Ikemen Desu Ne - You're Beautiful goes Japanese

[dangermousie]

I am sure many of you are aware that last week saw the premiere of the first episode of the jdrama Ikemen Desu Ne, the Japanese remake of the mania kdrama You're Beautiful.



I was very curious to check it out and tonight, seeing that CH subs are not done yet, and I am too brain-dead for anything that requires any concentration, seemed like a good time.

Shocking verdict: I like it!

Let me put this in context - unlike most of the the English-speaking online kdrama fandom, I was not in love with YAB. I started out adoring it, it is true. But as it progressed, I realized that there never was going to be more character development or plot progression that we saw at the start and all the flaws I found so interesting in anticipation of how they would get addressed, never will be. And then, with the bitterness of a disappointed love, my love turned into loathing. I ended the drama thoroughly hating disliking it. Fandom wars around that time didn't help, I confess, and I have mellowed about it since. As of now, I regard it as a well-made and cute drama for which I am much too old to be a target audience, a sort of live-action shoujo, which had an awesome soundtrack and a great performance by Jang Geun Seok, who held that drama together and made me watch much longer than I otherwise would have. It was the beginning of the end of my love affair with Hong Sisters...

Anyway, since I didn't like YAB, the thought of the remake didn't feel me with horror (the way jdrama remake of Mawang did. Mawang is my favorite drama of all time, so any remake felt sacrilegious). I didn't think it could be ruined, frankly.

And one ep in, I am enjoying it hugely (then, granted, I adored YAB in the beginning too).

(1) The jdrama is a lot less OTT and a lot more low-key, which I like. My adoration of KO 3an Guo notwithstanding, OTT and I don't really go well together. A lot of humor that didn't work for me has been taken out even if the concept is still funny - a nun cross-dressing as a boy to join an idol group.
(2) I really like the actress who plays Minam (I am going to use Korean version names because those are the ones I know). Unlike Park Shin Hye's over-the-top naivete (I love PSH but the way the role was done, nobody could have saved it), she just seems sweet.



(3) Whoever plays Tae Kyung is nowhere nearly as good as JGS but I like him OK.



(4) I always thought both Shin Woo and Jeremy were wooden pretty decor so I don't care what they do with them there.
(5) This is going to be half the length of the kdrama and honestly, YAB story could stand to be severely chopped down.
(6) I know what to expect - fun and cuteness and no brain whatsoever and problematic gender takes, so I am more accepting of it.
(7) I am just more tolerant of shallowness (emotional and narrative) and kookiness/shoujoness in jdramas for some reason.



So, overall verdict - objectively it's nowhere near as good as YAB but subjectively I like it better. I will keep up with it.

Comments

[sisterjune.livejournal.com]

I tried out ikemen desu ne since i love it when a counter adapts something another country did, because i want to see the differences and how the culture interprets different scenes and lines. Honestly I was not impressed. On the one hand, less OTT so that is a plus. and I really like the japanese actress, I have no illwill to PSH but her cloying wide eyed baby faced minam made me cringe. that said, tae kyung here or ren as he is called just doesnt have a fraction of the charisma and gravitas JGS had. I mean JGS Tae Kyung was the highlight of the drama and the reason i checked it out in the first place, (well that and crossdressing heroine) he just doesnt have that IT factor. and i liked jeremy alot in k version and this jeremy is wooden as all hell. and shin woo was wooden and japanese shin woo is eeven MORE wooden. so IMO i see this as a cheap imitation so far. I wish they had tried to deviate from the k version more and establish its own identity cause the more it borrows from the k version the more it will be held up in comparison and it just doesnt withstand that level of scrutiny.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I agree JGS was pretty awesome but I dunno, for some reason I am really mellow towards Ikemen (which is not the common reaction in online fandom). I was always bored by Jeremy and Shin woo so they could replace them by trees and I wouldn't care.

For some reason jdramas just make me more tolerant.

Plus, cute orphans!

[sisterjune.livejournal.com]

Aahahaha I just had an image now of PSH having a dramatic conversation with a tree. and then dancing between two trees on stage. hugging a tree which she would call "hyung!" honestly they could have replaced shin woo with a tree and i would have liked him so much more.

I have been struggling to find a jdrama i like these days. i am enjoying ohitorisama but thats an older one.

omg that kids drove me crazy, there was just influx of children and taking over the drama and i kept wondering wtf is with all these kids? why are they there? the drama was trying way to hard to tug at your heartstrings and be inspiring. it was emotional manipulation! I won't respond to such pushy tactics. *folds arms* i wanted to like it too, i enjoy dumb fluff dramas which was YAB in a nutshell.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The tree thing would be awesome.

I like orphan kids. I am easy.

[jpookemon.livejournal.com]

You know... it's not often I see a Jdrama adaption of a Korean idea. It's always K-dramas that adapt Japanese stuff (BOF, God of Study) so this sorta peaked my interest. I dunno... I hope to see more of it.

[jpookemon.livejournal.com]

Oh... I saw the first episode. I like it. Wish they wouldn't recycle the songs though.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I guess they were too lazy to write their own :P

[akatsukichii.livejournal.com]

I liked how they actually tried to make a relationship between the twins as children XD I don't remember seeing that in the original. While I didn't hate the show by the end I do remember it getting really messy and going what? I want to see how the JDrama version goes. Most people that don't like this version only say that because they think the guys are errm not the best-looking and have a complain against Jeremy's teeth XD. I'm used to Japanese drama guys so I like it so far.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't find most jdrama guys hot and i still enjoy jdramas so the looks don't bother me.

[village.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know there was a Japanese version of YB. I think I'll check this one out as I got pretty irritated with the original by the middle and gave up. A low-key version sounds better.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Well, it's relatively low-key. It's still wacky :)

[corlee1289.livejournal.com]

YAY~

I wasn't too fond of YAB either as well, I finished watching the entire thing for the sake of finishing it because my friend loved it...

But since you've put your own perspective into it as well, I hope to following your flails and rants of Ikemen before I decide whether or not to pursue it...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I'll see how it goes, i.e. whether I get buried under all the dramas.

[boycottbananas.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those that never (and will never, unless it's to watch the Korean scenes to understand what's happening in the Japanese like I did earlier today) watched You're Beautiful, so I have nothing to compare it with. I am comparing it with the two other crossdressing dramas that are out this season, but only through the girls. Hahah.

I do like this a lot, though. I feel like it has a good blend of happy and sad, crack and angst. I still think it's funny when people say the Japanese cast looks so young when they're the same age as the Korean cast, and right now is actually older than the Koreans were when You're Beautiful was airing. Not that that has anything to do with the drama, I just think it's funny. XD;;

[boycottbananas.livejournal.com]

I also meant to say that I like that they used the same songs. I don't know why, hahah, especially if BOF (which I didn't watch, either) had done that with the HYD songs, it could have been weird. orz.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hey, anything would have been better than BOF's awful soundtrack.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup, I think it's a sweet, fun drama (that actually is a bit more earnest than YAB but I like it).

[december-clouds.livejournal.com]

I thought about watching it too. What put me off the original is the whole nun thing (I don't know why, it just rubbed me the wrong way) so I never made it past two episodes but in this one, she's an orphan right?

I'll give it a try. I'm watching Hanawake no Yon Shimai which surprised me, I laughed several times while watching it and I didn't think I'd like it that much.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Orphan but started out being a nun too (I think more for lack of anything to do than anything).

[jennyhime.livejournal.com]

I was suprised that I actually liked it, this is also one of the few times that Japan remakes something that was done in Korea(usually it's the other way around in like 99% of cases)
Takimoto Miori was a lot better then Park Shin hye, she was more natural in her role. I think this is only her second acting role so she hopefully has a bright future ahead.
The only complaint are all the JE boys in other roles, Jang Geun Suk was far better then the johnny's junior.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on Miori. She was lovely and natural.

JGS is better than the three guys in this put together but they don't bug me so I am fine.