Even if the spectre of war is a historical legacy, I think mandatory military service does a boy good. Or a man good, because these days guys seem to defer service until later and later when normally it was either after high school or after college. Earlier this year two high profile Taiwanese actors got their honorable discharges, and Ethan Ruan and Ming Dao promptly dove right back to their red hot careers without missing a beat. Joe Cheng enlisted a few months after them and this week the Coast Guard Corporal Cheng got his discharge papers after serving his full term despite having a broken foot that needed surgery a few month into enlisting. Joe held a fan meeting in Taipei attended by a few hundred of his diehard fans, some of whom came from Japan, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong just to welcome him back. Midway through the fan meeting a surprise guest popped up and the squealing was off-the-charts to see Ariel Lin coming to support her good friend and former co-star Joe. It was totally fitting for this It Started with a Kiss reunion to happen this week since it just happened to be the final episode of the latest ItaKiss adaptation that is going on in Japan called Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo. At the fan meeting, Joe and Ariel warmly hugged after such a long time not seeing each other, because who doesn’t want to see Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin being cute together even if its just for show. Also at the fan meeting was Joe’s new protege Toby Lee, the first artist Joe signed when he started his own agency right before enlisting. Clearly Joe was just signing his own mini-me. What everyone wanted to know was of course Joe’s first project post discharge and he revealed that he was doing a TW-drama that was being custom created with him in mind by famed Director Winnie, who did ISWAK and recently propelled Ariel to her second Golden Bell Best Actress win for In Time With You. I’m so thrilled to seeing Joe back and looking fantastic and ready for action. I hope he’s going to evolve his acting back to the early days of The Rose and ISWAK because his recent works have all been lackluster for me but I know he has it in him.
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Waaaaaahhhh Xiang qin and Zhi Su together again! What a way to welcome back Joe!! Love, love, love.
Yes, I loved the two of them together. Looking at these pictures, I am feeling nostalgic.
awww..my fav.couple, i love them
zoe cheng is so hot and handsome, want wait for his next project^_^
My favorite and most nostalgic drama I have every watched!
Glad he is discharged and getting on that bandwagon. Hope he chooses a great project.
Did you watch the latest Japanese adaption of Itazura? I actually enjoyed it, which surprised me. It definitely was way better than Playful Kiss. Hope they make a part two!
I watched it too! It was unexpectedly good. Not as good as ISWAK but I love all the characters on Itazura.
Anyway, back to Joe and Ariel, can they fall in love with each other in real life?? lol They just look perfect together!!
lool thats why definitely fitting for their reunion now after finishing the latest adaptation :P I enjoyed it too, some parts more than any other version, but overall watching it made me nostalgic to the time I was watching ISWAK ;)
This is nice. I live that they really develop their friendship.
Talking of ISWAK,I just watched that last ep of love in Tokyo. I enjoyed it a lot but somehow, I love Playful Kiss more. It's more of the acting but I love how characters were written. As I watched love in Tokyo, I miss those tiny bits that made me squeal with PK. And honestly, I love Seung Jo more than Irie. Plus I really hated that in ISWAK-LiT, they dragged that arranged marriage part. And I didn't feel Irie's struggle as much as Seung Jo behind his decision. I also liked that in PK, seung jo is mean to Hani but it showed that he is also pushing Hani to grow. I hate that in LiT, they neglected the part of irie's dream and never mentioned kotoko's choice to be nurse. Instead they spent more on arrranged marriage where irie spend dates and even engaged. Maybe there will S2 where they show it. In PK, I love so much that they show after Seong Jo, realized & admitted his feelings, he himself went to apologize to Hyena and Kin-chan and properly asked their blessings.
Kotoko is cuter than Hani but often times Hani is more endearing to me with her faults clumsiness and struggles shown more. In LiT, Kotoko girl sometimes overact with her expressions and it kind lost my focus. I was waiting for the part after wedding where koto ko was naughty. It was kind of underplayed here. Oh well, I still enjoyed it.
I dunno Pk didn't manage to stay with me like ISWAK did, and I enjoyed my time watching LiT more than I did watching pk. I just finished LiT so I don't know if it'll stay with me like ISWAK did, but LiT reminded it me of it a lot so those 2 reuniting seems very fitting and exciting for me :P
* NOT because of Acting.
I just want to add that those small moments i love but didn't see in LiT, I rewatch in PK to satisfy myself.
Oh they are all grown up... Where has the time gone. Both look fantastic. They are so cute as zs and Xiang Qing. I have yet to love another tw drama just as much as I did the iswak series. Despite its shortcomings, there is much to love. I won't forget it even after about 8 yrs!! (Since the first one...) best of luck to them.
Joe really did pick a mini me... :)
Has it really been 8 years?! Didn't they say they were planning to do a re-union drama after 10 years? The ArJoe fangirl in me is seriously hoping they weren't kidding!
I loved TW ISWK more than PK & LIT because of that ONE scene where ZS goes searching for XQ so desperately when he thought XQ was going to marry AJ. And he kiss from that scene was the most passionate out of PK & LIT. I thought the kisses between the PK and LIT actors didn't have much feeling compared.
they're such good friends,the type that will hang out together on weekends even though they're dating someone else
Wow...Joe really did sign his own Mini-Me
King of Lan Ling is starting soon right...hmmm...more Ariel to grace our screen
Ariel and Joe oh how much they've grown! Thanks Captain K!