Along with its international cousins Boys over Flowers and Hana Yori Dango, and the recent eponymous 2018 version, Meteor Garden (2001) is often seen by international fans as one of the most “essential” and “ classic” versions out there . With the talents of Barbie Hsu as our female lead Shan Cai, Jerry Yan as our brooding male lead Dao Ming Si and Vic Chou as our second male lead Hua Ze Lei, it is no surprise that the Taiwanese version captivated a whole generation of youths by prominently kick-starting the drama adaptations with its own flare.

The storyline is fairly familiar for those who have watched the previous versions ; poor girl Shan Cai and rich boy Dao Ming Si turn from enemies to lovers at a prestigious university. Rich boy Si is the leader of the clique F4 (Flower Four) and routinely bullies students who irritate him . Poor girl Shan Cai stands up for a friend and receives the dreaded red card (signal for the student body to bully a person) and surprises everyone when she does not back down from the repeated bullying incidents. Instead, Shan Cai declares war on the F4 earning their respect and rich boy Si’s affection alongside the interest of second male lead Ze Lei .

Yet like all of the adaptations, Meteor Garden still prominently has many things it did better than other versions and elements which weren’t as well tackled, either. Perhaps the most notable elements which still stand strong across all the versions are centralised upon the decision to “ age-up” the characters in comparison to most of their counterparts ( sans the recent Chinese version) , the more well-rounded complexity of Ming Si as a character and the interactions between Shan Cai and Ming Si feeling often a lot more “ natural” than other versions.

For those who may be unaware, most of the adaptations centralise the romance between the female lead and the male lead in high school. Although this has led many of the adaptations to explore more mature themes than typical “ sugary teen” dramas, it often felt questionable towards the exact nature of some of these themes in a high school setting. Perhaps to avoid as much controversy as well as being able to explore these themes for a more mature audience, Meteor Garden made the prominent decision of “ ageing-up” characters as university students allowing elements of the show to seem more natural within a young adult environment, rather than an immature teen high-school setting .

In addition to these themes of maturity and complexity, it still remains striking that out of most of the versions,
Jerry Yun arguably did possibly one of the best portrayals of making Daoming Si, a nuanced character. Yun is able to channel a level of complexity to his character than the “ stock comedy figure” taken in many versions . Frustratingly, he’s never given a chance to reconcile for some of his actions, but he’s still ultimately a well-rounded male lead; imperfect and often despicable at times , yet still a lot more than meets eye.

Parallel to Yun, Barbie Hsu is a refreshing change from the typical “ spineless” female lead in previous adaptations. Shan Cai is fierce, strong and able to determine her own wants and desires over the course of the series, leading her to maturely develop her relationship with Dao Ming Si from rivalry to close contact. Yet, as much as Barbie Hsu is undeniably a good actress,her acting skills did often come off as a little wooden in this adaptation, often resulting in some cheesy line deliverances and acting moments. In addition to this, a prominent complaint which may arise for modern day viewers is that ‘ Meteor Garden’ often normalised many scenes of physical abuse ( slapping and inappropriate touching ) against the female lead, which were neither raised nor touched upon as an “issue”.

The next prominent character to touch upon is Vic Chou’s role as the second male lead Zei Lei. It is often striking for a character who followed his manga version prominently ( not least touching upon the character having autism), Lei seemed a little lacklustre in comparison to his other counterparts. This is prominently because there’s little motivation or defining personality traits given to Lei which make him stick out or root him for prominently as a character. In Hana Yori Dango, Rui was mysterious and cool often leading to his true feelings being in the dark for viewers when it came to the female lead , in Boys Over Flowers, Ji Hoo was kind-hearted and even in the recent Chinese version, Lei is shown to be more evident within his motives for chasing Shan Cai. Yet in the Taiwanese version, his reasoning and personality often felt half-baked and consequently more of a “ stock” male lead, than an individual.

Additionally , it’s important to not gloss over the fact that Meteor Garden has all the shortcomings you’d expect from a drama of this bygone era — the music is inappropriate at times , it looks and feels outdated and its production values are bargain basement for a series ironically focusing upon the lavish and affluent upper-class members of Taiwanese society.

It’s probably fair to say that although every Hana Yori Dango adaptation is based on the same source material, it is outstanding how different the final products are and Meteor Garden is no exception . It is ultimately dated by fashion, age and certain tropes, but out of all the versions, still probably remains one of the most well-written in terms of the character bond between Shan Cai and Si of all the versions. Nevertheless, Meteor Garden’s ultimate flaws can additionally be found through pacing ( which ultimately snags at times before the interference of Si’s mother in the storyline), poorly written-tropes and questionable characterisation. Arguably still one of the best versions from the series, but not flawless.