More news on the manga front, Skip Beat has been picked up in Taiwan for a new Drama.  The Taiwanese adaptation will star Ariel Jin, whom you may recognize as Yuan Xiang Qin from It Started With a Kiss (aka Aihara Kotoko of Itazura na Kiss), and Jerry Yan, whom you may recognize as Dao Ming Si from Meteor Garden (aka Tsukasa Domyoji of Hana Yori Dango).

Most of us manga and drama fans know that this wouldn’t be the first time Taiwan has adapted a Japanese manga for a drama.  Personally I don’t mind this much since I love my manga’s and at some point during that love I end up wanting to see actors portraying the story (most of the time anyway).  Though one of my many pet peeves is when a show strays a little too far from the main plot idea, or the actors act too different from the way its read on paper (or compy screen in most cases, keke).  Granted you expect there to be differences, especially in the case of Taiwanese adaptation which has mostly to do with licensing issues (which I won’t get into right now :3) and having to change plot lines for legalities.  I can totally understand that, and I expect plot changes.  What leaves me lukewarm is the halfhearted effort to that commitment and the change of integrity that you get from the characters.  It just doesn’t feel right.  If you’re going to base a TV program on a manga then you’re accepting the integrity of that manga.

Keep in mind that while I’m writing this I’m thinking about two specific Taiwanese dramas (no not Meteor Garden, though the Japanese version is better or It Started With a Kiss since I haven’t seen it), and by no means is that going to keep me from watching Skip Beat.  But Skip Beat is probably one of my favorite manga’s right now, I just hope the drama will be one of my favorites as well.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 9:33 am and is filed under Drama, Manga, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.