I Love You

Although this Taiwan television mini-series only airs once a week and story is a bit slow, I’ve been patiently following it. Why? Because it’s interesting to see Vic Zhou’s acting improve and mature since “Meteor Garden” days. Patty Hou’s acting is sometimes good and at times, too unreal. But in general, she is tolerable. I personally don’t care much for the other characters of the story, as they are not as engaging to me. But finally the story is picking up in episode 11 with Patty finally leaving “Little Bear” restaurant to learn from another chef master.

I don’t quite understand why Asian netizens prefer “Romantic Princess”. I find the story and characters boring. Quite disappointing since I liked Wu Chun in “Hana Kimi”, and Angela Chang in “MVP Lover”. “Romantic Princess” is definitely not one of their best works.

After watching three episodes of “Romantic Princess”, I’m convinced that nothing more can be expected out of it. You can definitely tell that it’s not written by Paul Haggis. The only reason that I am still watching the series is Wu Chun, eye candy. Unfortunately, even the character he portrays, Nan Feng Jing, does not measure up to my expectations. On the surface, Nan Feng Jing is very aloof but inside he yearns for someone to love him wholeheartedly. Of course, along comes Xiao Mai (played by Angela Chang) and he softens up. Ho hum. Do I still need to continue? It all sounds too familiar. It’s like the Taiwan version of “Palace“, only with less interesting script and performance.

While it is a very common for many Asian romantic dramas use the same formula for their plot, “Romantic Princess” could have done better if more efforts were put on the building the characters of the story, the dialogues were far too flat, the on screen chemistry between the lead characters is also lacking. I don’t believe I expect too much, but really it’s hard to convince me that the other three rich guys (aside from Nan Feng Jing) are supposed to be handsome. Can’t the director do better than that at casting the show? There was also much hype about Wu Chun and Angela spending much time practicing dancing. I hope fans don’t wind up falling asleep before they even see the part. Is Taiwan only able to produce decent shows from stories adapted from Japanese manga? I look forward to the day when new breed of talented and creative Taiwanese screenwriters would raise the standard of Taiwan shows.

I found this news this morning. Although it says “Romantic Princess” is more popular, I’m still gonna have to check “Delicious Relationship” to see for myself.

According to newsource, “Romantic Princess”is number one in Taiwan’s current viewership rating. The company also mention that they may extend Angela Chang’s contract because of her stellar acting.

Some viewers complained that Wu Chun’s part is too small in “Romantic Princess”. The charming actor smiles in response, “It’s just the first episode, what happens in the following episodes will be surprising.” When asked for a comment about the negative reviews about the show, Wu Chun responds “If there’s comments, it means people are watching. That’s always a good thing.”

The original manga is a 10 chapter story. The television miniseries will have 11 episodes.