Having watched almost every adaptation... I'm not here for the story, that's decades old, and filled with almost every trope that dramaland can have. We love cliches, don't we? poor girl/rich guy, enemies to lovers, the bad guy turning good guy, kinda then kinda not love triangle (or rather square), some bitchy characters thrown in the mess, the iconic 'power of love.'... and course some extremely good looking people, who wouldn't want to watch bromance between four hot guys (is that even a question).. so yes here I am to test, how much can endure this story that I've been through soo many times.. and been frustrated a lot.

Warnings for the future viewers:

~The bullying in the first episodes is extreme, it's dark as it should be.
~Too much screen time wasted here and there.
~Gorya's screaming and beating never get better.
~Just don't watch it for romance.
~They say it's not that toxic but it's still toxic.
~Last episodes are all over the place.
~Thyme is the most adorable idiot.
~Ren is charming as hell.

It's the same but at the same time, it's not. The main arcs and their basic structure isn't changed... what changed is the execution and direction in a good way. Almost every antagonist of the story has given their share of story that makes you sympathize with them sometimes feel bad for them, they are not just one-dimensional side characters who do bad things coz-I-am-just-bored-and-have-nothing-to-do-with-life. From the entire history of Hana Yori Dango, I felt FLs parents were somewhat relative, her family genuinely looking like a family... little over the top but not too over the top. There was a bond between this f4, their friendship was raw and natural.. not just some hot four guys hanging together coz why not? they cared for each other and every guy got the screentime they deserved.

Gotta say I got a bunch of memories that I cherish... most adorable run of Thyme after-you-know-what, Kavin's charming bar fight (Damn it's not common that I replay fight scenes lol), Ren's fire alarm (or should I say every time he smiled), MJ was cool and best boi in the whole thing lol, and how can I forgot meow meow.

The focus of the story was more about the development of characters and how to put all arcs in just 16 episodes, they were successful BUT it also kinda ruined many things. A lot of time was given to the side stories of side characters than leads just so we could sympathize with them and though I did I'm unsatisfied coz damn that's not really why I'm watching this right? They tried to put almost every arc in a short amount of time (I mean let's take an example of the Japanese version, as jdramas tend to be of 10 episodes they had to make 2 seasons+movie to add all things) and as expected everything was condensed, fast-paced, too many things happening, simply put it messed up with the pace. The third thing it lacks is romance... I mean it, just don't expect too much screen time of lovey-dovey moments from the main couple coz 1) they get together for a very short time. 2) most of their couple moments are Gorya beating Thyme coz-that's-what-she-loves-to-do.

As this is 2022 they had to do something with toxicity like they can't expect z-gen viewers to take decades yrs crap (though we kinda do).. they did remove some of the most toxic moments, I'd say it might be the first try of making ML a bit likable like-genuine (the only ML I liked from this franchise was from J-version def not for a character it was all Matsumoto Jun he was freaking adorable dork I'd say)... well Thyme isn't all jerk all the time, he takes his time, he has his moments where he shines. sometimes (many times) he's cluelessly stupid... but def, not the hatable type.

From the start, I liked Gorya, a modern and real strong female lead... but it didn't last till the end, coz I believe she didn't have her character development as she should, she was still the same. Like bruh, many times she's hypocrite like you are the who's always like violence is a bad thing and blah, blah, blah but all time she does with Thyme is beating him.. even when he's badly injured on the hospital bed, like girl what are your principals in real?

I'm not fully convinced by Bright's performance, he was good but not the best... Thyme's character had a lot of potential with a large spectrum of acting but Bright's acting wasn't up to that point, he was cute, adorable, and extremely good-looking at many moments but the emotional scenes, the outburst moments weren't well done. Though I'm happy with Tu and Dew considering that it's their debut... both were charming. Course Win and Nani had their moments, but I'm just so impressed by Cindy a.k.a Roselyn.. she was remarkable her presence and aura. On the other hand, her character was unlikable but her charm almost made it hard to do so, the perfect casting I'd say. But her redemption arc was bluff smh

The cinematography is stunning so is the music.

I loved the first half... Saturdays become my favorites I've never done this one-week one-episode thing but I was willing to be that patient coz I was enjoying the flow of the show, reading discussions and theories after each episode, it was fun... then it fell out off the cliff the second half was such letdown (for me), the pace was out of the place, many things were just bombarded, somewhat realisticness that was there was all gone... and I'm extremely unsatisfied with the outcome I mean we deserve more after many tortures, frustration.

I'll probably conclude I have a love-hate relationship with this drama... there are times I enjoyed it and many that I was annoyed, frustrated, and wanted to knock sense into the characters... it's good but not good enough.

*Still my rating is subjective, objectively it could be less than this:')*