It is based on Japanese shōjo manga series Boys Over Flowers(花より男子,Hana Yori Dango) written by Yoko Kamio. The series is the fifth television adaptation of the manga following the Taiwanese Meteor Garden and its sequel Meteor Garden II, and the Japanese Hana Yori Dango and its sequel Hana Yori Dango Returns. It spins the modern-day Cinderella tale of a poor, but spunky schoolgirl at an exclusive academy who attracts the interest of four rich and handsome guys of the school collectively known as F4.
Plot
Hardworking Geum Jan Di (Ku Hye-sun) attends the exclusive Shinhwa High School through a scholarship she obtains. She finds her shallow, privileged classmates unbearable, especially the notorious F4, consisting of four rich and handsome men: the arrogant Gu Jun Pyo (Lee Min-ho), the quiet Yoon Ji Hoo [Kim Hyun Joong], the charming So Yi Jung (Kim Bum), and the flirtatious Song Woo Bin (Kim Joon). They are considered to be the king of Shinhwa Hih School. After Jan Di manages to withstand all of Jun Pyo's pranks, he began falling in love with Jan Di but Jan Di only has feelings for Ji Hoo and Jun Pyo knows it. The story ends off with Jun Pyo proposing to Jan Di at the beach.
Main characters
Lee Min-ho as Gu Jun-pyo
Jung Chan-woo as young Gu Jun-pyo
Kang Han-byeol as child Gu Jun-pyo
The leader of F4 and heir to Shinhwa Group, one of the most powerful organization in South Korea. Raised by his older sister and servants, as his parents tend to be overwhelmingly busy, he grew up an arrogant and conceited person who believes that there was nothing that could not be done with money. Deep down, however, he has a heart of gold masked by his inability to express his feelings. He torments Jan-di after she stands up to his bullying ways, but ends up falling in love with her.
Ku Hye-sun as Geum Jan-di
The daughter of a dry cleaner, who is offered a scholarship to attend the prestigious Shinhwa school. Headstrong, optimistic and kind-hearted, Jan-di readily stands up for her friends when they are being bullied. She ends up getting on the dark side of Gu Jun-pyo when she stands up to him.
A member of F4 and the grandson of a former president of Korea. He has a driving phobia after being involved in a car accident that killed his parents and left him the only survivor, which causes him to be autistic. He is initially in love with Min Seo-hyun, who helped him overcome his autisim. Calm and gentle, his musical talent catches Jan-di's attention and she begins to develop feelings for him.
Kim Bum as So Yi-jung
Moonbin as young So Yi-Jung
A member of F4; his family owns the country's biggest art museum. He is a skilled potter. After losing his first love to his brother, he becomes a Casanova. He eventually changes his playboy ways when he realizes that he is in love with Chu Ga-eul.
Kim Joon as Song Woo-bin
Known as F4's Don Juan; his family runs the country's largest construction company, which Woo-bin later admits has strong connections to the mafia. Although he is a playboy, Woo-bin is loyal and honest, and cares for his friends deeply.
Jan-di's best friend who works with her at the porridge shop. She is a shy and quiet girl. She falls for So Yi-jung after he helps her get over her cheating ex-boyfriend.
Supporting characters
Kim Hyun-joo as Gu Jun-hee
Gu Jun-pyo's elder sister, and the only person he listens to. She wants the best for her brother and constantly shows him the error of his ways. She also supports his relationship with Jan-di, and acts like a protective, loving elder sister to the latter.
Daughter of a rich man, who becomes Gu Jun-pyo's fiancee. She develops feelings for him, which he doesn't reciprocate. Once she realizes Jun-pyo and Jan-di are destined to be together, she amicably ends her engagement with Jun-pyo.
The former president of Korea and Yoon Ji-hoo's grandfather. He believes that he caused Ji-hoo's parents' fatal car accident and has been too guilt-ridden to face his grandson ever since.
Geum Jan-di's first and only friend when she transfers to Shinhwa High. However, she harbors deep feelings for Gu Jun-pyo and ends up sabotaging Jan-di to get closer to him. Although her friendship with Jan-di is never re-established, she and Jan-di do reconcile before she leaves the school after her sabotage is exposed.
So Yi-jeong's estranged elder brother. He leaves the family home after Yi-jeong is chosen to take over the family business and stops contact with his younger brother in order to live a normal life.
So Yi-jeong's childhood friend and first love. She winds up teaching pottery and crosses paths with Yi-jeong after disappearing for 3 years.
Seo Min-ji as Jang Yu-mi
A patient at the same hospital Gu Jun-pyo is admitted to after being hit by a car. She falls in love with Jun-pyo and pushes her way into his life by taking advantage of his amnesia.
Jung Eui-chul as Lee Min-ha / Lee Jae-ha (model Haje)
A suicidal student that Geum Jan-di saves / Min-ha's vengeful brother, who vows revenge against Gu Jun-pyo by hurting Geum Jan-di.
SS501 - special performance of "UR MAN" (cameo, episode 4)
Differences from the manga
In the manga, the characters are in high school in season 1, but F4 (minus Domyoji) attends Eitoku University in season 2. In the Korean version, the characters are also in high school, but the F4 move on to Shinhwa University from episode 13 onwards. Shinhwa High School and Shinhwa University are located within the same campus.
The relationship between the two characters Sojiroh and Yuki (Yi-jeong and Ga-eul in the Korean version) is merely hinted. In the Korean version, their relationship gradually develops throughout the series, having their own significant plotline instead of acting as a subplot.
Yoon Ji-hoo has a more significant role in Geum Jan-di's life than the Taiwanese and Japanese versions, more strongly depicted as a romantic companion for most of the drama.
Woo-bin's family does not appear in this version, nor is he only interested in older women.
How Geum Jan-di came to attend the same school as F4 is changed completely. In the manga version, Makino's parents sent her to Eitoku against her wishes to attend another high school with her middle school friends because they thought in order to increase chances for Makino to marry a rich guy, she will need to go to a school full of rich people. In the Japanese TV series, Makino decides to apply for Eitoku after seeing Shizuka Todou at the briefing session, wanting to become an amazing person like her. Yet in the Korean version, Jan-di saves a student from committing suicide while delivering laundry (her family owns a dry-cleaning business), and in order to subdue the negative press from the incident, Shinhwa Group offers her a scholarship to the school. Geum Jan-di is reluctant to attend and at first declines, but complied because of parental pressure and because the school has a state-of-the-art swimming pool (she is a competitive swimmer).
Reception
Boys Over Flowers attracted high viewership ratings and buzz throughout South Korea during its broadcast in 2009, and created another Korean Wave throughout Asia. The cast members became household names and shot to stardom overnight, and after the series ended, several of them became the faces of various endorsements and advertisements. The show is credited with launching the career of its lead actor, Lee Min-ho, who had previously appeared in a small number of low-budget high school dramas.
During its broadcast, the series influenced South Korean men to take their appearances more seriously to copy the metrosexual or "pretty boy" image (kkotminam, lit. "men as beautiful as flowers") of the F4 characters in the drama. This led to an increase in South Korean males wearing cosmetics, preppy and cruise outfits, and clothing in traditionally more feminine looks like the color pink and floral prints.
The Seoul chapter of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) criticized the series for being the epitome of materialism and the Cinderella complex, saying it sets a bad example for Korean dramas by depicting school violence, and teenagers indulging in pleasure and prejudice toward others based on their appearance and social class. The YWCA report also singled out the leading female character (Geum Jan-di) for being passive and dependent.
International broadcast
Japan: A special preview of the series aired on March 21, 2009. The series then officially aired on Hallyu Channel Mnet every Sunday at 7:30 p.m. starting on April 12, 2009. It also aired on terrestrial channel TBS and its cable channel BS-TBS.
Taiwan: It aired on CTV beginning May 10, 2009, on Sundays at 10 p.m. GTV also aired the series starting from May 16, on Saturdays at 9 p.m.
Singapore: It aired on Mediacorp's Channel U starting from May 16, 2009 every Saturday at 9.30 p.m., together with Taiwan's GTV (Channel U broadcast the Taiwan version).
Hong Kong: It aired on May 10, 2009 on Hong Kong's biggest television network, Television Broadcasts Limited, specifically its channel intended for a younger audience TVB J2.
Philippines: It aired on ABS-CBN on May 11, 2009. It was first re-aired on UHF channel Studio 23 on April 19, 2010. And now its re-aired on cable channel Jeepney TV on August 18, 2014. It is also available to stream with subtitles on Iflix.
Indonesia: It aired on Indosiar every Monday and Tuesday at 10.30 p.m., starting from June 1, 2009 and It aired on RCTI every Monday to Friday at 01.30 p.m., starting from January 2, 2015. It is also available to stream with subtitles on Iflix.
Thailand: It aired on BBTV Channel 7 Bangkok every Saturday and Sunday at 9.15 a.m. starting from July 4, 2009. Repeat telecast every Monday to Thursday at 3.10 a.m. starting from December 30, 2015. It is also available to stream with subtitles on Iflix.
Hong Kong-based-pan-Asian TV channel Xing Kong aired the series on July 8, 2009, as part of the "Boys Over Flowers Trilogy" along with the Taiwanese and Japanese versions.
Vietnam: It aired on H1 (Hanoi Television) beginning June 24, 2009, from Mondays to Thursdays at 9 p.m. The copyright was held by TVM and it also aired on HTV3 every weekend at 9:00 p.m. beginning August 22, 2009.
Malaysia: It aired on 8TV (Astro channel 708), starting from December 16, 2009, dubbed in Mandarin with Malay subtitles. Later on, in 2015, it has re-broadcast again at NTV7 Monday to Friday on 12:00 am until 1:00 pm. It is also available to stream with subtitles on Iflix.
Canada: It aired in Vancouver on SHAW Multicultural Channel (119) weekdays from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. with English subtitles.
Israel: It began airing on September 3, 2010 on Viva Platina Channel, 2 episodes every Friday.
United States: Hulu started streaming the full 25 episodes in August 2010.
Chile: It began airing on April 16, 2012 on Etc...TV and sister station MEGA.
Turkey: It began airing on December 1, 2012 on TRT Okul.
Lebanon: It began airing on March 23, 2013 on MBC 4, dubbed as Ayam al Zohor.
India: It began airing on May 12, 2014 on Puthuyugam TV, daily from 7:00-8:00 p.m. (with reruns at 10:30-11:30 p.m., and the next day at 2:00-3:00 p.m.), dubbed in Tamil. as K-series
Sri Lanka: It premiered on August 11, 2014 on TV Derana, Monday to Friday 8:30 p.m - 9:00 p.m, dubbed in Sinhala. It is also available to stream with subtitles on Iflix.
DVD licensing
In North America, YA Entertainment released the series in two DVD box sets; volume one was released in November 2009 and volume two in December 2009.
