Musings of the Obsessive Kind

I found soft subs for the twdrama Absolute Boyfriend with Jiro Wang and Gu Hye Sun. But I have no idea where I can find twdrama raws!

Please please, mighty flist, does anyone know? It can be ddl or torrent, I don't care! Pleaaaasse - I love the manga and Jiro. Mmmmm, Jiro.

Please?

As per drama beans.

I sincerely hope it is based on the manga I adore and not the jdrama which I hate. Seeing that they want to cast Kim Ha Neul, it's probably the latter though. Add in the fact that kdrama adaptations of manga usually suck (BOF, *shudder*) and there is no way they will be able to deal with "heroine orders a sexbot" thing on MBC (I was cracking up at jb and gf, neither of whom is familiar with the manga, wondering if It could be a sexbot and deciding not).

I think I will just wait for the twdrama.

As per drama beans.

I sincerely hope it is based on the manga I adore and not the jdrama which I hate. Seeing that they want to cast Kim Ha Neul, it's probably the latter though. Add in the fact that kdrama adaptations of manga usually suck (BOF, *shudder*) and there is no way they will be able to deal with "heroine orders a sexbot" thing on MBC (I was cracking up at jb and gf, neither of whom is familiar with the manga, wondering if It could be a sexbot and deciding not).

I think I will just wait for the twdrama.

Finished the first ep of Hayate the Combat Butler and it continued adorable, very sweet and oddly gentle throughout. I am utterly hooked. Only twdramas can make it feel so mangaish and so wonderful at the same time.

Also, does anyone else think Maria is the girl from his past that he was having that weird flashback to when he was unconscious? Despite his crush, I really am not shipping him with Maria and much prefer him with Park Shin Hye - they both have the same level of maturity while Maria is about 10x smarter and more grown-up than the both of them put together. I do wonder how PSH will react when she realizes he was yet another in a long line of people who wanted to kidnap her (yes, I care for the characters already, one ep in. That's a good sign).

In other news, I found a trailer for the upcoming Absolute Boyfriend with Jiro and Gu Hye Sun. Not the greatest quality video but good for my purposes. Am so very excited now, because unlike the jdrama (which should never be mentioned lest I get PTSD flashbacks and palpitations), this looks like it's got the manga story and vibe down pat. Plus, Jiro can do both sexy and goofy and while I am not a big fan of GHS, her kind of hyper, physical (over)acting seems very suited for manga adaptations of twdramaland. Can't wait!

Awesome ockoala has posted on her blog that Jiro has been officially confirmed as Night in Absolute Boyfriend. There was a press conference and everything, and apparently they already started filming. Jiro also promised us a naked scene. LOL, only in a twdrama presscon.

For some reason, I don't even mind Gu Hye Sun as Riko. Maybe because BOF showed she does emo and damsel-in-distress and opposite-of-Makino extremely well (I am not bitter about BOF, no sirree). Also, her brand of chirpy overacting would fit right into a twdrama, especially one with such an insane plot - girl accidentally orders experimental sex-robot. R-rated hijinks ensue. (Also, the name Night cracks me up every time because it shows such an utter lack of imagination on Riko's part).

I adore the manga to bits (even if the ending is EVIL) - it's funny, romantic, meta, tongue-in-cheek and hella sexy. But then I am a big Yu Watase fan. Jdrama I did not like at all because to say it was vaguely inspired by the manga would be charitable, the actors had no chemistry, and, being a jdrama, this was singularly passionless and with lack of touching (which, in a story about a sexbot, is bizarre, to say the least).

Here's hoping AB sticks to the manga. At the very least, at least I find Jiro hugely more appealing than Hayami Mocomichi (but I prefer Aibu Saki to GHS, hmmm. Not related to anything but is Saki still with Nagase btw? Lucky woman! That's who I'd cast as a personal dream sexbot :p)

Anyway, hugely excited!

Awesome ockoala has posted on her blog that Jiro has been officially confirmed as Night in Absolute Boyfriend. There was a press conference and everything, and apparently they already started filming. Jiro also promised us a naked scene. LOL, only in a twdrama presscon.

For some reason, I don't even mind Gu Hye Sun as Riko. Maybe because BOF showed she does emo and damsel-in-distress and opposite-of-Makino extremely well (I am not bitter about BOF, no sirree). Also, her brand of chirpy overacting would fit right into a twdrama, especially one with such an insane plot - girl accidentally orders experimental sex-robot. R-rated hijinks ensue. (Also, the name Night cracks me up every time because it shows such an utter lack of imagination on Riko's part).

I adore the manga to bits (even if the ending is EVIL) - it's funny, romantic, meta, tongue-in-cheek and hella sexy. But then I am a big Yu Watase fan. Jdrama I did not like at all because to say it was vaguely inspired by the manga would be charitable, the actors had no chemistry, and, being a jdrama, this was singularly passionless and with lack of touching (which, in a story about a sexbot, is bizarre, to say the least).

Here's hoping AB sticks to the manga. At the very least, at least I find Jiro hugely more appealing than Hayami Mocomichi (but I prefer Aibu Saki to GHS, hmmm. Not related to anything but is Saki still with Nagase btw? Lucky woman! That's who I'd cast as a personal dream sexbot :p)

Anyway, hugely excited!

My next drama to binge on? K.O. 3an Guo thematic predecessor The X-Family (they are both part of a thematic trilogy which started with K.O. One and have characters in common).

Because KO 3an Guo is totally becoming a favorite and because The X-Family has Mousie's huge crush Jiro Wang as the lead. Jiro's not just my favorite member of Farenheit (one of the very few idol groups I like), he's one of my favorite twdrama actors in general. Mmmm. And X-Family has him as a kick-ass protagonist and, more importantly, apparently his OTP is his childhood love who he believes is his half-sister for a good chunk of the drama. (Wrongly, of course). Yay!!!! All that, and fighting guitars? Sign me up.

Have a general MV:



And a shippy one ( is behind the cut )

And speaking of Jiro, I totally squeed when I realize he is cameoing as Sun Ce in K.O. 3an Guo!!!!



(Also, apparently, the girl who plays his OTP in X-Family, guests in this as Da Qiao, so they are an OTP across dimensions? Heeee).

Plus, I have a new OTP. Phew, the chemistry is through the roof...



( In which I start shipping Zhou Yu and Xiao Qiao like mad. Take him down a peg or dozen, girl! )

Yup, I am so addicted.

Also, Absolute Boyfriend has just started filming and, apparently, Jiro has replaced Wu Zun in the role of Night. Mmmmmm! My interest just went through the roof! He can be my sexbot any day! (Please please please makers, stick to manga and not to the awful jdrama, and we are good).

Also, I have been stalking BillaSub for their Momo Love subs and they are one ep away from completing the whole drama. Then I can binge. ( have a MV )

I have also been meaning to check out Rolling Love with Jiro, Danson Tang and Genie Zhuo because it sounded cute and sweet from synopsis but I have checked out MVs and it seems angsty and screwed-up as hell! See this MV for an example. ( MV here )

Not that emo and screwed-up is bad, but it's weird when you are expecting fluffiness. But the OTP seems so adorable. ( see this MV )

I am worried that's all the happytimes in the drama though, for all I know. Though Jiro does get the girl at the end so hmmmm...It also has scenes like this (OMG, secondary guy, I am crushing on you!)



Dilemmas, dilemmas.

And to keep up with the Jiro theme of this post, have a Jin/Christine MV from TKA. I adore Joe Cheng, but mmmmmm, Jiro. I am very very glad his character got an OTP of his own.

( MV here )

I have just realized I have no Jiro icons at all. For shame!

Two Korean leading ladies have recently made the news due to their starring roles in Taiwanese dramas. Park Shin Hye (Tree of Heaven, You're Beautiful) is slated to be the leading lady of Hayate the Combat Butler opposite George Hu, and Gu Hye Sun (King & I, Boys Over Flowers) is going to be the heroine of Absolute Darling, opposite Wu Zun (YUM!). Both of these dramas are adaptations of Japanese manga.

The flist seems to largely be unhappy about the news but I have to go again the grain and revel in my glee. Let's take each case separately.

(1) Hayate. I know next to nothing about the manga but I admit that any drama with this title simply begs to be checked out - sort of like 'Vampire Gigolo', just to see what on earth is going on. I find Taiwan makes the best manga adaptations out there overall (much better than Korean and Japanese attempts IMHO), and while George Hu does not set my panties aflame, I like him pretty well (he was awesome as Wallace Huo's love rival in Love at First Fight). And I like Park Shin Hye who has a sweet and fun on-screen presence. Her warmth made me like her YAB character for a lot longer than I would have otherwise.

(2) Absolute Darling - it's an adaptation of Yu Watase's Absolute Boyfriend, which previously had a Japanese adaptation. I AM MADLY EXCITED FOR THIS ONE. Let me explain - I am an unabashed Yu Watase fangirl. Her Ayashi no Ceres is my favorite manga of all time, and the anime adaptation of her Fushigi Yuugi is one of my favorite animes (Tamahomeeeeeeeee! :P) Absolute Boyfriend is a lot shorter, fluffier and weirder than either AnC or FY, but I love it anyway. The main reason I am excited for this adaptation is that the Taiwanese tend to stick closely to the manga and, let's face it, there is no way anyone can make an adaptation worse than the Japanese drama was. I've been permanently turned off the three leads in that jdrama because of it. I did not find the jdrama very good on its own merits, but I suppose if I hadn't read and loved the manga, I would have just viewed it as another mediocre drama. However, if you are the fan of the manga, the jdrama adaptation will make you want to stab out your eyes and eat them. I can deal with them taking out delightful self-referential humor and the yummy and plentiful sensuality (it's jdrama - nobody is allowed to touch! Even if the source manga is about a woman who buys a sexbot!) but they changed the personalities and interactions of the three main characters, not to mention the message of the story. It's like taking a novel about peaceful quakers and turning it into a war film. The drama has about that much resemblance to the manga. So - as I said, I am excited because there is no way twdrama will be as bad, and there is a good chance it will be better - due to Taiwan's tendency to follow the manga and allow people to express physical affection on screen. I actually even like the casting. Wu Zun is not a master actor by even the most liberal interpretation of the term, but he is adequate enough and he's playing a robot, so it's not exactly asking him to tackle Hamlet. And he is ridiculously hot, especially when you compare him to scrawny Hayami Mokomichi of the jdrama. Gu Hye Sun wasn't my favorite person after Boys Over Flowers, what with her overacting, especially evident when she acted opposite someone who was doing a good job (Lee Min Ho) or underacting (Kim Hyun Joong). But her brand of rubber-faced clowning is perfect for twdramas. Think of Rainie Yang or Ariel Lin - GHS does not overact any more than either of those do in twdrama romcoms.

So basically, I am excited for both.

I do wonder why on earth PSH and GHS signed up for this. It is not unheard of a Korean actress to star in a twdrama (Silence, My Lucky Star) but the actresses there are little-known in Korea and take their leading lady chances whenever they can get them. But both the ladies here are bona fide leading ladies in Korea in their own right. So why Taiwan? Twdramas are not as prestigious as Korean ones and surely they cannot pay as much. Hmmmmm.

Two Korean leading ladies have recently made the news due to their starring roles in Taiwanese dramas. Park Shin Hye (Tree of Heaven, You're Beautiful) is slated to be the leading lady of Hayate the Combat Butler opposite George Hu, and Gu Hye Sun (King & I, Boys Over Flowers) is going to be the heroine of Absolute Darling, opposite Wu Zun (YUM!). Both of these dramas are adaptations of Japanese manga.

The flist seems to largely be unhappy about the news but I have to go again the grain and revel in my glee. Let's take each case separately.

(1) Hayate. I know next to nothing about the manga but I admit that any drama with this title simply begs to be checked out - sort of like 'Vampire Gigolo', just to see what on earth is going on. I find Taiwan makes the best manga adaptations out there overall (much better than Korean and Japanese attempts IMHO), and while George Hu does not set my panties aflame, I like him pretty well (he was awesome as Wallace Huo's love rival in Love at First Fight). And I like Park Shin Hye who has a sweet and fun on-screen presence. Her warmth made me like her YAB character for a lot longer than I would have otherwise.

(2) Absolute Darling - it's an adaptation of Yu Watase's Absolute Boyfriend, which previously had a Japanese adaptation. I AM MADLY EXCITED FOR THIS ONE. Let me explain - I am an unabashed Yu Watase fangirl. Her Ayashi no Ceres is my favorite manga of all time, and the anime adaptation of her Fushigi Yuugi is one of my favorite animes (Tamahomeeeeeeeee! :P) Absolute Boyfriend is a lot shorter, fluffier and weirder than either AnC or FY, but I love it anyway. The main reason I am excited for this adaptation is that the Taiwanese tend to stick closely to the manga and, let's face it, there is no way anyone can make an adaptation worse than the Japanese drama was. I've been permanently turned off the three leads in that jdrama because of it. I did not find the jdrama very good on its own merits, but I suppose if I hadn't read and loved the manga, I would have just viewed it as another mediocre drama. However, if you are the fan of the manga, the jdrama adaptation will make you want to stab out your eyes and eat them. I can deal with them taking out delightful self-referential humor and the yummy and plentiful sensuality (it's jdrama - nobody is allowed to touch! Even if the source manga is about a woman who buys a sexbot!) but they changed the personalities and interactions of the three main characters, not to mention the message of the story. It's like taking a novel about peaceful quakers and turning it into a war film. The drama has about that much resemblance to the manga. So - as I said, I am excited because there is no way twdrama will be as bad, and there is a good chance it will be better - due to Taiwan's tendency to follow the manga and allow people to express physical affection on screen. I actually even like the casting. Wu Zun is not a master actor by even the most liberal interpretation of the term, but he is adequate enough and he's playing a robot, so it's not exactly asking him to tackle Hamlet. And he is ridiculously hot, especially when you compare him to scrawny Hayami Mokomichi of the jdrama. Gu Hye Sun wasn't my favorite person after Boys Over Flowers, what with her overacting, especially evident when she acted opposite someone who was doing a good job (Lee Min Ho) or underacting (Kim Hyun Joong). But her brand of rubber-faced clowning is perfect for twdramas. Think of Rainie Yang or Ariel Lin - GHS does not overact any more than either of those do in twdrama romcoms.

So basically, I am excited for both.

I do wonder why on earth PSH and GHS signed up for this. It is not unheard of a Korean actress to star in a twdrama (Silence, My Lucky Star) but the actresses there are little-known in Korea and take their leading lady chances whenever they can get them. But both the ladies here are bona fide leading ladies in Korea in their own right. So why Taiwan? Twdramas are not as prestigious as Korean ones and surely they cannot pay as much. Hmmmmm.

I currently have only limited net access (don't worry, a temporary thing) so won't be able to get to comments till tomorrow. Sorry guys!

1. Jin has done an anan photoshoot? I don't even like him (he looks more like a girl than I do!) but am curious. Link? Mainly so I can verify he is indeed a he.

2. I have watched ep 1 of Otomen with subs. GLORIOUSNESS. Epic gloriousness.

3. Apparently they are turning Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) into a kdrama. YESSS. With the heroine a 30-yr-old who gets dumped and reacts by ordering a hot, expensive sexbot. Like we all do. I adore the manga, didn't care for the jdrama, so am excited at this. From my perspectve, it can only be a good thing - it's not as if there is an adaptation I love already out there. At the very worst, it won't be any worse than jdrama, only with hotter men and more delicious angst, and at best it will actually give me an adaptation I like. Any takers for who should play the perfect-sex-candy-dream-bot? If she is ordering someone her own age, I am going with Song Seung Heon, otherwise known as the hottest man in Asia as per yours truly. He'll be free for a drama, too. If we are going slightly younger, the inhumanly beautiful Hyun Bin (I think he's in his later 20s?) He's also an amazing actor, so. And if we are going for way younger, Lee Min Ho - give him a chance to be in a good manga adaptation for once. Joo Ji Hoon was born to play this role, but alas...

( Gents in question )

We'll see.

4. I am so predictable. I tried Tamra the Island and thought it was the worst drama I have ever seen. But sundae_sweet's posts have persuaded me to give it another glace at least. Why? They had promised me plentiful mistreatment of hero(es) including whipping. Am so very pathetic. We'll see.