Westside Story - Yes, It's Japanese-Inspired But NOT Based On A Japanese Manga!

I remembered watching Westside Story on ABS-CBN back in my college days. I always felt the Anime feel was there. Meteor Garden wasn't the only cast that had the Anime hairstyle. It's very easy to think people copied F4 when F4 was actually copying the Anime hairstyle from JAPAN. If you take a look at it at surface level - it looks like a J-Drama based on a Manga but it isn't. Instead, what really inspired the show itself?

Manga is a Japanese invention but guess what? Soon we had Manhua (or Manhwa in Korean) as a result of the Japanese Manga. Taiwanese and South Korean got inspired to make their own versions. The very source of Westside Story is from a Taiwanese comic book that clearly drew ideas from Japanese sources. That would explain why the characters look very Anime-like. The looks are very Anime-ish and the situation could've easily been transported from Taipei to Tokyo. I thought it was based on a Japanese Manga or Anime, I googled looking for the source. Unlike Hana Yori Dango - it's not based on a Japanese media but was clearly inspired by Japanese media. It's pretty much its own show but nothing is completely original. Heck, you may want to see Hollywood references in Japanese shows too!

I always feel like East Asians still owe Japan a lot for concepts and technology. The Japanese brought in a lot of entertainment devices such as the DVD or appliances such as the ever-handy rice cooker. You can think of the Japanese electronic revolution. Samsung may be South Korean but it owes Japanese ideas its success. I even think Taiwan and South Korea (and seriously, please note Imperial Japan is LONG DEAD) still owe modern Japanese culture for their success. I think if it wasn't for J-Pop then K-Pop and Mandopop won't exist.

I'm just wondering should this already 16-year-old show get a Japanese adaptation? If so, I think an Anime or J-Drama version would still do. It's already more than a decade and I don't mind Japanese to "take back what's rightfully theirs" by producing a Japanese version of the said show. I also don't mind South Koreans making a version of this show too. But I'd be more welcome to the Japanese adapting and remaking the show for their audience - all because Westside Story is clearly full of Japanese influence!

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