self love campaign <3 That's my favorite part, thank you for including that! That's so thoughtful. Always remember to Love yourself first! I like Dao Ming Si alot, I thought Dylan wang was handsome and cute and played Dao Ming Si well. Bright also did a great job. I like both. Lee Min Ho also was really good and i remembered I like his acting as Gu jun pyo back then when I watch it years ago. So yeah there's no one i like best, i like them all. they're all attractive in different ways.
Love the mixture of romance and comedy, there was many scenes that i thought funny. Btw i love how Thyme is such a big softie and very soft to Gorya at alot of times. Like in episode 5 where Gorya was sleeping in his lap and he spoke "Gorya" so soft and sweet to ask her to be his gf and when their lips almost touch while Thyme wanted to turn off the lamp and Gorya shifted and Thyme GASPED and was so shy about it, it's so cute AHAHAHA. He's like such a giant tall baby who is actually a hopeless romantic and is such a SIMP? Lol he have so many simp moments i find so dang adorable. I just love mean looking ML who turns out to be a simp to the FL character.
And btw It's funny for me when i see reviews that the plot is cliche, like this is literally an adaptation of a manga that was published in the 90's that has alot of adaptation already and the plot basically follows the original plot lol so idk what they expect. As a Hana Yori Dango fan who have read the manga from yearsss ago, when I am about to watch it's adaptation, I am expecting it to be like the Hana Yori Dango manga which is it is what it is, cliche plot or whatever. But that's what I'm expecting though. If i wanted an original plot drama i dont think i would be watching Hana Yori Dango's 23478287742thh adaptation? lol
Anyway the F4 cast is very good looking and tall, it really is like the manga. I like it.
Love the hairstyle of the F4 too. they all have different hairstyle. Love MJ's side trim alot and that ponytail. He looks cool.
Oh and i love how this adaptation is modern and just like real life. there's twitter, instagram and they use instagram story, instagram story close friend etc lol .
and i thought the scene in episdoe 5 where they search about hanna's past and there was her old school information and stuff and there was like her paren'ts name and the details like she's from the us and stuff, basically in the sheet was all the info and how she change her name in the new sheet is so well done. Oh and btw i also noticed the little detail like how Hana gave little Thyme cookies and there was his name in the cookies and even CAT SHAPE COOKIES because thyme has cat named DANGO (love the reference) like i said yall i can tell the director put alot of thoughts in the little detail.
And i love how they make hana like an obsessive sasaeng fans alot because it justify her action and made it more realistic at least in my opinion. Because in the 2018 meteor garden version, i forgot the name of the character that was shanchai's bestfriend in the uni, but basically she liked dao ming si but there was no backstory to it. Meanwhile I know in the original manga, Makino's bestfriend was childhood classmate with the F4 and she had surgery in germany to become prettier after she was rejected by Domyouji. So you see the Thailand version is more like the original manga and i love that! I didn't like how the 2018 meteor garden didn't include that lol. I think 2018 meteor garden change so much important scene like how they change the red card to the joker card and made the card game thing. Lol
I think 2018 meteor garden was tryna omit the bullying cuz it's the modern era now and we know those things shouldn't be normalized but since the original manga has those, i prefer the thai version. and tbh bullying is still happening these days and it shouldn't be normalized but it's nice to see that Gorya is trying to put an end to it by doing what she did. So i feel like the thai version isnt normalizing the bullying but rather raising awareness on this bullying issue that i still happening in many school around the world. And i really see that there is alot of moral lesson put in the F4 thailand so kuddos to the director! hope to see more moral lessons in the next episodes.
And btw i love how helpful Kaning is. She's a nice bestfriend who helps FL alot. In the 2018 meteor garden shanchai's bestfriend was useless in many scenes and even in one episodes shanchai almost died because of her, she was like having fun with one of the f4 who is linked with her. lol
i prefer the FL's bestfriend in the F4 thailand basically
Btw it can be seen like I dislike the 2018 meteor garden but that's not true, i enjoyed watching it but i just prefer F4 thailand for now. But i need to compare it to 2018 meteor garden to show why I think the f4 thailand is better in my opinion
Very excited to see more episodes from F4 Thailand
I like the cinematography of F4 Thailand ALOT. As someone who work in the field of cinematography, I can tell the director put a lot of effort to condense all the details into each scenes in each episodes. Unlike the 2018 meteor garden that has 40 plus episodes, this one only has 16.
The wardrobe choice is amazing, they use branded clothing in a lot of the scene and i love it because that's how the F4 dress in Hana Yori Dango. Flashy and stylish. It's also realistic to me since i'm used to seeing real life Thai conglomerate's son and daughters dress in real life and in social media, these days they use exactly how Thyme and the other f4 dress lol. The flashy Balenciaga jacket, Louis Vuitton outfit, the fancy cars etc In my opinion it really suits the characters. I prefer the wardrobe of the F4 thailand than 2018 Meteor Garden. Not to mention i love that the setting is in highschool and the others use uniform. It really is like Hana Yori Dango! Unlike the 2018 meteor garden that uses the university setting, i prefer the highschool setting because i love when movie adaptation don't change the important aspects such as the settings of the original plot . (highschool/uni) it really is a point plus for me.
I like Gorya's character more than Shanchai of 2018 Meteor garden. Gorya's character is the perfect balance of smart, independent, nice and she doesn't look dumb. And the way the episodes goes you can see Gorya's feelings for Thyme develop so it's more realistic if in the end she likes Thyme. Shanchai on the other hand always seems to dislike Dao Ming Si and she's always rejecting his advances and overall didn't look like she's into him in general lol and it took so many episodes and draggy plot for her to finally seems to be into Dao Ming Si? Even now I forgot which episodes in the 2018 Meteor Graden where Shanchai actually make the first move for Dao Min Si or is willing to receive his advances. Is there even any? hmm. In the same plot and scenes, Gorya and Shanchai both gives different reaction, and for me Gorya's reaction is the best because she's actually seems to be into the male lead which is Thyme. And it's so refreshing to watch. I didn't have the feeling of "I feel so bad for ML because FL keeps rejecting him" that I had when I watch 2018 Meteor Garden.
Thyme was acted by the actor really great so far. I've never watch Bright before, this was my first time. I think his acting skill is nice, It was shocking to see reviews that say his acting is bad? It shows that people really does have different opinion. I thought the actor of Thyme really was good at expressing his facial emotions to show his feelings. The characters of Thyme is better in this version than Dao Ming Si or Gu Jun Pyo. Dao Ming Si threw food at Shanchai's face and Gu Jun Pyo and Domyouji Tsukasa in the manga ordered boys to as*ault the female lead and I'm glad they didn't add those in this adaptation. It's 2022 I'm glad they figured those shouldn't be romanticized. Oh and I love in episode 5 Thyme said to Hana the only person she should love is herself. Yasssss. We love self love campaign <3 That's my favorite part, thank you for including that! That's so thoughtful. Always remember to Love yourself first! I like Dao Ming Si alot, I thought Dylan wang was handsome and cute and played Dao Ming Si well. Bright also did a great job. I like both. Lee Min Ho also was really good and i remembered I like his acting as Gu jun pyo back then when I watch it years ago. So yeah there's no one i like best, i like them all. they're all attractive in different ways.
Love the mixture of romance and comedy, there was many scenes that i thought funny. Btw i love how Thyme is such a big softie and very soft to Gorya at alot of times. Like in episode 5 where Gorya was sleeping in his lap and he spoke "Gorya" so soft and sweet to ask her to be his gf and when their lips almost touch while Thyme wanted to turn off the lamp and Gorya shifted and Thyme GASPED and was so shy about it, it's so cute AHAHAHA. He's like such a giant tall baby who is actually a hopeless romantic and is such a SIMP? Lol he have so many simp moments i find so dang adorable. I just love mean looking ML who turns out to be a simp to the FL character.
And btw It's funny for me when i see reviews that the plot is cliche, like this is literally an adaptation of a manga that was published in the 90's that has alot of adaptation already and the plot basically follows the original plot lol so idk what they expect. As a Hana Yori Dango fan who have read the manga from yearsss ago, when I am about to watch it's adaptation, I am expecting it to be like the Hana Yori Dango manga which is it is what it is, cliche plot or whatever. But that's what I'm expecting though. If i wanted an original plot drama i dont think i would be watching Hana Yori Dango's 23478287742thh adaptation? lol
Anyway the F4 cast is very good looking and tall, it really is like the manga. I like it.
Love the hairstyle of the F4 too. they all have different hairstyle. Love MJ's side trim alot and that ponytail. He looks cool.
Oh and i love how this adaptation is modern and just like real life. there's twitter, instagram and they use instagram story, instagram story close friend etc lol .
and i thought the scene in episdoe 5 where they search about hanna's past and there was her old school information and stuff and there was like her paren'ts name and the details like she's from the us and stuff, basically in the sheet was all the info and how she change her name in the new sheet is so well done. Oh and btw i also noticed the little detail like how Hana gave little Thyme cookies and there was his name in the cookies and even CAT SHAPE COOKIES because thyme has cat named DANGO (love the reference) like i said yall i can tell the director put alot of thoughts in the little detail.
And i love how they make hana like an obsessive sasaeng fans alot because it justify her action and made it more realistic at least in my opinion. Because in the 2018 meteor garden version, i forgot the name of the character that was shanchai's bestfriend in the uni, but basically she liked dao ming si but there was no backstory to it. Meanwhile I know in the original manga, Makino's bestfriend was childhood classmate with the F4 and she had surgery in germany to become prettier after she was rejected by Domyouji. So you see the Thailand version is more like the original manga and i love that! I didn't like how the 2018 meteor garden didn't include that lol. I think 2018 meteor garden change so much important scene like how they change the red card to the joker card and made the card game thing. Lol
I think 2018 meteor garden was tryna omit the bullying cuz it's the modern era now and we know those things shouldn't be normalized but since the original manga has those, i prefer the thai version. and tbh bullying is still happening these days and it shouldn't be normalized but it's nice to see that Gorya is trying to put an end to it by doing what she did. So i feel like the thai version isnt normalizing the bullying but rather raising awareness on this bullying issue that i still happening in many school around the world. And i really see that there is alot of moral lesson put in the F4 thailand so kuddos to the director! hope to see more moral lessons in the next episodes.
And btw i love how helpful Kaning is. She's a nice bestfriend who helps FL alot. In the 2018 meteor garden shanchai's bestfriend was useless in many scenes and even in one episodes shanchai almost died because of her, she was like having fun with one of the f4 who is linked with her. lol
i prefer the FL's bestfriend in the F4 thailand basically
Btw it can be seen like I dislike the 2018 meteor garden but that's not true, i enjoyed watching it but i just prefer F4 thailand for now. But i need to compare it to 2018 meteor garden to show why I think the f4 thailand is better in my opinion
Very excited to see more episodes from F4 Thailand
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