Wow, this is just gorgeous!

[dangermousie]

Some people are amazingly artistic! Behind the cut are a bevy of images of Meteor Garden in which, Richard Linklater style, the person took the stills and caps from the show and drew over them, making them look like gorgeously colored, artsy panels from a graphic novel. In fact, even if you don't have any interest in dramas or Meteor Garden, I rec you check them out anyway as they are beautiful. I didn't think it was possible to make F4 look prettier, but hey...apparently it can be done! These pics aren't spoilery, IMO. I am not even going to caption them so as not to give any context in order not to spoil anyone. And they are not in order, also on purpose for non-spoileriness :)

I will start with my favorite one of the bunch:



For those who DO like doramas but haven't seen Meteor Garden, maybe these pics will convince :) I am addicted to Meteor Garden (I prefer it to the jdorama version even though HYD is better acted because there is much more room and time to develop the story, plus I find the Taiwanese F4 actors hotter). In fact, I keep randomly rewatching bits at intervals and OMG the angst and the funniness and the hot boys and the crazy cool OTP and one of my favorite endings!














































































































































































I found all of these (and there are more there) at: http://f4.changchunexpress.net/index.html, so all the credit for those goes of course to the siteowner. I don't read Chinese, so I have no idea what the caps on all of these say, btw.

And of course, I simply must use my Meteor Garden icon :)

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

PRETTY! Are those the same leads as Mars?(which isn't here yet)

Also, have you heard of a dorama called Nanisama? I got it free w/ my Musashi and Nobuta wo Produce DVDs, likely as a "pleae don't complain about no subtitles for Nobuta" thing.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The female lead in this one, and the male lead who plays Lei (Rui equivalent) are indeed the leads from Mars, as well as apparently a RL couple (who hooked up after Mars which came out 3 years after this). The guy who plays DMS (Domyouji equivalent) in this one is a different actor so the OTP in MG is actually one half of Mars couple and one half someone else. It's bizarre because I ship the leads like crazy in Mars, but here I am all about Shan Cai/DMS OTP and like Shan Cai and Lei as friends only.

Nope, haven't heard of Nonisama.

and no subs SUCKS!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It especially suck as I went "Yay! I'll b at the parents with a working DVD player and a fullsized TV and can watch it over the weekend!"

Guess it'll be the first disc of Musashi and the Kingdom of Heaven extended ed(which has been languishing) instead.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

KoH EE is really really good!

You can dl and save subs separately and then watch the dorama on your laptop (if you have VLC player, you can just open any sub file manually, you don't even have to save it same place or name it the same)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Aye, I expect it will be. Actually, I remember to posting about it and thinking "yeah, I need to get to that soon..."

[kitsune714.livejournal.com]

So pretty!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I know!

I am definitely addicted to MG. There is something in it, that is completely crack like.

[kitsune714.livejournal.com]

That's what always gets me with MG. I really love it, but I must say that I found the cinematography and overall style of it a little disappointing, especially when compared to some of the other Korean or Japanese dramas I've seen. Or even Mars! Mars was gorgeous--I could go on for hours about how much I love that scene where Ling is in that tunnel on the way to his race in Japan and he calls Qi Luo and the whole thing is shot in this beautiful shadowy light and you can only make out his silhouette and it's so minimalistic and simple and GUH.

But back to MG. It was shot in a really, really simple style and you can tell that they had some budget issues, as the rich kids didn't really look that rich (especially in comparison to the Japanese dorama version of HYD). What always gets me, though, is that despite all of that, they made it work.

In spite of the cheesy acting (thank god F4 has gotten better at it) and boring sets, it's still one of my favorites.

Which brings me to these gorgeous Linklater-esque drawings! I love that they added some color and definition to these screencaps--I think they added the flair that the show deserved when it was originally shot. I would've been totally over the moon as a film geek if the drama really was done in this style.

But I'm rambling again.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

You should ramble more often, I love reading stuff like that.

Yes, you can definitely tell their budget wasn't as high as one would want, and F4 has certainly gotten way better at acting (Vic in Mars is excellent, Vic in MG...not as much). But because of the story (it does have an excellent dorama script) and the chemistry between all the actors and some other mysterious 'x' factor, it really really clicks. I've lost count of the times when I wanted to watch five minutes, a particular scene, and ended up watching hours and hours of it instead.

HYD, while with better production values, and better overall acting, doesn't grab me the same way. I like it, I own it, but I don't have the same Pavlovian, addicted reaction.

Mars was gorgeous--I could go on for hours about how much I love that scene where Ling is in that tunnel on the way to his race in Japan and he calls Qi Luo and the whole thing is shot in this beautiful shadowy light and you can only make out his silhouette and it's so minimalistic and simple and GUH.

Oh, I agree. I love that. I just love the way some of the scenes are shot (the way gorgeous scene at the turnstiles when he leans in to kiss her, e.g., or the way it's all a bit tilted and the close-ups are sort of claustrophobic when she is screaming remembering her rape...

I love that they added some color and definition to these screencaps--I think they added the flair that the show deserved when it was originally shot. I would've been totally over the moon as a film geek if the drama really was done in this style.

Oh, I know. I mean, I love it thiiiiiiis much as is, so if it was shot like that, or even with the cinematographer of A Love to Kill and F4 with scarily improved acting skills they have now...I think I would have been dead of bliss.

[kitsune714.livejournal.com]

You should ramble more often, I love reading stuff like that.

*blushes*

I have a tendency to meta on and on and on about the tiniest details in almost every fandom, and my dramas are no exception. I gush about pretty much everything when I'm in the thrall of a drama, though I don't get a chance to blog about it as much as I'd like to these days. I'm glad I've got a willing ear for all of my blabbering XD.

But yes, Vic's acting in Mars was exponentially better than it was in MG. I mean, yeah, MG II, you could see a hint of him getting better (but that doesn't mean I recommend watching MG II--I'm a die-hard MG fan but MG II was pretty painful for me. I watched it more for the sake of completeness) but Mars was where he really kicked it into high gear. I'm actually tempted to watch Silence just to see if he's gotten even better.

And I kind of share the same opinion about HYD--I love the Japanese HYD, don't get me wrong, but 9 episodes wasn't enough for me. Yeah, the acting's better, and sure, I love Matsuda Shota as Nishikado and Oguri Shun as Rui and Abe Tsuyoshi as Akira and eventually I came to love MatsuJun as Tsukasa (seriously, last fall, when I saw the casting pics for LA HYD, I spazzed--I was like, "they cast a troll doll for the part of Domyouji? He's supposed to be HOOOOOOTTTTT!!! They've ruined it! etc. etc."), but I fell in love with MG and the original Taiwanese F4 first.

So yeah, I think Taiwanese F4 is more attractive in some respects than the Japanese F4, but I did take into consideration the changes they made with the Taiwanese adaptation. Original HYD manga has Eitoku as a high school, which is what it was in the Japanese dorama. The Taiwanese adaptation had Eitoku as Ying De University, which would mean your characters would be older and have all the characteristics that being a college student would imply. I actually noticed the same thing in Mars--the Mars manga was set in a high school setting, not college, but the Taiwanese drama had it set in a university.

I kind of like having these characters be in college, because (especially with Mars) some of the subject material they deal with just isn't that plausible for someone of high school age. Also, I must say that it makes me feel a little better knowing that they're older, because it makes me not question the obvious absence of any parental figures in the entire plotline ^__~.

I'm not sure how coherent that was, but I look forward to your thoughts. Also: ICONLOVE.

I love that shot of Qi Luo in that huge jacket with that helmet. Adorable.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have no idea why the HYD people did what they did to Matsujun. I saw him in Gokusen some time after I saw HYD, and I went 'he is GORGEOUS!' But in HYD, they must have spent hours making him look like that. I am still WTFing over it.

I'm actually tempted to watch Silence just to see if he's gotten even better.

Oh, please please watch it. It's excellent, and he is so good in it and he has crazy chemistry with the female costar and the whole thing is beautifully filmed in it. I have ep 5 with subs dled but haven't watched it yet (watched the first four) and I would love to discuss Silence with someone. Actually, I love it so much, that if it keeps on being as good as it currently is, it will probably be my number 2 dorama, behind only Mars.

Yeah, I don't plan to watch MGII (though I have it) because I have yet to find a single person who liked it. I did watch the ending and the OMG making out is cute, but that's all I need from it. Just reading the summary of it annoys me, as DMS and SC are such a huge OTP of mine and the obstacles they have this time just make me want to smack TPTB, and not in a good way.

kind of like having these characters be in college, because (especially with Mars) some of the subject material they deal with just isn't that plausible for someone of high school age.

Exactly. It really makes the storylines more believable, and also the interactions rather more mature. Finding your true love (and having your evil mom freak out you'll marry someone inapropporiate) makes a lot more sense in college, to me. Taiwanese doramas always move the setting into college (Peach Girl does that as well. I wonder if Devil Beside You was initially a high school manga as well?) and I always like that.

I'm not sure how coherent that was,

That was very coherent and very cool. I love your meta. Makes me wish I had you friended when I first discovered MG because I wrote reams and reams about it but I don't think anyone on my flist at the time either watched it, or wanted to meta it (ditto with Mars).

I love that shot of Qi Luo in that huge jacket with that helmet. Adorable.

I love the icon I am using now even more. That whole scene, when he offers her the ride and then tells her that he knows she hates men and she'd have to hold him tight, so never mind, and after a frozen second she holds her hands out for the helmet? OMG. It's such a huge break-through for her. I also love that he gives her his jacket. What the girls ripped off her is not much for other girls (I see plenty of girls wering that kind of top) but for QL, who esecially early on, wras herself away in bulky loose clothes as protection, it's a huge violation, and I love that he just knows that. Ling is instinctively protective but unlike with Sheng, with QL it's something that brings him peace and happiness. OK, this is turning into a Mars ramble, the way it always does when Mars is brought up. Mars was my first, but even after many more, it's still my favorite.