This is going to be different from the other posts because having to watch both the versions of Fated To Love You, I've decided to do a comparing post to compare the two versions. Some people may not like that i'm comparing as they feel that both are unique in their own ways but well, I'm not comparing to prove that one is better than the other but to emphasize why both are worth watching.
p/s I watched the Taiwan version of the show when it first came out in 2008 which is a looooong time ago and I was really quite young then haha (and it's my first ever foreign drama!!!) . The drama is like the classic Taiwan drama for me(I rewatched it many many many times, maybe 12?) so I was quite delighted to hear that Korea is remaking this. Honestly, Fated To Love You don't have a special story (it's quite typical, a common working girl get's into a one night stand by accident with a rich businessman whom is preparing to propose to his ballet dancer girlfriend but she chose her career instead. The girl gets pregnant and so they get married unwillingly but as their "contract" marriage goes on, they realize that they are falling in love with each other which causes conflict when the ballet girlfriend comes back. Misunderstanding occurs and the girl runs away with a church oppa whom helped her and gave her strength when she is feeling down, church oppa of course falls in love with her too and while she is in another country, she becomes successful and becomes a much stronger person than she was before.) The drama basically has two parts, 1. The part where they meet and fall in love and 2.The part where she becomes a brand new person after going overseas aka her escape from him. The story is nothing special or to rave about but what attracts people to both versions of the drama is the many memorable side characters and relationships, the excellent acting and the way the story is portrayed. (It makes you laugh a lot but makes you cry a lot at the same time)
1. Popularity and Reception
The Taiwan Version is a rating winner holding a all time high rating for Taiwan's idol drama(i'm not sure if any drama have win it's rating recently because I stopped watching Taiwan dramas for a while already haha), the reception for the Taiwan version is good too, many critics gave it good reviews and many people enjoyed it.
I was expecting the Korea Version to do badly with around 4-5% rating because it seems like other dramas with a similar theme(I Do, I Do) didn't do well in ratings but FTLY korea manage to do pretty well. It was under high competition with competitors like It's Ok It's Love over at SBS and Joseon Gunman at KBS and it managed to stay around 2nd but still mostly 3rd and once it even beat both the drama and became first place!!! That's really impressive considering the fact that Joseon Gunman was quite stable in it's first place and It's Ok It's Love is also doing really well due to it's impressive cast and unique story. Fated To Love You had the least hype within the 3 with only Choi Jin Hyuk having a bigger fan base and that the Taiwan version is not familiar to people in Korea but it manage to catch viewers attention and get relatively well ratings for it's rerun on weekends. FTLY Korean also received many positive reviews but with also people criticizing it for a few silly points of the drama *spoiler so i'm not gonna reveal it here*.
Conclusion: Both are well received by viewers but rating wise, Taiwan definitely did a better job although the Korea version manage to make some miracle on it's own.
2.Story and Directing
Both the directing are pretty well done, it manage to be visually pretty and entertaining throughout every moment of the drama.
The Taiwan and Korea story differs slightly mainly due to the culture of the two countries. FTLY Taiwan has a lot dialect and show cases a island which the leading lady is born at so I was quite interested to see how the Korea version do it and yes it's well done by changing the story to have a deep Korean twist. The Taiwan drama's part 2 is the BEST part of the whole show, I thoroughly and sincerely enjoyed it. The part 1 is entertaining but no way as good as part 2, Taiwan's part 2 is also much longer than the Korea one as it shows how the leading lady changes and her life overseas, it also showcases more feelings and thoughts of the leading lady and clearly shows that both the leads are still in love. (The second part is also awesomely hilarious) The Korea version seems to focuses more on part 1 than 2 but it did a great job in part 1 because I actually loved it, it manages to show clearly how the feelings of the leading man develops towards the leading lady and the struggle the leading lady felt. Part 2 was a little short and less elaborated which was a pitty since it could have been better but well, the Taiwan version is much longer (24 episodes) while the Korea Version is only (20 episodes).
The Korea version changed a few minor details of the story too by adding in stupid extra story lines (not going to spoil it but anyone who watched it will know what i'm talking about), I didn't like those little parts but the story on a whole is enjoyable and still well done.
Not going to say much about the ending because I don't want to spoil it but let's just say the Korea's ending is much much better, I found the last few episode of FTLY Taiwan really extra and redundant(it could have been much better without the last few episodes urgh).
Conclusion: Taiwan version has it's stupidity at the end but the Korea version squeezed in a useless stupid storyline in the middle that screwed it up....kinda?
3.Characters and Acting
Chen Qiao En as Chen Xin Yi
Kim Mi Young or Chen Xin Yi is a typical working girl that always gets taken advantage of by her boss and work mates because she simply can't say no to people so she always ends up doing a lot of work all by herself without complains. She gets her nickname, sticky note girl because she always gets many sticky notes on her work table asking her for favors. One day, a lawyer in her company (she works as a law firm clerk) shows interest in her so she becomes really excited as it's the first time a guy shows interest in her so she goes on a trip with him and ends up having a one night stand with another guy instead thinking it was him (she was dizzy and apparently their rule number changed haha yes it isn't suppose to be logical). She found the lawyer the next morning in her room with another women so upon seeing this scene, the rich guy that thought she had a one night stand with him on purpose, understood her and decided to help her take her little revenge. He pays professional to dress her up (typical drama makeover hehe) and she turns out really pretty *as expected*, they go to a casino together and sees her lawyer "boyfriend" and the slutty women (ew) together gambling, he gambles with them and makes them lose all their money, helping Kim Mi Young/Xin Yi take their revenge haha. Ok i'm going to stop before I end up writing the whole story out haha. The thing is, the character used to be really hardworking, stupid, easily bullied, too kind and innocent but after many conflicts she goes overseas to escape "reality" and comes back as a completely different person. (Confident, successful, sassy, chic, well respected).
Both the actress did a fantastic job as the character but Chen Qiao En actually manage to do even better than fantastic. Many will definitely agree with me if you have watched the Taiwan version. Chen Qiao En manage to depict all of Xin Yi's emotions clearly and make us love Xin Yi, but Xin Yi is also more developed than Mi Young. In the Taiwan version, Xin Yi shows more of her emotions and we get to know more about how she feel and her change is much larger than the Korea version. (Both personality and looks) In the Korea Version, Jang Nara did a great job as I've said but Mi Young didn't get to show her emotions as much as Xin Yi and her change is really small. (Personality wise is not really shown but she did become successful...? ) Looks barely changed too as she only changed her hair color and stopped wearing glasses and let her hair down as compared to the Taiwan version where they make her much much more stylish, curl her hair gorgeously and give her bangs and also took out her ugly glasses of course.
I LOVE this character mainly because of the change they go through, I love the part 2 character of the Taiwan version and well, the korea version didn't change much but still.....
ps does anyone realize how the two actress look so much alike especially in their ugly glasses aka part 1 days!? Jang Nara and Chen Qiao En could have been twins haha perhaps that's why the Korea's production team chose Jang Nara for the role. (and I apologize for the poor photo quality of the Taiwan Xin Yi because it's super hard to find pictures of the Taiwan FTLY )-; )
Conclusion: Both actress did a marvelous job but well.... I seem to love Xin Yi much more than Mi Young so Taiwan did better again
Ethan Ruan as Ji Cun Xi
Lee Gun or Ji Cun Xi is the CEO of a cleaning product company, his grandmother is really concern about him as the man in his family all had a illness that caused them to die early?(haha sorry I didn't exactly pay much attention to that detail), his family also have a problem of having only one child so grandma wants a grandchild super badly. Lee Gun/Cun Xi has a ballerina girlfriend that he is crazily in love with but sad to say, he always sacrifice much more to make their relationship work than the girlfriend. He has a rather ummm unique personality (especially Lee Gun and his weird laughter), he is kind of mean but actually he has the capability to be a really warm and nice person when he wants to which is really sweet hehe. Both the 2 actors did a AMAZING job playing the character, honestly, I think this show is mainly focusing on Mi Young/Xin Yi but both the actor make their character shine brightly too. Lee Gun/Cun Xi can be annoying and irritating at times due to the choices they make (Cun Xi did annoy me more lol) but the actors portray them nicely and entertaining enough to make them widely memorable and lovable.
Jang Hyuk has a big age difference with Ethan Ruan and both of them don't look anything alike so that's probably why I don't tend to mix and compare the two characters a lot when watching the show. CAN I JUST SAY THAT I ABSOLUTELY HATE LEE GUN'S HAIRSTYLE IN THE BEGINNING??? A ugly hair style is really not needed, he looks so good in the second half but looks so old in the first half due to that hairstyle, urgh to whoever that decided on this. Jang Hyuk's approached in portraying Lee Gun is slightly different from Ethan's, he tries to make Lee Gun more comical and interactive which is good but sometimes it goes a little overboard (KEYWORD:SOMETIMES), overall he did a fantastic acting job and I can honestly feel how sincere he is on acting as Lee Gun which I seldom feel in actors *round of applause to jang hyuk haha*
Ethan Ruan's acting is slightly overshadowed by Chen Qiao En in the Taiwan version, don't get me wrong, he did a fantastic job too but Chen Qiao En really put her 101% into portraying Xin Yi and she did so well that it feels like she's the one carrying the show forward. Ethan Ruan's version, is less comical but he still manage to make us laugh with his huge variety of facial expression (which is done perfectly well), another thing is Ethan and Qian En actually have more chemistry than Jang Nara and Jang Hyuk. (they were practically sizzling on screen?)
Conclusion: Lee Gun is definitely much more memorable and Jang Hyuk does seem to truly understand and feel his character so yes I choose Lee Gun. (this excludes his horrible hairstyle in the beginning)
Choi Jin Hyuk as Daniel
Baron Chen as Dylan
Daniel/Dylan plays the typical second lead that gives his 101% to the girl but gets nothing in the end *shrugs* So the Korea version put much much more focus to this character than the Taiwan version, I felt that the Taiwan version didn't really tell us much about him and the interaction between him and Xin Yi is kinda little but the Korea one, made good use of this character, they use Daniel's love for Mi Young to make Lee Gun realize how much he actually wants to be with Mi Young and they also gave Danial loads of interaction with Mi Young. The character's job/personality is also different so I can't really compare.... the only thing is that they both go to the church (that's where they met Mi Young/Xin Yi) and they both are desperately looking for their lost little sister.
Choi Jin Hyuk definitely did a much better job than Baron, Baron is quite stiff and has lack of emotions and the lack of characterization didn't help either. Choi Jin Hyuk is interactive and is really natural as the character which of course makes him pleasant to be watched on screen, the additional focus of his character in the Korean version makes him even more memorable. (this can be seen as a good thing to CJH's fans because he gets much more screen time but it's kinda bad at the same time because we will be emotionally torn apart to see Daniel getting dumped in the end despite all he has done because duhhh she's fated to not love him). I felt nothing for Dylan when he got dumped because Baron isn't doing much acting so I can't seem to like either his character or him so.....
Conclusion: Daniel I love you xoxo
Bianca Bai as Anna
Se Ra/Anna is not exactly likeable but not unlikeable either (many people are annoyed by this character but I always seem to understand the character and not exactly hate her....) Se Ra/Anna is the ballerina girlfriend that broke Lee Gun/Cun Xi's heart when she chose to go for her ballerina career instead of keeping her promise to her boyfriend whom seems to always be putting in much more effort in their relationship instead of her. She can be seen either as a annoying, unappreciative women or seen as the unappreciative but still the women whom was betrayed by her boyfriend although it was unintentional and she is responsible for it. Both the character deal with Xin Yi in different ways, Se Ra uses talking and pleading and Anna goes more extreme. (no spoiler here). Both the actress did a good job but nothing worth talking about too, but despite Anna doing meaner stuff than Se Ra, I actually like Anna much more than Se Ra, probably due to her having a softer personality than Se Ra.
Conclusion: I can't really choose who I like more but if I really have to name one, i'll choose Taiwan version's Anna.
WE HAVE A WINNER!!
I'm not going to compare and talk about chemistry since I feel that it's slightly unfair since Jang Hyuk is married (It does affect how I think about him and Jang Nara as a couple).
KOREAN VS TAIWAN: out of the 6 components compared here (4 characters included). Taiwan got 4/6 votes from me and Korea got 2/6 so Taiwan wins.
I did this review mainly to show that both versions are actually worth the time watching, they are both special in their own ways and it's great to see how a typical story can become so amazing in both of the versions. (of course, it's widely flawed but still flaws are there to show improvement and yes, Korean's version did cover some of the flaws from the Taiwan version however it also created new flaws too haha) I strongly encourage people that love either one of the version to try the other when they have time or for people that are completely new to the drama to try at least one (i'll recommend the korea one as the Taiwan one is a little old so visually it isn't as great as the korea one)
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