Chinese Drama: Skip Beat! (華麗的挑戰)

Rating: 7/10

Skip Beat! (華麗的挑戰) (スキップ・ビート!) is based on the Japanese manga by Yoshiki Nakamura. There is also an anime by the same name. The story is basically the same - The main girl devotes her life to her boyfriend to help his further his ambitions into becoming a top star in the entertainment industry. However, she finds out that he has been using her as a maid and becomes extremely angry. She vows to become a bigger star than him and thus, her quest for revenge begins.

Pros: The story of course. I like this version better than the anime.At least the main characters make their feelings better known (enough though it's not to each other). The show was done in a great pace - not too long and much going on in one episode.

Cons: I was sad that there's only 15 episodes. I was hoping there would be more since I wasn't satisfied with the ending - it was too abrupt. I wanted to see a bit more about her success as an actress. I also wanted to see Sho try to win the girl back. I also wished they expanded more about the characters Ren and her friend whose also in Love Me. I also wanted to see her end up with Ren!! (*^@%$%)

Differences: There are some minor differences, of course. If I remember correctly, Sho (the jerk ex-boyfriend who used her) was blond in the anime and Ren has black hair. Also, the Chinese drama was a bit more exaggerated with her little inner demons that come out to play when she doesn't get her way. The chicken suit also plays a bigger part in the Chinese drama since it is also one of her first on camera jobs (unlike the anime where the chicken suit was just a random costume she found). I watched this Japanese anime a while back and was extremely disappointed with the ending.

Favorite parts: 

• My favorite part in the anime was when she did Sho's music video and she totally showed him up and he was stunned at her acting ability. This scene is still one of my favorites even in the Chinese drama.
• My favorite part that isn't in the anime is the kitchen scene in the drama. It was very well thought out and it made me hold my breath.
• Another part the drama did really well is how the friendship between the two girls developed. Too bad they didn't really expand more about the friend.

Main Cast (courtesy of DramaWiki):

• Ivy Chen as Gong Xi 宮囍
• Choi Si Won as Dun He Lian 敦賀蓮 (dubbed by Xie Kun Da ep.1-2, Nylon Chen ep.3-)
• Lee Dong Hae as Bu Puo Shang 不破尚 (dubbed by Darren from 浪花兄弟The Drifters)
• Bianca Bai as Jiang Nan Qin 江南琴