Absolute Darling Overall Review~
Absolute Darling is one of the best Taiwanese dramas I've seen so far... it's happy, hilarious, and so utterly sad at the same time. Honestly, I thought I was prepared for this drama: no suprises, I knew the drama would be a tragedy. I mean, I already read the manga, and Taiwanese dramas tend to follow the manga completely (if they are based on one). I was prepared to see the robot die with no trouble, right?
(Zettai Kareshi)
Wrong. Sure, in the beginning, everything seemed carefree and nice, like all normal Taiwanese dramas... it did follow the plot quite closely, and I was really pleased with the normal quirks that are inserted into these dramas (like Fahrenheit jokes. I love Fahrenheit references.) Also the cast was pretty good, and of course I knew the plot was good.
However. Reasons why this drama was such a shock:
First of all, Jiro Wang played Nai Te (the robot). He replaced Wu Chun to play it too. (Which I don't really have an issue with.... because I simply don't see food-loving Chunnie as a robot. On top of that, a robot that's gonna die, and also Night is supposedly a funny character. Jiro looks more robotic, and he has also surprised me with his ability to act roles that differ from his normal primitive monkey character several times.) Still, Jiro didn't strike me as being able to play a robot.... his acting really relies on expressing emotion most of the time, and a robot doesn't have emotion.... Night gets emotions later, but still.
But honestly. The number of times Jiro's acting has shocked me can no longer be calculated. He made me re-fall in love with him and cry so hard when he "died"..... I NEVER cry when watching dramas. Ever. I was so alarmed by his acting (it seemed so real, like Nai Te was real, but of course that can't be true) that I couldn't look straight at the Fahrenheit poster that rests on my wall for a week. His Nai Te was a bit exaggerated- in the manga, you wouldn't be able to tell that Night was a robot- he was supposed to be all like a human. Jiro's Nai Te rarely had any emotions on his face- it was that same blank look most of the time. He also moved like a robot- kind of stiffly. But that's that- it somehow worked in his favor. I laughed in the part when he got kicked by that girl (don't remember her name) and of course he cant feel "hurt", so she was staring at him until he bent over five seconds later and was like "aaaah!!!! wahh, that hurt!" because it was so typically Jiro. Like, his normal characters.
Another factor that shocked me:
<--- Go Hye Sun as Guan Xiao Fei
Go Hye Sun. Very popular for her role as Geum Jan Di in the Korean drama Boys Over Flowers. Yes, I watched and loved Boys Over Flowers... I never really "hated" Geum Jan Di (boy was she annoying sometimes!) but I couldn't say whether or not Go Hye Sun's acting was really up to standards or not.... I typically don't like the girls in dramas, they're all annoying most of the time.
Also, it was a Korean actress in a Taiwanese drama... I've seen Skip Beat Taiwan with Donghae and Siwon.... the dub really gets irritating.
However. In this drama, Go Hye Sun was acting as the normal typical damsel in distress type... the kind who never likes the guy she's supposed to at first and who never notices the amazing man by her side who's been friendzoned..... (more on him later)... but really, she surprised me! Her character somehow strayed from the dependent-on-everyone-around-me type to the I'll-be-strong-for-the-one-I-love type, which really made me respect her. ^_^
Even more shocking factor:
<--- Zhong Shi played by Kun Da
The second male lead, on both the character and the actor's part. Firstly, the character (based on the manga) really just irritated me. Soushi was nice and all, but.... ehhh..... I typically usually like the second male leads because they're so much nicer than the male lead, but in this manga, I just didn't like him. He didn't strike me as someone who was really all that cut out for Riiko.
As for the actor, Kun Da, I had very little hopes for him. I'd seen him previously in KO 3an Guo as Lu Bu. He's hot and all, but he always looked constipated and of course, he was one of the villains. His acting wasn't as outstanding as the rest of the actors in the series.
What shocked me was that, surprisingly, even though I didn't like Soushi in the manga, even though I didn't like Kun Da all that much, even though the male lead was Jiro Wang (and if there's a Fahrenheit member in the drama, my bias usually goes to him no matter what.), I found myself caught between loving Zhong Shi (Kun Da) and Nai Te (Jiro). If I didn't feel sorry for Nai Te, I felt bad for Zhong Shi, and vice versa. Zhong Shi was revealed as someone even more self sacrificing than his manga character, and that was one of the reasons why I liked him.
Even the script and the way the drama was directed was shocking. It followed the manga pretty closely, right up till the ending. THE ENDING. That is where I trip up. This manga, Zettai Kareshi, did not make it too high on my favorite manga lists because it was a tragedy, and not a very good one at that. In the manga, Riiko doesn't know about Night's nearing death until he actually dies. And then somehow she's all better the next few days, going out with Soushi. Sure, she's sad... but it felt rushed. Xiao Fei on the other hand overheard secretly, but since she knew Nai Te wanted her to be happy until he died and after, she hid her tears from him and pretended nothing was wrong. Zhong Shi went without food and sleep for days to find a way to fix Nai Te until Xiao Fei made him go to sleep. I never had a problem with Night in the manga, nor did I with Nai Te in the drama, but perhaps seeing the actual death made it feel more realistic in the drama. By then I was already crying, with Xiao Fei crying with the body of Nai Te resting on her shoulder.... but then. Kronos Heaven comes to take his body away, and Zhong Shi says that Nai Te still has ten seconds of energy left. At this point I stopped sobbing a little to wonder what was going on, because this was very different from the manga. Xiao Fei goes up to say the last line from the manga "You will be my forever boyfriend". Then, theres a slight shine running down Nai Te's cheek-a tear. A tear. A robot cried. That made me start bawling all over again, that a robot gained so much emotion that he could produce a tear. If that wasn't enough, you get to take a trip through Nai Te's memory that he's using his last ten seconds of life to go through. There was an ominous countdown between each memory-from the first time he saw Xiao Fei to when she named him. The last thing he thought of was the one that made me sob the most- His first picture with Xiao Fei that they took in a store window with the Korean words "Young in Saranghae" (Forever Love, not sure if I spelled that right...). This, if you watch the drama, you will know this is Nai Te's most precious memory, because when he was sick he could only speak different languages, and he told her "I love you forever" in Korean. Also, this picture was the only memory he kept for himself that the Kronos Heaven company couldn't replicate to his clone. Then the countdown stops, and says "The End".
MY GOD. I believe my entire family thought I had gone insane, sitting in front of a computer bawling while the end credits were rolling (Jiro's song, very touching, called Pretend We Never Loved.), and the song made it worse when it got to the line "Don't sympathize me, anyway, I never feel pain" because in the end, Nai Te DID have human emotions, he felt the pain of having to leave Xiao Fei more than anything.
Other than that, the entire OST was so very good and touching, except for the opening, "Mr.Perfect" by Fahrenheit (which is one reason why this drama is so good.... the first Fahrenheit song in 2 years!!!!!), but its very catchy anyway. Also the side characters were just so fabulous.
<--- Zhi Xi and Sky
I do love this side pairing. I liked it, because if i recall correctly, there was no such person as Sky in the manga. Sky is quite the comedic relief in the drama. His character is a very girly, gay, lazy worker who appears to like Nai Te at first. Later, he falls in love with Zhi Xi (forgot her name, but she was in the manga) for some absurd, random, unknown reason. XD but it's cute, because Sky is cute, and their love is pretty sweet in its own way. Also, Zhi Xi is played by Cai Han Cen, whom I like from the KO series. She did a pretty good job. ^_^
Lei Wu Wu, the second comedic relief:
<-- played by Nai Wei Xun
I never have a problem with Anson XD. (Yes, I call him Anson. Don't blame me, the first drama I saw him in was in Fated to Love You, and that was his name. So I call him Anson. I'm always like that; I called Jiro Nakatsu frm Hana Kimi,Wu Chun=Quan, Ya Lun=Ah Yi, and Calvin= the tall one until I became a Fahrenheit fan a year later.) His character, no matter if it's Duan Chang Ren from KO One, or Anson from Fated to Love You is always hilarious.
All in all, I really love this drama, in case you didn't notice... it's second only to Hi My Sweetheart (it was probably better than it too, but I'm always partial to HMS.) because it was sad. Other than that, this drama was perfect to a T, and I'm very grateful to the actors, to the producers, and to the people who uploaded the subs for me.
However. In this drama, Go Hye Sun was acting as the normal typical damsel in distress type... the kind who never likes the guy she's supposed to at first and who never notices the amazing man by her side who's been friendzoned..... (more on him later)... but really, she surprised me! Her character somehow strayed from the dependent-on-everyone-around-me type to the I'll-be-strong-for-the-one-I-love type, which really made me respect her. ^_^
Even more shocking factor:
The second male lead, on both the character and the actor's part. Firstly, the character (based on the manga) really just irritated me. Soushi was nice and all, but.... ehhh..... I typically usually like the second male leads because they're so much nicer than the male lead, but in this manga, I just didn't like him. He didn't strike me as someone who was really all that cut out for Riiko.
As for the actor, Kun Da, I had very little hopes for him. I'd seen him previously in KO 3an Guo as Lu Bu. He's hot and all, but he always looked constipated and of course, he was one of the villains. His acting wasn't as outstanding as the rest of the actors in the series.
What shocked me was that, surprisingly, even though I didn't like Soushi in the manga, even though I didn't like Kun Da all that much, even though the male lead was Jiro Wang (and if there's a Fahrenheit member in the drama, my bias usually goes to him no matter what.), I found myself caught between loving Zhong Shi (Kun Da) and Nai Te (Jiro). If I didn't feel sorry for Nai Te, I felt bad for Zhong Shi, and vice versa. Zhong Shi was revealed as someone even more self sacrificing than his manga character, and that was one of the reasons why I liked him.
Even the script and the way the drama was directed was shocking. It followed the manga pretty closely, right up till the ending. THE ENDING. That is where I trip up. This manga, Zettai Kareshi, did not make it too high on my favorite manga lists because it was a tragedy, and not a very good one at that. In the manga, Riiko doesn't know about Night's nearing death until he actually dies. And then somehow she's all better the next few days, going out with Soushi. Sure, she's sad... but it felt rushed. Xiao Fei on the other hand overheard secretly, but since she knew Nai Te wanted her to be happy until he died and after, she hid her tears from him and pretended nothing was wrong. Zhong Shi went without food and sleep for days to find a way to fix Nai Te until Xiao Fei made him go to sleep. I never had a problem with Night in the manga, nor did I with Nai Te in the drama, but perhaps seeing the actual death made it feel more realistic in the drama. By then I was already crying, with Xiao Fei crying with the body of Nai Te resting on her shoulder.... but then. Kronos Heaven comes to take his body away, and Zhong Shi says that Nai Te still has ten seconds of energy left. At this point I stopped sobbing a little to wonder what was going on, because this was very different from the manga. Xiao Fei goes up to say the last line from the manga "You will be my forever boyfriend". Then, theres a slight shine running down Nai Te's cheek-a tear. A tear. A robot cried. That made me start bawling all over again, that a robot gained so much emotion that he could produce a tear. If that wasn't enough, you get to take a trip through Nai Te's memory that he's using his last ten seconds of life to go through. There was an ominous countdown between each memory-from the first time he saw Xiao Fei to when she named him. The last thing he thought of was the one that made me sob the most- His first picture with Xiao Fei that they took in a store window with the Korean words "Young in Saranghae" (Forever Love, not sure if I spelled that right...). This, if you watch the drama, you will know this is Nai Te's most precious memory, because when he was sick he could only speak different languages, and he told her "I love you forever" in Korean. Also, this picture was the only memory he kept for himself that the Kronos Heaven company couldn't replicate to his clone. Then the countdown stops, and says "The End".
MY GOD. I believe my entire family thought I had gone insane, sitting in front of a computer bawling while the end credits were rolling (Jiro's song, very touching, called Pretend We Never Loved.), and the song made it worse when it got to the line "Don't sympathize me, anyway, I never feel pain" because in the end, Nai Te DID have human emotions, he felt the pain of having to leave Xiao Fei more than anything.
Other than that, the entire OST was so very good and touching, except for the opening, "Mr.Perfect" by Fahrenheit (which is one reason why this drama is so good.... the first Fahrenheit song in 2 years!!!!!), but its very catchy anyway. Also the side characters were just so fabulous.
I do love this side pairing. I liked it, because if i recall correctly, there was no such person as Sky in the manga. Sky is quite the comedic relief in the drama. His character is a very girly, gay, lazy worker who appears to like Nai Te at first. Later, he falls in love with Zhi Xi (forgot her name, but she was in the manga) for some absurd, random, unknown reason. XD but it's cute, because Sky is cute, and their love is pretty sweet in its own way. Also, Zhi Xi is played by Cai Han Cen, whom I like from the KO series. She did a pretty good job. ^_^
Lei Wu Wu, the second comedic relief:
I never have a problem with Anson XD. (Yes, I call him Anson. Don't blame me, the first drama I saw him in was in Fated to Love You, and that was his name. So I call him Anson. I'm always like that; I called Jiro Nakatsu frm Hana Kimi,Wu Chun=Quan, Ya Lun=Ah Yi, and Calvin= the tall one until I became a Fahrenheit fan a year later.) His character, no matter if it's Duan Chang Ren from KO One, or Anson from Fated to Love You is always hilarious.
All in all, I really love this drama, in case you didn't notice... it's second only to Hi My Sweetheart (it was probably better than it too, but I'm always partial to HMS.) because it was sad. Other than that, this drama was perfect to a T, and I'm very grateful to the actors, to the producers, and to the people who uploaded the subs for me.
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