The japanese remake of MY ID GANGNAM BEAUTY just aired. It gives me room to compare the other versions already aired : the Korean drama and the Thai drama as well as the Japanese version.
I watched the kdrama and most of the thai drama ( minus 2 episodes ).
I did not like the thai drama because the screenwriter(s) who adaptated the korean ( oiginal) version empoverished all the characters.
On the korean original version the FL( Mi Rae ) seems to have issues with her self-esteem due to her appearance. And she suffered a lot from it. But very early in the drama, we see that, although she is shy on the surface. Mi Rae is strong in the inside. Because when she understands that SFL (Su A) is trying to scheme against her and ML (Gyeong Seok), she immediately puts Su A in her place and draws a line to protect her love story and her beloved.
In a nutshell, she openly asks Su A to stop gaslighting her because she knows that she hates her from the very beginning.
In the Thai that I almost watched entirely, FL (Liu ) is way more introvert and submissive to SFL (Faye)'s schemes. Even when Liu understands at the very end of the drama ( because she is too slow emotionally) that Fay has been her enemy from the start. Instead of drawing the line and protecting her love story and her beloved ( ML : Guy) ; she decides to surrender to Faye and abandon Guy because she has never had any friend in her life. And she prioritize friendship ( with a narcissist, gaslighting her knowingly ) over romance.
I was so pissed when I watched Liu begging Faye to stay her friend after the truth of her web of lies had been revealed. I think it was around episode 10. That I dropped the drama.
And trust me I almost never drop dramas.
Frankly Liu was too weak willed in comparison to Mi Rae.
I could say the same for every character in the 2 dramas. But I don't want my post to be too long.
Long story short : In the K drama ML ( Do Gyeong Seok ) is strong and committed to FL (Mi Rae ) and He can protect her from the traps set by SFL ( Su A.)
Whereas in the Thai drama ML ( Guy ) was always afraid to protect FL ( Liu ). He even fell for her trap once and I was shocked. All this because Liu was too subdude by Faye and Guy was afraid to loose her.
Even SML ( Saint )'s alterego (Yeon U Yeon) was stronger in the Kdrama . Either in his relationship with FL ( Mi Rae ) or his rivalry with ML (Do Gyeong Seok). He wasn't a little dark like I saw Saint was, when he intensionally manipulated Liu to try to hook up with her. SML in the Kdrama (Yeon U Yeong) never lower himself to that level.
I did not like that the Thai drama make the plot more cliché and annoying. Meanwhile the Kdrama gave us strong and committed characters who can fight against injustice so we could see the antagonist facing rettribution .
This japanese version is just airing. 2 episodes are out. I hope the characters and the story will give us moments of joy among all the suffering of Mirei.