Macy
~meteor dreamland~
A true classic
I've finally finished "It Started with a Kiss." I found it hard to binge because of the pretty low quality version I was watching. Luckily, GTV uploaded it with subs on YouTube so I was able to watch it without frustration lol. Note: I've read part of the manga, seen the anime and the 1996 drama, so these are what I'll compare ISWAK to.
I absolutely loved "It Started with a Kiss." From the beginning, you can sense the care the production took to be faithful to the manga while still localizing it to Taiwan. My one complaint would be that the drama is quite long at twenty episode with a running time of one hour and ten minutes. I feel the story could've been trimmed down a bit. The last three episodes before the finale I found to be quite draggy too. In terms of writing, "It Started with a Kiss" still manages to beat out 1996 Itazura na Kiss by several leagues and is on par with the anime.
Ariel Lin and Joseph Cheng are perfect as Xiang Qin (Kotoko) and Zhi Shu (Naoki). Their acting was absolutely superb. Ariel managed to be clumsy, dumb, and at times annoying without me absolutely hating her. I could actually relate to her since I sometimes feel useless too. Joseph was able to use facial expressions and certain movements to make his character more likeable while still staying true to the manga. Zhi Shu's and Xiang Qin's families were really on the nose; they all suited their characters perfectly. Watching the family together was my favorite part of the drama. There were some really funny moments.
I wasn't particularly charmed by Ah Jin aka Kinnosuke (played by the good-looking Jiro Wang); I'm afraid I'll find him exhausting in every version. Tiffany Hsu was great playing Zi Yu (Yuko), adding quite a bit of dimension to the character. She had a lot of especially funny moments with Xiang Qin and wasn't just some evil rival. Hao Qian (Sudou) was fun to watch, though his hair was a bit ridiculous. Also, out of the short side stories, I enjoyed Zi Qi's and Wu Ren's parts the most.
Some special notes I want to mention are: I loved that they changed the characters style and hair cuts over time since the drama takes place over five years or so. I guess the only discrepancy is that Yu Shu stays a child the whole time XD. It was a nice touch in the finale to bring back some characters from earlier on, such as Xiang Qin's teacher and Ah Jin's friends. Lastly, the OST of this drama is one of my faves. "Say That U Love" is super catchy and the opening sequence is perfect. Now on to the honeymoon in "They Kiss Again."
I absolutely loved "It Started with a Kiss." From the beginning, you can sense the care the production took to be faithful to the manga while still localizing it to Taiwan. My one complaint would be that the drama is quite long at twenty episode with a running time of one hour and ten minutes. I feel the story could've been trimmed down a bit. The last three episodes before the finale I found to be quite draggy too. In terms of writing, "It Started with a Kiss" still manages to beat out 1996 Itazura na Kiss by several leagues and is on par with the anime.
Ariel Lin and Joseph Cheng are perfect as Xiang Qin (Kotoko) and Zhi Shu (Naoki). Their acting was absolutely superb. Ariel managed to be clumsy, dumb, and at times annoying without me absolutely hating her. I could actually relate to her since I sometimes feel useless too. Joseph was able to use facial expressions and certain movements to make his character more likeable while still staying true to the manga. Zhi Shu's and Xiang Qin's families were really on the nose; they all suited their characters perfectly. Watching the family together was my favorite part of the drama. There were some really funny moments.
I wasn't particularly charmed by Ah Jin aka Kinnosuke (played by the good-looking Jiro Wang); I'm afraid I'll find him exhausting in every version. Tiffany Hsu was great playing Zi Yu (Yuko), adding quite a bit of dimension to the character. She had a lot of especially funny moments with Xiang Qin and wasn't just some evil rival. Hao Qian (Sudou) was fun to watch, though his hair was a bit ridiculous. Also, out of the short side stories, I enjoyed Zi Qi's and Wu Ren's parts the most.
Some special notes I want to mention are: I loved that they changed the characters style and hair cuts over time since the drama takes place over five years or so. I guess the only discrepancy is that Yu Shu stays a child the whole time XD. It was a nice touch in the finale to bring back some characters from earlier on, such as Xiang Qin's teacher and Ah Jin's friends. Lastly, the OST of this drama is one of my faves. "Say That U Love" is super catchy and the opening sequence is perfect. Now on to the honeymoon in "They Kiss Again."
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