Hana Yori Dango

           Boys over Flowers (Hana yori Dango) is a famous Japanese TV series based on a shoujo manga. It has two seasons. The first season was broadcast on TBS in 2005, and two years later, the second season came out. In this TV series, there are a lot of typical themes that often appear in melodramas. For example, money V.S. love; the difference in status; violence; conflict between family and love...
           I have watched the Taiwanese version (Meteor Garden) when I was in primary school. I couldn't remember the plots clearly, but I feel that the Japanese version is definitely more "dramatic". 
           First of all, in the Japanese version, after Tsukushi received the red tag, her friend Sanjo Sakurako abandoned her. When Sanjo Sakurako spilled juice on Domyouji's shirt, Tsukushi defended her and helped get out of the troubles. But Sanjo Sakurako did not do the same thing for Tsukushi. However, in the Taiwanese version, Shancai (Tsukushi) has a childhood friend, Qinghe, who always stands on her side. So, as an audience, I feel that the Japanese version produce a strong feeling of isolation and betraying, and this made Tsukushi more like a "victimized hero" (Mercer 10).
           Second, the plots were more condensed in the Japanese version. The Japanese version only has 20 episodes in total (two seasons). So everything happened really fast and the dramatic conflicts seemed to be more concentrated. For example, the love between Tsukushi and Tsukasa merged much quicker in the Japanese version. So the conflict between money/family and love also appeared much earlier.
           In my opinion, the Japanese version of Boys over Flowers has a more dramatic feeling. It enhanced some of the melodramatic characteristics of this work.