When I was going through my Manga phase, gobbling up all the Manga I could get my hands on, I stumbled across Hanazakari no Kimitachi E (For You in Full Blossom) or better known as Hana Kimi by Hisaya Nakajo. And I have to say that this Manga is definitely still one of my favourites because I can’t resist these romantic comedy storylines full of fluff and the beautiful artwork. I suppose it’s because this is such a typical Japanese story, so much like a fairytale and full of things we deem not possible.

I didn’t like Sano at first, the main male character, because of his lack of emotions and expression. But in reality, that’s exactly how some people are… all emo and that, and it just makes it even sweeter to see Mizuki bring his personality out. Nakatsu is another character I grew to like, he’s a complete opposite to Sano. Where Sano is calm, cool and collected, Nakatsu is full of energy and emotion and comical expressions.

So when I stumbled across the Taiwan drama version of Hana Kimi when I was shopping in Dalian, I just couldn’t resist – I had to buy it.

The good thing about the Taiwan drama is that they follow the manga pretty accurately, I really hate it when movies based on novels or what not are completely killed because they’ve made so many changes to the storyline. I’m a strong believer that the novel is better than the movie because a novel gives readers so much detail which you can’t find in a 1-2hour movie.

Obviously the original Hana Kimi story was changed – they cut the 23 volume Manga down to around about the first 9-10 volumes. I found the drama to be a a little too condense….If they didn’t change and cut the storyline with the photographer, I think it would have clarified it a lot more. Without the extra information, viewers would think that the photographer was just thrown in for the hell of extending the series…

Although Hana Kimi it’s a fairy good fluffy drama, I personally found it a bit TOO unrealistic to be a Live Action Drama. It’s one thing to have a fairytale on paper but another thing to have it played out on screen. BUT I still found it as great entertainment, I liked the cast (mainly Ella - Mizuki, Chun - Sano and Jiro - Nakatsu) and it’s good for me to practise my Chinese =P

Watching drama series or movies in Mandarin is classified as Studying!