Meteor Garden is a 2018 adaptation of the Japanese manga, Hana Yori Dango. I’m not entirely sure if it is a remake of the Taiwanese adaptation (since I never finished watching it), but it has the same title and character names.
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Episodes: 49
Summary
Dong Shancai is a freshman at Mingde University studying nutrition. She learns about the F4, but doesn’t pay too much attention to them until an accident occurs with a friend, she becomes entangled with the F4.
Review
If you read any of my other post like Hana Yori Dango (manga) or Boys Over Flowers, you will know how I feel about this story. I absolutely love it. Hana Yori is truly an Asian drama classic. There are so many thoughts I have about this drama, so be prepared. Starting off, the (I’m guessing) standard Chinese Mandarin takes a while to adjust to for the ears. Some sounds are not familiar to English and the ‘sh’ sound (which I think is the accent because the Taiwanese don’t speak like that) eventually is hardly noticeable.
Next thought is that I didn’t realized that it was going to be a typical Chinese drama with over 40 episodes. I absolutely love my Japanese dramas with 10-12 episodes typically. But I can’t say that I know or am sure that Chinese drama usually are really long. I have only watched one other drama. But I have browse episodes and refused to watch other Chinese dramas because of length.
Story
This drama fits right in with all the other adaptations. It’s so well made. I feel that whoever wrote the screenplay and directed it really put thought and care into deciding how the drama should be. I imagine that they ask questions like: What should go? What should stay? How can we add more depth? They did add extra story lines which leaves me with two opinions: 1. I like it because we get to know the characters more 2. I don’t like it because let’s just stick with the story. The fourth member of the F4 (Meizuo), you know the one who rarely gets screen time, he actually had a side story. But for some reason when we get to know him. he loses some of his coolness–he is supposed to be the cool one (the gangster one).
This, like the previous Meteor Garden, follows the manga closely and so there are times when Si is violent. But just like the manga, instead of glorifying/romanticizing it, with time and effort her becomes a great man. The best part is that she doesn’t change him. He chooses to change and he learns how to be in a relationship with another. It’s really fun to see. But if you ever read the manga, the scene in there are shocking at first. I didn’t know how to handle it.
This version of the story is most logical.The other Chinese version (Meteor Shower), which is inspired by Hana Yori Dango, was also pretty logical too. Instead of the F4 card, students are given the joker card and are challenged to play Bridge. That’s just the only example where I found this drama to be more logical. There are more scenes and incident that were also logical. I think the only two things that I remember being highly illogical is the when a neighbor, who Shancai hardly new, left her kid with her. And also the wedding. It was dumb.
Things I like
- The brotherhood. The longer episodes allow us to see how great friends the F4 really are.
- The thing about them being in college is that they are old enough to drink and go to clubs. I know in the other versions they did, but I don’t think they were legal to do so. You can add more story with drunk people.
Things I didn’t like
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- The fluff. There was so much of it. That is something that needs to be handled with care when adding more to a story. There are times when fluff is hardly noticeably.
- I feel like a loyalist saying this, but so far no drama can top the Hana Yori Dango rain scenes. There I said it.
Characters
- Dong Shancai (Shen Yue): Friendly, caring, stubborn. The lead female of the story. She attends Mingde University studies nutrition.
- Daoming Si (Dylan Wang): Hot-headed, arrogant, overbearing. The leader of the F4 and the heir to the Daoming Group.
- Huaze Lei (Darren Chen): Indifferent, hilarious, often inappropriate but logical. He is the first love interest of Shancai and the best friend of Si
- Feng Meizuo (Connor Leong): Emotional, kind, flirty. He is the fourth member of the F4.
- Ximen Yan (Caesar Wu): player; intelligent. He becomes the love interest of Shancai’s best friend
- Chen Qinghe (Lin Yinhao): annoying, inactive. Shancai’s best male friend.
Some thoughts on the characters
- Si and Shancai have some really great chemistry, but the chemistry between Ximen and Xiaoyou is weak.
- Three words: Second Lead Syndrome. My favorite character is Lei. He is often inappropriate, but says things that I would say or think. I love him. This character also happens to be my favorite in Boys Over Flowers and one of my favorites in Hana Yori Dango too. Hana Yori Dango did a good job at not making me fall for him because Domyouji’s love was so strong.
Production/Acting
There are way too many product placements in this drama. They must have thought they were being clever and occasionally they were, but really a lot of them were like a 30 second commercial.
Then there were scenes that when the visual would have been fine, they opted for a voice over. I’m talking particularly about the rain scene. The scene would have been more powerful if they just allowed the actors to show off their skills. I feel voice over should be used during certain times and it was definitely used incorrectly occasionally in this drama. Film is visual, acting is visual–show us how you feel and we’ll understand.
So I am often annoyed by flashbacks and this drama is no different. But at the same time, I am grateful. I started and stopped watching this drama so much that I’ve forgotten things. Enter the flashbacks to recover those lost scenes. Despite the helpfulness, I still think that there were too many.
Music
I absolutely love this music. For the longest time, I didn’t think I liked music in Mandarin except Jay Chou. But since I started watching Asian dramas, my opinion has changed. The music in this drama is great, I’ll let you decide for yourself.
I only posted a few songs. There are so many!! If you want to play the whole amazing OST, here’s the link. Good songs to play while working on something else. Also I want to add that I love the Boys Over Flowers OST. I think they have some of the greatest songs. But this drama also has some great songs too.
Best Scenes/Funny
Qinghe slips on a banana peel.
Si becomes upset with Shancai.
Lei tricks Shancai into confessing about Si.
Meizuo tells Lei to pretend to be fire.
Lei knows Si’s and Shancai’s fighting is really flirting.
Shancai’s parents make a commercial for their restaurant.
Si gets insulted that Shancai said he didn’t have abs.
Then Shancai’s mom walks in on them.
There are so many cute scenes with Si and Shancai.
Qinghe threaten to beat up Si, but then says this.
Qinghe threatens to fight Si. But wants someone to stop him.
This scene reminds me of a Bollywood movie for some reason.
His dad nags him. This scene reminds me of Mischievous Kiss.
Lei kisses Shancai to make Si jealous.
Quotes
Ximen-“play hard to get” Si-“Who’s Harriet?”
“Why do you care about what others think?”-Si
“I believe you can do it. You should believe in yourself too.”-Si
“The big bad wolf became the sheep.”-Qinghe
“The effort we put in the relationship should be balanced. If I’m overly reliant on you, we’ll lose this balance.”-Shancai
“I got that pillow over there. Hugging it is like hugging me.”-Qinghe
Meizuo-“How can you laugh at my handsome face?” Lei-“Because the dark circles around your eyes exudes the beauty and sadness of a broke heart.”
“You have to learn to express your emotions in order to face reality and make the right decisions.”-Lei
“True love requires responsibility. When it’s necessary you have to make sacrifices for that person’s future.”-Meizuo
“Being with her is as natural as breathing, but on the other hand, she left me breathless.”-Ximen
“Love is like a sharp blade. The more you hold onto it, the deeper and more painful your wound.”-Ximen
Questions
After they graduate, why does it seem like they do nothing all day?
Afterthoughts/Recommendations
Overall it is a very well-made, well-written remake with few faults.You need to watch this one. It’s the best made so far. The following are all the versions of the drama. They are linked to the site where you can find them except for the ones I have written about, but you can find link on the pages
- Hana yori dango 1992-2003 Japanese manga
- Hana yori dango 1995 Japanese movie
- Meteor Garden 2001 Taiwanese drama
- Meteor Garden II 2002 Taiwanese drama
- Hana yori dango 2005 Japanese drama
- Hana yori dango returns II 2007 Japanese drama
- Hana yori dango final 2008 Japanese movie
- Boys Over Flowers 2009 Korean drama (Netflix and Hulu)
- Meteor shower 2009 Chinese drama
- Meteor shower II 2011 Chinese drama
- Meteor Garden 2018 Chinese drama (Netflix)
I’ve watched and read them all. I seriously love the story! I never finished watching Meteor Shower (2001) nor Meteor Garden though. And Hana Yori Dango (2007) remains my favorite. MatsuJun took my heart! Meteor Garden (2018) comes in second–or ties for first. Boys Over Flowers (2010) in 2nd/3rd.
Drama-to-Life
Sweet and sour pork ribs
Bridge
Travel Locations
Culture
Eight treasures spicy noodles with pineapple
Outfits
Caina’s Ginger Tea
How does your heart feel after watching this?
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I completely agree. This was well-made. I was very glad they chose to remove the rape scene aftet Si gets mad at Shancai as shown in the first version of meteor garden. I think the main lead did an excellent job of expressing that scene going from mad to remorseful within a few seconds. The way he holds her cheek and then touches their foreheads together made the scene more romantic. I loved his entire portrayal of Doumyouji. I liked matsujun’s portrayal as well. I think they were on par to how the manga was written.