Hana Yori Dango is the first of the F4 Flower Boy series dramas that I personally saw.  It was also a drama that fully helped endear me to Japanese dramas in general.  I actually found out about this drama through Matsumoto Jun.  When I first started my life as a drama enthusiast watching Gokusen.  It’s a bit of an odd choice but a great one for me as it introduced me to a fabulous group of Japanese stars including Nakama Yuki and male actors to swoon over like Oguri Shun and Matsumoto Jun.  And swoon I did, so much so that I preceded to follow up that drama with as many as I could find with these particular two starring.  And of course, in that research I came across the epic Hana Yori Dango.

Seeing that it was based off of the original Japanese manga, I knew it would likely be good and instantly through the first episode was swept into the realm of the flower boys.  Maybe it’s just me, but the appearance of Matsumoto Jun in this drama reminds me a bit of the King himself – the king of Pop that is – Michael Jackson.  Call me crazy but I think he gives off the same glittery suited up feel as Michael at his sexiest – but with a deadly badass feel that makes you like and hate him at the same time.  And THAT is intriguing.

Tie into that the smexy Oguri Shun as a blonde (not my favorite hair color on the guy btw), A young and debonair Matsuda Shota and you’ve got quite the impressionable cast.  This is not to say that the other F4’s don’t have anything going for them.  However, this just may be my personal favorite crew.

To me, it’s almost like a german chocolate cake.  It’s a bit unusual but is rich, and comforting with a dark edge to it all.  As I turned on the first episode and started to get chills as I remembered the first time I watched it.

I love how rewatching dramas has the ability to do that – to to take you back to other places and times where you were not the person you are now.  It’s a bit sad that I haven’t seen Matsumoto Jun in as many dramas recently, and that Oguri Shun has become a married man who does maybe one drama a year.  In watching though I could remember the excitement over seeing these guys that were close to my age in their youth and how I fan-girled over them then and still deep down fan-girl over them still.  There’s a lot of young and cute actors coming into the drama world but to me these 3 will always be some of my first Jdrama actor loves.

And to me, that makes this drama epic!

Who was the first Asian actor or actress that captured your heart?