The thought of someone thinking it would be a great idea to remake yet again another version of Die Sterntaler (also known as White Romance or Heaven’s Coins) gives me a headache. One of the granddaddies of all second-male-lead-gets-the-girl stories was the 1995 J-dorama Hoshi no Kinka starring Osawa Takao, Sakai Noriko, and Tanenouchi Yutaka. The heroine is a deaf mute poor girl living in Hokkaido who falls in love with the kind do-gooder doctor from the big city who goes there to work. They get engaged and he returns to Tokyo to tell the folks, only to get into an accident and lose his memory. The heroine travels to Tokyo to find him and meets with his playboy younger brother who takes her in. She tries hard to get her fiancée to remember their promise to each other, during which time the younger brother falls madly in love with her. The original J-dorama was addicting but ridiculously makjang, but the ending mollified me somewhat since she ends up picking the younger brother (she would have to be deaf, mute, and blind not to pick Takenouchi Yutaka).
Japan later made a sequel that made me want to poke my eyes out, so the less that is said the better. Korea remade this story in 2005 as Spring Days starring Go Hyung Jung, Ji Jin Hee, and Jo In Sung, which also ended the same way. Apparently this story is like a zombie that won’t die, because CTI has just announced that it will be airing the Taiwan version next month on Sundays after Once Upon a Love ends to go up against Miss Rose and Waking Up Love. Starring Rhydian Vaughan, Nikki Hsieh, Sphinx Ting, and Reen Yu, the drama was filmed on location in Hokkaido and looks to follow the exact same storyline. This might be the only version where I’ll actually ship the heroine with the older brother, because Rhydian is beyond adorable (perfect Chinese, speaks English with a yummy Brit school boy accent) and I’m shallow like that. Hey, maybe the ending will change in this version thereby justifying the remake. I can only hope.
Teasers for Die Sterntaler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqJs2tW2Tmw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZO6V_FxCpo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-P4s8nUkYc
Press conference for Die Sterntaler:
I was super addicted to Heaven’s Coins back when Jdorama was makjang, even then I still pulled out my hair at some parts. Yukata was a real hottie. The theme sing was great.
Not sure about TW adaptation though… TW makjang can be real cringe worthy if not well done.
I feel you, man. Seeing all the snow here and I keep getting flashes from that reallyreallybaddramaIdon’twannatalkaboutit. All I remember is Snow. Ex-Energy member, Toro. Snow. Blunt Object. Good riddance.
Dude, I totally know which one you are referring to! Snow Angel. It was SO BAD.
Wasn’t this also a Sandra Bullock movie as well? Though in that case, she pretended she was the fiancee of the older brother? Or am I projecting?
I believe you’re talking about the movie “While you were sleeping”, starring Sandra Bullock.
It was a rom-com and was quite a different story from this one. Sandra Bullock pretended to be the fiance of this guy who was in a coma (and had no idea who she is), family accepts her, she spends time with ‘fiance’s’ younger brother, the 2 fall in love, ‘fiance’ wakes up… Um. It was a happy ending, haha.
Yeah, I remember that movie.. The ending is…… No comment…
I must confess, I am a sucker for “good” (is there even such a thing lmao) makjang. In my book, good means – can’t wait for the next epi arsfffasghjk; bad means – Shall I hit myself with this blunt object to induce amnesia and forget the TORTUREEEE.
I didn’t like any iteration of this story. My heart always went out to the older brother – he’s the one with amnesia but she’s the one who truly forgets their love. Plus, the pairing of Go Hyun Jung and Jo In Sung did not work at all for me in the Korean version. He looked more like a nephew than a love interest!
Hey!! Osawa Takao is super attractive and I think he looks even better these days. I couldn’t have chosen between those two.
I watched the first season but I couldn’t finish the second one it was just so bad and the ending!!??
No high hopes for this… I’m just hoping it’s watchable. I couldn’t get past two episodes of Rhydian’s last twdrama, but I love seeing him on screen. xD
This drama seems like a hot mess albeit Rhydian’s adorableness indeed. Srsly why would the female lead drop him for the other guy? *does not compute*
two episodes and i think i will continue to watch. I hope after that the big brother won’t be stupid as he will lose his memory. sometimes people with lost memory just make me want to slap them!
rhydian is really sweet. I will hate seeing him becoming an ass.
i look everywhere for more information about this drama and it seems this drama went under the radar af viewer?
anyway pray hard that the end won’t be like the korean version. never watched the japanese one.