The styling for the leads in the upcoming K-drama adaptation of time-traveling Chinese romance novel Bu Bu Jing Xin (Bobogyungsim: Ryeo) is certainly going for visual oomph. At least for male lead Lee Jun Ki, what with the bangs taking front and center in all the stills I’ve seen of him as 4th Prince. He looks fantastic in this brooding Goryeo dark knight get up, though it’s not really the 4th Prince of the novel who is much more low key.
The drama is playing up IU‘s fresh-faced appeal which aligns with her novel female lead who is just a teenager when the story first starts in the historical era. After seeing Lee Jun Ki with Lee Yoo Bi in The Scholar Who Walks the Night, it won’t be a stretch with the age gap I just hope he has better chemistry with IU. That, and don’t turn the female lead into a mentally challenged hot mess, I like my female leads with smarts and savvy.
I am terribly apologizing because I honestly cannot withstand Lee Jun Ki’s hairstyle and wardrobe.
Joining you on that wagon. I really dislike the styling in this drama. With the high budget, couldn’t they dedicate some to getting a styling and costuming team that knows their worth. This is not a drama that requires CG or lavish sets, so what exactly are they spending their money on. Look at the promos for other Asian dramas that are airing soon, and compare to what the K-world is doing with their sageuks and then wonder why sageuks are no longer reaching buzz worthy, national drama status. The above portrayal is the same look we have seen from Lee Jun Ki in drama after drama, but that is not the 4th Prince!
i don’t think they are faithfully following the book.. really have no trust in kr remakes.. :/
I don’t agree that this is the same look we have seen from LJK in drama after drama, since his last few dramas were set in Joseon period and he was wearing a topknot and gat in them (i.e. no bangs) and hanboks (really nice ones too). This is his first drama set in Goryeo period where he is sporting the side bangs hairstyle and no hanboks.
Furthermore, this is a Korean drama not a Chinese drama, so cannot expect him to wear Manchurian costumes or have a Manchurian hairstyle with the shaved forehead and queue.
BTW, the 4th prince in this K-version is the Goryeo 4th prince Wang So, and not the 4th prince in the C-version, Yinzhen, so of course there should be differences. You should reference SOGC rather than the C-BBJX.
The K-version is not a remake of the Chinese drama, but instead an adaptation of the book set to Korean (not Chinese) history, so they can’t faithfully follow the book. Anyway, why watch a duplicate or copy of the original? It would be so boring!
@Livi, I’m understanding where you’re coming from; I don’t expect them to follow the C-Version religiously. All I’m requesting for is that LJK should have a prince’s aurora, not an assassin or a bodyguard. Which in this case, is displayed in the picture above.
Isn’t he a prince??? That picture sure don’t look like. Korean prince…the hair style…eeeek
Lol I thought he looked more like an assassin or a bodyguard than a prince XD
Is he wearing a partial mask? Is something wrong with his face?
Yep! There’s a eyepatch covering his face!
Ehhhhh…nah
You know,ppl… just stop with all of this “hairstyle” stuff. It’s ridiculous to read it again and again in all K-drama blogs. This type of hairstyle had, for example, Jang Hyuk, who played prince Wan So in Shine or Go Crazy and nobody cared. Drama quality is not all about make up and costumes.
But 4th prince’s character has been very low-key and not attracting attention (it’s literally part of his character arc and his plots), the all black-heavy eyeliner-angsty hair over half his face get up doesn’t seem to fit that.
i guess they have to adapt to korean background.. Wang So was supposedly an outcast.. cannot be totally faithful to the book when they are adapting to a different historical background..
As I know K-drama adaptations never follow the originals precisely. So we shouldn’t compare his character with 4-th prince of C-Bu Bu Jing Xin in any way.
As someone already mentioned, his hair is covering up an eye patch.
the hair the hair…how can I unsee it?
I like his look. The dark vibes.
LOL. LJK’s hairstyle actually reminds me of Yang Yang as Zhang Qiling in The Lost Tomb. It’s bizarre but actually I like it, better than real historical sageuk male hairstyle. It’s a fantasy drama. So it doesn’t have to stick to historical accuracy anyhow.
Take note on the backdrop of this Goryeo 4th prince first before commenting negatively. This character can be added much more depth on his cold and ruthless side than the C-version 4th prince.
I also heard they are creating a new version, just the plot background is adapted. And of course, with Lee Joongi as male lead, the drama is likely to focus on his character development and the relationships with other leads unlike the C-drama.
Yes! Lee Jun Ki himself said in his recent interview, K-ver should be considered as a new(different) work which absorbed only the good points from the novel and the drama. We are making our own with the backdrop of Goryeo .
I love Lee Jun Ki but I would prefer if they choose the Joseon period. I don’t quite enjoy the costumes during Goryeo period.
Ohh I like Lee Jun Ki’s look.
I like the contrast in costume between the two main leads. It would really highlight the difference in preference and personality between them, and so far visually they both look stunning.
I’ve watched Shine or Go Crazy, and pretty much both Wang So’s had the same horrible side bangs. I could understand why they have to go with this type of costume for LJK though. He was somehow depicted as a cursed prince in SoGC.He had like too much pain, tragedy and angst in him but had the heart of a King.
I can’t blame people making comparisons with the original C-Drama as this is an adaptation/remake. I just can’t see much of the similarities besides the backdrop of time travel and characters. they’ll have a different take of the story since there may have cultural differences between China and Korea during that time period.
I just hope not much on the heavy drama for IU.
Goryeo visual kei
See IU in these clothes makes me want to see her in ancient Chinese clothes too.
The Goryeo costumes are very Chinese-like, and she looks lovely in all the stills released so far.
Can someone clear that dead crow on his head?
I scroll down to this! Can’t stop laughing.
What was it I wanted to say?
ROFL?
LMAO!! Dead Crow???.. I was thinking many things while looking at d hair but dead crow sure wasn’t one of them.. ??..
Has he got some sort of eyepatch on? Either that or his emo side fringe is way too large.
Yes, he has an eyepatch on.
why..why…why…? That does not look very royal…. Why do all dramas always insist on making Lee Junki a bandit, even though this drama isn’t even about that? ugh.
Did they always make him a bandit? It is either Lee Junki always comes to mind when a beautiful saeguk character is written or whenever he’s cast, they would go to the extent of changing the character in order to suit Lee Junki’s renown saeguk beauty. Unfortunately, all these have done nothing for his career after the success of King and The Clown and Iljimae. Industry will always typecast an actor after a successful role, it is up to Lee Junki himself to avoid it. I don’t get the impression that he tried or is trying. It could also be that he didn’t have offers that gave him alternative although he should have plenty at his peak.
He’s called the Prince of Saeguk but it is more accurate to say it is only fusion saeguk. I’ve seen him in any historical type. I thought this remake might be it since BBJX tried to follow actual history notwithstanding the time travel of course. But looking at this picture and styling, I think it will turn out to be another fusion saeguk or one in which politics won’t feature much. Judging from the cast lineup, the target audience is for the younger crowd who’s looking for romance and some fun. IMO, BBJX had more to offer.
I thought he looked rather aristocratic rather than bandit in Scholar, JG and Arang with the gats and pretty hanboks. In JG, he was wearing western suits most of the time. His last bandit-like role was in Iljimae which was a very long time ago, 8 years to be precise.
I don’t think LJK is typecast, but more that his non-sageuk roles have flown under your radar. He did 5 movies after TKATC, all modern, including the recent Chinese movie and Resident Alien, and several modern dramas, including Two Weeks and Hero.
I also think he has plenty of offers, but it’s likely that he prefers more challenging roles than the staple chaebol or rom-com leads. Just looking at the current shows on tv right now, there’s not much interesting stuff that catches my attention other than Neighborhood Lawyer.
And IMHO, BBJX was more about the romance and the politics was just the backdrop, i.e. fusion-historical. If you are interested in Chinese historicals which feature more on politics rather than romance, I recommend watching Yongzhen Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang or the recent Nirvana.
In Yongzheng Dynasty, you will see a brilliantly acted and totally different 4th prince from the one portrayed by Nicky Wu in BBJX. So, I wouldn’t take BBJX’s version as the role model for the 4th prince.
IU going to ruin the drama with her acting. even LJK acting wont be able to save the drama. why does he keep acting with actress that sux at acting.
Her acting got a lot of viewer praise in Lee Soon Shin is the Best as well as Producer, so….
No one can take a character with that hairstyle serious, sorry LJK. The fact that this is the Korean version of 4th prince is adding insult to the injury.
This is not the Korean version of the Chinese-Manchurian 4th prince, but is the Korean version of the Goryeo 4th prince, Wang So, who is a real person in history.
I think the main problem is the hairstyle is inauthentic to any time or place. No such exaggerated hairstyle with side bangs existed during the Goryeo dynasty. Which is why some people cannot take him seriously compared to the Chinese version which did a lot of research on the clothing, costumes and hairstyles to make it as accurate and as detailed as possible right down to the stitching.
Honestly I more skeptic with iu than the background goryeo story (every era have they own painful story),I don’t undermine her acting (she just too cute than strong to playing as women whom will mess up the heart of princes and kill each other),I just hope they can feel the dark emotion how painful story of bu bu jing xin chinese version(because they nailed that trust me).
I don’t understand why they don’t just make the hairstyles similar across all the princes. I mean back then in that era…wasn’t that practically the uniform? Not allowed to have a different hairstyle? That was the signature of the era?