"When reviewing your notes before an exam, the most important will be illegible."

[walkwithheroes]

It's the week of finals, so I'm rushing around and am surrounded by papers as I type. Thankfully, I got out of a couple of finals (yay for 102s in a class!), which means I only have to study for four. And, happily one of those four is open book. I'm actually doing it now. My last exam is Friday morning and I cannot wait for the break. I am so sleepy and stressed out, so I really need the break.



Of course, I do have some great things up the pipeline: several vids, fics, and icons. I also have a large pile of books and DVDs just waiting for me. Plus, a vay-kay or two are already lined up for June and July.





In fandom news:


Is it just me or - do Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan love remaking each other's hit tv shows and films?






Japan's hit manga Honey and Clover gets made into a successful anime, a hit film, and a cult hit tv series (people love it in America, but no one in Japan seemed to watch - average score of 8.9 is freakishly low).



It had several up and comers/old favs in the cast: Ikuta Toma, Narumi Riko [she's so good. I can't believe she's 15!], Harada Natsuki, Mukai Osamu, Narimiya Hiroki, and Kashiwabara Takashi [who seems to pop up everywhere].



Honestly though, Narumi Riko, Harada Natsuki, and Kashiwabara Takashi stole the show. I loved Harada Natsuki here and was totally into her and Kashiwabara Takashi's semi/could be romance. And, like I said, Narumi Riko is just awesome in everything.



Ikuta Toma was good and cute, but it felt like he was just playing a more mature and unsure Nakatsu. Mukai Osamu is someone I can't comment on, as I don't recall him from anything else. As for Narimiya Hiroki - he's very pretty and his characters are always fun to watch, but it's starting to seem like he's sleep walking through his roles and more or less playing the same guy over and over again. [side note: I know he could have range, but I think he gets typecasted as the 'cool and/or goofy guy/friend' a bit much. Or maybe I need to watch more of his work? But he and Riko had great chemistry. What is up with her and the fact that she has chemistry with all these older leading men?]




Now, Taiwan is making a Honey and Clover series. This series will be fourteen hour and a half episodes, or rather roughly twenty-one hours and stars Joe Cheng, Janine Chang, Eddie Peng, among others. Sadly, from the previews it looks like the series is going to strongly focus on Mayama Takumi and his love issues. Which is a little disappointing, as I never liked Mayama, due to the way he was with Ayumi. But, maybe the trailer just focused on that as apparently Joe Cheng is the be all, end all for teenage girls in Taiwan. Personally, I find his acting fine, but I don't think he's that great.





Also:


South Korea is now remaking Hana Yori Dango, while Japan is airing a tv show based on My Sassy Girl, Ryokiteki na Kanojo. It started off well, but is quickly sinking in the ratings. Personally, I think it is because they changed the story a lot. What's with the childhood crush and the possible fact that the person whose suppsed to be, you know, might be, you know, not that.




Japan also plans to remake SK's The Devil for a summer showing. The series will star Ohno Satoshi in Joo Ji Hoon's two-faced lawyer role and (of all people) Ikuta Toma in Uhm Tae Woong's cop role. Some odd casting for that one.



South Korea is also making several films based on hit Japanese tv shows: such as Antique Bakery.




Interstingly, it seems Taiwan just likes turning Japanese manga into awesome like Mars or ISWAK, so-so remember the strangeness of HanaKimi, or down right awful -Peach Girl anyone. They love to make shows staring musical artists/models with (sometimes) questionable acting skills. And, it seems neither SK or Japan is that interested in remaking any of Taiwan's idol-dramas. It's not like I don't like Twdramas (Love My Lucky Star, Mars, etc), I just guess the dramas that are really popular in Taiwan don't flow well with South Korean and Japanese audiances. :/ Maybe.





Anyone have any thoughts on this? Why do countries keep remaking each other's successful shows/films/mangas/books? If Hollywood remakes one more Asian horror film/British sitcome/film, I'm going to scream.

Comments

Fascinating post

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think the reason neither Japanese nor Koreans adapt any of the Taiwanese dramas is, in large part, because most successful (and not so successful) twdramas are based on manga. I mean, Meteor Garden. Mars. ISWAK. Hana Kimi. Tokyo Juliet. Warm Midsummer. Bull-Fighting. Peach Girl. Marmalade Boy. Etc. And when not, they are 'inspired' by manga, or, at the very least, have a very shoujo-manga feel, such as Romantic Princess or Why Why Love. I can think only of a few 'big' twdramas that did not have shoujo as either inspiration or feel: The Outsiders, My Lucky Star (but that was based on a novel), Silence, Dolphin’s Bay. And I can think of reasons why every single one of these wouldn't be adapted (The Outsiders is very Taiwan-specific, being about the Triads. Also, rather too grim. A story where the heroine is raped? A hero becomes mob hitman? Etc...), Silence is a kdrama masquerading as a twdrama and jdrama is not good at making a kdrama style story, at all (the one exception I can think of is Kamisama Mou Sukoshi Dake), and I haven't seen My Lucky Star or Dolphin's Bay, but what I have seen of, they do seem rather kdramaish, as well...

So the Japanese do make their own manga adaptations (Hanadan, Itazura No Kiss, Hana Kimi, rumored Peach Girl) but that's not really treated as an adaptation of a twdrama because it's a different adaptation of the same source. And I think there has been a recent mini-spike in manga adaptations in jdramas, motivated in part, IMO, by the successes of such manga-adapted-dramas as Hanadan and Kurosagi. But not only are they still a relatively small subset of jdramas, if you look at most mangas jdramas choose to adopt, with some exceptions of Hanadan and Hana Kimi, and the recent H&C, they aren’t really shoujo mangas, are they? I mean, Kurosagi, Sapuri, Gokusen, Liar Game, and even the regrettable Jotei and not-regrettable 1 Pound and Kimi Wa Petto, are all manga adaptations but they aren't what you'd think of as typically shoujo (or shoujo at all). The Japanese don’t seem to be as keen on shoujo-into-live-action adaptations (once again, at least until Hanadan’s wild success), which leaves out a lot of twdramas right there.

And I think they are largely not keen on shoujo-feeling dramas either, which leaves out a huge chunk of other twdramas as sources, too. Twdramas, whether based on shoujo manga or just with shoujo-manga-vibe don’t seem to me to be something that would come across well in a jdrama, actually. I adore WWL but my mind boggles trying to imagine it as a jdrama. Jdramas might be very nuanced in some ways (certainly more nuanced than a lot of twdramas) but they lack a certain cheerful-melodramatic-romantic nuance required to carry off a live action shoujo adaptation, IMO. Maybe because they are too grounded in the real world, or are afraid of being romantically cooky? Or are afraid of coming across as too emotionally sweepingly melodramatic? Something any good shoujo requires. That is why, with the exception of Hanadan (which is neck and neck for my liking with Meteor Garden), I much prefer Taiwanese adaptations of manga over their Japanese counterparts: ISWAK over InK, Kiss, tw-Hana Kimi over Japanese one, etc.

I wonder, also, if the fact that a lot of shoujo manga does get adapted in Japan...into anime, which is not an art form Taiwanese do much in, if anything, also has to do with the fact that Japanese tend to adapt less shoujo into live action.

And then there is the fact that shoujo manga adaptations tend to be sparkly and 'clean' and the provenance of fresh-faced, clean-imaged Johhny's who are not about to be allowed to lose their hard-worked-for wholesome image. I can't see them adapting something like Mars, with all the character disturbances and issues. Jdrama does plenty of interesting and disturbing topics, but not in shoujo-adaptations subcategory.

I find it interesting that even when adapting from a Korean source, they pick very non-shoujoish sources: Hotelier, which I haven't seen, but is a Bae Yong Joon drama originally, about interactions of hotel staff. My Sassy Girl, a romcom, if anything. The Devil, a revenge story (I am staying far away from that adaptation btw. The casting is incredibly wrong and the script would have to be cut to pieces).

Re: Fascinating post

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

Twdramas are often based on manga, yes. Or they at least have a very 'manga' feel to them. Many of Taiwan's most popular dramas: Fated to Love You, Prince Turn Into A Frog, may not be based on mangas, but they certainly could have been shoujo mangas. Which is moat likely why they aren't remade by Korea or Japan.




Japan, over the last couple of years, has really gotten into doing mangas as films and tv shows, but I think they like to stick with their own stuff. For the most part, I don't think Japanese tv likes doing 'remakes', unless they know it will be a hit. Or rather, they think it will be one. Like, My Sassy Girl was a huge hit a few years back, so they tried to redo it as a tv show. And, frankly it's not really working.



You have a point with the anime, too. Most of the time, when Japan wants to adapt a manga (shoujo or otherwise) they do often use the anime format. It's easier to make it closer to the manga. I mean, could you see a live-action tv series of Vampire Knight? A film, maybe. But, not a weekly 10-13 episode series.



I think, as I said, Japan would rather use their own manga sources in adaptions. When they remake Korean series/films, they do tend to go for more serious subject matter. I'm not sure what that means. Msybe they think Korea does serious series better?



Yeah, the casting in The Devil remake seems way off. . . and, a live-action Japanese Peach Girl. Why? There are so many other manga adaptions I'd rather see. Of course, I also think they should cool it on the manga adaptions.

Continued because I am too verbose for comment limit

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

As to Korea? I think they very rarely adapt even anything from a manhwa, let alone a manga (thus leaving out any twdrama remakes which are manga-based). I can think of very very few manhwa adapations. In fact, the only ones that come to mind are Goong, Full House (apparently very loosely based on the manhwa), and the upcoming Daemul (based on a josei manhwa, apparently). I think they have very strong screenwriters, so they don’t tend to adapt things much at all, Taiwanese, Japanese, or their own (which is a pity, there are tons of manhwas I want to see adapted. But if psycho success of Goong didn’t start this sort of thing, nothing will). I mean, even book adaptations are rare (the only ones that come to mind recently are Coffee Prince and Capital Scandal, based on chick-lit novels, and Hong Gil Dong, if you can even call that an adaptation, seeing how loose with it they were :P). It also probably has to do with the fact that unlike twdramas (and shoujoish jdramas) which are stuck in high-school/college, most kdramas star people who are older (and in some cases, even if not, actually play older! Kdramas are full of people playing older than their age). It’s easy enough to upgrade a manga story from high school to college, but to a work-place? That’s a bit hard. I honestly can’t think of that many kdramas set in high school, and with both protagonists high-school age. Goong? My Sister-in-Law is 19? The very few first eps of Chun-Hyang?

And I don’t think Koreans ever adapted a manga before Hanadan. Actually, I think it’s proof of how popular Hanadan is, that they are adapting it. I don’t know any other manga adaptations into kdrama.

OK, I think I wrote a dissertaion, sorry.

Re: Continued because I am too verbose for comment limit

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

No, I think Korea has stronger writers in terms of coming up with new ideas. They also tend to adapt from legends and novels more. [Full House was very loosely based on a manhwa - Korean girl living in England gets involved with an actor.]


It also probably has to do with the fact that unlike twdramas (and shoujoish jdramas) which are stuck in high-school/college, most kdramas star people who are older (and in some cases, even if not, actually play older! Kdramas are full of people playing older than their age).



That's very true. Yes, Korea has a lot of 'younger' popular stars. But, most Korean tv shows have main characters that are out of college, usually between 23-38. I always find Korean series to be more 'adult' and 'mature' in terms of storylines and characters. It make me wonder just what they'll do with Hana Yori Dango. I mean, I can't see it taking place in an office - they'd get sued for all kinds of things, rich or not. Even setting it at a collefe was a bit of a stretch for me.



Back to twdramas for a second, I could actually see My Lucky Star being redone by Korean tv. It was more 'adult' than most idol-dramas. And, Yoo Hana could play her role again - and get to use her real voice. :)

[rawthorne.livejournal.com]

Good luck with your exams! I'm in the same boat so *sympathy*

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

Thanks. My last exam was Friday morning. Thank goodness it is over. (At least until school starts again). Now, all I have to do is wait for my grades.

[cheesemon.livejournal.com]

Oh, I thought I replied to this. I had it bookmarked for weeks! It's an interesting observation . . I guess the idea drought isn't just Hollywood anymore. Oh well, I don't think it's necessarily at bad thing because if the remake is successful, it promotes the original. Off the top of my head, The Ring got Ringu R1 distribution, Narnia got people reading the books, etc.

When I lived in Japan, the Korean wave from "Winter Sonata" just hit and Korean imports were the new craze. I guess that's what started the relationship between Japan and Korea and hence why they keep borrowing from each other. Taiwan always seemed like the lackey, like a Japan wannabe. ;) I never heard anyone talk about Taiwan in Japan, except one person who knew Meteor Garden.

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

I think the idea drought is world wide. The movie and tv companies need to start hiring fanfic writers or something.


Oh well, I don't think it's necessarily at bad thing because if the remake is successful, it promotes the original.


You have a point, I will give you that. Of course, I do find that when movies from Asia are real made by Hollywood they turn out awful. It's something that just doesn't translate, I guess. Plus, the main stream American movie going doesn't seem to understand "remake from Asian film", and I find myself shaking my head at imdb (imdb.com) and the people who ask questions like: "Oo, this (fill in name of Hollywood remake) sounds so orginial. How do you think it will end?" I then, respond that its a remake and they get upset that I pointed that out.


I am a bitter woman.




Oh yes, Winter Sonata was one of the dramas that really started the Korean wave world wide. Korea and Japan are also started to co-produce dramas, which is really cool. I did like Friends, it was short and sweet.



Taiwan is a bit of a Japan-wannabe, no? Almost all (like 97%) of their dramas are like mangas come to life or based off mangas. The rest are period dramas that are often co-produced with mainland China. Poor Taiwan. They have had some good, great, dramas, but. . .for the most part, eh. Somehow, it doesn't help that Taiwan seems to only have, about 30 actors that are allowed to have lead roles, and that 15 of them are in boy/girl bands.

[cheesemon.livejournal.com]

The movie and tv companies need to start hiring fanfic writers or something.

That could be scary depending on who's writing. I don't know if I could stand a year of endless yaoi and slash. ;)

I think Hollywood still shows some creativity around Oscar season. It's the summer that's full of sequels and remakes.

Do you watch most remakes after you've seen the Asian original? I think it might be the sequence. I watched The Ring and thought it was fantastic, then I saw Ringu and hated it. I watched Shall We Dance which I thought was pretty good, then watched Shall We Dansu and didn't like it. However, most people have an opposite opinion since they saw the original first. It's like how movies aren't usually as good as the book, unless you haven't read the book yet. :)

Yeah, I think Taiwan never found their own identity, minus the politician brawls. Oh well, I think Taiwan, like Korea and Japan, are much better and well-known for their movies. At least when Ang Lee is involved. ;) I dunno, have you watched a lot of Taiwan movies? Are they good?

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we don't need a summer season of yaoi and slash. Let's mix it up.


I think Hollywood still shows some creativity around Oscar season.


Sadly, it's the movies that the Oscars love that don't get seen much by the public, and a lot of those movies are actually really good.


I've wanted remakes than the originals, and I've wanted the originals than the remakes. I personally find that the originals are more about suspence and people's emotions. The Hollywood remakes tend to be more about things popping out at you or something. At least for the horror films. Honestly, I thought Shall We Dance was just awful. But, I tend to dislike most Hollywood romance comedies.



I have seen a few Taiwan movies, and they are actually really good. Much better than most of their tv series. I know their is an upcoming Taiwan/Japanese film, called "Tea Wars" or something. It's supposed to be promising. Taiwan (and South Korea and even Japan) is really getting good with their films. They're taking chances and over the last five years or so, some great films have come from there.