Playful Kiss/It Started with a Kiss/Itazura na Kiss

Happy New Year!!

I realized I have not written anything here for a while. So I wanted to mention a drama I watched a few months ago. I like to see dramas that are remade from other dramas or mangas. I don't like to say I compare, but I guess in a way I do. Don't most of us compare things or people in our lives, even if we say we don't?

Anyway, I watched the Korean drama Playful Kiss (or Mischievous Kiss) (2010) last September. It starred Kim Hyun Joong from the group SS501. His co-star (or the leading lady), was Jung So Min. Of course, as usual, there are a lot of different opinions about the drama, the acting, everything. But I don't go along with other people's opinions. I know what I like and don't like. I thought it was a cute drama, but there were a couple of scenes I couldn't help comparing to the Taiwanese version, It Started with a Kiss (2005), starring Joe Cheung and Ariel Lin. I first saw Joe Cheung when he was in The Rose (2003).

Then the Japanese version of this story is Itazura na Kiss (1996) which I saw before any of these were ever made. It starred Kasiwabara Takashi, who I thought was a cutie back then, and Sato Aiko. 

Of course, it all started with the manga Itazura na Kiss (1991-1999) by Tada Kaoru.The manga can be found here. 

The scene that I did compare between "Playful Kiss" and "It Started with a Kiss" is, of course, the kiss in the rain, when the guy discovers he loves the girl. In ISWK, the scene was much longer and showed more emotion. In Playful Kiss, there wasn't a lot of emotion shown from Kim Hyun Joong (he didn't show much emotion throughout the whole series). In ISWK we were able to see how much the character of Jiang Zhi Shu changed and grew as a person. In Playful Kiss, we were not able to see all the subtle changes as there were only 16 episodes, where ISWK had 20 episodes. Joe Cheung did do a good job of letting us see the changes. But then Joe does have more experience in acting. I'm sure Kim Hyun Joong will grow and improve. He did do a much better job in Playful Kiss than he did in Boys Before Flowers (2009). I am looking forward to his next drama to see how much he has improved.