Getting the F4 Fever All Over Again

as i've mentioned in my last post, the korean F4 of Boys Over Flower [BOF] are keeping me from boredom while waiting for news about yong joon to come. as you know, they're so hard to come by lately because it was reported that yong joon is busy traveling/researching for the travel book that he is about to publish.

Anyways…

Boys Over Flower [Jan 2009] is an adaptation of the japanese manga Hana Yori Dango by Yoko Kamio.

sHana Yori Dango is a story of a girl-next-door who gets herself tangled up in a relationship with the richest and the most stubborn member of F4 and her life gets involved with him and rich friends.

Since the conception of Hana Yori Dango in 1995 following the successful full-length animated version in 1997, the manga has already had 3 successful versions including the Korean version. They are:

Taiwanese version : (2001) Meteor Garden 1 and (2003) Meteor Garden 2

Barbie Xu as Shan Cai
Jerry Yan as Dao Ming Si
Vic Zhou as Hua Ze Lei
Ken Zhu as Xi Men
Vanness Wu as Mei Zuo

Japanese version : (2005) Hana Yori Dango1 and (2007) Hana Yori Dango 2

Inoue Mao as Makino Tsukushi
Matsumoto Jun as Domyoji Tsukasa
Oguri Shun as Hanazawa Rui
Matsuda Shota as Nishikado Sojiro
Abe Tsuyoshi as Mimasaka Akira

Korean version : (2009) Boys Over Flower

Koo Hye Sun as Geum Jan Di
Lee Min Ho as Goo Joon Pyo
Kim Hyun Joong as Yoon Ji Hoo
Kim Bum as So Yi Jung
Kim Joon as Song Woo Bin

Below are the leads of 4 versions of F4. First column are the manga characters, 2nd column are the Korean F4, 3rd are the Taiwanese F4 and the last column are the Japanese F4. Amongst the characters played that i've seen, the character and personality of Ji Hoo/Huatzelei/Rui is the most consistent. To be honest, i'm quite a fan of the guys in the 2nd row. ^^

The Taiwanese and Japanese version are both successful in their homeland as well as abroad. Stars of the hit drama have become very popular. Currently, the Korea version is making a big wave not only in Korea but in other countries as well. No need to ask why, I guess you’ve already guessed it. It is because of these 4 handsome actors who is making the Monday and Tuesday night enjoyable to all fangirls.

Lee Min Hoo as Gu Jun Pyo

LMH's pouting in this photo is so cute. This was taken from his HP after it crashed on its 2nd day of opening.

Kim Hyun Joong as Yoon Ji Hoo

Kim Bum as So Yi Jong

Kim Joon as Song Woo Bin

Despite the many flows on the storyline, BOF is still fun to watch. If you want to check it out you can check mysoju, viikii, youtube. Just type in Kkotboda Namja or Boys Over Flower on the search engine. If you want to downloand the episodes you can get it at aja-aja.com and get the softsubs at d-addicts.

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tidbits of info...

Kim Hyun Joon, the leader of the boyband SS501 has some similarities with Bae Yong Joon. Even his partner in We Got Married, Hwang Bo said on TV that he is like Bae Yong Joon. He got chosen for the role not only because of his overall image, but also his height, which matched original character Rui's.

above is from a scene in episode 8 of BOF

To get the role of Gu Jun Pyo, Lee Min Ho has to audition. Below is LMH sans the curly hair. Prior to BOF, he only appeared in several minor shows. After the first episode of BOF, LMH is all over Korea. LMH who had to show off curlyhair as the main character, went through four perms to get the right look of Jun Pyo. Btw, in one Korean article earlier, it was written there that LMH is 'Little Bae Yong Joon'. His career in Japan is being managed by IMX, Yong Joon's former agency before BOFi was create.

Kim Jun is the 'least popular' amongst the Korean F4. He is from another boyband T-Max. After being casted in BOF and photos of him circulating, some branded him as the next Jang Dong Gun. With a handsome face, big deep eyes and natural nose, netizens are are saying that he has gone under the knife. Kim Joon has gotten over the controversy of having plastic surgery, and has proved that he is naturally handsome and more popular.

Kim Bum, the youngest amongst the four is the most experienced one in terms of acting. He debuted in 2006 and had already five dramas under his name [including BOF]. His role in East of Eden as the young Song Seung Hun was highly praised. Over the past 3 weeks, Kim Bum was involved in 2 car accidents.