Mischievous Kiss: Love In Tokyo: Why You Should Watch It

     I know that this isn't a K-Drama, but I wanted to talk about this J-Drama whose plot you may be familiar with. Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo is just the latest version of the popular manga "Itazura na Kiss" by Kaoru Tada. So far, there have been a Japanese live action adaption which only aired 9 episodes in 1996, a Taiwanese version called It Started With A Kiss(2005) which had 30 episodes and it's sequel They Kiss Again which aired 20 episodes, a Korean version called Playful Kiss which ran for 16 episodes, and an anime which had 25 episodes in 2008. Let's talk about each version briefly: 

  Let's start with Playful Kiss starring Kim Hyun Joong and Jung So Min: 

 This version aired in 2010. Kim Hyun Joong played the smart & perfectionist Baek Seung Jo, the male lead and Jung So Min played the clumsy Oh Ha Ni. This is the version most of you are probably most familiar with. Ha Ni has been in love with Seung Jo since the first year of high school and when she finally tries to get over him, her and her father move into his house when an earthquake destroys their new home. Boong Joon Gu is in love with Ha Ni who doesn't share his feelings. By the end of the series, Seung Jo married Ha Ni shortly after realizing his true feelings for her. This also spawned a 7 episode YouTube series called Naughty Kiss which followed them more into their married life. You can watch this on DramaFever, DramaCrazy, Viki, Hulu or Netflix(which is where I first watched). 

     Next version up is It Started With A Kiss and They Kiss Again starring Joe Cheng & Ariel Lin:

This Taiwanese version aired in 2005 and starred Joe Cheng as genius Jiang Zhi Zhu and Ariel Lin as the not so bright Yuan Xiang Qin. It's the same plot as Playful Kiss, but this version showed more. It aired for 30 episodes and spawned a second season called They Kiss Again which followed more into their married life and ran for 20 episodes. 

You can watch this on DramaCrazy or YouTube. DramaFever will start posting both seasons very soon.

Kiss Scene from They Kiss Again

Now onto the anime version Itazura Na Kiss with voices from Nana Mizuki and Daisuke Namikawa

The anime ran in 2008 and had 25 episodes. Nana Mizuki voiced Kotoko Aihara and Daisuke Namikawa voiced Naoki Irie. Again, same plot as the first two except it shows Naoki's and Kotoko's child, a girl named Kotomi. The adaptation after episode 22 isn't included in the manga due to the author dying before he could finish. 

Finally we have the newest adaptation which is Mischievous Kiss: Love In Tokyo starring Miki Honoka and Furukawa Yuki. 

Itazura Na Kiss: Love In Tokyo stars Miki Honoka as the bubbly yet not so bright Aihara Kotoko and Furukawa Yuki as the cold and smart Naoki Irie who is the object of Kotoko's affection. Once again, same plot as the others. This newly adapted version will have 16 episodes and airs every Friday. So far only 6 episodes have aired so far. DramaFever will have new episodes up every Friday or each time it airs since it's skipped a week already. Here are some stills so far: 

Naoki's parents

Naoki's father and Kotoko's father

Some random pictures

   

I found a MV for the 1996 version. Enjoy! 

   As I have said, I know that this isn't a K-Drama but it's really good. Plus if you have already seen the Korean and Taiwanese versions then you don't want to miss this one.