I think someone best explained how I felt about the "liberties" the writers are taking with this story:
KamichamaN wrote:\The Hanakimi jdrama made me sad very very honestly, if Horikita Maki and Oguri Shun hadn't been in it, I probably wouldnt have watched it through the first episode. But then I'm one of those people who likes sticking (at leats a little) to the original (which is why the Harry Potter movies often upset me). I mean, if I didn't know the title and paid no attention to the names, I probably would have thought something like "this kind of reminds me of hanakimi..."
Exactly. When the name "Hanazakari no Kimitachi e" is used for a drama, I think it's safe to assume that what I'm going to see is a DRAMATIZED version of the said story. If I wanted to see a random drama about some prissy and snot nosed perverted drunk brooding for the entire episode, then I would have watched another drama. I wanted to see Hana Kimi in all it's glory, live action and done right. I'm not saying it should be word-for-word with no changes whatsoever, but I was expecting a Hanakimi story. A lot of the story they're making up feels like a horrible AU fanfiction gone wrong. Ah yes, I realize it is necessary to keep an open mind. Trust me, my mind is as open as a window. I was fine with the Mr. Osaka contest, I was OKAY with Sano not finding out Ashiya was a girl (just yet), and I was fine with some more "liberties" that the directors have decided to take. But there's only so much you can revise to a story without completely changing it.
The path they've taken Ashiya was disappointing. Ashiya was simply a girl who admired her idol and wanted to meet him and see him jump. She was down to Earth and just a simple girl. Now they've turned her into a bloody Mother Teresa. She wanted to go all the way across the ocean to help her idol "get back his wings" because of a cold, dark night gone wrong? Cheesy. The original plot was simple and as realistic as one could get in the world of Hanakimi. What was the reasoning to make her a bloody Saint all of a sudden? Why can't she just be a simple girl who wanted to see her idol? They just
had to throw all that "Oh, we met before but you don't remember" crap and make Sano fallen from grace in a pathetic attempt to fix up the mistake they did of turning him into a complete jerk. Why bother adding all these elements into an already simple story? They've added way too much drama where it's not needed. Hanakimi isn't 100% realistic: It's just credible. The drama has taken away the credible and replaced it with cheesy.
I don't like Sano at all, which is disappointing because his character is likable. Unlike the usual cold male roles that these shoujo manga's are required to have, Sano was the most tolerable. It didn't take too long for Ashiya to warm his somewhat cold heart, and he wasn't NEARLY as annoyingly broody and pessimistic as a lot of shoujo manga male leads. He was lovable. Shun!Sano is just incredibly unlikable. He's like the Squall of Hanakimi, except no where near as tolerable and good looking. It's really unnecessary to continue to make him such a jerk. We've already seen Hanazawa Rui, but at least he had nice hair. If they're trying to cram as much as possible in 11 episodes, why in the WORLD are they dragging out Sano's brooding? It's like they decided to take the most annoying thing possible and hold it out for as long as they can. It just made the whole "kissing monster" scene so incredibly perverted and creepy instead of funny and amusing as it was originally. It's so thoroughly disappointing and saddening to be so annoyed by what was originally one of my favourite male characters EVER in the shoujo manga "world".
Oh yes, and great decision to make Akira a female. That was really, really well done. The writers and directors surely know what they're doing to have taken one of the most interesting relationships in the manga because they have all the other interesting "additions" to fall back on. BRAVO.
Those were the main things that have and continue to still bother me. However, despite the things listed above, this episode was 10000000X better than the first and a huge improvement. I DID enjoy watching it aside from those mentioned earlier. It had something the first episode lacked in, and that is:
genuine humour. Hanakimi is a SHOUJO manga: Romance, cute boys, cross-dressing, and most of all, HUMOUR. There were a few giggles and snickers in the first episode, but this time around I was genuinely laughing because the trigger was all the classic Hanakimi scenes that they added in but managed to make 10X more funny. The Oscar Himejima scenes: Brilliant! Priceless! Magnifique! The "Ore mo" scene, and that final kiss between the two guys... hilarious! This is the kind of "straying away" from the manga that I enjoy, which is creatively IMPROVING the character and not changing them completely horribly butchering who they are. I think I love Oscar in this adaptation more than the manga. The classic Kayashima scenes and the "failure" was a great addition too.
And Nakatsu, Nakatsu... I totally retract my statement when I said he wasn't good looking before. THIS is the Nakatsu I was waiting for. The "I'm having strange feelings towards this guy! But I love girls! But he's so cute!" Nakatsu, and not the "I'm a jerk and creepy pervert" Nakatsu that they introduced to us in the previous episode. Albeit, this is not 100% the lovable Nakatsu that we've all grown to love in the manga. There's still the creepy factor every now and then, but he's a lot more likable and cute now that he's not such a jerk. Although he's not as lively and energetic as the original, he's slowly getting there. I loved the scene where he touched Ashiya's shoulder and bounced right off her, and the nosebleed. Priceless. At least someone's been doing their homework.
I loved the "classic" scenes they kept in, like the indirect kiss, and as hard as it might be to believe, I enjoyed the Mr. Osaka contest, I thought that was rather nice to introduce now. Hanakimi is slowly but surely improving, and hopefully in the next few episodes it'll continue to get better. I no longer have the high hopes that I have for this drama, but at least it will be somewhat entertaining to watch.
Oh, and one last thing: SHIROTA YUU. My breath stopped for that minute he was on. Enough said. <3 We need more Shirotan. <3
im imagining things now. lolz 
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can't wait to watch the next ep~
or is it different in Japan ???
