Talk About Randomly Bizarre

[dangermousie]

On katranna's recommendation I bought the anime "Hana Yori Dango." She tells me it has Bollywoodish feel plus a strong heroine which seems to be a rarity in anime from my admittedly limited exposure (see a good page for it here, here, here, here).

Googling some information for the thing, I found out that the gang of 4 rich guys who run the school the heroine is in and make her life hell because she stands up to them is called F4 (my mind just went to Veronica Mars, naturally. Heh. Is it too much to hope there is a Logan?) And then, I remembered that the utterly adorable HK movie I saw recently ("Magic Kitchen") said on the back that one of its (male) leads was from "F4" which at the time made me go "whaaaa" until I figured it out it must be a music group.

I thought it was a bizarre coincidence and didn't think any more of it. But while reading more info on HYD today, I found out that the F4 group is named after HYD. In fact, the members of it are the guys who played F4 in a Taiwanese live-action version.

Talk about bizarre.

ETA: Here's a picture if you are curious. Hmmm, Leather Pants? Not sure which one of them was in Magic Kitchen (I think it was "Soujirou"), maybe because leather or velvet was not in evidence.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, yeah, HYD is awesome. But you definitely have to watch through the first four episodes to get hooked (kinda like Esca).

[aliterati.livejournal.com]

Erm, that was me.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Talking about fabulous, I love your new Lex icon. Yuuuuuum.

[aliterati.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm quite a fan myself. ;P

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Isn't it nice when things go full circle?

Anime has a tendency to not have strong females probably just because of the culture it's coming from. Strong women aren't the ideal, sweet cute ones are. Girls are also supposed to like sweets, an odd little thing you'll notice in some anime. If a guy likes sweets too, it's generally an indication that his character is rather effeminate.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's kinda surreal.

Anime has a tendency to not have strong females

It's true for Bollywood movies as well. I think it has to do with more traditional culture. There are exceptions of course (Asoka or Dev come to mind) but generally the heroines are sort of romantically weak. After Victorians, that doesn't bother me too much but it's still great to discover a strong, non-traditional woman....

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's generally the case for anime, with some exceptions. Ouran High School Host Club, which is a manga admitedly and not an anime yet, is one of the best, as the female character basically is a lot stronger willed than the guys even though she lets them talk her into stuff. This is really obvious in her relationship with the leader of the guys, Tamaki, who is rich and melodramatic but struggles to function in normal society sometimes and would pretty much be lost without her.

But yeah, as a whole, generally passive characters. Manga generally lets them be a little more aggressive than anime actually does.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's not too bad for someone like me, who is generally mle-centric in her fic tastes (give me a good hero and the heroine can go hang, even if a strong heroine is a big bonus), but I wonder how people who identify themselves with female characters in fiction (rather than the male) feel about this.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I think the female readers (or watchers) are supposed to be consoled by the fact that the female lead has at least three or four hot bishounen falling all over themselves for her. It's my belief that that's the pay off.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I guess the thinking is if someone as annoying as Miaka can get hot men to drool over her, then so can "I" Heh.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

And now you know why anime characters tend to have the crazy hair! So hard to tell people apart when they all have the same floppy haircut.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

ROFL. Yes, indeed.

[snacktastic.livejournal.com]

I'm confused. Are they a real band? And if so, maybe I can listen to them! I've been looking for new music.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

They are a real Taiwanese Pop Band (who initially played the characters collectively called the F4 in a Taiwanese show and named the band after it).

I have no idea if they are any good since I haven't heard a single note of music of theirs.

[aliterati.livejournal.com]

Don't know if they're good, but they are insanely popular. As in, a major event was almost closed down because security and police weren't sure they would be able to contain the people there.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

As in, a major event was almost closed down because security and police weren't sure they would be able to contain the people there.

You are kidding. Now I am imagining Taiwanese Elvises :P

[aliterati.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. Elvis and the Beatles. You know.

correction

[koalathebear.livejournal.com]

F4 was huge in Asia a little while ago. Man their singing sucks. I got a bit addicted to Meteor Garden which is the English name for the live action show you mentioned. It was hugely popular in Asia and banned in China which made it even more popular. It's very fun. I'll be interested to know whether your favourite character is Dao Ming Si (the leader of the gang) or Hua Si Le (the sensitive one :) Unfortunately, both have singing careers.

I haven't seen the original Japanese anime but the live action was great fun.

Re: correction

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, both have singing careers

ROTFLOL.

banned in China which made it even more popular

I read that. Supposedly because it encouraged class bad feeling. Hmmm.

I do want to see that show (the live version) actually. I generally go for alphaish over sensitive so I'll see.