Script Reading and BTS Stills Provide First Look at To the Beautiful You

The million dollar question is (or billion dollar if we take into account inflation) – will To the Beautiful You (K-version of Hana Kimi) turn out to be a Boys Before Flowers (K-version of Hana Yori Dango) or a Playful Kiss (K-version of Itazura na Kiss)? I’m talking about domestic ratings, of course, as BoF was a surprising hit while PK turned out to be such a ratings disaster that I’ve rarely seen ratings so low for a prime time drama. Oddly I loved PK and loathed BoF, so clearly I’m no arbiter of ratings or taste.

Giving us a first glimpse of what’s to come, SBS released official pictures of the cast of Beautiful You gathered for a script reading. I’ve also come across stills of the cast filming already, which show lead Sulli sporting a short crop suitable for her character to be believable as a boy attending an all-boys boarding school, plus male lead Minho shows off a nice clean cut look. In the script reading stills above, I recognize Lee Hyun Woo, Kim Ji Won, and Ki Tae Young and that’s about it, so I’ll leave it to the folks who follow K-pop to identify the rest of this idol-stuffed cast.

Looks like the main cast shooting the poster together. Despite this being primarily an idol-heavy vehicle, I’m glad Lee Hyun Woo is in the mix to add some thespian quota. I’m also pleased how age-appropriate all the actors are to playing high school students. Despite eventually loving Kim Hyun Joong in PK, in truth he was getting a bit long in the tooth to don the requisite high school uniform. This gang looks fresh and easy on the eyes.

A nice clear picture of lead Minho with the actor playing his drama daddy. Looking at Minho’s long (LONG) legs, now I’m starting to get onboard with him playing a champion high jumper.

A first slightly blurry peak at Sulli wearing the boys school uniform and filming on the set standing in for the school. She’s cute, but my attention is completely on the white fluffy squinty-eyed dog. WANT! To adopt, that is. He’s going to steal the show, mark my words.


Comments

Script Reading and BTS Stills Provide First Look at To the Beautiful You — 28 Comments

      • I REALLY hope they keep this scene!!! it was epic the first time I saw it along with the lie detector scene, and almost EVERY NakatsuXMizuki scenes “Ike Ike go go..”
        And I know it would be pushing it, but PLEASE add some Nakatsu vision scenes or inner monologues, that just made me love the kind of person Nakatsu was

  1. I’m not sure that I have a lot of interest in watching this drama and I have no knowledge of Minho’s acting skills, but the kid definitely has the athletic ability to play a high jumper.

    Watch at 8 seconds for Minho leaping over a 4 ft high bar like its nothing. Then keep watching to see Shinee groupmate Onew fail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDuh6ebgazg

  2. I don’t have any thing to do with drama … But I really really don’t want this to be like BBF or PK …. Looking at above pic mosts of the actor already look so confuse ….

  3. I am such a huge fan of the Hana kimi series. I have all the mangas, the art book, the jdrama and tdrama. I didn’t get the 2011 Hana kimi version cause that thing was honestly a joke. Story was a little twisted and the casting of that version was just ridiculous. Saying that, I am hoping for the best for this drama. I am still quite a fan of the BoF remake, so I hope this drama will be able to make high ratings. The cast list is still an ‘iffy’ to me so I will withhold any sort of criticism until I see a preview of some kind for the show. Korea… Please don’t screw up my baby!

  4. I’ve always pictured Sano having more masculine sharp (?) features.. I can’t picture Minho in thus role. But it makes me laugh that he is playing a high jump because he was very competitive (and one of the good players) in Dream Team.

  5. I’ve loved all the Hana Kimi’s that have come in the past weather it be Taiwanese or Japanese and the same goes for Playful Kiss and Boys Over Flowers so I really hope this one doesn’t fail. I also have a huge thing for Girl-pretending-Boy dramas like Coffee Prince, You’re Beautiful, Hana Kimi, and K-Pop: Ultimate Audition so I’m really excited for this one but since I don’t know the main actors very well I’m a little bit uneasy. Let’s hope that this drama doesn’t ruin Hana Kimi for me because for, it’s really hard to ruin a drama in which the main theme is Girl-pretending-Boy no matter how bad it is like Ultimate Audition. Though most people hated it, I actually enjoyed it very much LOL 😛 Fighting To The Beautiful You!

    • In Taiwanese version they recruted Ella Chen who is also a member of S.H.E. She is an idol.
      In Japanese version (2007) there’s Ikuta Toma too, he is an idol. He is from Johny!
      In Japanese version (2011) there’s Acchan, no.1 Japan idol, and Yukirin (leader of Hibari four) who is also ranked so good on AKB48 senbatsu.
      Let’s don’t judge before watch at least until 1 episode airing : )

  6. My prediction:
    This will be the fasted subbed show in the history of viki.
    It will be better than DH2.
    It will not be better than Operation Proposal.
    Various soompi wars will be bloody.
    I will not watch it unless Koala or leonardswench says it is worth it.

  7. well Minho sure is a looker…..I knew from day 1 that SM was going to cast him because he’s the one that they’ve been pimping to be the actor in Shinee…tbh I think he could be the next Kim Hyun Joong in terms of acting (maybe a bit better)….wasn’t sure if I’d like Sulli in this role and nor did I care cuz I wasn;t a fan of the original character anyways..but she does seem incredibly cute with the boys in the poster and a lot more alive than her J-dorama version and surprisingly seems to be able to pass off as a kott minam farely wel…’course we won;t know for sure till this thing airs…Overall this drama will only be good for me if it doesn;t take itself too seriously like with the Jdorama and doesn’t try to indulge in the usual kdrama tropes
    On the other hand, who else is insanely excited to see Lee Hyun Woo become my favorite Nakatsu?????!!!!!!!!!!!!! *singing: ore wa homo ja nai, HOMO JA NAI*

  8. I’m biased but the second male and female leads are the prettiest amongst a bunch of pretty flowers. Sulli looks like a flower boy befitting her role.
    Ratings wise, I don’t think this will be a huge success, but somewhere in the middle. It’s not just who is in it (I’ve definitely seen bad acting in popular shows and talented names in shows with dismal ratings), but how the story, chemistry, and production interests the audience. The Japanese one was very well-received, but that was cracktastically fun due to the writing and acting. The Taiwanese one was also fairly received, I cringed sometimes but it was fun and cute. There’s also other interesting contenders in August on Korean TV.

  9. I heard more Idols in the mix..! allkpop reported that the new groups EXO-K and EXO-M are going to be included as part of the student cast living in the dorms.. a fan posted pictures and highlighted all of the different members in the drama with the school uniforms on.. so yeah, i guess bring on more of the idol hype right?

    Thanks for posting!

  10. Sulli is going to rock it because as a child actress she was pretty good and she looks like Taemin with the short hair. Amber has pictures floating around of her wearing Sulli’s cut off braid LOL

    I heard Kwanghee is going to the crazy leader of the Art Dorm so if he uses his variety personality it should come out well

    …and of course EXO is going to appear so I’ll be watching for them. LOVE EXO. Duizhang!

    Lee Hyun Woo is an actor…so I’m expecting him to shed everything and go crazy as Nakatsu

    Minho…Salmander Guru was…Taemin was awesome in his episode…LOL

    • I think Lee Hyun-woo would be able to pull of Nakatsu convincingly given his comedic relief acting chops in The Return of Iljimae when he was younger

  11. Well like Unnie Miss K I lurve Playful Kiss so much,that I watched It started with a Kiss 1 & 2 and the anime version after that… Yeah, it was that good… Try with the Japanese made in 1996, Itazura na Kiss but didn’t get pass episode 1…the actress was ANNOYING!

    But… Boys Over Flowers… I never finished watching it. I started to watched 3 times, but never pass episode 10… I don’t know what is, but I can’t seem to like it… I read the recaps, but not entirely, they where annoying too… Seriously? Why people love it so much!! Lee Min Ho’s hair still give me the creeps!! Why in heaven the other one (the lead in PK) dress always in white? What, he have an angel complex or wanted to be part of AnJell? And the other 2, wth? Are they part of a freaking entourage or something? Why the chick always get in trouble and the F4 become, the “avengers” and rescue her? I mean… W T H???

    Thank God the F44 is good…. and man those 4 I can watch all day long and night too!! Mhahahaahahhaa

  12. I really hope this drama will be a hit. Rating is not everything (cough YAB’s rating cough). Though have a low ratings but the drama made a huge success among intl’ fans.
    I’m so happy To the Beautiful You already have a huge fanbase (on facebook the fanpage already received 14k+ likes tho it’s still not airing). And Phils’s TV channel already bought the copyright even before this drama start the production.
    I hope the best for them and I hope Ms.Koala will recaps every episode too kkk.

    Tq. Sorry for my poor english lol

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