Thursday, December 6, 2007

“E Zuo Ju Zhi Wen”


This is based on Japanese manga "Itazura na Kiss" (Mischievous kiss) by Tada Kaoru and considered the third most popular drama in Taiwan. It was aired in 2005 with Zheng Yuan Chang (Jiang Zhi Shu) and Lin Yi Chen (Xiang Qin) playing the lead.
The story goes…after an earthquake destroyed Xiang Qin's house, she and her father moved in with the family of her father's college buddy, Uncle Ah Li. To her surprise, the kind and amicable aunt and uncle are the parents of her cold and distant schoolmate Jiang Zhi Shu, a genius with an IQ of 200 whom not too long ago rejected her. With this close proximity, a cute romance will blossom.

Cheng fit’s the role of Jiang Zhi Shu because when he is not smiling he looks snob. At first, you will really hate him but in the latter part, his heart softens.

On Yi Chen, my impression on her was not good, especially after watching “Love Contract.” I realized that it was not only me who has this antagonism towards her, I guess most people do. But when I watched this series, I started to adore her, promise. She is not that beautiful but acting-wise, her brand of comedy is better than Yang Chen Lin and Ella Chen. She is simply funny.

Aside from her, Zhang Bo Han (Yu Shu ) and Jiro Wang (Yuan Feng) also gave comic relief to the story. Though at times, they seem to be annoying, lah!

The part that I like here is the hospital scene when Yu Shu was confined due to stomach ache. The three funny characters---Xiang Qin, Yu Shu and Yuan Feng joined forces which made that part totally hilarious. Another one is when Yuan Feng stole the food from Zhi Shu which was prepared by Xiang Qin. But the food didn’t taste good so he forced himself to eat it even though he already wants to throw up. His reaction was so funny.

The part that I least like here is when the character of Pei Zi Yu (Xu Wei Ning), entered the picture and she wants Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin to break apart. This girl is half-American and half-Taiwanese and beautiful…a very big threat to Xiang Qin.

Ironically, the title is “It Started With A Kiss” but the two main characters didn’t even have any passionate kiss. The title should have been it “It Started With A Letter” because that is the first scene and the letter also seems to be the reason why Zhi Shu realized that he is attracted to Xiang Qin.

I must admit that I can relate to the story, especially to Xiang Qin, because I see myself in her when I am attracted to a guy whom I feel also likes me. Here, Xiang Qin joined the Tennis organization just to be with Zhi Shu and even followed him in the restaurant where he works. Not only that, she did this miniature bakeshop painstakingly just to show her love for him. Aiyoh! It made me remember the stuff which I did for a guy years back…well, it paid off somehow, heheh!

I also understand that this series was shot in different seasons which resulted in goofs. But I didn’t notice that there were, actually the flow of the scenes was smooth and it looked natural. In other series, some details of the scenes were overlooked which resulted in obvious discontinuity. I guess, the credit here goes to the director, Qu You Ning.

As to the musical scoring, like most dramas that I’ve watched, I love its opening theme “Say You Love Me” by Jason and Lara. My first rap to hear in Mandarin and it sounds great. It reminds me of the theme in the Japanese drama “Long Vacation” which also has this hip and funky musical scoring.

Anyhow, this is a “must see” since its sequel “They Kissed Again” is currently airing in Taiwan. I am also looking forward to watch this one on DVD.


* photo credit to AF

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