Hua li de tiao zhan

I really like the subject matter, so I was curious to see how the Taiwanese filmmakers would handle it. And to my blissful surprise, they handled it very gracefully. Typical Taiwanese affectation aside, the series was perfect. I'll start with the one that's highest on my rating scale – Si Won. This live-action Ren Tsuruga was perhaps even better than his anime counterpart. When he was supposed to be wickedly cute, he was; when he was supposed to play a lovey-dovey cuckoo, he really played it. Of course, he wasn't the only one who gave a great performance; Ivy Chen showed me that she's not just about making faces and squealing, but also about acting ability. And their occasionally stumbling Donghae a.k.a. Fuwa Sho wasn't that much worse. I can't complain about the casting of the main characters. In any case, another big plus is the OST! I could listen to the opening and the ending every single time so I did, not to mention the songs accompanying the actors throughout the series. It was just something amazing and very fitting here. And the story? As I wrote at the beginning, I'm a fan of the subject matter... For me, this was a very good series with occasional missteps, but they don't ruin the ultimate experience. The time I spent with it was very enjoyable and I had fun. What more could you ask for? A very good 4 stars. (02.04.2012)