Final Impressions / First Impressions / Hana Yori Dango

Summary:
Tsukasa was actually kidnapped by Nishida and taken to his mother’s office. At the Teen of Japan competition, the first round consists of a talent competition. While Kurimaki Ayano shows that she can play the violin, Tsukushi demonstrates a defensive maneuver used against molesters. To everyone’s surprise, she makes it into round two which judges their fashion sense. Tsukushi takes the longest to choose an outfit, but it ends up getting shredded by the three bitchy girls. But when Tsukushi goes onstage with the torn outfit on, the French judge absolutely loves it. She advances to round three, a test of their English skills. Sakurako, who got eliminated in the fashion round, decides to help Tsukushi write her speech about the importance of family, and Tsukushi delivers it without a hitch.
The judges choose Ayano as one of the finalists, and let the other four contestants rock-paper-scissors for the last spot. Tsukushi wins and advances to the final round, but the audience starts to jeer her. Tsukasa comes back – having made a deal with his mother – and silences the crowd. The last challenge involves spending time with a group of young children. Ayano gathers the kids around the piano and starts to sings songs to them. Tsukushi is left with four brats who resemble a mini-F4. She ends up winning them over by pretending to be one of them and challenging them to games. When the other children see how much fun Tsukushi and the mini-F4 are having, they leave Ayano to join Tsukushi. At the end of the round, the children can’t decide who was better, so the final decision is left with the real judges.
The judges award Ayano with the grand prize, but also decide to give Tsukushi a special prize of one million yen. By now, the entire crowd is on Tsukushi’s side after having seen how well she performed with the kids, and they start chanting her name. However, the person Tsukushi most wants to see, Tsukasa, leaves after she loses and doesn’t go to the victory party. He eventually does calls and sets up a date with her, promising the other 4 million yen she still needs. When Tsukushi goes home, she’s overjoyed to find out that her father isn’t fired after all, and is getting a special two rank promotion to section chief. Makino prepares her clothes for the date, and even decides to make a little something in the kitchen.
But the next day, Rui shows up in Tsukasa’s place and gives Tsukushi the gift that Tsukasa wanted to give her. The deal that Tsukasa had made with his mother was that if Tsukushi didn’t win, then Tsukasa would go to New York to study in business school for three years. Tsukushi tries to shrug this news off, but Rui urges her to chase after him. He sends her to the airport in one of his cars, and starts walking off alone. However, he’s astonished to see a familiar someone walking towards him – Shizuka. She tells him that she’s here to spend Christmas with the person she likes.
In the car, Tsukushi opens Tsukasa’s Christmas gift: a necklace with a Saturn pendant. Tsukushi rushes onto the runway where Tsukasa’s plane is taking off. Tsukasa and his mother eventually catch sight of her running alongside the airplane. In a moment of kindness, his mother stops the plane, saying that she forgot her sunglasses. Tsukasa tells Tsukushi how important she is to him, and how they should be together. After Tsukushi admits that she’s in love with him, the two embrace and kiss. In the conclusion, everyone seems to be having a happy Christmas. On the plane, Tsukasa opens the present that Tsukushi gave him: a cookie made in the shape of his face. Back in Japan, Tsukushi stands alone outside alone, but she’s happy to have the necklace to remind her of their love.

Everything about this episode screams cheesy! Heart-wrenching speech about family? Check. Five million in debt resolved and father gets his job back AND a promotion on top of that? Check. Every member of F4 paired up in some way, including the unlikely return of Shizuka for Rui? Check. Kiss scene during the sunset? Check. Merry Christmases all around? Check. My major pet peeves are actually bratty kids and bad engrish (not that there’s necessarily good engrish), both of which also made it into this final episode.
But you know what? Despite all of that, I still overall enjoyed the episode. I came into the final episode expecting this type of conclusion and that’s pretty much what I got. All of the major plot lines get resolved without the pacing feeling rushed, and I do give them credit for having Tsukasa continue on to New York, instead of staying in Japan for the happiest of endings. This way, the two can work towards their own futures while remembering their love. Or something like that anyway…

Final Thoughts: For me, the Hana Yori Dango drama starts with a lot of momentum, falters a bit in the middle, but comes together again at the end to deliver a happy ending. The F4 cast bothered me a little at the beginning, but I’ve grown to enjoy their roles, especially Sojiro and Akira. I admit that I never liked the Tsukasa and Tsukushi pairing from the manga, but after having watched this drama, I feel a bit more favorable towards them. All in all, it’s a great Japanese adaptation of the manga, comparable to the Taiwanese drama.

63 Comments

  3. After watching it, I only have one word to say…BEAUTIFUL!!!

    This episode was SO WELL DONE that tears were running down my cheeks! It totally bypassed my expectations. The confession scene complete with the sunset and kiss. So corny, yet so beautiful! Love was truly in the air, and right on the Christmas season too! I could go on about thousand other good things about this episode, but I just have one question left; Who was that present from that Tsubaki received? O_O

    Ah, I remember it like yesterday that Tsukushi punched Tsukasa across his ugly face. The series was just that short T_T

    Rasmiel
    Reply

  4. wth……………………he left? ……………….what is with every fricken series..where the guy leaves to study abroad…and such? it’s so played out…man..-_-‘…………………………..esp the christmas thing too..reminds me of Devil Beside you..-_-‘……….*sighs* …….

    fsskf
    Reply

  8. Still waiting for the download to finish (SIGH!), but from Omni’s description of the episode, it’s more or less what I expected. There was no way they were going to end it badly just before Christmas.

    I know a lot of people liked the manga, the anime series or Meteor Garden, but in my opinion, this was better written than all of those. I have read, watched all of those while the series was being aired, so my impressions are still fresh. I think the manga author’s strength was her ability to create interesting personalities, but she never seemed to know what to do with them once she’d created them. The J series author inherited a lot of very soapy plotlines and did a decent job of paring them down. I especially liked that the 4 guys’ roles were better balanced. For once they WERE the F4, not the F2.5!

    I liked the actor choices for most roles, unlike a lot of people. Overall, if the last episode is as described, I think it was a very good dorama. If they do a sequel, I hope they depart from the manga storyline altogether and start with Tsukushi’s graduation from Eitoku. New York isn’t Antarctica, after all. Why couldn’t they stay in contact? Okay, I AM a happily-ever-after addict, but unlike Omni, I think they were a good match, and I’ve known real couples to survive much bigger obstacles.

    I’m glad this site exists and I think Omni did a good job of distracting me while I waited for the traffic jam to subside when each episode was posted. Arigatou!!

    SakuraG
    Reply

  12. “See you soon” probably/mostly means TBS is going to have a special HANA episode[1hr] or several mini ones [around 5 min] , but I don’t think it’s going to have another season….Well, the ending is pretty much as same as the manga ending, so yeah…dun think Yoko Kamio sensei is going to spend another 10 years drawing another set….

    HANA
    Reply

  13. I think you guys are over analyzing the “see you soon!” line. Lines like those are not meant to be practical, as they are in western shows. But who knows, it could be different for HYD.

    Rasmiel
    Reply

  14. I was a little dissapointed with this episode, but in the end it was okay. I wish Tsukushi and Doumyouji shared a little more lip lock, though its understandble since Inoue Mao is still very young. Hey, it did look like they had a nice kiss though. Haha, I hope to at least see a little special, after this series. I want a marriage scene!! Hehe, though it will probably never happen.

    Aki.gawa
    Reply

  17. I liked this ending episode a lot! I agree with Omni that they did a good job tidying everything up and basically followed the main story line. Looking back now, I do think they did a good job shortening the long story into a 9-episode dorama — a lot of thought went into selecting the sub-characters to combine or get rid of, and the story lines to elaborate or move to other places. For example, Sakurako basically got the job of 4-5 sub-characters in the manga, which was a very hard thing to do, but they pulled it off reasonably well. And moving the TOJ competition to the climax, at first boggled me, but in the last episode, I can see that it is a very good way to end the story and tidy up all the loose ends. The Saturn necklace and Tsukasa cookie scenes are also taken from the earlier part of the original story and used in the ending, I believe it is also done pretty well as a symbolism of the T & T relationship entering a new stage. In conclusion, although the J Drama did a lot of shuffling of the manga story line, and I’ve had some problem with the F4’s appearance, they did maintain the overall spirit of the story to make it an enjoyable show. In fact, at the beginning I thought Matsumoto Jun was completely unsuitable to play Tsukasa, in terms of appearance, of course, but at the end, I believe he grew on me! ^^” I still have to say that I love the manga much much more, because it goes in depth and there are so many poignant feelings and scenes between T&T that makes the relationship much more heart-wrenching and memorable… @@~

    Sushi
    Reply

  18. i really liked this episode!!! the only part that bothered me was the engrish. =9 but i hafta i say, they wrapped up everything so beautifully!!! i was so afraid the ending will feel rushed, but none of that happened. im so happy with the ending! i love the cheesy moments!! and really, i love how they always had tsukasa stay in character (ex. in the end, when he saw the cookie was said it looked bad xDDD)

    -cindy*
    Reply

  20. Wait, business school? Maybe I’m wrong, but don’t most American business schools require that you’ve gone to college? Does Tsukasa even have a high school diploma?

    But maybe I’m just being nit-picky because I don’t want the series to be over. So what if the last episode was cheesy? The series could be very cheesy but was still incredibly enjoyable, and one of my favorite things to watch for the past several weeks.

    Thanks so much for blogging this! It really helped me not go completely mad waiting for the subs.

    bellatora
    Reply

  21. I think the ‘see you soon’ might mean that there will either be a special or a second season.. It didn’t seem like that line was a direct thought of Tsukushi’s about seeing Tsukasa in the future, but maybe it was directed towards the audience.

    I really loved this finale. Cheesy? Yes it was, but it met my expectations. I wasn’t fully happy with the manga ending, but seeing real actors act out the scene where Tsukasa leaves for NY, it not only stayed true to the manga ending but it made me understand more. Not to mention, the see you soon part.. I believe there will be a second season.. As for that sunset kiss. I thought it was perfect! along with that Show Spoiler ▼

    it was just great.

    Overall, it’s definitely a great adaptation of HYD. It exceeded my expectations!

    loved it
    Reply

  23. OH MY GOSH !

    This is one of the most beautifull movie I’ve ever seen ! Tears really fell down like rain, especially in the last episode. And I really enjoyed the relationship between Tsukushi and Tsukasa. Especially the childish actions of Tsukasa, when it comes to falling in love, how to love etc. It was really funny.
    But though, I didn’t read the mangga story, I was wondering if there will be another season…
    I really hope so ! Oh, I read that not everyone was able to see all episodes. Well good news,
    I’ve found a website with al the 9 episodes including english subtitle, I also watched it from there. But you can only watch it if you free register. Just go to: http://www2.aznv.tv/default.aspx/en/drama/p.iD-NzY=/

    Really, hurry up, You really don’t want to miss a thing 😉
    I know it, I’m the best 😀 Hehehe….

    MyaPia
    Reply

  27. Hey i was just wondering, even though i read the summary and spoiled the whole episode for myself i want to watch it but i can’t find any websites or something where i can download the episode and it can’t be a torrent file cuz those confuse me very very much! if u can can u guys help me out and e-mail me how to get episode 9 of HYD because that all i need(just e-mail me) Thx

    Nadine
    Reply

  33. I’ve watched the entire series about 4 times. At first it was a little strange since I did see the Taiwanese version first but after watching it several times, I’ve come to like the Japanese version better. I didn’t like how the story lagged and dragged for eternities in Meteor Garden and I also didn’t like all the extras inserted and added to the drama.

    The Japanese version was short, sweet, and memorable in my humble opinion. I also like the ending. It gave me such an open end that it made me want more of it.

    All in all, I thought it was romantic, comedic, and enjoyable.

    Hello
    Reply

  35. I agree with Omni over two things — this is a GOOD ENDING and that this is better than Meteor Garden. (I mean, come on… I love Jerry Yan playing the Taiwanese Tsukasa, but he’s better off being in still photos than acting!)

    As for the “See you soon,” there’s not going to be a second season. It’s so Japanese to have bittersweet endings. They have things like this all the time in their anime and drama and no “happy ever after” endings come. The Japanese are like that — they leave their endings open-ended so that it satisfies their audience and YET… leaves them thinking to themselves what might have been in the end. (So this is why most anime have been cult favorites.)

    I actually thought there were a lot of cheesy parts in this ending… but come on… the fact that they’re SUPER RICH isn’t even likely in Japan. (Only the Yakuza drive in limousines and politicians even go to the malls without bodyguards.) But the best part of the entire series is that Tsukasa remained consistent with his “bully” character turning soft because of Makino.

    I love that they changed some parts from the anime and manga, but retained its entire soul. And the acting is GREAT too! (And I could never ever understand how Ayano turned out to be beautiful. @_@)

    Naomi
    Reply

  37. I heard that there are a couple specials out for this show that went straight to DVD, like one or two extra episodes. Does anyone know anything else about that? I’m actually buying the DVDs for this show off of ebay. I’m quite excited.

    -candace-
    Reply

  41. The ending is touching with the kiss between Tsukasa & Tsukushi, but… pity for Tsukushi! Tsukasa did say he will come back, but it’s 3 years, man! The ending of the episode is good but I think it’s better if they make a longer version of it. I mean, they should add an episode where the plot of Tsukasa’s engagement with Ayano is clearer. And also Tsukushi has a new friend in High School and he likes her! (he’s an old friend, in the manga he’s called Kazuya I think) Tsukasa is always bothered by Ayano and Tsukushi is always bothered by Kazuya. At last Tsukasa graduated and found out that Ayano always bother him just becoz of his money. This makes Tsukasa so mad becoz he thought that Ayano truly loved him (even though he didn’t like her, of course). Tsukasa shouted at Ayano, saying that she’s the same like the other girls. He immediately returned to Japan. Meanwhile, Kazuya says to Tsukushi that he loves her. He heard all about Domyoji from Sojiro, Akira, & Rui. He said that Domyoji didn’t actually care about her becoz he tortured her at first and didn’t do anything to make his mom admit Tsukushi. Kazuya said that it was Tsukushi who tried hard so Tsukasa’s mom admits her. It was Tsukasa at first who liked Tsukushi, so it should be Tsukasa who was responsible. Kazuya said that he promised he wouldn’t hurt Tsukushi and always protect her. But Tsukushi said sorry to Kazuya and said that she still loved the stupid and stubborn Tsukasa. Kazuya at last accepts it and they promise to be good friends forever. The next day, Tsukasa arrived at Japan. He immediately goes to Tsukushi’s house. Tsukushi was, of course, stunned to see Tsukasa. Then they go to Domyoji Heliport Tower, where they can see Saturn. Tsukasa said sorry for making Tsukushi wait for so long. Tsukushi said it’s okay. She pointed at the necklace and said that she never felt lonely becoz Tsukasa promised that he would come back. Tsukasa was touched and hugged Tsukushi. They both kissed. The next day, Tsukasa went to his house in Japan and gathered with F4 and Tsukushi. F4 said that they just got a phone from Tsukasa’s mom. She said that now she really admits Tsukushi and Ayano is fine. She said she never liked Tsukasa in the first place becoz he is stubborn and temperament. Now she’s planning her own wedding with some merchant. Tsukushi is glad becoz she doesn’t hurt Ayano’s feelings. Then Tsukushi and Tsukasa can be together 4ever. The episode ends with a kiss. That would be great! Sorry if the story is so long. It’s just that if they make a sequel, the plot story won’t be that good, since if you look at Meteor Garden II, the plot story isn’t as good as the first one. It would be dissappointing if Hana Yori Dango does the same, so it’s better if they add one or two episodes about the life of Tsukushi & Tsukasa separately. Then Tsukasa returns to Japan and be together with Tsukushi 4ever!!! Horray!!!

    Irina
    Reply

  43. Hahhaahha!!!!!!!! ako masaya na meron na din akong copy nyan akalain mo bang birthday ko pa pinalabas yan October 21…. kung gusto niyo tong mapanood pwede kayong pumunta ng http://www.youtube.com at i type ang HANA YORi DANGO 1 or Hana Yori Dango lang…
    >>>>>>>>>>>>.Arigato! Im Camille

    Camcliffe4
    Reply

  44. I’ll say I still don’t like the tsukushixtsukasa pairing much..-_- in the end it still didn’t feel like Tsukushi liked Tsukasa much. Pretty much undecided about her feelings due the lack of time to develop their relationship. (But I’m biased anyway XD) The way Shizuka showed up at the end wasn’t the best either.. nothing was explained about what happened after Rui left France.

    I expected more twists to the ending.. but I’m still clinging on to the hope of “see you soon” XD~

    may
    Reply

  45. i think that.. the ending was awesome. and personally, i saw this drama much better than the tai ‘meteor garden’, it was good to see that the directors for HYD were able to put in that extra money to boost the wealth factor and mayb it’s just me but i found jun matsu- much more enchanting than the tai f4.
    i like the ‘cheesiness’ og this drama. i thought it was all cool and cute =] shame to see domyouji still fly off but then at least it’s not the all typical happy ending that everyone expected.
    the anime was interesting and i thought that it was a shame that tsukushi’s childhood friend kazuya[i’m not sure if that’s his name or not ^^”) was left out of this story cos he would have been an interesting character and it would been funny to see jun try to ‘beat’ him.
    over all, i liked it very much and the cast was cuuute *coughjuncough* i can tell that this is going to be something that i’ll rewatch later on.

    nozomu
    Reply

  48. well it was pretty good…but… it was weird how he left to go to business school for 3 years… and what happens afterwards???? i wanna knoowwwwww!!!!!!!!! This series were great tho! XD ahhh lol

    Elle crystal
    Reply

  56. OMG!! I absolutely LOVE HANA YORI DANGO,
    much more than WORDS CAN SAY!!
    It’s like the BEST SHOW EVER!!
    I just can’t get enough of it!
    I LOVE Hanazawa Rui aka Oguri Shun!! (jap- version)!!
    Oh and there is gonna be a season 2!!
    Coming out January 17th i think 2007!
    Airing on tbs; 5th January 2007 on like 10:00 p.m!!
    (season 2)
    YAY!!
    =]

    Panda29
    Reply

  59. i watched the whole series in just one day after my friend lent me her dvd boxset. damn, i’m in love! haha at first i though tsukasa was ugly but he turned out to be so kawaii-desu in the end! i also watched my dvd boxset of meteor garden all over again just to compare the two. while meteor garden follows the manga faithfully, hana yori dango goes straight to the point though i would’ve liked it better if they didn’t cut the crucial plotlines such as tsukasa trying to rape tsukushi and when tsukushi was beaten up tsukasa goes to save her. however, i hv to say that this f4 is actually much hotter (matsumoto and matsuda!!) and they really look the part unlike their taiwanese counterpart who look like ordinary people instead of super rich. overall, i have to say that the japanese one caught my heart more because it goes straight to the point and i enjoy every (cheesy) moment. ps: the target audience are teenage girls, so cheesy is a must!!! :p

    nylda
    Reply

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