It Started with a Kiss - Drama Review

It Started with a Kiss
Drama Review
It Started with a Kiss is a Taiwanese drama starring Ariel Lin, Joe Cheng and Jiro Weng. It is based on the manga Itazura na Kiss, and written by Kaoru Tada.
Yuan Xiang Qin (Ariel Lin) is a bumbling, not so smart high school senior who decides near the end of school to confess her love for Jiang Zhi Shu (Joe Chang) in a love letter. But instead of the arrogant genius accepting the letter Zhi Shu walks right past her and ignores her right in front of their classmates. Xiang Qin falls down on her back and just lays there in embarrassment. Zhi Shu returns and finds her still lying on the ground and wants to know if she has anything better to do with her life.
Later that afternoon Xiang Qin and her father move into their brand new home and within minutes it is destroyed by an earthquake. They are left homeless because her father didn’t have earthquake insurance and are forced to move in with her father’s long-time best friend and his family. Little does Xiang Qin, know but her father’s best friend just happens to be the father of Jiang Zhi Shu.
Review – If this premise sounds familiar it should because a couple of weeks ago I reviewed “The Playful/Mischievous Kiss) which is the Korean version of this drama, and in a couple of weeks I’ll also review the Chinese and original version Itazura na Kiss.
Like the previous version, I didn’t really like the very first episode, but I continued to watch it and am glad that I did. The thing I liked most is that although it is the same premise the Taiwanese version is almost entirely different in most aspects. In this version Xiang Qin is not as pretty and also not as bumbling as Oh Ha Ni (played by Jung So Min), and even though I tried to find one thing Oh Ha Ni was good at, Xiang Qin is not as helpless. Neither girl can cook, or play tennis or have an IQ over that of a fourth grader. But both are very courageous and spunky and would do anything to get their man. Oh Ha Ni is more of a stalker, where Xiang Qin just happens to be in the right place at the right time.
Joe Cheng as Xiang Qin’s heartthrob is also not as mean and conniving as Baek Seung Jo (played by Kim Hyun Joon of SS501 fame). Where Baek Seung Jo is arrogant and self-serving, Zhi Shu is more quiet, subdued and just doesn’t want to be involved in the get a daughter-in-law plot concocted by his mother. It took Baek Seung Jo a long time to discover that he was in love with Oh Ha Ni, but once Zhi Shu discovers Xiang Qin’s undying love for him he instantly begins an attitude transformation, which makes him appear loveable early on in the story.
Which Kiss Scene did I love best? No doubt it was the one shared by Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin in the rain. The one between Baek Seung Jo and Oh Ha Ni was too stiff (even though I waited for it to happen with baited breath and was glad when it happened); I feel the very first kiss bestowed on Xiang Qin by Zhi Shu had more passion behind it. (PS, the bedroom scene between Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin is also the favorite), Joe Cheng is not only tall and gorgeous but he knows how to incite a sizzle.
If you’re looking for great sex scenes, forget it. If you’re looking for a laugh and a very good drama then It Started with a Kiss is the drama for you.
I give it five Fleur De Lis.
Coming Soon: It Started with a Kiss 2 Review