Did we somehow magically get transported back to 2003?
Filipino clothing brand Bench shared a video on its Instagram account yesterday teasing fans about their newest endorser, Meteor Garden 2018’s very own Dao Ming Si, Dylan Wang.
Bench doesn’t explicitly mention his name but the clues are enough.
Tingnan ang post na ito sa Instagram
Wang also posted the same video on his Instagram yesterday, which is pretty much a confirmation.
Bench’s caption reads: “It all started in 2003 when Jerry Yan of the Meteor Garden fame became a #GlobalBENCHsetter. Then, in 2013, Lee Min Ho from the hit Korean remake Boys over Flowers made our hearts swoon. Fast forward to 2018-who could this be?! Manila, ARE YOU READY??? #BENCHisF4EVER.”
That last hashtag is witty AF.
This was accompanied by a teaser video with photos of Bench endorsements featuring Yan and Lee. The video also includes a photo of Wang (his face isn’t seen fully) and a joker card, an obvious reference to the 2018 Chinese remake of Meteor Garden.
In the latest version of the show, the F4 — the most popular boys in school — send a joker card to people they want to challenge in a game of Bridge. It’s the much less violent version of the “red card” which previous versions of the show used as a warning given to people the F4 will bully.
This may all sound like mumbo-jumbo to the uninitiated but to many Filipinos, it’s common pop culture knowledge.
The Meteor Garden franchise is huge in the Philippines. It all started in 2003 when the Taiwanese version of the show starring Yan premiered on the local channel ABS-CBN and instantly became a phenomenon.
Based on the Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers), it tells the story of Shan Cai, a girl who falls in love with Dao Ming Si, the leader of F4.
Meteor Garden‘s massive success brought the show’s stars to the Philippines including Yan and the rest of the F4. Remember Yan’s “Dao shall wear Bench” ad?
The franchise remains popular to this day and even went viral last week when Netflix announced that it will be available on the streaming platform.
But perhaps more importantly, the first Meteor Garden started Filipinos’ love affair with Asian TV dramas. Before that, soap operas on Philippine TV were mostly local shows or dubbed telenovelas (soap operas) from Latin America.
Meteor Garden was followed by a number of Asian dramas, mostly from South Korea, including the Meteor Garden remake Boys Over Flowers starring Lee. In it, Lee plays Gu Jun-pyo, the show’s version of Dao Ming Si.
Boys Over Flowers also aired on ABS-CBN and was a hit. Like Yan, Lee ended up becoming an endorser for Bench as well.
In August, ABS-CBN premiered the latest version starring Wang. This was met with mixed reactions because the deal meant the show wouldn’t be available on Netflix in the Philippines.
Still, many are excited over Bench’s latest announcement and hope Wang visits Manila soon.
Guess F4 is forever.
What’s your favorite version of Meteor Garden and F4? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @CoconutsManila.
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