'some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed
some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed
some say love, it is a hunger
an endless aching need
i say love, it is a flower
and you its only seed'
There's this song called The Rose, and i'm listening to Ken Hirai's version of it (album: Ken's Bar). There are other versions, but i like this one. One of the other versions is part of the soundtrack of a Taiwanese drama series - called the Rose (what else). Not a new one, but i've watched it on and off, finally managing to see the whole thing from the beginning to the end. Now how do i say this? If i had kept watching till the end, a couple of years ago - perhaps my reaction would be different. i dunno.
What i do know now is - it's a very interesting story that was actually daring to make, and could have probably courted controversy when published originally. Adapted from the manga 'Bara no Tameni' (the love song of the rose) by Akemi Yoshimura, the story had connotations of incest and homosexuality. About Yuri who, on the same day she is dumped by her boyfriend, arrives home to discover her grandmother dead. Left penniless, she relieved to find she still has family - a mother whom she never knew - a beautiful and famous actress (whose name i don't know in Japanese, can someone please enlighten).
Anyway, she packs up all her stuff and goes to seek refuge with her longlost parent. But she arrives to discover that her siblings (all beautiful, beautiful people) are mean and her mother hates her. She ends up acting as a servant and a drudge.
And then there's the mystery of her birth. Okay, up to this point, it might seem a tad too melodrama to you. Hold your horses, cos it's funny also. The siblings are so nasty, you love them. Yuri - sometimes want to slap her but lovable also.
I'm only still at volume four of the manga, even though i've watched the DVD twice. We all know how those people would take liberties with the original stories. So far, i can understand why this manga had its fans. Am i one? Yeah, i suppose. If you look beyond those connotations (like when the younger brother slips into the older half brother's room to steal a kiss), you'll discover that in the end, everything becomes okay. Plus, it made the careers of co-stars, Joe Cheng and Ella (S.H.E.).
or you could like William Blake - choose to see it as oh rose, thou art sick!
i choose not to, yet. At least, i loved the TV Drama. Now i shall withold my verdict until i read all the volumes of the manga. For like the Rose, it has thorns - those 'difficult to swallow' ideas. Strip them away and you have a beautiful flower.
that drowns the tender reed
some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed
some say love, it is a hunger
an endless aching need
i say love, it is a flower
and you its only seed'
There's this song called The Rose, and i'm listening to Ken Hirai's version of it (album: Ken's Bar). There are other versions, but i like this one. One of the other versions is part of the soundtrack of a Taiwanese drama series - called the Rose (what else). Not a new one, but i've watched it on and off, finally managing to see the whole thing from the beginning to the end. Now how do i say this? If i had kept watching till the end, a couple of years ago - perhaps my reaction would be different. i dunno.
What i do know now is - it's a very interesting story that was actually daring to make, and could have probably courted controversy when published originally. Adapted from the manga 'Bara no Tameni' (the love song of the rose) by Akemi Yoshimura, the story had connotations of incest and homosexuality. About Yuri who, on the same day she is dumped by her boyfriend, arrives home to discover her grandmother dead. Left penniless, she relieved to find she still has family - a mother whom she never knew - a beautiful and famous actress (whose name i don't know in Japanese, can someone please enlighten).
Anyway, she packs up all her stuff and goes to seek refuge with her longlost parent. But she arrives to discover that her siblings (all beautiful, beautiful people) are mean and her mother hates her. She ends up acting as a servant and a drudge.
And then there's the mystery of her birth. Okay, up to this point, it might seem a tad too melodrama to you. Hold your horses, cos it's funny also. The siblings are so nasty, you love them. Yuri - sometimes want to slap her but lovable also.
I'm only still at volume four of the manga, even though i've watched the DVD twice. We all know how those people would take liberties with the original stories. So far, i can understand why this manga had its fans. Am i one? Yeah, i suppose. If you look beyond those connotations (like when the younger brother slips into the older half brother's room to steal a kiss), you'll discover that in the end, everything becomes okay. Plus, it made the careers of co-stars, Joe Cheng and Ella (S.H.E.).
or you could like William Blake - choose to see it as oh rose, thou art sick!
i choose not to, yet. At least, i loved the TV Drama. Now i shall withold my verdict until i read all the volumes of the manga. For like the Rose, it has thorns - those 'difficult to swallow' ideas. Strip them away and you have a beautiful flower.
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