What is it about the story behind "Playful Kiss" that makes it so popular? Based on a manga by Tada Kaoru called Itazura na Kiss, it has inspired Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese television series, plus a sequel, an anime adaptation and a film. And now, the latest Japanese version is being simulcast from Japan.
The manga ran for eight years but the story was never finished due to the author's death in 1999. It was so popular that it sold 30 million copies in Japan.
This week the story is being released again in Japan as Itazura na Kiss - Love in Tokyo, and in a few days will be simulcast on DramaFever.com. This version will feature 16-year-old Miki Honoka as Aihara Kotoko, the cute girl who falls in love with the distant Irie Naoki, played by 25-year-old Furukawa Yuki.
American audiences will be able to watch the romantic comedy with English subtitles on the same day it airs in Japan.
In the manga, Kotoko is a poor student, who falls for the school's "A" student and follows him around. Naoki is smart and attractive but lacking in social skills and he has no time for her. He is occasionally cruel to Kotoko and she might have given up on him if fate did not throw them together. When Kotoko's family loses her home and she and her father have to move in with his best friend, who happens to be Naoki's father. This forces Kotoko and Naoki to interact.
A nine-episode live version was first aired on Japanese television, using the author's notes to create an end for the unfinished story.
In 2005, the Taiwanese television drama, "It Started With A Kiss," which followed the story to the couple's wedding day, was so successful that it inspired a sequel, "They Kiss Again," two years later. The sequel focused on the couple's married life. Altogether the two Taiwanese series had 50 episodes. Fans could not get enough of the story.
In 2010, the kdrama version, "Playful Kiss," starred Kim Hyun Joong, the popular SS501 who portrayed Ji Hoo in "Boys Over Flowers." Playing his devoted girlfriend Oh Ha Ni, was Jung So Min.
The 16-episode kdrama version had plenty of fans but also got some negative netizen feedback. Netizens said that the character of Oh Ha Ni, as opposed to the Japanese and Taiwanese versions of the character, was too much of a stalker and too obsessed with someone who was so rude to her. Although the series got low ratings in Korea, it was sold to 12 Asian countries and a short special edition was aired on YouTube after the finale. The online series was so popular that it got a million hits in the first two days.
Some fans of the series have seen every version and are excited about tuning into the simulcast. Which versions have you seen and which did you like best?
