Personally, I'm also looking forward to HanaDan Mania, Part 3 over here at D-addicts.

I'm a really hardcore fan, and I wasn't completely happy about how the
hehe you took the words right out of my mouth--I've always wanted to see it as a K-drama too (even though I liked MG ad HYD--I still wanted to see it as a Kdrama..
Yeah, especially season 2 of HanaDan, it was written like the 2nd half of K-drama. Not a lot of plot, but a lot of crying!
It has "best of both worlds" written all over it. You'll get the length of Meteor Garden (so everything is properly paced), but the production quality of HYD. Also, the overall acting is going to be much, much higher quality.
@belleza--ohh wow so group eight is producing it--that sounds good..
The thing with the original HanaDan j-drama was that it was among the most expensive J-dramas ever done, per episode. The location shoots and sets, the stylish MTV cuts, and so on.
For that reason, Group Eight is really an ideal match, because they'll produce the show entirely before it airs. That means that in terms of look and editing, it'll have a film-like polish to it. I loved the soft color palette and cinematography they used in Goong S (a big step from the original Goong show.) It's really not a stretch for them to do "Lovers in Paris/Prague"-style location shoots among the mansions and most scenic areas in Korean, you know?
Key thing is that K-dramas like this one are going to have their eyes set on the international market. Because K-drama budgets have just exploded in the last 4 years, this is going to
look more impressive than the other versions. I'm not sure if it'll be a better show, though. The starring cast of HanaDan have a unique bond, and in a way, HanaDan really did become the MatsuShunMao show. Rarely you see that kind of comraderie except among people within the same JE group.
That said, HanaDan is a natural, natural K-drama. Adapting Nodame or Nobuta would be hard; those are uniquely suited for J-drama. But, almost every element in HanaDan that people love are part of the normal K-drama playbook. In an ideal world, you'd have Kamio-sensei and the Hong Sisters working together on this project. The K-drama world would melt down if this happened.
also great pick for makino--I didn't think of Park Shin Hye--but she does have the right attitude and wittiness that would portray Makino perfectly...
I think I could pick any actor and "reage" them, my first choice for Makino would be Han Ji Hye, then Lee Yo Won, then Im Ju Sung. Doumyoji would be played by Kwon Sang Woo, Kang Ji Hwan, or Hyung Bin. Rui would be played by Jo In Sung, Lee Jung Ki, Hyung Bin, or Jo Ji Hoon, in that order.
But I thought about this some more, and I think the right person for the role would be BoA.
This will be the third adaptation of the franchise. Both MG and HYD were huge successes in their countries. For Korea to come out with their version of HanaDan is a game of national one-upmanship. It's Korea saying "yeah, we like your versions. we can do it better!!! WE are the king of drama!" For that reason, you need to bring in somebody so famous, so international, who has fans in China, Japan, and Taiwan. That person could be YEH, but this project just screams out for BoA.
Sooner or later, BoA is going to do a drama project. She was originally going to do Goong. This would be bigger than Goong. This would have much higher expectations than Goong. This would be bigger than Full House. This would not only continue her reign as one of Asia's pop princesses, but it would have an effect of Hallyu all over Asia, just as next generation shows like Coffee Prince and Hong Gil Dong are showing.
I just hope the producers work harder and don't try to cast YEH. Yes, she could do the part just fine, but she's already done this type of role many times over, and she already has Goong. Share the wealth people!