My giddiness knows no bounds!
Jan. 5th, 2009 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieYou have no idea of the depths of my glee over the first episode of Boys Over Flowers (Korean take on Hana Yori Dango) airing today.
I haven't seen it yet, but can't wait!
For those of you who do not know what Hanadan is, think a mix of 'Gossip Girl' and manga take on 'Pride and Prejudice', if Elizabeth punched people in the face and Mr. Darcy wore fur and pointy boots.
The story's delight comes from the tried-and-true (but rarely done in such a feminist fashion in manga) premise of 'irresistable force meets immovable object.' Our immovable object is one Makino Tsukushi (I haven't memorized her Korean name yet), who might not be super-hot, but is smart and strong-willed. Makino's family isn't exactly living in the gutter, but her lower-middle-class (at best) background makes her stick out like a sore thumb at the elite school for the rich she ends up attending. Not that the school is such a picnic: it's ruled over (or to be more honest, tyranized) by F4, the sons of the four richest families. Their word is law and even teachers will jump when ordered, because they don't want those nice endowments yanked. If you offend them, you are toast, and the bullying that will result can be full of humiliations, hazings, even beatings. The whole school joins in the "fun" and the target inevitably quits school.
Makino has been doing her best to keep her head down and just to get through high school hell as fast and unobtrusively as she can, but one day she finally snaps. And the person she snaps at? Is the 'irresistable force' of the story: Domyouji Tsukasa (once again, don't remember his Korean name yet), the most arrogant, richest, and violent of the F4, their leader. Needless to say, Domyouji does not take it kindly and Makino becomes the next target of the hazing. But you know what? Despite it all (and the hazing gets pretty brutal) she will not give in or give up, nor will she go and grovel for forgiveness, either. In fact, in one of my all-time favorite scenes in anywhere, she confronts Domyouji (in front of a whole bunch of classmates) and after letting loose about what she thinks about rich kids who have done nothing with themselves but just live off their parents' money and power, she punches Domyouji in the face. And knocks him down.
And shock of shocks -- that gets his attention. Nobody has stood up to him in a very long time and he cannot help but be intrigued by the girl who is a foot shorter and probably 100lbs lighter than him, and her total fearlessness. Maybe, just maybe, he'll lay off and let her be his friend in secret? If she doesn't throw his offer back in his face, that is.
Can all this lead to love? Well, not so fast. Not only does Makino (rightfully) loathes the sight of him, but Domyouji, who puts the fun in dysfunctional, has no idea of how proper human interactions are supposed to work, not to mention the fact that if Makino had to pick someone from F4, she would much rather go for the gorgeous, quiet and rather kind (by F4 standards) Rui, Domyouji's best friend.
There are a number of things I love about the story. For one, even if it's a romantic story, it is quite an unconventional one: Makino is genuinely interested in a lot of other things more than romance (career, friendships, family). It's shown repeatedly that even if she develops feelings for Domyouji, she can move on if need be, and still be a happy and complete individual. Not for her to be emo over boys. For another, Domyouji is NOT a misunderstood woobie who was abused as a child or similar. No, he is a genuinely bullying person with issues with violence, classism, or caring for people in general. At the beginning of the story he is sliding pretty close to being unredeemable and uncontrollable, and if not for meeting Makino, it's pretty clear one of these days, family hush money or not, he'd end up in jail or dead in a brawl somewhere. One of the most fun things in the story, for me, is actually watching him work very, very hard at winning Makino and becoming a human being in the process. Dspite all his horrendous flaws (creatures of his upbringing), he has an enormous capacity for love which has never been tapped before. Like a lot of drama (and manga) guys, the reasons he latches like a leach onto the girl he falls for, is because he has nobody else as an emotional outlet (his mother was nicknamed Darth by some fans and that's amusingly appropriate).
The Makinos, OTOH, are adorable goofy, btw.
There are hilarious secondary characters, angst and humor galore, hurt/comfort, exotic locations, Makino basically owning everything and everyone with her awesomeness, and woman-power galore. What's not to love?
I haven't seen it yet, but can't wait!
For those of you who do not know what Hanadan is, think a mix of 'Gossip Girl' and manga take on 'Pride and Prejudice', if Elizabeth punched people in the face and Mr. Darcy wore fur and pointy boots.
The story's delight comes from the tried-and-true (but rarely done in such a feminist fashion in manga) premise of 'irresistable force meets immovable object.' Our immovable object is one Makino Tsukushi (I haven't memorized her Korean name yet), who might not be super-hot, but is smart and strong-willed. Makino's family isn't exactly living in the gutter, but her lower-middle-class (at best) background makes her stick out like a sore thumb at the elite school for the rich she ends up attending. Not that the school is such a picnic: it's ruled over (or to be more honest, tyranized) by F4, the sons of the four richest families. Their word is law and even teachers will jump when ordered, because they don't want those nice endowments yanked. If you offend them, you are toast, and the bullying that will result can be full of humiliations, hazings, even beatings. The whole school joins in the "fun" and the target inevitably quits school.
Makino has been doing her best to keep her head down and just to get through high school hell as fast and unobtrusively as she can, but one day she finally snaps. And the person she snaps at? Is the 'irresistable force' of the story: Domyouji Tsukasa (once again, don't remember his Korean name yet), the most arrogant, richest, and violent of the F4, their leader. Needless to say, Domyouji does not take it kindly and Makino becomes the next target of the hazing. But you know what? Despite it all (and the hazing gets pretty brutal) she will not give in or give up, nor will she go and grovel for forgiveness, either. In fact, in one of my all-time favorite scenes in anywhere, she confronts Domyouji (in front of a whole bunch of classmates) and after letting loose about what she thinks about rich kids who have done nothing with themselves but just live off their parents' money and power, she punches Domyouji in the face. And knocks him down.
And shock of shocks -- that gets his attention. Nobody has stood up to him in a very long time and he cannot help but be intrigued by the girl who is a foot shorter and probably 100lbs lighter than him, and her total fearlessness. Maybe, just maybe, he'll lay off and let her be his friend in secret? If she doesn't throw his offer back in his face, that is.
Can all this lead to love? Well, not so fast. Not only does Makino (rightfully) loathes the sight of him, but Domyouji, who puts the fun in dysfunctional, has no idea of how proper human interactions are supposed to work, not to mention the fact that if Makino had to pick someone from F4, she would much rather go for the gorgeous, quiet and rather kind (by F4 standards) Rui, Domyouji's best friend.
There are a number of things I love about the story. For one, even if it's a romantic story, it is quite an unconventional one: Makino is genuinely interested in a lot of other things more than romance (career, friendships, family). It's shown repeatedly that even if she develops feelings for Domyouji, she can move on if need be, and still be a happy and complete individual. Not for her to be emo over boys. For another, Domyouji is NOT a misunderstood woobie who was abused as a child or similar. No, he is a genuinely bullying person with issues with violence, classism, or caring for people in general. At the beginning of the story he is sliding pretty close to being unredeemable and uncontrollable, and if not for meeting Makino, it's pretty clear one of these days, family hush money or not, he'd end up in jail or dead in a brawl somewhere. One of the most fun things in the story, for me, is actually watching him work very, very hard at winning Makino and becoming a human being in the process. Dspite all his horrendous flaws (creatures of his upbringing), he has an enormous capacity for love which has never been tapped before. Like a lot of drama (and manga) guys, the reasons he latches like a leach onto the girl he falls for, is because he has nobody else as an emotional outlet (his mother was nicknamed Darth by some fans and that's amusingly appropriate).
The Makinos, OTOH, are adorable goofy, btw.
There are hilarious secondary characters, angst and humor galore, hurt/comfort, exotic locations, Makino basically owning everything and everyone with her awesomeness, and woman-power galore. What's not to love?
