Hana Yori Dango ( 花より男子 )

My friend just had he's internet connection and he always talked about Meteor Garden which he, again started to watch in YouTube. Sometimes I even heard him humming it's theme song, Meteor rain. Meteor Garden was a hit in the Philippines and to other parts of Asia. I was in 2nd year college when F4 fever hit my country. The series was dubbed in Tagalog, actually I never got the chance to watched it from the beginning, so I don't have any idea of the series story settings. Accidentally, the TV from my grandmother's room is on but nobodys watching, it caught my attention when I saw Wa ze Lei, one of the F4, a Taiwanese group, who has the lead roles in the series. I then started to watch it just wanted to see these Taiwanese hunks, knowing the story made me hooked up with this drama series. Instead of hanging out in school with my friends after my classes which I normally do, I came home early just to catch up Meteor Garden.

Meteor Garden

A Taiwanese drama that began its broadcast 12 April 2001 on CTV. It is Taiwan's attempt at a live version of the Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango (花より男子) which has spawned off an idol-singer group, F4. F4 members are now officially known as JVKV, after Japanese TV producers decided to use the name F4 in the live version of the anime "Hana Yori Dango". It stars Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu, Ken Chu and Barbie Hsu. Due to the popularity of the series throughout Asia, two sequels, Meteor Garden II and Meteor Rain, were produced. Meteor Garden remains as the highest rated Asian drama overall shown in the Philippines, garnering a 57.4% peak rating with an average rating of 42.9% in mega manila and a peak of 73.0% nationwide with an average of 62.0% which was shown over ABS-CBN. The replay value was just so high, that when it was replayed again every Saturday and Sunday, it rated an amazing 42.0% on its finale.

Hana Yori Dango (花より男子)

Boys Over Flowers in English, Hana yori Dango is a Japanese shoujo manga series by Yoko Kamio and it ran in the bi-weekly shoujo manga compilation called Margaret, which is published by Shueisha. This manga is the best-selling shoujo manga in Japan of all time (54 million copies in 2005). By 2003, the story had been adapted in Japan into an anime television series, a live-action television drama, an animated movie set in a parallel universe, and a live-action movie.

Plot

The plot revolves around regular girl Makino Tsukushi, who is stuck in Eitoku High, a school for rich kids. She hates the place and wants her 2 years there to pass peacefully, and more importantly, quickly. Then she crosses the path of the F4, a foursome of beautiful boys with impressive wealth and influence. Their leader sticks red paper in lockers to show dislike for someone, and the rest of the school will do the bullying for him. This is what happens to Tsukushi, after she boldly gives these rich brats a piece of her mind. Rather than leaving the school like the other F4's victims, Tsukushi stays. But now there's another problem: she has developed feelings for two members of the F4!

The cast of Hana Yori Dango drama series