Still battling the nasty cold but I manage to catch up on Playful Kiss + My gf is Gumiho and finished Baker King.
Maybe I am sick, so my patience is a little low but Playful Kiss barely got my excitement level up any notch. I was hoping to see some sparks, get my heart thumping rapidly but alas...perhaps I am too demanding, I didnt really enjoy Playful Kiss at all up to ep 6. There are of course a few scene that got me smiling, like Ohani sneaking into KHJ's room and he started guffawing when she said it was better to start a relationship on healthy ground. When KHJ smiled there, I swear he took my breath away. Much of the episodes zoom past because I couldnt stand the stupid part, esp those involving Hani's friends esp the loser punk hair guy who harbours unrequited love for Hani. I have no patience for sorry ass who cannot even make me laugh except to frown at their stupid clowning around. Seriously, do senior high kids really act like that? I must have gone to a super serious school because no one I know is that lame.
Plus as the series progress, is it just me (it prob is) but I felt the whole drama was more focused on Hani than BSJ aka KHJ. It's really all about her. They might as well as renamed it as "Oh Hani's fantasy with BSJ." They had so much "internal emotional moments" for her and barely any for KHJ.
I felt the drama execution was atrocious because it meanders along without a moment of insight, skim thru superficial struggles and some of the scenes simply loses or did not have any attached meaning, thus losing the impact that was supposedly to consolidate the feeling between KHJ and Oh Hani character. Take for example.
- Oh Hani had her class over and forces KHJ to teach them Physics. The ep just dances ard the thought and then disappear with no further elaboration. It doesnt relate any thing or any feeling that KHJ had and the impact it had on him when the "loser class" supposedly score well thank to him
- And Oh Hani went to work to buy him an expensive present. He overheard and that was it? The Taiwan version expresses the change of the guy way better in the sense that he begun to appreciate the girl's effort and shows it thru taking photo with her.
This drama bashing has nothing to do with whether KHJ can act, he simply wasnt given the chance to act proper. They simply want to capitalize on his looks and try to smoke screen their way out of a lousy written script that makes no head nor tail. Then again, he need to do better than have that dead fish eye look half the time when he isnt smiling or supposedly angry. I dunno if it was the director who wanted him to act cool, or he just hasnt got it yet about displaying emotions.
There are many more scene that I can find fault with but its not worth my time. As I had stated way earlier before the drama aired that I was watching mainly for KHJ's smiles and look, and at least i did get a few moments that I get to go Ooooooo...
The drama is too rushed. They tried to condensed 2 seasons of the Taiwan version into one season. No wonder they couldnt adequately bring foth the human connection and interaction. If KHJ wasnt the star, I honestly swear I wont be wasting my time on this lame series.
Did I mention that I dont really like the curly perm perm hair that KHJ has in ep 6 where he started Uni?
Reminds me of my grandma who use to proudly come home to showcase her neighborhood perm job...
Am I being mean? Must be the cold tablets talking....
"sighing" out...
5 comments:
Thanks for the recap. Always looking forward to a post. I agree, KHJ hasn't been given the opportunity to show himself as an actor. The girl is quite cute though. They seem to have a bit of chemistry, but off screen, from what I can gather.
Thanks wei:) I think any rumours of chemistry is prob to drive the viewership. The same thing they did with KHJ and Bo when they did WGM.
Can u imagine KHJ liking the junior actress in real life? Not a million years...she is hmm...too tender for her. not that I know his type but SHE is def not his type. I think he appreciates someone more mature I think judging by who he has fess up liking previously..*Into crystal ball reading here* heee heee
Hmmm...I'm having fun with playful kiss; I love it and can't wait to see the next episodes.
I know the story by heart, as I watched the anime version, the Japanese live adaption and both seasons of the Taiwanese series....and as long as you don't compare these, playful kiss on its own is cute and fun.
Even if I do compare all these shows I think Playful Kiss is actually good. So far I think Oh Hani is the most endearing version of the Kotoko character.
If I had to do a ranking I would place Oh Hani first, then Aihara Kotoko (from the live adaption) and in third place Xiang Qin.
I liked ISWAK and TKA but I loathed Xiang Qin so much that I’m not able to watch a drama with Ariel Lin again. Reason: Xiang Qin was so dumb it pained me – literally. For a short time I thought about giving Love or Bread a chance but dismissed it rather quickly.
Kim Hyun Joong is eye candy for me; I doubt that he is a good actor but I have to say that he improved from his atrocious Boys before/over flowers days. He is surprisingly quite good when it comes to being mean, and the Naoki character is all about being mean, teasing and expressionless. So in that way he does a good job. Out of the three versions of Irie Naoki I have to say that Baek Seung Jo is the nicest. No other Naoki smiled as often as he does or shows signs of jealousy so early on. For example in ep 5 when Hani received her college call, he was truly happy for her, that smile was sooooo cute! And when they met Ducky (Bong Joon Gu) after the musical it was funny to see “the adorablest bit of metaphorical dick-waving ever” (Javabeans recap).
But he lacks a lot when it comes to scenes where he has to convey certain emotions. He isn’t as natural at acting as Jung So Min.
forgot to say: playful kiss is only scheduled for 16 episodes, so I hope they can figure out how to put the whole story ( high school, college, marriage, struggles in married life) in these 16 episode...I would totally hate it, if they'd stop with the marriage!!! If it was my script, I would get them married by episode 10 or 11.
I think the focus on Oh Ha Ni is valid - if they were aiming to get as close to the Japanese original manga, then it is more about Kotoko (name of the female lead in the original jap version). In the manga, it's all about the Kotoko's view of Naoki (original name for Baek Seung Jo's character) that the readers see.
It's the bewilderment and suspense that Kotoko experiences with her interaction with Naoki that's central to the manga story.
The TW version has much more added access inside Zhi Shu ("Naoki/BSJ" TW version) and perhaps this added flavor, though missing in the original manga, gives charm and charisma to the TW version more than any Itazura na Kiss rendition the world has seen :D
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