Tho, being ethnically Chinese, Taiwan has it's group of anti-Japanese, they are definitely NOT mainstream. Actors try to be apolitical, but I think an actor gets perceived poorly if they are pro-China, where as being a Nipponophile is coolbeldaran wrote:if i remember correctly, kamio-sensei noted favorably on the airing of meteor garden.. not to mention it was wildly popular all over asia, so it would be hard to say that MG *hurt* publicity for the series..mana wrote:i can't handle MG...for the fact that tawain always have this anti-japanese thing and all they do is produce japanese stories? It's like taiwan can't think of their own story..and what get me angry is that the mangaka can not decline their offer because its up to the company to decide.
on the one hand, the anti-japanese sentiment mostly comes from mainland china.. taiwan is a supporter of japan, afaik... though this is the case, the taiwanese actors still tread the ground slowly; they are entrenched for chinese entertainment, after all..
Indeed, Boys Over Flowers is a play on words in Japanese that doesn't work in Chinese. Even the Chinese Manga title is a bit abstract and actually doesn't mean the same kind of thing it means in Japanesebeldaran wrote:all translations of any title is bound for some liberal translation. hell, the manga called "POWER!!!" (written in english) became "GIRL GOT GAME" when it came to the u.s.... the american movie "where the heart is" received a different title when it showed in japan...mana wrote:Why is it called METEOR GARDEN? Isn't the story called (in english) Boys over Flower? I dunno i got the whole set of mg and what made me dislike it most...was the big...dramatic 'weed power' barbie kept displaying. Like i read the manga..i dont see her going.."weed power" every chapter (episode).
Honestly, I don't think that HYD would have been done in dorama if not for the success of MG. If only for the sheer scale and expense of the project, but with the success of MG, it reduced the risk dramatically. So this allowed this project to be greenlighted.
With Japan being the home of the source material, I'd think that it would be a matter of national pride to out-do the foreign version. This is VERY clear on the production value. No expense was spared in the production of this dorama.
But, with more money, more star power, etc. The fact that it's not a slam-dunk for HYD makes MG the winner imho. MG singlehandedly created a genre of dramas in Taiwan. It created a storm in Asian international market not seen again until the Korean wave. Ultimately, the influence of HYD will be limited to dorama fans with minimal impact overseas. In fact, to the non-dorama fans, it would probably have to be introduced as the Japanese version of MG