This is really digging deep into the adaptation bucket to look for source material that honestly wasn’t even that popular to begin with. K-dramas is finally adapting the shoujo manga Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) this year, exactly ten years after Japan did the J-dorama version with Hayami Mokomichi, Aibu Saki, and Mizushima Hiro. It’s about a girl who orders a robot boyfriend and the hijinks and romance that ensues. K-ent had been working on a K-drama adaptation with TOP and Kim Ha Neul awhile ago but that fell through, though Kim Ha Neul did end up doing another manga adaptation with You’re My Pet movie with Jang Geun Seok. I’m sure the casting age for Roco King will likely be younger though it’s interesting that thriller drama cable network OCN is in talks to pick this one up.
Taiwan also adapted Zettai Kareshi with Jiro Wang and Gu Hye Sun and it’s as hot a mess as expected from this casting.
It wasn’t that popular? I knew about this drama I guess and I know basically nothing about JDramas. You’re my Pet is absolutely abysmal though. Horrible, frustrating, infuriating and a total waste of however many minutes I had the misfortune of watching it. I haven’t seen either dramas but I hope it’s worth someone’s time, this one.
I remember the jdrama, it was a huge improvement over the manga because they made the characters older (no more high school girl heroine) and changed the setting to an office one. And Mizushima Hiro was so charming as Soshi.
I hope OCN makes some appropriate aging-up changes too, the protagonists being high school age in such a story, always made me really uncomfortable.
OCN is good for thrillers but has yet to prove itself with rom coms though.”Secret Romance” was boring.JtBc should have picked this up.But thumbs up for taking risk.Rom coms generally rely on chemistry of OTP so they should cast good actors.
The title made me laugh, I couldn’t help myself to think about Rocco Siffredi ( I mean a king to please a woman :P) .
I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. I think this kind of story has this weird vibe that works really well for a japanese drama but not so much in a korean drama.
I can already imagine the idol casting ahaha
When does a K-adaptation of a J-manga more entertaining than the J-version? Don’t the Koreans ever learn from their mistakes? Yikes!!
in my opinion zettai kareshi was popular back then. it caltaputed aibu saki and hayami mokomichi popularity. All the three casts acted beautifully, and the story was interesting.
for me, the problem with this kind korean adaptation is its really cant grab the absurdity of jdrama. hanakimi for example, worked well on jdrama, but lost it charms on kdrama.
if korea want to adapt jdrama, they must stick with melo jdrama or pure romance jdrama.
I agree. Zettai Kareshi is one of my earliest dorama and it’s one of the reasons I fell in love with jdramas. The utter ridiculousness really works well, it is very entertaining and unforgettable to me. I’m not sure a kdrama adaptation can pull off the same fun vibe as the original. The taiwanese adaptation sucked as well.
Ms Koala, could you do a post on your ideal actors/actresses for this k-adaption? would like to see what you think! 🙂
I actually loved the JDorama Zettai Kareshi. So quirky and so silly but at the same time I felt like it made sense. The subsequent one was a bit bleh but I still watched it. The Taiwan never did anything for me. I’ll wait and see if the KDrama will.