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I watched the opening episode of "Extravagant Challenge", the Skip-Beat! drama being broadcast in Taiwan. Despite my many reservations. And while a lot of those reservations are spot on, I think it's going to be a decent rendition. That...I will skim liberally if I watch any more of it at all.
It made me think, though, about why the opening of Skip-Beat the comic didn't really speak to me at first, and yet as it's continued, the follow-up has made this series my favorite.
Because the screenplay is written backward toward the cliche. I can see what Yoshiki Nakamura was doing, in context of knowing more about that cliche now...
In the drama opening Our Heroine, betrayed, cries before she breaks into maniacal laughter. This is NOT what happens in the manga. Though it may seem a small difference, it was very deliberate that she goes straight to that crazed laughter.
Having Kyoko refuse to react as expected isn't just a wink and then proceeding as usual---the whole story revolves around this different reaction she has to a very common shojo element. It's what sets her apart as she pursues acting, and what makes following her and seeing her deal with problems exhilarating.
I spend a lot of time being disappointed in manga and anime and dramas, because I have a knack for picking out the trope-busters to start with. I then end up filling in my knowledge of the original cliches while looking for other things to read...
It made me think, though, about why the opening of Skip-Beat the comic didn't really speak to me at first, and yet as it's continued, the follow-up has made this series my favorite.
Because the screenplay is written backward toward the cliche. I can see what Yoshiki Nakamura was doing, in context of knowing more about that cliche now...
In the drama opening Our Heroine, betrayed, cries before she breaks into maniacal laughter. This is NOT what happens in the manga. Though it may seem a small difference, it was very deliberate that she goes straight to that crazed laughter.
Having Kyoko refuse to react as expected isn't just a wink and then proceeding as usual---the whole story revolves around this different reaction she has to a very common shojo element. It's what sets her apart as she pursues acting, and what makes following her and seeing her deal with problems exhilarating.
I spend a lot of time being disappointed in manga and anime and dramas, because I have a knack for picking out the trope-busters to start with. I then end up filling in my knowledge of the original cliches while looking for other things to read...
