All my gushing over In A Good Way on Friday nights makes it seem like the only TW-drama airing that night but there is actually The Pursuit of Happiness with Sonia Sui and Tony Yang over on GTV that just ended last Friday. TPoH was from the production team behind the popular hit In Time With You with Ariel Lin and Bolin Chen but sadly TPoH never garnered the critical acclaim or ratings win of ITWY. I watched a few episodes of TPoH and the drama is lovely and well-made but I was bored and it’s not very gripping even if its really watchable. TPoH ends this week and up next is the long completed drama Chocolat (Chinese title 流氓蛋糕店 Gangster Patisserie) with Blue Lan and Japanese actress Nagasawa Masami. I was surprised when I heard Masami was making a TW-drama back in 2012 and now that this drama is premiering in two weeks I’m still having a hard time believing its real. She’s an A-list actress in Japan so it kinda feels like she’s slumming it in an odd-ball Taiwan drama about a reformed gangster who turns his gang followers to a life of baking. The drama is an adaptation of a Japanese manga of the same name which has already been made into a J-dorama back in 2003.

This adaptation will involve a female Japanese college student played by Masami who runs away to Taiwan and gets involved with a young gangster played by Blue Lan who just got out of jail after five years. He is ready to dive back into the gang life but discovers that his gangster boss lost his wife to an illness and has decided to turn over a new leaf and become a legit businessman by starting a bakery that employs all his former gang members. His beloved deceased wife’s daughter from her previous marriage is the Japanese girl and she arrives in Taiwan and ends up living with her step-father who dreams of being a master baker but sucks big time at baking. The entire gang of misfits all live and work together and presumably heartwarming hilarity ensues along with romance between the two leads. The first trailer is out and other than the horrible music the rest of the stuff actually looks interesting. It’s a manga adaptation so I already see the ridiculous heightened sense of realism paired with an absurd but sweet humor. One major bonus point is hearing Masami speak Chinese since she learned to say her own lines and won’t be dubbed over. She sounds fine with a cute Japanese accent when is exactly in character. I’m definitely checking this out and hopefully it’s good so I can have a double dose of Friday cuteness. Continue reading →