Boys Over Flowers (TV series)
Boys Over Flowers (꽃보다 남자) is a South Korean television drama series starring Ku Hye Sun, Lee Min Ho, Kim Hyun Joong of SS501, Kim Bum, Kim Joon of T-Max and Kim So Eun. It premiered on January 5, 2009 on KBS2 and ended on March 31, 2009 after 25 episodes.
It is based on Japanese shōjo manga series, Boys Over Flowers (花より男子, Hana Yori Dango?), written by Yoko Kamio. The series is the fifth television adaptation of the manga following the Taiwanese Meteor Garden and its sequel Meteor Garden II and the Japanese Hana Yori Dango and its sequel Hana Yori Dango Returns.
Plot
Shin Hwa School is a school for rich people, attended by Goo Jun Pyo, the heir of the global corporation Shin Hwa Group, Yoon Ji Hoo, So Yi Jeong, and Song Woo Bin which form a gang called F4. Jun Pyo, the leader of F4, is the main ruffian.
Geum Jan Di, who is not from rich family, ends up attending Shin Hwa School when she saves a boy from jumping off the rooftop and is given a scholarship to quiet down all the publicity the incident has caused. The entire school worships the F4 except for Jan Di. However, she holds a certain soft spot for Yoon Ji Hoo, who appears to be different from the other three. Jan Di finally speaks up against F4 to defend her friend, Oh Min Ji. From then on, she becomes Jun Pyo's main rival. Almost every time Jan Di is bullied, she is helped by Ji Hoo in some way. Jan Di and Jun Pyo's rivalry intensifies, but at the same time it is a source of amusement for him as Jan Di has now caught his attention.
The story develops and Jun Pyo slowly starts falling for Jan Di. On the other hand, Jan Di's attention is on Ji Hoo, her savior, but ultimately, as the story progresses, her heart is with Jun Pyo. The couple faces many obstacles as they continue to struggle for their love, but eventually they find their way back to each other.
Cast
- Jan Di is the headstrong daughter of a dry cleaner. While on a delivery run to Shinhwa High School, she saves a bullied student from committing suicide. Jan Di is offered a scholarship to attend the prestigious school, and ends up getting on the bad side of Gu Jun Pyo.
- Jun Pyo is the leader of F4 (the most popular guy at Shinhwa High) and heir to the Shinhwa Conglomerate. He torments Jan Di after she stands up to his bullying ways, but ends up falling for her instead. In the end of the drama, he was portrayed proposing to Jan Di. He was involved in a hostage incident that caused his "Aqua-phobia".
- Ji Hoo is a member of F4 and grandson of the Korean former-president. His musical talent catches Jan Di's attention and she begins to develop feelings for him. In the end, he developed feelings for her. He was involved in a car accident which leaves him the only survivor for his both parents have died in the accident. He has a "Driving Phobia" due to the accident.
- Yi Jeong is known as F4's Casanova. He is a skilled potter and his family owns the country's biggest art museum. He eventually changed his Casanova ways as he realized that he is in love with Chu Ga Eul ( Kim So Eun , Jan Di's best friend )
- Woo Bin is F4's other playboy. His family runs a large construction company and has important connections to an underground organization, hinted to be the mafias.
- Jan Di's best friend and works with her at the porridge shop. She eventually told So Yi Jung that she liked him.
Extended cast
- Kim Hyun Joo as Goo Jun Hee - Jun Pyo's elder sister, and one of the only people he listens to. She wants the best for her brother and constantly shows him the error of his ways.
- Lee Hye Yeong as Kang Hee Soo (aka President Kang) - Jun Pyo's mother and President of the Shinhwa company. She vehemently opposes to her son being with Jan Di and does everything in her power to stop them.
- Ahn Suk Hwan as Geum Il Bong - Jan Di's father and a dry cleaner. His friend takes out loans under his name, and as a consequence he is chased by loan sharks.
- Im Ye Jin as Na Gong Joo - Jan Di's mother. She is very money-minded and constantly pressures Jan Di to attract and marry a rich man.
- Park Ji Bin as Geum Kang San - Jan Di's younger brother and is very technologically inclined.
- Han Chae Young as Min Seo Hyun - Ji Hoo's first love and a famous Korean model. He is still hung up on her when Jan Di develops feelings for him.
- Lee Min Jeong as Ha Jae Kyung - a successful CEO's daughter and ends up being Gu Jun Pyo's fiancee. Although the engagement was arranged by their parents, she develops feelings for him but unfortunately she backed up marrying him.
- Lee Jung Gil as Yoon Seok Young - the former-president of Korea and Yoon Ji Hoo's grandfather. He believes that he caused Ji Hoo's parents' fatal car accident and has been too guilt-ridden to face his grandson ever since.
- Jung Ho Bin as Jung Sang Ruk - President Kang's Chief Secretary. He is sympathetic towards Jun Pyo and often helps him out when it comes to Jan Di.
- Lee Si Young as Oh Min Ji - Jan Di's first and only friend when she transfers to Shinhwa High. However, she harbors deep feelings for Gu Jun Pyo and ends up sabotaging Jan Di to get closer to him.
- Gook Ji Yun as Choi Jin Hee (aka Ginger) - one-third of the Mean Girls Trio (Jin Sun Mi).
- Jang Ja Yun as Park Sun Ja (aka Sunny) - one-third of the Mean Girls Trio (Jin Sun Mi).
- Min Young Won as Lee Mi Sook (aka Miranda) - one-third of the Mean Girls Trio (Jin Sun Mi).
- Im Joo Hwan as So Il Hyun - So Yi Jeong's estranged elder brother. He leaves the family home and abandons Yi Jeong in order to live a normal life.
- Park Soo Jin as Cha Eun Jae - So Yi Jeong's childhood friend and his first love. She winds up teaching pottery and crosses paths with Yi Jeong after disappearing for 3 years.
- Kim Min Ji as Jang Yu Mi - a patient at the same hospital Gu Jun Pyo is admitted to. She pushes her way into Jun Pyo's life by taking advantage of his amnesia.
- Jung Eui Chul as Lee Min Ha (suicidal student)/Min Jae Ha (model Haje) - two characters played by the same actor. The first is the suicidal student that Jan Di saves, and the latter his vengeful brother who vows revenge against Gu Jun Pyo.
- Haiming as Ming - Ji Hoo's friend from Macau
Cameo:
- SS501 special performance, "UR MAN" in episode four
Manga
- In the manga, the characters are in high school in season 1, but F4 (minus Domyoji) attends Eitoku University in season 2. In the Korean version, the characters are also in high school, but the F4 move on to Shinhwa University from episode 13 onwards. Shinhwa High School and Shinhwa University are located within the same campus.
- The relationship between the two characters Sojiroh and Yuki (Yi Jeong and Ga Eul in the Korean version) is merely hinted. In the Korean version, their relationship gradually develops throughout the series, having their own significant plotline instead of acting as a subplot.
- Ji Hoo has a more significant role in Jan Di's life than the Taiwanese and Japanese versions, more strongly depicted as a romantic companion for most of the drama.
- Ji Hoo is depicted as an orphan in the Korean version, where as in the Japanese and Chinese versions as well as the manga he has a family and is set to follow in the family business
- Woobin's family does not appear in this version, nor is he only interested in older women.
- How Jan Di came to attend the same school as F4 is changed completely. In the manga version, Makino's parents sent her to Eitoku against her wishes to attend another high school with her middle school friends because they thought in order to increase chances for Makino to marry a rich guy, she will need to go to a school full of rich people. In the Japanese TV series, Makino decides to apply for Eitoku after seeing Shizuka Toda at the briefing session, wanting to become an amazing person like her. Yet in the Korean version, Jan Di saves a student from committing suicide while delivering laundry (her family owns a dry-cleaning business), and in order to subdue the negative press from the incident Shinhwa group offers her a scholarship to the school. Jan Di is reluctant to attend and at first declines, but complied because of parental pressure and because the school has a state-of-the-art swimming pool (she is a competitive swimmer).
Reception
The series became a huge hit, creating another Korean wave throughout Asia and the cast members shooting to super-stardom overnight. After the series ended, several of the actors and actresses became the faces of various endorsements and commercial advertisements.
In an interview with Jang Geun Suk, actor of the successful drama You're Beautiful, it was said that he was first offered the leading role, instead of Lee Min Ho. Geun Suk declined, and instead, took on the role in Beethoven Virus that offered him the award for Best New Actor.
Boys Over Flowers became a hit throughout South Korea during its broadcast, to the point of influencing the behaviour of the public. The drama series influenced men to take their appearances even more seriously and try to gain the "pretty boy" image that existed among the F4 characters in the drama. More South Korean males started to wear cosmetics and viewers in South Korea and beyond started to notice the overseas filming locations of the drama as possible holiday destinations.
The series became a hit beyond South Korea in other states in Asia, including Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal, Philippines, the northeast Indian state of Sikkim,Nagaland and Taiwan, amongst others, and the actors and actresses that played the main characters shot to super-stardom, and held various events, often Boys Over Flowers-related, across Asia. The show is credited with launching the career of its lead actor, Lee Min Ho, who had previously appeared in a small number of low budget high school dramas.[1]
International broadcasts
- In the Philippines, the ABS-CBN network acquired the TV rights to air this series. It premiered on May 11, 2009 in the primetime spot, and it aired from Mondays thru Fridays. The show was very successful and the network gave a finale special of Boys Over Flowers hosted by Bianca Gonzales and it re-aired in December 2009. ABS-CBN sister UHF channel Studio 23 is now set to air the drama on April 19, 2010 every weeknight at 6:30pm. On October 23, 2010, the show is set to premiere again every Saturdays it also aired before Showtime.
- The series was also aired on Malaysia's free-to-air television 8TV(ASTRO channel 708), started from December 16, 2009.
- Taiwan's CTV has also acquired the rights to air the series and started from 10 May 2009, on Sundays at 10pm. GTV will also air the series starting from 16 May, on every Saturday at 9pm.
- Mediacorp's Channel U in Singapore has also acquired the rights to air the series, and it will be aired every Saturday at 9.30pm, starting from 16 May 2009, together with Taiwan's GTV (Channel U broadcast the Taiwan version).
- Hong Kong's biggest television network, Television Broadcasts Limited, gained the rights to broadcast the drama, and it was aired on its channel intended for a younger audience TVB J2, and started airing in 2009.
- Indonesia's TV channel Indosiar acquired the rights to air the series, and will be aired every Monday and Tuesday at 10.30 pm, starting from 1 June 2009.
- Thailand started airing on 4 July 2009, every Saturday and Sunday at 9.15 am. Broadcaster is BBTV Channel 7 Bangkok.
- Vietnam started airing on June 24, from Monday to Thursday every week at 9pm on H1 (Hanoi Television). The copyright was held by TVM and was legally aired on HTV3 every weekends at 9:00 pm from August 22, 2009 until now.
- Asia's Xing Kong aired BOF on July 8, 2008, as part of BOF Trilogy along with the Taiwan and Japanese versions.
- Canada: Aired in Vancouver on SHAW Multicultural Channel (119) weekdays from 7:30-8pm (local time) with English sub-titles.
- Israel : Started airing on September 3, 2010 on Viva Platina Channel, every Friday 2 episodes.
- United States : Hulu started streaming full 25 episodes on August 2010.[2] All 25 episodes are also available on Netflix as instant streaming.
- Peru : Started airing on May 5, 2011 on Panamericana Televisión
- Panama Started airing on June 19, 2011 on SERTV, Channel 11
- Botswana Started airing from January 2011 on BTV
- Ecuador: Currently airing on Ecuador TV
- Romania: Started airing on October 12, 2011 on Euforia Lifestyle TV
- Puerto Rico:Started airing on October 19, 2011 on Puerto Rico TV
- Kazakhstan: Aired on El Arna
DVD licensing
- In North America, YA Entertainment released the series in two DVD box sets; volume one was released in November 2009 and volume two in December 2009.[3]
Music
| Album # |
Album Info |
Tracklisting |
| 1st |
Boys Over Flowers Original Soundtrack: Part 1 [4]
- Artist: Various
- Released: 23 January 2009
- Label: Doremi Media Co Ltd
- Language: Korean
- Format: Studio album (CD)
- Genre: K-pop
|
Tracklisting
- Paradise - T-Max
- Because I'm Stupid - SS501
- Do You Know - Someday
- Stand By Me - SHINee
- Lucky - Ashily
- Starlight Tears - Kim Yoo Kyung
- A Little - Suh Jin Young
- One More Time - Tree Bicycles
- I Know (Saxophone Inst.) - Lee Jung Sik
- Dance with me (Inst.)
- Blue Flower (Inst.)
- So sad (Inst.)
- Opening Title (Paradise Intro.) - T-Max
|
| 2nd |
Boys Over Flowers Original Soundtrack: Part 2
- Artist: Various
- Released: 16 March 2009
- Label: Doremi Media Co Ltd
- Language: Korean
- Format: Studio album (CD)
- Genre: K-pop
|
Tracklisting
- Say Yes - T-Max
- Wish Ur My Love - T-Max feat. J
- Yearning Heart - A'ST1
- Making A Lover - SS501
- What Should I Do - Jisun
- Love Is Fire - Kara
- Love U - Howl
- Almost Like Love - Brand New Day
- Tears Are Falling - Lee Sang Gon
- Cellogic (Inst.) - Kim Young Min
- 다가가다(Inst.)/Approach (Inst.) - Dong Yo
- Stranger Sun (Inst.) - Park Hye Ri
- For The Sake Of Love (Inst.) - Park Hye Ri
|
| 3rd |
Boys Over Flowers OST 2.5 - F4 Special Edition
- Artist: Various
- Released: 18 March 2009
- Label: Mnet Media Co.
- Language: Korean
- Format: Studio album (CD)
- Genre: K-pop
|
Tracklisting
- A Thing Called Happiness - Kim Hyun Joong
- Something Happened To My Heart - A&T (A'st1 & T-Max)
- Fight The Bad Feeling (Ballad Ver.) - T-MAX
- Fight The Bad Feeling (Dance Ver.) - T-MAX
- Fight The Bad Feeling (Club Ver.) - T-Max
- Emptiness - Kim Joon of T-MAX
- I'm Going To Meet Her Now - Kim Bum
- A Heart Cannot Be Hidden - Lee Ji Hye
- Bang Bang Boom - T-MAX
- My Everything - Lee Min Ho
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Awards
References
External links
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