I decided to start with an easy one. Hana Yori Dango is one of the more recent famous J-dramas emerging from Japan. Originally a manga story published in 1992, it has been envisioned in different media and in different countries as well since then. The focus of this post, however, is on the 2005 drama which consisted of 9 total episodes.
A basic explanation of the plot is as follows: a teenage girl, Makino Tsukushi, attends Eitoku Garden, which is a school populated by the extremely wealthy. Makino, unfortunately for her, is not wealthy in the least. Her family is poor, but all of the families money goes to providing her the opportunity to attend Eitoku, regardless of her dislike of the school and its students. At Eitoku is a notorious group of the four absolute wealthiest male students, calling themselves F4; these four roam the school at will and terrorize anyone who crosses them. They bully, intimidate, and punish anyone they dislike, and the school allows this as their families have donated huge sums of money to Eitoku. Needless to say, that strong-willed Makino and F4 eventually cross paths and thus begins the romantic comedy of this story.
In the drama, Makino is played perfectly by Inoue Mao. Her delivery of Makino's character is sharp, effective, and hilarious. While comical (intended so as the story comes from the manga), she also comes off as surprisingly human. Others around her at times appear so cartoonish as to be absurdly funny, such as her father, mother, and brother, and even the fellow students at Eitoku seem one-dimensional; but Makino is believable and this is really her and F4's story, and so you can buy that. F4 is led by Domyoji Tsukasa, played brilliantly by Matsumoto Jun (member of the music group Arashi), and the others include Oguri Shun as Hanazawa Rui; Matsuda Shota as Nishikado Sojiro; and Abe Tsuyoshi as Mimasak Akira. The members of F4 are great in this in that they are terrible and yet, as the story progresses the audience gets to see the human side of these imperfect people. Other notable characters in the story are Domyoji Kaede who is in the running as the most evil of mothers; Makino's entire family; the manager of Makino's workplace; and Domyoji's sister. The characters in this really make it unforgettable and the actors are perfect in their execution of the material. And through all of the insanity and tension, the audience falls in love with the all-too-human and strong-willed Makino.
The settings work as well. The school, Makino's home, Domyoji's home, and the city landscapes offer a contrasting view between the absurdly fantastic world of the wealthy and the real world that Makino lives in. And sometimes those lines blur through the story which provides a canvas for some great humor and drama to come through.
Are there flaws? Sure there are. I find that there are points mid-way through the series when it lags, or reaches improbable points of silliness, but then again it is important to remember that this type of drama, based from manga, is not overly realistic and is typically akin to a comic book being portrayed on the live screen. Again, I feel that this drama is fun, and full of emotion and feeling, not taking itself so seriously as other dramas might. If you can find it online with subtitles give it a watch and you'll probably find the world of Makino and Domyoji as endearing and fun as I did.
Here's a link to the first 9 minutes. It's subtitled, so take a look and see if you like it.
