To the Beautiful You (2012)

As a BIG fan of the manga, let me start by saying that this version presents Sano+Mizuki romance the best way out of all the versions there are (and, yes, believe me, when I say, I have seen all of them, and not only seen but completed!)

As this drama is an adaptation of a Japanese manga, please, don't be angry with me, because my review is going to contain comparisons, but I promise, only between this version and the manga, I won't be dragging in the other versions (the first paragraph was the introduction ^^)

Th story: Of course I did not expect the Korean producers/director to take and copy out the manga, which is most of the time good point of Korean drama makers, BUT, let me just point out how much this drama suffered from the unnecessary improvisations of the screen writer/whoever. As the manga is a school life/sports there were a lot of points that the Korean version could use in the sense of the characters, events, even little moments. For example taking out/ignoring the character of Kayashima(the ghost seeing guy), only because the guy (Infinite's L) couldn't play the specific role was just NOT RIGHT! The character added a lot to the manga and would be a very good addition to the drama. I would also appreciate more interaction between the dorms, they lost so much fun~!

Other points that I would like to point out lie in the existing characters. It can only be my impression, but the Korean version just made everybody so average and ordinary, while in the manga they are awesome to extreme points! Nakatsu's love for Mizuki - too extreme and so cute! Nakao's love toward Nanba senpai - so extreme and so childishly cute, Nanba senpai - being the hot player, Kayashima - seing the ghosts and auras... and many other points. It feels like by trying to make the characters more down-to-earth, the crew forgot that they were going to shoot a youth oriented drama - the crazier the better~ so the story suffered from it... BUT, the crew remembered to turn to the manga at some moments, which had me caching my breath, there lines right out of the manga, and SUCH lines~ bellissimo~

Cast/Acting: I should honestly say that after this drama I am a VERY BIG FAN of Choi MinHo~ he played the most real Sano ever created out of the manga! His anger toward JaeHee at first, then his melting heart, his caring, his jealousy, his friendship, his love, even when he freaked out because of a cat... everything was perfect~!
Sulli did great too, she deserves a lot of compliments! I loved her JaeHee, though sometimes a little slow and dense, she was cute, brave and played her role just fine~
Lee Hyun-Woo - not the Nakatsu I would imagine, but his EunGyul was very much fun to watch too, I enjoyed his caring for JaeHee and his undying friendship, I just couldn't bear his puppy eyes when he was sad! Don't be sad EunGyula~

The music is very-very good! Though I am not a big fan of SM music (except for SHINee's some songs), hese OSTs are fantastic~! I especially enjoy Taeyon's Closer and J-Min's Stand Up~

Next time somebody decides to remake HanaKimi, PLEASE, include the ball scene~, onegai~

Overall, I enjoyed this drama a lot, it's funny, it's very cute, it's romantic. I will be missing this fun of Wed/Thu-s...

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1) The reason I watched this:

I watched all versions of Hana Kimi, thus I wanted to discover the Korean incarnation.

2) Storyline/Plot:

*I already knew the general story which means that I didn’t try to discover it (predictable). I will basically compare storylines and plot changes.

Positive Points:

*Unlike other versions, this one focused on the romantic side; there were too many fluffy moments that would make the drama more enjoyable. Moreover, this Korean adaptation gave the romantic elements its right to be intensively present.

*This version had the best visual cinematography; yes I had to admit that since other versions didn’t focus on this aspect. I am glad that this one took it into consideration and actually pulled it off in a good way.

Negative Points:

*The huge negative point that I found in this version was the absence of friendship and relationships inside dorms, it was the main element in other versions that’s why I felt betrayal when I didn’t find it here. Yes, the version should stand out but cutting such an important element made the drama lose its taste.

*Another important negative point: The lack of humor; It was an important element too, maybe it wasn’t present in all other versions but here, it felt absent or maybe “left behind”. That was annoying; the lack of funny scenes was simply bothersome because it created many boring moments.

*I hated the fact that script writers wanted to cover up for everything by showing the cute romance the whole time, it felt like cheating the audience and creating fan-service scenes by using Choi Min Ho’s body and Lee Hyun Woo’s face.
*Dragging: The drama fell into dragging especially near the end; that wasn’t nice to watch.

Story: 4/10.

2) Acting/Cast:

*This drama’s cast is mostly singers so you can’t expect to have strong acted scenes plus the storyline didn’t allow actors to show their skills since it focused on the cute side. However, that doesn’t deny that Choi Min Ho, Sully and Lee Hyun Woo did a respectable job in this.

*As for characters, Tae Joon’s Sano was a decent portrayal out of all versions I’ve seen. Goo Jae Hee was average: no love, no hate.
Eun Gyeol character was the worst Nakatsu portrayal mostly because it lacked humor and took the triangle side way too seriously, yes, there were some cute imagination moments but they didn’t last for long. That being said, I have to refer that Hyun Woo was the best actor in this drama, it wasn’t his fault that the storyline made his character more serious than it’s supposed to be.

*Side characters were uninteresting most of the time which was the storyline’s fault for cutting and changing many important characters.

*Appreciated character: Min Hyun Jae because he had a different character from what I remember plus his presence was always good to watch.

*Relationships:

--->Romance: On terms of chemistry, I can’t say that it was the greatest ever but there were many cute and fluffy moments all over the place.

--->Friendship: None! I haven’t felt any friendship between characters except some moments with Eun Gyeol and his roommate. Other than that, it was annoyingly absent.

--->The triangle: It was taken way too seriously than other versions so it felt bothersome to watch.

Cast: 6/10.
Acting: 7/10.

4) The ending:

Finally! I kept waiting for the drama to end ever since the 10th episode. It was a normal ending, no special feelings.

The ending: 6/10.

5) My impression (How did it affect me):

*I was really excited at the beginning but after three or four episodes, I just lost interest somehow.
*This was a disappointing remake for me, I expected a lot from the K-version but I end up watching something pretty and shallow.

*Is this drama memorable: No, I can’t possibly remember this drama because it dragged a lot which made it pretty boring but I may remember the vivid colors and the cuteness overload.

My impression: 3/10.

6) Overall:

*If you’re looking for a cute school drama then you may like this.
*If you watched other Hana Kimi versions and want to see more romance then you would like this.
*If you want something pretty to look at then watch this.

*To the Beautiful You was a cute drama that dragged a lot and delivered nothing when it comes to friendship and school relationships. As a remake it was a disappointment.

Overall: 5/10.

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