Personal Story, Part 1: The Final When I See You Again Fan Meet 「他看她的第2眼」最終回見面會

I know you what you're probably thinking...you can't be serious right? You've now gone to a second fan meet?! Yes. Yes, I have. The crazy things I do for Jasper... and for Jet Chao. Anyway, this was an awesome experience - very much fan based and I actually got to told a conversation with Jasper and Jet Chao! An actual conversation!

For those who have read my Pleasantly Surprised fan meet experience, I will recap the fan meet differently. There's two reasons for this: Reason #1: The Pleasantly Surprised Fan Meet was much much more cast based (Cast members talked and did activities with one another, with shorter personal fan interactions), while the When I See You Again was much more fan based (Cast members spent more time with fans and Jian-An had to go out of his way to interview cast members for what you see on camera...but a lot more was happening between fans and cast members on a personal level behind the scenes). Reason #2: Before this year, Sanlih didn't record their fan meets, so I literally retold the events from the Pleasantly Surprised fan meet. This meet however was recorded, so while I'll provide an overview, I won't transcribe everything but I'll focus on my personal experiences of meeting Jasper, Jet Chao and Mandy....And the wonderful perks of attending...

Ready for some fan meet fun times? Then it's time to read on...

Queuing 

The When I See You Again fan meet was scheduled to begin at 1:00pm in the afternoon, which meant that people started lining up really early for the event. Having done one of these SETTV fan meets before, I ended up in the queue at 6:30am. As usual, there was a line of die-hard fans before me (I wondered if any of them had stayed the night!) It was a fair wait, but not as challenging as the one for Pleasantly Surprise, which involved queuing 8-hours-in-the-rain. For this fan meet, the weather was pretty sunny...though it did start to get really hot just before we were lead into the building.

There were some fans that had organised an activity while we were waiting in the queue. If you could answer 5 questions about the last episode of the series (Episode 18), you could get a free postcard of Jasper. I found out about this too late, so didn't get up with a postcard. But they did give everyone Jasper bookmarks, which I thought was very nice of them. So I ended up with two of these.

I didn't actually know beforehand that the fan meet also involved a signing component. If you were one of the first 100 people who bought the When I See You Again novel, you would get a ticket to have your book signed by Jasper and Mandy. I came back from lunch to see a huge queue for books and almost didn't get one because I didn't think I'd read the book. But then I found out it was the condition for signing. So I hurried to join the end of the long queue...and luckily ended up getting one of the last 5 tickets! If you bought or brought a copy of your Mandy and Jasper SPOP magazine, you could also get that signed as long as you'd bought a copy of the book. So I got a copy of that as well...because I wanted everything to be signed by Jasper!

GJ's Performance and Start of Fan Meet

Anyway, we eventually got into the fan meet after getting our numbers at 10:30am and lining up for 20 minutes in the courtyard at 12:00pm. The event started with a replay of the first time An Xi met You Qian, as the cast and crew prepared for the fan meet. Then Jian-An announced that the first person to welcome was GJ, the singer of Warning (預告), the opening song for When I See You Again. For those who like their music, GJ also supplied the main ballad for You Qian and An Xi with his song When I breath, I think of you (呼吸就想你). I think his songs are the best ones on the When I See You Again OST.

He came in and performed Warning live, which was beautiful and asked the audience to sing along. Then Jian-An asked him about his up-coming concert in Taipei. GJ mentioned that he'd just given some tickets to Mandy, to which Jian-An asked "Where's mine?!" Ah Jian-An, always such a tease! GJ then gave him some tickets to his show, but it was already too late... Jian-An was teasing him and saying that he wanted Mandy to come cheer him on (as Mandy played his lover in the music video for Warning). GJ protested and said it wasn't like this at all since he'd also given tickets to Jasper...And then Jian-An said...so Mandy can go with you and Jasper and I can go together...is that how it is?! Haha, poor GJ was subjected to a lot of grief :D Anyway after their little banter and concert promotion, the stars of When I See You Again finally came out one-by-one and in pairs: First, Deyn, then Lawrence and Zooey, Sara and Tina, Gao Meng Jie and finally...the awesome trio of Jet Chao, Mandy Wei and Jasper Liu :) The only main cast member missing was Ivy Shao...but there were enough of the main cast members there for fans not to feel too disappointed.

Jet Chao towered over the other cast members. He's just so, so, so tall. When Jet, Mandy and Jasper came out, I couldn't get over all the beauty in the room. Jet Chao had so much charm that it pretty much emulated from him the moment he stepped out and all the fan girls screamed out his name so loudly that it hurt my ears. Jasper dazzled as well. All he needed to do was smile with his dimples and shiny eyes and everyone was pretty much crying. Mandy looked pretty in pale pink with her hair up. She was very receptive to fans waving and holding up signs for her, which was cute. At this point, I pretty much turned my camera on continuous snapping, so I wouldn't miss a moment in the meet. So... I have a crazy amount of Jet, Jasper and Mandy photos. Here are some of my favourite ones...

Cast Introduction

This part will be mostly a direct translation of what's on the Sanlih video...because hey, it's exactly what I saw live too! Sorry if it's not too interesting for those who have watched the video and do understand Chinese...but I will talk a little about the process of seating and compare my PS and WISYA experiences if you're interested. Or skip along to the next bit, Photo-taking Session.

So to begin, Jian-An asked the cast to introduce themselves starting from Jasper. Jasper was so cute. He was like, "Hello, I'm Jasper Liu. I play Xia You Qian." Jian-An laughed and said "Everyone knows that already by now. I just told them!" Jasper started laughing at this and said, "I'm too happy" (Too happy that he's just saying whatever.) He thanked everyone for continuing to support the show until now. Although the show would be about to end. Jasper hoped that people would continue caring for and supporting the cast members in their projects.

Oh, Jasper. He was so cute when he laughed! Those dimples. And his eyes were really sparkling as he spoke. He was in casual dress for the PS Fan Meet, real cool street clothes...but this time he looked a lot more like his character. I wish I'd been closer to the right side, but once again, I was stuck to the left side of the stage...so all the photos you see are taken from the left side. Slightly closer to Jet Chao, slightly further to Jasper. Guess you can't win them all. But if I was on the right side, I'd be really, really close to both of them. If I ever go to one of these again (which I have to stop doing :D) I will count the number of people before I join the queue, so that I can figure out whether I'm going to be seated on the left or right side of the stage!

Despite being earlier in the queue than last time (I was 47 in line for WISYA and 99 in line for PS), I had a less central seat (I was in 4th row for WISYA and 1st row for PS). I think the main reason was because there was around 600-700 people for the PS fan meet, but only 400 for WISYA. They had to seat the first 90 people on the floor the last time, but this time everyone was on a seat. As I mentioned, in the past fan meets were not recorded, so more people use to turn up. This fan meet was also capped at 400 participants, so...it's not reflective of the show's popularity. The show did well, but was less crowded at the fan meet because I think a lot of people thought they'd just watch it at home.

Next Jian-An introduced Mandy and mentioned that it seemed like her hair had really gotten longer during this project (Mandy had cut her hair really short for her last drama and gotten hair extensions to play the role of An Xi). Actually, there's a part here which I have a feeling that they cut out...because when I was watching this part at the actual fan meet, I remember Mandy telling everyone where her hair had actually grown out to. It was quite long under her extensions, although not the same length of course....It could be later on in the meet...but Mandy definitely mentioned to a place on her arm where her hair was up to. Mandy said: "Hi, I'm Mandy Wei. I was very happy to play An Xi. An Xi has been my most favourite role. And although WISYA is ending, I hope that everyone will continue to follow each of our movements/activities and think of us. Thank you!" 

Moving into Jet Chao's introduction, Jian-An said, "One day suddenly, he started getting bad. Then the more bad he got, the more you loved him (This is a play on a Chinese saying: The badder a guy is, the more the girls love him 男人不坏, 女人不爱...which rhymes in Chinese, but not in English unfortunately). Finally, when you couldn't take it, you hate him (?). When filming, this person who enjoys exercising, he's also the one who has on his body, injuries here, injuries there, but he still continues to act professionally as his character, Yan Ze...welcome Jet Chao to say hi to you!" Haha, the number of girls screaming indicated to me that Jet Chao is definitely growing popular for his bad boy roles, particularly Yan Ze. Jet's greeting was this: "Hello, hope everyone is good! I'm Jet Chao." People in front of my row were shouting out Jet Chao, Jet Chao!...so that's why he stopped to say "Hello, hello, hello...A very big thanks to everyone for accompanying us for these past months. Today, I really feel a bit sentimental.." He had the most charming grin when he said that. "...That we're ending. We're quickly approaching the end. Anyway, Thank you everyone...Hope you like (my role) this time as Hu Yan Ze. Thank you!"

Jian-An: "Yeah, Yan Ze has finished talking. You know, the person next to him, even if you told him to bend down he'd always be the tallest one in this row." Everyone laughed because it was clear that Gao Meng Jie is not that way at all :D and Jet Chao (the tallest...or at least one of the tallest) pat him on the back. "He is Pu Lang Village's Number one handsome guy. Everyone loves him so much that they've forgotten his original name. He is Jiang Hai Kuo! Gao Meng Jie, say hello to everyone, yeah!"

Everyone gave their microphones to Gao Meng Jie for his talk because his wasn't working and he's a funny person in real life. He said: "Hi, my original name is Gao Meng Jie. Jiu mi! (Kissing). An-Du Du!...which is what he would say all the time as his character. He confessed to being shy on-stage and not knowing what to say, but he managed to talk a little more about his feelings for the end of WISYA when prompted by Jian-An.

Now I like the Lunar crew and but I'm going to skip along to Lawrence and Zooey's introduction, which was super cute. So according to Jian-An, Zooey couldn't find her microphone (I did see her look around before and wonder where it had gone) and Lawrence noticed and passed her his. Jian-An: "So I just noticed that the little sister wanted to talk and the older brother realized and thought where has my little sister's microphone gone? So then he brought one over to her...ok, let's welcome...Zooey Tseng." Zooey's little speech was short and cute, much like herself: "Hello! Hope everyone is well! I'm Zooey. I play the weak-hearted Zhang Ya En." Everyone laughed at her introduction. In my row, a couple of girls kept saying She's so cute!!! "Thank you for liking When I See You Again!" Zooey then broke into a laugh and bowed, "Thank you!" Ah Zooey. She was a girl of few words during the PS fan meet too.

Jian-An: "So Zooey is a person of few words, but in the drama she acted out scenes that made you feel very very touched. They (the scriptwriters) found her a boyfriend with an extreme height difference that she couldn't love...because he's a bad-boy. But that's ok. Her brother will help her get her revenge...because her brother is the same height as her boyfriend...Welcome, Lawrence Liu!" Lawrence made a I'm-watching-you sign at Jet Chao who laughed at this point. I have to hand it to Jian-An. He's gifted at breaking the ice and helping actors to interact with their natural charms. 

For Lawrence's speech, I thought it was sweet that he was so dedicated to his character Ya Ru. He said: "Hello! I'm Lawrence Liu. And then, in the drama, I play Zhang Ya Ru. I'm extremely happy because we're getting close to the ending....So that is, a lot of people want to say...Are the Hu siblings and the Zhang siblings about to become closer than close?! That still has be cleared up...but the ending has a cool conclusion. And while I'm here, I want to say to Zhi Lin...I'm sorry!" Lawrence bowed much to the laughter of Tina. I laughed too because it was such a cute move! Whilst they hadn't pushed enough in the plot for me to care about a Ya Ru-Zhi Lin story line, I did think it was nice of him to tie-up a loose end for the audience in such an endearing manner. Lawrence continued to say: "Actually, love, this type of thing, it's hard to open up and say it in everyday life. And actually...I feel sad about parting with everyone. Thank you everyone!"

Deyn was the last person to speak. Jian-An asked..."Why is Xia You Qian here and his assistant sent to the other side of the room? Because Xia You Qian said, in the last activity, we have to protect everyone together. But he only has his left hand, so he has to invite his right hand man over. He's not getting rid of the water (?)....Welcome Deyn Li, yeah! Deyn: "Hi! Hope everyone is well. I'm Deyn Li. I play Da Yu, You Qian's right hand man. It's not raining of course, so I don't have to get rid of the water (I think that's what he said. Anyway it's in reference to Da Yu's duties in the drama). But anyway, hope everyone continues to watch When I See You Again. There's only a few episodes left. And then, I'm really happy to have worked with everyone, and at the last Fan Meet to run into everyone. Thank you!"

Throughout Deyn's speech, Mandy and Jasper were having a conversation on their side of the row and Jasper was laughing, so Jian-An asked Mandy to share. Mandy said that Da Yu had few scenes with her and most of the others, mostly in office scenes and so she was surprised to discover that he could speak so well! Deyn said something about him only not talking often, much to everyone's laughter.

Photo-taking Session

So after this, they proceeded onto the Photo-taking session. As Jian-An said, it would be a good idea to take photos while all the actors still looked pretty and fresh, before anyone broke into a sweat. It was a pretty hot day (35 degrees to be precise), so I think they took this into consideration for everyone, even in that air-conditioned Sanlih building. The photo-taking session involved taking a selfie with the Fan Meet crowd, where the cast turned around and had a photo taken with everyone sitting in the background. This is the photo that Jasper put up on his Instagram...and I was clearly in this one! Life goal achieved: I am in a photo on Jasper Liu's Instagram account. Sure, I'm a little speck...but I'm there! I won't circle myself, but if you're interested, my little big head is on the left of the photo and I'm leaning on my camera. During this process, I noticed that Jet Chao was taking his own phone selfies with the cast and fans sitting in the view directly behind him....this was not me unfortunately :( But he never put those photos up, so I wonder if they turned out to be any good? (Update: He just uploaded them now...and he put up one with me in it too...The same one Jasper had on his instagram...you can see it below!)

The cast were then told to arrange themselves for group photos to be taken by the media and the audience members. Here, Jian-An said girlfriends have to be next to boyfriends, so Zooey made a cute face and shuffled herself next to Jet Chao and planted herself in front of him. He couldn't resist laughing and pointing at her cute shuffling movements.

Jet Chao also leaned down and said something to Zooey, I think about posing, and Zooey turned and touched him and laughed. The tail-end of this interaction is caught on the video, but I happened to catch the start of it on camera! Ah, I love these two. Beyond cute together, even in real life.

I want to say that it's easy to take a photo of the cast members where they're all looking directly at your camera and posed perfectly. It never is. I got some cute shots of the cast, but they were definitely looking everywhere, trying to get through to every fan's camera. But I do love the candidness of the photos...the perfect photos belong to the media photographers who got to sit in the middle of the room and have the cast all look directly at them. But the silly moves, the face-pulling, the peace signs, the conversations and posing...those belonged to the crowd. With continuous snapping...these are the shots I got. I seriously have about a 150 versions of these photos, so I've just put up my favourite ones (There is around 20-30 continuous snap photos below....) Enjoy the candidness!

Jian-An got the cast too look at different directions so that all the fans could try and get a photo of everyone looking at their camera. It would be impossible to have that happen for everyone (Jian-An mentioned how lucky it would be if everyone was looking at the same direction at the same time without blinking)... The closest I got was in a picture when Jasper, Mandy, Tina and Jet Chao were looking in my direction...but everyone else was looking elsewhere! ...The picture is below...I've put a caption on the picture: 'Mandy, Jasper, Tina and Jet'...so you can find the photo if you want to see it. I think 4/9 people looking in your direction isn't too bad, especially when they're your favourite characters (if only Zooey hadn't been distracted...) :D

Group photos below...but if you want to read about the actual fan meet experience, continue onto Part 2 of my Fan Meet Story...

At some point, Jet Chao decided he'd put his hands on Zooey's shoulders as they posed, which was cute. Haha, I feel like a stalker, but I didn't intentionally capture these shots. This is the beauty of continuous shooting with a DSLR. It's these little moments that I'm glad I caught on camera.

This is the shot I was talking about where Mandy, Jasper, Tina and Jet were looking over at my direction...even then, they were just looking at my general direction, not into my camera (the only one who might have done by coincidence at that moment is Jet Chao)...but it was still a good capture.

Continue onto Part 2 of my Fan Meet Story...