Meteor Garden II (2002)

The only way to enjoy this is by erasing from your memory manga, anime, Japanese or Korean live-actions and simply watch this drama as though it were a completely new story, only with faces you've already seen and names already heard.



The constant comparisons won't help; on the contrary, they'll spoil the fun. All in all, I DID enjoy this second season of Meteor Garden. The acting of all has improved tremendously, and so are photography, direction and characterization.



Meizuo and Ximen's side stories are addressed and completed, something I thought was sadly lacking elsewhere. Shan Cai grows into a truly likable character and the second female lead is, for once, a delicious person, instead of the usual viper-like, scheming character. So refreshing! Honestly, I've had enough of girls portrayed as if they were incapable of true friendhip or generosity and who seem to live only to target the guy of their dreams. In this sense, this second season is way more romantic and realistic than many other adaptations.



It has some dragging parts, mostly when the whole plot is compared in length to the pretty rushed ending, but as a counterpart to this, some details are truly satisfying (I can't elaborate this unless I spoil the end).



Overall, I am convinced this drama is much better than what's usually expected and deserves a try.

Leia Mais

Draaaaaged. I liked the first episode and the last episode. But in between I skipped a lot. Daoming Si wasn't even Daoming Si. I mean, he was too mature. I missed the bratty, stubborn, spoiled, violent, Pineapple-headed Si. And I hate how the amnesia thing went on up to the 24th episode. And even afterwards he didn't tell anyone he remembered everything because he wasn't sure who he loved -.- Rainie Yang didn't even turn up! I liked Ye Sha. She wasn't like those wannabe girls from the other versions who pretended to be the girlfriend. And her letter to Loony was the only part in this drama that made me cry (besides Quinghe's Valentine message to Shancai). At least they didn't kill her off. That would've made me boycott this drama altogether. By the way, my favorite part was Vanness Wu and his matchmaking date. That girl was so pretty! I'm so glad he fell in love (: Overall, the series was frustrating but worth the wait. Sort of. Maybe. And I never shipped Lei and Shancai in season 1 and throughout season 2. But after hearing his true feelings that he confessed to Mei (along with flashbacks) I felt so sorry for him! To be very honest, I never really enjoyed his character. Probably because he never expressed his feelings directly and Daoming Si was much more interesting and pretty much overshadowed him. But now I can't wait to watch MARS! :)

Leia Mais

I really enjoyed this version of the F4. I have to say the Korean version is my favorite. This version is really good and I would watch it again for the story b/c it is so different from the others. I had some trouble getting through the Japanese version b/c of the really bad acting and the throw back to the 80's. The only problem I had with watching Meteor Garden was the music. Man who thought of using those REALLY old songs that no1 listened to in the 1st place. It was like being forced to listening to the Bee Gee's w/ my mom when I was a kid. Other than that it was pretty good. Even though there were times it really pissed me off the story would fill out and make me happy again. They should remake this version w/ better music. Please ppl when you watch don't equate it to the other versions b/c each version focuses on a different aspect of the story and that is what makes them so enjoyable to watch. You never get the same story twice. Enjoy it for it's originality and different perspective.

Leia Mais

If you liked Meteor Garden I, you will like the second half of this drama. Episodes 1 and 20-30 are really good. The story focuses on the rest of the cast, all of whom are wonderful. Of course everyone wants to see the adorable Shan Cai and Si get together. Just skip the ridiculous amnesia episodes where everyone looks for Si as he is befriended by another woman. The boring episodes are 2-12, but you could also restart with episode 20. The ending is wonderful and there is also romance for Mei, so it is definitely worth watching Season 2. I differ with others. I like Meteor Garden better than the Japanese version. Shan Cai is tougher and more charming than the Japanese version. But I enjoyed both.

Leia Mais

Watched this only because this is the continuing from the meteor garden. At the end, never really like the story. What can be written as a short story they make it into one whole season with 31 episodes.

I read somewhere at one point that compare the part where Dao Ming Si (DMS) have amnesia. They said, japan only 1/2 episode, Korea I forget, but Taiwan must make it into whole season :D.

I also heard the ending of this season is change due to fans protest, don't know right or not. The original ending is DMS supposed to choose Ye Sha over Shan Cai (SC), but eventually change finally to SC.

I think maybe that's true. Because for me the ending really really weird in some way that i can't explained.

Leia Mais

After watching the 1st Meteor Garden series, I was itching to get to Meteor Garden 2.
Let's just say I was disappointed and agree with the other reviews before me.

All I can add is I hated how 85% of the series was mostly about Dao Ming Si and the other female lead after he loses his memory. I hated her even though she was a 'nice' and helpful character. I found myself thinking just get to Shancai already please!! hence skipping most of the series.

I also didn't like how they just 'threw' in an extra story towards midway..almost as if it was an afterthought..arghh

Leia Mais

Draaaaaaag.

If this was a romance about Dao Ming Si and Shancai, it made no sense that the two of them maybe got about 60 minutes of screentime, with half of that all being in the first episode before everything went to crap.

It's all been said before, but there was absolutely no reason we had to wait 13 episodes for Shancai and DMS to meet again, and then ANOTHER 11 episodes for him to get his memory back, all for nothing to come of it until a 10 minute reconciliation at the end, all without any sort of meaningful communication between them before that.

I could write an entire thesis about why I hate the amnesia trope, and I know the source material is to blame for this arc even existing, but with that being said, I absolutely could not bring myself to care about anything that happened during the amnesia, much less any scenes between Ye Sha and Dao Ming Si. It was refreshing, sure, that she wasn't a manipulative mean girl like in the other versions, but amnesiac DMS was basically scrubbed so clean he wasn't himself. Most of their love story occurred in a world without familial or financial pressures, which made it feel low stakes. And all of that doesn't even compare to the fact that we, as the audience, knew how the story would end anyways and all the wishy-washiness just felt very dragged out.

We also get to see a little bit of Meizuo's romance and Ximen's family arc in this one. I didn't realize that Ximen's romance arc wouldn't get a conclusion (which is slightly disappointing as it was my favorite part of the Korean version), but overall I don't think I had the patience to appreciate either of these side stories because they took up screentime while the main story was still being frustratingly slow.

On the other hand, think my favorite part of this drama has to be Lei. He's come so far since the start of the show, and he got all the meaningful conversations Shancai should've had with DMS. I didn't have SLS in every adaptation of Hana Yori Dango, but this one...oof.

Leia Mais