5 Asian Dramas Based On Mangas

Sharmaine Mendoza on Sunday, November 20, 2011 8:00PM

If ever you’ve noticed, most of the popular and successful Taiwanese/Japanese/Korean dramas are based on mangas. We can’t help but to compare onto which version of live-adaptation is the far by the best and whether the adaptation gave justice to the manga. Well, here’s a short list of manga-based Asian dramas that hooked up a lot of viewers!

1. Hana Yori Dango / Boys Over Flowers / Meteor Garden

From Meteor Garden to Hana Yori Dango to Boys Over Flowers … I think the F4 craze would never end! Well, thanks to Yoko Kamio who wrote the Japanese shojo manga series, we now fantasize of our own Tsukasa Domyoji and Hanazawa Rui!

Now choosing onto which version was the best, I’d choose all three. Sorry, but I really think each had its good points. In the Japanese one, they were able to take in the personality of the characters the best and it fitted the manga the most. For the Korean one, I really like the story of the SoEul couple, it’s actually the one that made look forward for the next episodes. As for the Taiwanese..it’s my childhood! How can I not like it? Anyway, which version did you like the best?

2. Romantic Princess (Four Steps Of Romance)

Based on Kazuko Fujita’s Four Steps of Romance, this Taiwanese drama is just your typical Asian Cinderella story.. In the story, Xiao Mai (Angela Zhang) dreams of living like a princess. Well, I guess her fairy godmother heard her and granted her wish. Ta-da! When she woke up, a couple of men showed up at her door and told her that she was actually the long lost granddaughter of the richest man in Taiwan.

3. Playful Kiss / It Started With A Kiss (Itazaura na Kiss)

This popular shojo manga series was both written and illustrated by Kaoru Tada. This rom-com story is about Kotoko who fell in love with his smart, handsome schoolmate Naoki. The problem is he often rejects her offhand!

Both the Taiwanese and Korean versions were okay though a lot were disappointed with Playful Kiss. Maybe because people anticipated it so much and too bad, it aired during the wrong time!

4. Hana Kimi (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e)

Written by Hisaya Nakajo, this well-loved shojo manga is about Mizuki Ashiya who watches a program on TV featuring a guy named Izumi Sano. She wants to attend Izumi’s school which happened to be an all boy’s school! What to do? She disguises herself as a boy!

The Taiwanese adaptation of this went really well that it got the highest viewership in 2006. Same goes for the Japanese version which garnered an average of 17.04%. Honestly, I haven’t watched the Taiwanese version (~~Yes, I love Wu Chun but I really can’t stand Ella Chen!~~), so I can’t compare both but wait, where did the Korean version go? I thought there is going to be one soon. Maybe SME forgot about it? I mean, there’s no news about it since they announced that they bought the production rights to Hana Kimi.

5. City Hunter (City Hunter)

City Hunter was based on the world-famous novel which was written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo. There have been a few live actions of this manga in the past but they were not really that popular and successful as compared to the Korean version. Okay so the Korean ‘City Hunter’ doesn’t really match the manga. It had a totally different story line! However, with the air of suspense, action, romance, I assure you that it will keep you on the of your seat every episode! No, I’m not exaggerating. Here’s the drama all about:

Lee Yoon Sung (Lee Min Ho) is a talented MIT-graduate who works on the international communications team in the Blue House. He plans revenge on five politicians who caused his father’s death with his surrogate father Lee Jin Pyo and eventually becomes a “City Hunter.”

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