The popular shoujo manga Itazura na Kiss (It Started with a Kiss) has officially crossed over to the zombie undead territory. How else to explain why this sweet but flimsy yarn is getting yet another live-action adaptation? Is anyone else still clamoring for the story of a dim-witted but persistent high school girl and the way she wore down and won the love of her brilliant and handsome classmate crush. I guess the only upside is that this new adaptation is changing mediums as a new Japanese live-action movie has just been confirmed and will head into casting shortly.
The first live-action was the 1996 same name dorama, followed by the TW-drama It Started with a Kiss (and the sequel They Kiss Again), then came the K-drama Playful Kiss, and finally the most recent incarnation was Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo and the subsequent part two. Everyone has a favorite and most will agree there are more than one watchable adaptation among the list, which really begs the question of why another telling is necessary even in movie form. With that said, I didn’t like Love in Tokyo, its impossible to watch PK again considering the image of the leading man, and ISWAK is starting to feel dated, so maybe a breezy 2 hour movie with two perfectly cast leads might be an unexpected surprise.
There is a Thai version one coming up too, and I’m actually excited for it because: 1) it reunites the CP from the Thai Full House (the gal was so lovely and the cuteness thing ever, and the guy was HOT. Best remake of a Kdrama I’ve seen!) 2) Naoki sports blonde hair in this version, if it’s any indication of the potential change in personality and motivations of the lead male. I’ll KIV for the movie version.
Oh Koala you must watch the Thai version of Full House…wayyyy better than K version. I’m sure you’ll love it!
Oh dear god….NOOOOO koala dont watch it! The girl is cute yes but the acting is so so bad, just no, so cringeworthy. I actually felt bad and uncomfortable watching Mike Pirath “acting”…
I like how they tied the plot to an actual Youtube video uploaded on the day the particular episode featuring the video aired. Very smart Meta move I thought.
And Mike..he is no acting genius, but I think I was too distracted by his looks to be bothered XD He was ok for me…not wooden at least.
I’m super excited for it too! I think the acting isn’t that great either, but I care about cuteness and chemistry more. Plus I can’t understand a word they’re saying, and the language sounds awkward to me to begin with, so the “bad” acting isn’t as obvious.
I feel like the Thai version seems to have changed up the story quite a bit too, so I really hope it’ll be interesting. I personally don’t really like the original Playful Kiss story thaaaat much, so hopefully the Thai version adds elements to it that I’ll like like they did with Full House (although I liked the Korean version of that too).
I’d never thought I would venture into Lakhorns until Thai Full House! I even developed an appreciation for Thai songs after that (although the language still sounds awkward to my ears). XD And yes, hopefully they will add new plot elements to spice up the familiar story. 🙂
Ahhhh!!!! OMG I love the Full House Thai!!!! And to add on the fact that the couple is going to be reunited for ItaKiss makes me super duper happy!!!! EEEEPPPPPP!!!!!
(p.s. where did you get the info about ItaKiss Thai?)
Is Aom Sucharat really that good? I don’t know because I haven’t watched all (watched AIMH but stopped in the middle because the remake kinda spoil the original’s one, even there is Tik) but she is literally in every Thai remake of korean drama. Autumn in My Heart, Full House and the coming Itazura Na Kiss.
It’s funny how on paper this sound like a terrible story but almost always works for me on screen. The k version is the least amusing for me though even that was cute. It started with a kiss is by my fav because of PD Winnie. I should check out love in Tokyo sometime. A movie doesn’t sound that appealing though.
Dude I totally agree. The female lead can be so frustratingly dumb sometimes, but the second half of the story so so freaking sweet.
As someone who has watched all versions, I have to say that ISWAK still remains my favorite – perhaps because Ariel Lin and Joe Cheng kill it with their chemistry onscreen. But at the same time, I loved Love in Tokyo (although I didn’t like the sequel quite as much). All versions have their own charms but I quite agree. When I hear the summary, it definitely doesn’t sound like anything I would want to watch and yet here I am, 10 years after first watching ISWAK and still watching each new version that comes out!
Why do they keep remaking this? WHYYYYY?!
There are so many wonderful mangas out there that didn’t get ONE SINGLE adaptation! 🙁
i agree 100%
can’t agree more.
i’m not a fan of that manga either.. i think i’m the only one who’s not interested with it though.
i wish they’ll make more adaptation rather than always remake this one.
my wish is they’ll make new adaptation of glass mask and skip beat. or old manga such as candy-candy.
Omg please anyone please make skip beat live action
I bet Fukushi Sota is going to be casted in that one. Either him or Yamazaki Kenta. Not that I mind very much.
Oh please not him. I’m sick of Fukushi Sota. He’s so overrated. I kinda liked him at Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu,not that the character require much from him, but at least he had charm. But on every role of his thay I’ve watched after that was bland and boring. I couldn’t even finish Sukitte Ii Nayo and it was one of my favorite shoujo manga.
*Yamazaki Kento
Hmmmm, well I hope it’s cute! I think even though Kotoko is a bit brainless, I guess it’s the fact that the not so bright nor pretty girl gets the guy in the end that still attracts.
I think my favorites are the TW version and the kdrama version, dead fish eyes nr. 2 is actually decent!
Honoka Miki was a bit too young for Kotoko, especially if you consider that her leading man was much older (I thought it was a bit uncomfortable, if he was max 20 it would have been far less problematic as Miki was 16)
I totally agree with you ! I really liked this drama but she was only 16 ! She was born in 1997 and Furukawa Yuki in 1987 !!!
To some extent, I feel like I’m already re-watching this story in 너를 기억해 (if you skipped the high school story and sent them to into criminal justice instead of medicine), though not in a bad way. He’s super smart with a icy personality (though more potential murderous), and she’s not too bright or pretty. Plus the whole stalking thing is like a more extreme version of Kyoko. At least in this version, people are appropriately repelled by his rudeness. I’d recommend the show to you, Koala, except it’s a tad early to make that call and I know Seo Ingook is not your bias.
I would have said I would never watch another adaption of InK again, because I find the whole ‘dumb as rocks’ thing highly unappealing, but maybe a 2 hour format will lead to fewer cringe worthy moments?
Well I think it’s just a trope that keeps selling. Same with the story, it keeps selling after all this time. I’ll watch the movie depending on the cast 😉
I just don’t see why this is so popular and why we need more of this story… This is one (the only) drama/manga where I had a hard time liking the male lead, he was frustrating in all the version I’ve watched. And the female character would fluctuate between dumb and enrage worthy behavior.
Inspire of saying all that, I might check out the Thai version because the leads are same as FH-Thai (that was watchable solely because of the cute chemistry between leads)
The only story where I got severe 2nd lead syndrome, naoki is the worst male lead in the history of dramas as far as I am concerned, I truly wanted him to die alone in misery (as far as mangas go, smut mangas actually do have more hateful jerks). The brainlessness of the heroine is too hard to swallow too, with her only ambition in life to be his perfect wife. I hate every single adaptation, gave up on manga, couldn’t finish the anime, and the only explanation for its popularity was for me the setup of the Japanese society. How on earth people can like it in modern times is beyond me. The fact it is getting so many adaptations makes me lose faith in humanity (and women and their taste). There really are so many wonderful mangas that never got any adaptation, this one should really die already :\
Why not love for Kaichou Wa Maid-Sama live action? 🙁
As much as I would love it, I’m not sure there is any Japanese actor that could pull off usui’s absolutely insane sex-on-legs hotness, they’d just ruin the character.
I rather not. I totally adored Pretty Girl Evolution and was giddy over the live action…but it was so bad. Negima as well.
There are so few gems that I rather they live them alone unless they are willing to spend proper money on it. Like Hana Yori Dango.
For me the best version is anime, ISWAK and Love in tokyo. Anime give us the best ending. ISWAK the tory, thats really complete. and i love Love In Tokyo season 1, the cutest. I am excited with Thai version, because i love how they remake Full House with fresh story, i hope they did same with kiss me 🙂
Still love Playful Kiss & Love in Tokyo. Both lead actresses sold the character for me. ISWAK was the only version where I hated the lead female and shipped her with the second male lead. I’ve yet to finish Love in Tokyo 2, hopefully some time before the movie becomes available.
LOL it’s hard to not support Jiro as Kin-chan
Idk why, but I think it is enough, we can find other manga, example -orange or many shojo anime out there, au haru ride, kamisama kiss, ookami shojo, say i love you, special A, or Nisekoi so we can get the winner already- to have drama or movie than Itazura Na Kiss, and I think stay away from Hana Kimi too
i doubt they’ll cast actors that are already famous lol…i think this movie adaptation is just a way to boost another young talents…or i could be wrong. still, my favourite is the japanese one, love in tokyo of course because it’s closer to the manga, we even get to hear kin-chan with kansai-ben…
thai version? i love their horror stories though, but their language are such an earsore…lol no offence.
‘itazura na kiss’ means playful/mischievous kiss, not ‘it started with a kiss’.