It’s Recess time at the Playground! Which of course means I’m on vacation, this time for two weeks (as opposed to a meager one week last August to Maui). Come sunshine or typhoon, clearly I’ll still be posting since I’m OCD like that, it just won’t be that often. Last time I took a long vacation, I inaugurated Recess posts to generate a discussion topic for folks to run with it and generate fun conversation. This first Recess post will be to share my favorite opening credits from Taiwan dramas. Unlike J-doramas or K-dramas, TW-dramas tend to actually spend time and effort to craft memorable and oftentimes stellar opening credits. It requires blending the perfect opening theme song with a series of creative montages from the drama (either footage or something outside from the actually story) to whet the appetite and engage the interest of the audience. More than anything, a great opening credit becomes something that can be enjoyed as a standalone entertainment piece. Even if you don’t watch TW-dramas, check out the opening credits below and try something new. Then tell me – what are your favorite opening credits from any drama?
PS Man:
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The drama is all sorts of terrible, but this might be my all-time favorite opening credits. Classy, fun, and evocative. It gives a clear snapshot of Blue Lan‘s character in the drama, and the theme song by Magic Power is amazingly perfect. Love the black and white suit juxtaposition between the two male leads, and how the spotlight shines on them all at the end.
Material Queen:
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The first ten episodes of this drama was on track to become my favorite TW-drama of all-time, and the final ten episodes crashed and burned spectacularly. But this opening credit is just a work of art. I love how lines of dialogue spoken by Lynn Xiong and Vanness Wu from the drama are included, which encapsulates their character’s world views. This opening manages to be sexy and intense.
Black & White:
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Everything about the excitement and thrill of this drama and the beauty of Harbor City (really Kaohsiung, Taiwan), reduced to less than 2 minutes. And FYI, I do plan on finishing my B&W recaps. I really do!
Zhong Wu Yen:
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Drama was meh, with so much potential never realized. But the opening was lovely and dreamy, though it was really Chris Wu that stole the show for me even starting from the opening credits.
It Started with a Kiss:
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An oldie but goodie. Simple but effectively shows off a cute manga vibe and captures the central theme of the story, Xiang Qin always chasing after Zhi Shu, and Zhi Shu turning around to look for her when he can’t spot her.
Sunny Happiness:
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What can I say? This opening just fills my heart with glee until it fairly wants to burst with happiness. Well done, SH, well done.
Autumn’s Concerto:
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The drama was good but ultimately not great, but it had amazingly gorgeous cinematography which is evident in its darling opening credits. Despite not loving AC, watching the opening makes me want to re-watch the drama, which means it really did its job.
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P.S. Man and Black & White get my votes from the ones above!
Definitely PS Man for me!
Magic Power's "Who am I" is still on my Top Rated in my iPod.
Blue Lan and James Wen looks so suave in three opening credits.
Enjoy your vacation, koala!
Oh lord I remember playing the intro song for ISWAK 50million times, it just reminds me of summer
Also really like the PS Man intro
One intro that I will never ever grow tired of hearing and watching is Devil Beside You intro, I ship RainiexMike He too much >_<
I agree - Devil Beside You had awesome credits. Fun to watch & great song.
My vote goes to PS Man and Material Queen. PS Man's is so polished and made the cast look gorgeous (which they are anyway) but it highlighted it...though it really did not fit with Sonia's character in the series. And I managed to get sucked in by the credits and wasted my time watching the series. Sigh. Though I will say I did think that Bianca Bai outacted Sonia Sui in PS Man.
Material Queen captures the opulence of the drama while highlighting the differences btw Lynn & Vanness' characters. And I love Is This All!
But if we're talking about favorite opening credits across the board, I don't think anything beats Last Friends. From the perfect song (Prisoner of Love) to the symbolism embedded and the having the cast represent different emotions. Simply the best imo.
Although I didn't watch all of Last Friends, I loved the opening also! Very memorable. Prisoner of Love is such a powerful, intense song, the perfect ost for the story.
OMG, I hadn't even heard of Last Friends but just watched the opening credits based on your rec and was blown away. What a breathtaking intro to the show! I totally want to watch it now :)
Adding to the list, some oldies: Smiling Pasta, Meteor Garden, Prince turn to frog, Lavender
Period Pieces: Princess Returning Pearl, Fairy from Wonderland, Butterfly Lovers (Peter Ho version),BBJX
And most recenly watched-SOP queen!
I agree with the period pieces, definitely oldies but goodies! I can always remember HZGG's opening.
Oh yes! HZGG's opening is gold. (Y)
For me, I prefer Mainland Chinese opening themes because they have dramas that really focus on perfecting them. For example, Legend of the Condor Heroes 2008 with Hu Ge, and a multitude of palace dramas (Gong with Yang Mi is another good example).
As for TW... the most memorable from the top of my head are
Tokyo Juliet with Ariel Lin and Wu Zun - absolutely gorgeous scenery montages with beyond amazing OST.
Mars with Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu.
The Outsiders with Ady An and Dylan Kuo.
My conclusion is that the better drama openings were from the past and very few caught my eye recently :/
Great post! I love this topic, it was very interesting! :D
Oh - Mars! Really good opening credits - and a song that perfectly captured the spirit of the drama.
Totally agree with Mars.. one of my fav t-drama...
I do love Material Queen...
lately though... the opening and ending credit of Alice in wonder city got me hook.. the drama is just ok.. but i must say it's beautiful to look at and great music.
I definitely agree with Mars. Zero is one of my favourite drama theme songs. The Outsiders is great more for the song than the scenes.
I also think that I mostly prefer the older dramas when it comes to the openings.
Oh tokyo juliet was such a mess but I agree the opening was lovely- the opening song was so intense and the montages were gorgeous. Still watch and listen to it now~
i also liked some of the older mainland openings, such as LOCH 2003. of your list, my favorite is black&white, but also second mars & devil beside you.
my additions are the following, regardless on what i thought about the drama:
drunken to love you
bull fighting
hot shot
wish to see you again
for end credits, i really like the one from K.O.3an Guo - i just think it's really funny.
Hahaha, I reviewed B&W for a communications class when I was a freshman and knew nothing about Asian culture... That was when my drama obsession began! It's been so long since I've watched that opening, I loved that show
I love this post! These are all pretty great, but I have to say that the opening credits to It Started with a Kiss are the only TW opening credits that I never really felt the urge to fast forward through. And I have a pretty short attention span, so that's saying something. Maybe it's just because I liked the song a lot, but it was such a simple but effective concept and the characters are so lovable that I think I'm gonna have to give ISWAK my vote.
ps. Is Sunny Happiness a good drama? It looks super cute but I haven't heard anything about it. I'm on the hunt for a new drama, so I figured I'd ask :).
Sunny Happiness is a sweet and fluffy drama revolving around a contract marriage. I will highly recommend you the powerful Nobuta wo Produce and swoon-worthy Tatta Hitotsu no Koi. Here are some amazing MVs of the two doramas,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKE6haGi5BQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz2f-fysNYg&feature=fvwrel
Thanks for the response! I recently tried watching Nobuta wo Produce because it's been recommended by multiple people whose drama taste I respect, but for whatever reason I just could not get into it. It's unfortunate, since it's subject matter that I usually swoon for. That MV was AMAZING, though. It seriously gave me goosebumps. So perfect.
I will definitely check out Hitotsu no Koi. It looks incredible from the MV.
SH is great drama, It has 24 eps. I personally loved it.
Awesome, thank you for the recommendation!
My favorite, I think, is the opening theme for ToGetHer. Very fun opening credits.
I likes ITWY, maybe because I loved drama. Hi my sweetheart was funny.
I like ITWY, maybe because I loved drama. Hi my sweetheart was funny.