Adaptation Switcheroo! ^{4}

Ah, our very first article since the migration completion of the old location to the new location of the Bunny Channel!

This summer (well, it’s summer here in the U.S., as well as Japan and Korea), two particular TV series that have been aired on TV before are now having adaptations and/or remakes of those same TV shows that are premiered (or will be premiered) this season or maybe sometime later this year. We’ve already seen the adaptation/remake trends from different countries with hits as Boys Over Flowers (based on the original Japanese manga series Hana Yori Dango by Yoko Kamio), Mischievious/Playful Kiss (based on the original Japanese manga series Itazura-na Kiss by Kaoru Tada), and the latest adaptation, City Hunter (based on the original Japanese manga series City Hunter by Tsubasa Hojo).

Two particular TV series are noted to be adapted/remade this year by the following countries: Japan and Korea. In fact, these two particular TV shows have one common theme: girls cross-dressing and disguising themselves as boys in order to become a part of something that only had boys in it. I wonder if the Philippines would also make Pinoy version adaptations of these shows too… and I wonder if BRETZIE would be part of the casting somewhere in there also. Just pondering.

You’re Beautiful

YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL (Minami Shineyo (Korean), Ikemen desu ne (Japanese))

In 2009, Korea introduced to us their hit original romantic comedy TV series, Minami Shineyo (lit. translation – “He’s a hot guy”), which give some of us a reminiscent of the “girl pretending to be a boy” theme that’s very familiar in Japanese shoujo manga (girls’ comics) genre. When this was released, the official given English name for the series became You’re Beautiful. The story revolves around a fictional boy band called A.N. Jell and its members, management and the typical life of what a popular boy band normally goes through in real life. The group’s lead singer, however, happens to be a girl disguised as a boy. The lead character, a nun-in-training named Go Mi Nyeu, had to pose as his twin brother, Go Mi Nam, who happens to be the original lead singer of A.N. Jell due to a medical condition (plastic surgery). She takes this opportunity as her ticket to searching for their mother while dealing with her relationships with the band’s members: Hwang Tae Kyung, Kang Shin Woo and Jeremy.

The series starred notables Park Shin Hye as twins Go Mi Nyeu (male) and Go Mi Nam (female), Jang Geun Suk as Hwang Tae Kyung, and CNBLUE‘s lead singer Jung Yong Hwa as Kang Shin Woo. The series proved to be a hit in Korea that it was also aired at TV stations at their neighboring Asian countries, which includes their next-door neighbor, Japan. At the home of master storytelling through their popular manga medium, not to mention CNBLUE’s high popularity in Japan (CNBLUE debuted in Japan before they became popular in their home country Korea) You’re Beautiful also became a hit. The series was released in Japan using its Japanese direct literal translation of Minami Shineyo: Ikemen desu ne (lit. translation – “He’s a hot guy”).

With this, Japanese fans loved this TV series so much that they even requested Japanese TV stations to have a Japanese adaptation of You’re Beautiful. After a few years since the end of the airing of the original, Japanese TV station TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) answered their call and decided to adapt the Korean hit series with an all-out Japanese cast with the setting in Tokyo rather than Seoul. This is one of the very few times that Japan would create adaptations/remakes of original Korean dramas and/or movies (one series that I can think of was Ryokiteki-na Kanojo, which was adapted from the hit Korean movie My Sassy Girl) and those who were familiar with the series gave mixed reactions towards Japan’s move to recreate the series as their own. Like the original, TBS decided to use the same title that was given when the original series was aired years ago (Ikemen desu ne). Ikemen desu ne began airing last July 15th. Unlike the original that had familiar names and faces as the cast, TBS decided to go for the more fresher, newer faces: fresh-faced Miori Takimoto, like Park Shin Hye, will also be portraying dual roles as twins Mio Sakuraba (male) and Miko Sakuraba (female), with the A.N. Jell band members Yuta Tamamori as Ren Katsuragi (Hwang Tae Kyung), Taisuke Fujigaya as Shu Fujishiro (Kang Shin Woo) and Hikaru Yaotome as Yuki (Jeremy) Hongo.

The Bunny Channel will be presenting both versions of You’re Beautiful starting with the original version and will be followed by the Japanese version currently on air. English subs, of course.

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e

HanaKimi - Ikemen Paradise (2007)

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (lit. translation – “For You in Full Blossom”, also known as HanaKimi for short) by Hisaya Nakajo is a hit shoujo manga series about a teenage Japanese-American track and fielder girl named Mizuki Ashiya, who saw and eventually became inspired by a young Japanese track and field athlete named Izumi Sano on TV, that prompted her to fly all the way to Japan and transfer to the school that Sano currently attends in order to meet him. The only thing was that the school that Sano is attending happens to be Osaka High School, an elite private all-boys school known for having a huge population of Japan’s hottest guys. Without letting her family back in the U.S. know, Mizuki disguises herself as a boy so she would be admitted to the school, and in the turn of the events, she also ends up as Sano’s dorm roommate. The manga series became a hit among readers, not because of its hilarious hijinks and the romance that may be sometimes misunderstood by some, but for the girls, the thought of having an all-boys school filled with hot guys gave the series its boosted popularity. The manga series is also available in English under the title HanaKimi: For You in Full Blossom.

In 2006, the manga was first adapted in to a live-action TV drama series, not by its home country of Japan, but by that little island nation way south of the home country, Taiwan. The Taiwanese adaptation was released under the title Huā Yàng Shǎo Nián Shǎo Nǚ, which literally translates as The Tricks of Boys and Girls, but also with the subtitle of Hanazakarino Kimitachihe underneath its Chinese title. The drama starred S.H.E.’s Ella Chen as Li Rui Xi (Mizuki Ashiya) and Fahrenheit’s Wu Chun as Zuo Yi Quan (Izumi Sano) and Jiro Wang as Jin Xiu Yi (Shuichi Nakatsu). It was proven to be a hit that it was also aired around its neighboring Asian countries including the Philippines (Tagalog-dubbed, of course).

Fast forward to 2007 and Japan decided to adapt its homegrown story in to their own live-action drama series, using its original concepts from the manga with a new subtitle underneath: Hanzakari no Kimitachi e – Ikemen Paradise (ikemen is a Japanese slang term for a hot guy). The drama starred well-known names: Maki Horikita as Mizuki Ashiya, Shun Oguri as Izumi Sano, Toma Ikuta as Shuichi Nakatsu and Hiro Mizushima as Minami Nanba. There were also a huge number of the cast that were fresh faces before and in minor roles but eventually became well-known household names among the Japanese youth today: Yusuke Yamamoto as Taiki Kayashima, Masaki Okada as Kyogo Sekime, Ryo Kimura as Nakao Senri and Junpei Mizobata as Kazuma Saga, to name a few. (Sidenote: If you’ve seen Otomen here at the Bunny Channel, Masaki Okada (Asuka Masamune) and Ryo Kimura (Hajime Tonomine) started their budding careers in in this TV series). Like the Taiwanese version, the Japanese version also became a hit, so much that— fast-forward to this year, 2011— that another Japanese remake is currently on air with the title Hanazakari no Kimitachi e – Ikemen Paradise 2011, starring AKB48′s Atsuko Maeda as Mizuki Ashiya and Aoi Nakamura as Izumi Sano.

The original Japanese version of HanaKimi was also aired in their neighboring countries like the Taiwanese version, which also includes Korea and the Philippines.

Along with the second remake of the Japanese version currently on air now, Korea also recently announced that they will be adapting/remaking this series. I don’t have much info about this one, but probably because of the success of You’re Beautiful that Korea decided to go with the “girl pretending to be a guy” romance comedy genre by adapting HanaKimi as their own. It was announced that the Korean version will be under the title Beautiful You, which is somewhat off from the original title, but then again the Taiwanese version’s title was also off from the original as well. I’m pretty sure K-Pop/K-drama fans will be having high expectations on this version: hot guys, hot guys, and nothing else but hot guys. I think this would be an interesting take seeing several versions of this series from different (Asian) countries.

Boys Over Flowers/Hana Yori Dango, anyone?

The Bunny Channel will also feature HanaKimi very soon. For now we’ll be featuring the first Japanese adaptation of the manga, but if you also want the Taiwanese version, the second Japanese adaptation on air this year and the upcoming Korean version, just let us know.

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By Adri Category: Japan, Korea, Taiwan, TV Shows Tags: