Kiseki: Dear to Me - Taiwan

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This series is based on the bestselling Y novel 'Dear to Me' written by Lin Pei Yu (screenwriter of 'HIStory 2 Crossing The Line', 'HIStory 3 Trapped' and 'We Best Love'). The origin of the story is quite convoluted since it started out as a screenplay under the name 'Miracle' and was going to be the basis for HIStory 3's second story but was later replaced by MODC instead. Lin Pei Yu then rewrote the screenplay as a novel and when it was due for release, the publishers helped finance a couple of video trailers and MV's to help promote the book's launch and hopefully interest sponsors to invest in an actual stand alone series developed from the video clips. Unfortunately, the idea for the series didn't gain much traction and the proposal was dropped. However, in a circular turn of events, the videos continued to be used to help make the book a success, resulting in more interest from media companies wanting to purchase the broadcasting rights, which concluded with the deal for this series. The makers originally planned to use the initial screenplay name of 'Miracle' instead of the novel's more well known title, but it seems they have had second thoughts and gone with a fusion of both as the drama is now officially called 'Kiseki (which translates as Miracle): Dear to Me'.

The original trailers that were made starred actors Benjamin Tsang as Bai Zong Yi and Stan Huang as Fan Ze Rui, however the makers decided to recast the parts for the new production and the series now stars Taro Lin as Zong Yi and Kai Hsu as Ze Rui. Support comes from Louis Chiang, Chen Bowen (aka Nat Chen) with a special appearance by Wayne Song and Huang Chun Zhi from 'History 3 MODC'.


          
        • Taro Lin                       • Kai Hsu                 • Louis Chiang               • Chen Bowen                • Wayne Song             • Huang Chun Zhi


Synopsis: "Bai Zong Yi, who is excellent in character and determined to practice medicine, never thought that he would be forced to pick up a wounded gangster to take home. There is no denying that Fan Ze Rui’s appearance made Bai Zong Yi a little bit distressed, but it also added spice and vitality to his boring high school days. Fan Ze Rui looked at Bai Zong Yi, as if seeing his past self. He was similarly hard working and studied hard like this once, but the more effort he put in, the more he was forced to give up. So he drifted into crime and ultimately become a gangster, like a worthless puddle of mud. Only Zong Yi has time for him. Two people, who don’t seem to mix together, continue to meet and are attracted to each other like magnets. But as Fan Ze Rui’s enemies come again, and shots are fired, the life of the ace student and the gangster are completely overturned."

Here's the MyDramaList page


First teaser (subs now added):



The series will have 13 episodes of 25 minutes duration, the first of which will premiere on Tuesday 22nd August. No international platform has so far been announced.

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For background information, here's the original trailers from 2021 that were financed by the novel's publishers as a marketing device. The hope was that there would be enough interest for the novel to be taken to a full series using the actors, Benjamin Tsang and Stan Huang from the trailers. The publisher chose to feature them on the book's cover rather than use art work, and also commissioned a couple of music videos to accompany the soundtrack of the trailers.

Book Trailer 1 (short version):


Book Trailer 2 (long version):



Original Book Cover:

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Here's the two music videos also from the 2021 publicity campaign:


'Too Late' by Ray Huang:




'Us' by Ray Huang:

[Evan]

Thx for the background infos. I like the book trails better than the series one. Looking forward to this as Lyn pei you is a good writer. Does the book still have the same cover or have they changed it ?

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Jul 17, 2023 4:28:34 GMT -5 Evan said:

Thx for the background infos. I like the book trails better than the series one. Looking forward to this as Lyn pei you is a good writer. Does the book still have the same cover or have they changed it ?

You're welcome...  The new series teaser is just the initial one to gain interest. In Taiwan, it's normal to do a 30 second teaser first, then a 60 second one and then (depending on the company) a full blown trailer a week or two before a series actually starts. Also, I guess the book trailers seem better because they are more immediate at showing pivotal plot detail so as to hook passersby to stop and check out the novel. The series trailers will probably do the same but over a longer period of time.

Yes. The book now has new artwork:

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Official trailer:

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New trailer with subs:

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The international release for the series looks like it is spread across a number of different territories and providers.

For most countries including those in Europe it will be available via GagaOOLala and Rakuten VIKI.

For Canada and the USA, distribution will be via iQIYI, while for Thailand and the Philippines it will be available via WeTV.

 

[mizuryuu]

dangit... why IQIYI, I already have Viki...

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A little bit more info has been given about the special appearance by Wayne Song and Huang Chun Zhi from 'History 3 MODC' :

• Wayne plays Zhang Teng, a gang member who grew up being abused by his father. He only has a vague sense of what is right or wrong and little empathy for those around him. 

• Huang plays Ah Juan, who has been by Zhang Teng's side from the moment he joined the gang. He is afraid of Zhang's temper and prevalence for violence, yet constructively worships him.

  

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This is down as the first OST MV release, but basically it's just the series opening credits sequence.

It's called "Own Your Tomorrow" and is written and sung by Wen Xiyang and Zhuang Yufan:




Here also a special 11 minute trailer made for domestic TV in Taiwan, therefore no subs, and much of the footage is from the other teasers and trailers we've already seen. It includes both the start and end credit sequences, but there's still some new stuff in there too, if you want to check it out:

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The first episode has been made available for free on GagaOOLala. (I believe this will also be available in the US and Canada):

Episode 1

[Lila]

Hi!! Do you know where I can read the novel??

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Aug 28, 2023 15:13:31 GMT -5 Lila said:

Hi!! Do you know where I can read the novel??

If you're looking for an English translation I'm afraid you're out of luck. To my knowledge the novel is only officially available in Chinese.

If you're still interested in owning a copy you can buy it online (shipping is usually quite expensive) from somewhere like Kingstone.com or buy it as an eBook from Google Play. The eBook option would at least give you the possibility of translating the pages using an online translator so you can read it in English. It's messy but do-able. 

The links I've added above are for the revised version of the novel that ties in with the current series. The original version is also available but you will need to look around for it.

Hope that helps - at least a little!

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They do like their BL cameos in Taiwan (and South Korea for that matter). Episode 3 featured actors Aaron Lai and Hank Wang, the main couple from 'Beloved in House: I Do' 

These two were last seen cameoing in another BL, 'Plus Minus', where they were wanting to get divorced. 



Hey Taiwan Producers! Just give them another BL series of their own and then we'll all be happy.

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First BTS video. It's short, only a couple of minutes in length but it does have subs:

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New BTS video which lasts around five minutes:

[jabberwocky43]

I've been really enjoying this series. There have been a few episodes where it is hard to wait a week to see what happened, almost makes you want to wait until the series is complete and watch in one go. Both couples are good.

Although what is it with faux amnesia bit? At least here it was only for a short time. It seems this is currently popular.

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Looks like they've suddenly found a new BTS video to put out. The last one was in October!

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This series was first uploaded to YouTube last year but at that time was only available for paying members. Once the original run had finished, the episodes were opened out to some other territories but that didn't seem to include European countries or North America. However, it does appear that it has now been made available worldwide with the exception of Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam.

So, keeping fingers crossed that I haven't misread their statement, here's Episode 1:

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Episode 2:

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Episode 3 (This one still says it's for 'Members Only' but plays in the clear for me):

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Episode 4:

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BTS for Episode 3 and 4:

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Episode 5: