Nowadays, manhwas from Korea have gotten popular around the globe. We see a rise of the Hallyu wave again, but this time with webtoons rather than with Kdramas or Kpop. Eleceed is a Korean manhwa or webtoon. It is written and illustrated by Son Je-Ho and ZHENA, respectively. Son Jae Ho is known for his previous works like Webtoons “Noblesse,” “Nobless: Rai’s Adventure,” and “Ability”. ZHENA, on the other hand, is known for works like “Girls of the Wild,” “Nineteen,” “Twenty-one,” and “Pet Diary”. The first chapter of this webtoon was published on the Korean Naver website on 2 October 2018. The series is currently ongoing and it updates every Tuesday.
The series revolves around Jiwoo Seo and his adventures as he discovers a new world with people who have awakened abilities. Jiwoo is a very kind-hearted young man with very good reflexes who loves to help others, be it children in need or stray cats. He has spent most of his life hiding his super-speed from the world. However, he suddenly meets Kayden, a secret agent on the run, who is stuck in the body of a fluffy cat for some reason. From here on, his life changes completely. Now, Jiwoo, with his super-speed and Kayden with his uber-smarts, are out to fight the forces of evil controlling this world.
This new world is filled with strong people with new, unique, and very dangerous abilities. So in this article, we are making a list of the strongest characters in Eleceed. In no particular order, here goes:
1. Sucheon Kang
He is one of the four strongest people in Korea. Sucheon Kang’s awakening power is that of Gravity. He can control the gravitational force of his surrounding objects. Also, his awakening substantially increased his strength and flexibility. Sucheon Kang is going to be the future leader of Baekdu and is the only heir of the Kang extraction. He is also one of the four strongest awakeners in his age group in Korea. His power is on the same level as that of Jisuk Yoo. During a battle with Jinwoo Seo, Sucheon showed his true strength and what he could do with his awakening power.
Sucheon Kang
2. Kayden Break
Kayden Break is the deuteragonist of Eleceed, along with Jinwoo. He is also the teacher of Jinwoo right now and training him on how to properly use his abilities. In this webtoon, he is the most powerful character as of now. Kayden does not belong to any group or organization. He has gone up against all of the strongest Awakeners around the world. Even when he was injured, he took on Supil Kang, a Baekdu member, easily killing him and crushing the whole Baekdu building. Kayden’s awakened ability is electrokinesis and spatial isolation. His force control is considered to be the best of the best, and he can also transform into a cat.
Kayden Break
3. Jiyoung Yoo
Jiyoung Yoo is a supporting character in the Eleceed series and the chairwoman of the Shinhwa association. This is an organization of awakened people who reside over the place where Jiwoo, our protagonist lives. Jiyoung Yoo is one of the most powerful awakeners in Korea. Her awakened ability is Wind Manipulation (Aerokinesis). She easily defeated the Klein brothers, Dylan, and many other international criminals. She has very powerful Force control and is one of the very few awakeners who can successfully use Spatial Isolation. Even Kayden considers her one of the most powerful awakeners out there.
Jiyoung Yoo
4. Inhyuk Goo
Inhyuk Goo is another high-ranking Awakener in Korea, and his power is also Wind Manipulation (Aerokinesis). He is the right-hand man of Jiyoung Yoo. He also volunteered to be one of the instructors at the academy for Awakened people with such powerful abilities. Due to his physiology, Inhyuk also has increased speed compared to others. He has three other abilities, i.e., Spacial Isolation, Superhuman Durability, and Ability Cancelling. Inhyuk can cancel out someone else’s ability which has been handy for him in multiple fights. He is also very fond of cats.
Inhyuk Goo
5. DARK
Dark is an international criminal who wanted to be Kayden’s disciple at one point in time. His awakening ability is Regeneration. Not only that, but as an assassin, his skills are also very well polished. In Eleceed, we see Dark show his prowess in combat against Jiyoung Yoo. Even though he is so talented, Kayden still rejects him as a disciple. But Dark is very important to the story. With his Awakened ability and hand-to-hand combat skills, Dark deserves a spot in the Top ten list of fighters.
DARK
6. Dr. Delein
Dr. Delein is a very powerful doctor and extremely famous for his experiments. He is a minor antagonist at the beginning of Eleceed. However, after he gets arrested, he becomes a supporting character. His ability is Telekinesis, the same as Wooin. Dr. Delein changed his path for the sake of Wooin and now cooperates with the Awakened Union. He helped Jinwoo Seo heal his hands, a task that seemed impossible for any other doctors. He is a very powerful awakener with increased mobility and is highly sensitive towards others’ abilities. After his fight with Kayden Break, Dr. Delein figured out that trackers from the Awakened Union were catching up to him because of his sensitivity.
Doctor Delein
7. Loberne
Loberne is another international criminal who had the task of retrieving Dr. Delein from the Awakened Union. His combatant skills are not that polished. However, his awakened ability is Hypnosis. Loberne is able to keep five individuals under his control at the same time. He also has Super Speed and can make illusions of doppelgangers by just side-stepping and surrounding his opponent. Loberne’s Hypnosis power is strong that he kept a strong awakener like Wooin under his control till Wooin was knocked out. He is also very proficient in making others believe his lies.
Loberne
8. Subin Lee
Subin Lee is one of the main characters in elected and is the granddaughter of the Union’s head. Her awakening ability is Cryokinesis. Subin Lee is one of the most powerful awakeners in her age group within South Korea who is on par with Jisuk Yoo. She attends the Awakened Academy as a student representative of the Awakened Union. She can attack her opponents with sharp icicles or generate ice walls to protect herself against attacks. Subin is quite good when it comes to close-range combat, especially because of her Enhanced Reflexes. It is a power related to her awakener physiology.
Subin Lee
9. Wooin
Wooin is one of the main characters who awakener ability is Telekinesis. His teacher was Dr. Delein, who taught him Force Control and numerous other techniques of his ability. He is as strong as Jisuk Yoo and one of the most powerful Awakener rookies in Korea. Wooin also has Superhuman Durability. Because of this, he can heal most broken bones or injuries that would be highly critical for other humans. He is able to recover way quicker than normal people as he is Awakened.
Wooin
10. Ganseok Choi
Ganseok Choi is ranked as one of the four strongest rookie Awakeners in Korea, just like Sucheon Kang, Subin Lee, and Jisuk Yoo. He is the representative of Baekho and a supporting character in the manhwa.
Ganseok Choi
His awakened power has not been revealed in the Eleceed series as of yet. However, by the looks of it, he is predicted to be one of the strongest four rookie Awakeners.
The plot of Meteor Garden, adapted from the manga Boys Over Flowers, follows a girl from a relatively poorer economic background, Dong Shan Cai, who gets enrolled in the prestigious Yi De Academy. The Academy is dominated by four rich and arrogant boys collectively known as Flower 4 or F4, who, after initially bullying Shan Cai and her friends, develop different types of friendships with them. The cultural phenomenon of tropes such as enemies-to-lovers and flower boys can arguably be traced back to this famous franchise. The series was so popular in Taiwan (not to mention worldwide) that the OG Taiwanese F4 even made music and became massively successful as a boy group of the same name. The Taiwanese series also spawned a sequel called Meteor Garden II. Let’s have a look at where the Meteor Garden Cast is up to nowadays.
2001 Meteor Garden Cast – Then vs Now:
1. Barbie Hsu (playing Dong Shan Cai)
Barbie Hsu appeared as Dong Shan Cai, the main character of Meteor Garden, who was the not-so-rich girl attending the prestigious Ying De Academy. Barbie Hsu has experienced a whirlwind as long as her personal life is concerned. She married the Chinese entrepreneur Wang Xiaofei in 2011, gave birth to two children, divorced him in 2021, and in a cinematic twist of fate, married the Korean producer Koo Jun Yeop Aka DJ Koo in 2022; with whom she had a brief romantic relationship twenty years ago! Barbie Hsu also had a near-death experience while giving birth to her second child as she had gone into a semi-conscious state and had to be rushed to the ICU.
2001 Meteor Garden Cast Then Vs Now: Barbie Hsu
Barbie Hsu was a member of the famous Taiwanese girl group ASOS before starring in both seasons of Meteor Garden. After her marriage, she was good as retired from acting post her marriage, although she did win an award for Best Actress in the 2012 Macau International Movie Festival for her role in the movie ‘Million Dollar Crocodile’. She remains active in variety shows, publishes books, and also does advertising campaigns.
2. Jerry Yan (playing Dao Ming Si)
Jerry Yan played the role of the leader of the F4 in Ying De Academy, Dao Ming Si. Ming Si was the hot-headed rich boy of the Academy who didn’t get enough attention from his parents in his childhood but had no money allowances. Of course, Ming Si was also the main love interest of the leading lady Shan Cai, as, of course, he fell in love with her after the legendary punch she threw him on his face.
Jerry Yan enjoys a diverse set of careers in the Taiwanese entertainment industry. He is an actor, model, and singer who has released three very well-received albums. He won the Mnet Asian Music Award in 2004 for Best Asian Pop Artist. He has starred in various well-received Taiwanese dramas over the years like The Hospital (2006), Down With Love (2010), and Loving, Never Forgetting (2014).
2001 Meteor Garden Cast Then Vs Now: Jerry Yan
Yan Jerry had to take a break from activities in December 2016 due to a leg ligament injury during a basketball game. He made his comeback with the drama Count Your Lucky Stars in 2020 (opposite the actress who played Shan Cai in the 2018 Meteor Garden, and this age difference became a huge controversy when the series aired). One of his most interesting movie appearances was in Lupin III: Necklace of Cleopatra (2014), in which he starred alongside Oguri Shun and Kim Joon, who were in lead roles in the Japanese and Korean versions of Boys Over Flowers TV series adaptations.
3. Vic Chou (playing Hua Ze Lei)
Vic Chou appeared as the quiet, sensitive, socially awkward boy of the F4 in Meteor Garden who did not take much interest in taking part in the bullying shenanigans of the F4. Hua Ze Lei was briefly romantically involved with Shan Cai, and this reflected in real life too as they dated from 2005 for about three years as they were reunited for filming the 2004 Taiwanese drama MARS. Vic Chou has an illustrious music career with various albums and OST singles to his name (including the cheekily named ‘I’m not F4’ released in 2007).
2001 Meteor Garden Cast Then Vs Now: Vic Chou
Other than that, he also regularly published photo albums. Vic Chou’s debut film was opposite Li Bingbing in Linger (2008). Vic Chou has been critically acclaimed for being the actor amongst the Meteor Garden cast who takes on the most multi-faceted character roles to play. His latest offering is the 2021 drama Danger Zone, which you can watch on iQiyi.
4. Ken Chou (playing Xi Men)
Ken Chou played one of the F4 members in the 2001 Meteor Garden and its sequel named Xi Men, who hailed from a wealthy family but with a dad who was rife with infidelities; this influenced Xi Men, who was portrayed as a playboy who is courteous to women but had no faith in love. Of course, Ken Chou was one-fourth of the boyband F4 along with the other three F4’s from the Meteor Garden cast.
2001 Meteor Garden Cast Then Vs Now: Ken Chou
5. Vanness Wu (Playing Mei Zuo)
Vanness Wu played the long-haired, sporty guy in F4 who often helped the other F4 members with their relationship problems. He is currently active in acting for films, television shows, appearing in variety and reality shows, and also as a producer. Amongst the Meteor Garden cast, he has had the most illustrious music career: for example, his third Chinese solo album C’est La V had collaborations from Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic) and Bruno Mars!
2001 Meteor Garden Cast Then Vs Now: Vanness Wu
Vanness Wu also had a Korean industry crossover, when he participated in making an album with none other than Kangta from the legendary K-pop group H.O.T. Vaness Wu married Singaporean heiress Arissa Cheo in 2013 after dating her for seven years; the couple had rough patches throughout the marriage, including a very public Instagram fight! Eventually, they filed for divorce in 2019 after living separately for three years.
6. Edward Ou (Playing Chen Qing He)
Edward Ou joined the 2001 Meteor Garden cast and its sequel in the role of Chen Qing He, the sweet, funny, and easygoing best friend of Dao Ming Si in Ying De Academy, who was also secretly in love with her. Edward Ou also performed the song ‘Close to You,’ which was on the Meteor Garden II OST.
2001 Meteor Garden Cast Then Vs Now: Edward Ou
He had left the entertainment industry temporarily after his father was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, his last film being Say Yes Enterprise (2004), but couldn’t find work when he attempted to make a comeback later on. Amongst the Meteor Garden cast, he arguably had a troublesome and controversial personal life. He was arrested in 2004 for stealing a motorcycle. Later on, he had also been arrested for stealing laptops and also for selling fake designer sneakers. His latest reported attempt at stealing was in 2020, again for stealing a helmet!
