![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Playful Kiss (or Mischievous Kiss) is the Korean version of Itazura na Kiss, a Japanese manga that was also adapted into a Jdrama back in 1996. With only a nine episode broadcast schedule, I can only assume that Itzaura na Kiss was a kinder, gentler, far less annoying trip down the drama rom-com road. Of course, until I sit down with Itzaura na Kiss I shall never know.
All that said, Playful Kiss was strangely entertaining. It lacked the cracktastic awesomeness of Boys Over Flowers, but I was invested just enough to make it through all sixteen episodes. On some days, I think I should have gotten a medal.
Baek Seung Jo (played by the very pretty, although unfortunately robotic Kim Hyun Joong) is a genius. Number one in the whole school, Seung Jo is good at every damn thing and all the girls at his high school are In Love. They squeal and gather when he walks down the corridors apparently unfazed by his propensity for ignoring them. Oh Ha Ni (Jung So Min) is cute, perky, and the last in the class. And I mean literally, she ranks the lowest in the entire class, the last of the Last Chance Kids. Oh Ha Ni, like the rest of the female student body, is head over heels for Wonder Boy Baek Seung Jo. What could be more natural than to figure out way to throw these two into constant contact and watch the love blossom. I have to say, it was mostly fun, but Oh Ha Ni often made me want to reach into the TV and slap her.
Baek Seung Jo was your typical arrogant kdrama male. He was actually meaner than early Boys Over Flowers Gu Jun Pyo, which I find astonishing considering how Gu Jun Pyo basically made the entire student body TORTURE students to the verge of suicide. Example: In their first encounter, Oh Ha Ni leaves a love letter in Seung Jo's locker. In front of a fair chunk of the student body Seung Jo returns it with corrections and a big fat D- letter grade. Seriously, he graded her love letter! This is the kind of asshattery that Seung Jo is good at. In a ridiculously weak, although I assume its supposed to be Sooper Funny, plot contrivance, Oh Ha Ni and her dad lose their home in a freak earthquake. Of course its on the news because their house is the only one in the neighborhood that gets leveled in the 2.0 earthquake wtf! AND someone is trapped inside (Oh Ha Ni's dad). Well, Dad's BFF from school happens to be watching TV and he and his wife invite the Oh's to move in with their family until repairs are completed on their house. Of course, we all know where this is going because who happens to live in the house? None other than Wonder Boy himself, Baek Seung Jo.
The drama is mostly about how different our two leads are and how Oh Ha Ni's simple, clueless charm slowly but surely wins over the robotic and emotionally stunted Baek Seung Jo. It's fun at times, endearing at others and frustrating as hell for the remainder. Oh Ha Ni's only goal in life is to love and be loved by Baek Seung Jo. That one note gets played until you want shoot yourself in the head. It wouldn't be so bad if Baek Seung Jo did the hot and cold a little more, he spends the majority of the drama stone cold mean to her, although we do get to see some nuances as he slowly warms up to her. I think those brief glimmers are what kept me coming back. Unfortunately, coming back meant I did a fair bit of eye rolling. Oh Ha Ni! Seriously?
Jung So Min as Oh Ha Ni was another reason that I kept coming back. The actress is pretty awesome and pulled off what could have been an even more annoying character with some freshness. Her expressiveness went a long way. Plus the side characters were way entertaining. Oh Ha Ni's best friends, the Dad and his BFF's One True Bromance, not to mention Seung Jo's awesome mom and his brother, Wonder Robot 2.0. There was plenty of great stuff and plenty of the not so great. But at the end of it all, I was glad that I watched. I spent that week braiding my hair, so streaming sixteen hours of a calorie free kdrama was a great way to keep me entertained in the meantime.
Catch the drama over at Drama Fever and blow-by-blow episode recaps at Dramabeans.
All that said, Playful Kiss was strangely entertaining. It lacked the cracktastic awesomeness of Boys Over Flowers, but I was invested just enough to make it through all sixteen episodes. On some days, I think I should have gotten a medal.
Baek Seung Jo (played by the very pretty, although unfortunately robotic Kim Hyun Joong) is a genius. Number one in the whole school, Seung Jo is good at every damn thing and all the girls at his high school are In Love. They squeal and gather when he walks down the corridors apparently unfazed by his propensity for ignoring them. Oh Ha Ni (Jung So Min) is cute, perky, and the last in the class. And I mean literally, she ranks the lowest in the entire class, the last of the Last Chance Kids. Oh Ha Ni, like the rest of the female student body, is head over heels for Wonder Boy Baek Seung Jo. What could be more natural than to figure out way to throw these two into constant contact and watch the love blossom. I have to say, it was mostly fun, but Oh Ha Ni often made me want to reach into the TV and slap her.
Baek Seung Jo was your typical arrogant kdrama male. He was actually meaner than early Boys Over Flowers Gu Jun Pyo, which I find astonishing considering how Gu Jun Pyo basically made the entire student body TORTURE students to the verge of suicide. Example: In their first encounter, Oh Ha Ni leaves a love letter in Seung Jo's locker. In front of a fair chunk of the student body Seung Jo returns it with corrections and a big fat D- letter grade. Seriously, he graded her love letter! This is the kind of asshattery that Seung Jo is good at. In a ridiculously weak, although I assume its supposed to be Sooper Funny, plot contrivance, Oh Ha Ni and her dad lose their home in a freak earthquake. Of course its on the news because their house is the only one in the neighborhood that gets leveled in the 2.0 earthquake wtf! AND someone is trapped inside (Oh Ha Ni's dad). Well, Dad's BFF from school happens to be watching TV and he and his wife invite the Oh's to move in with their family until repairs are completed on their house. Of course, we all know where this is going because who happens to live in the house? None other than Wonder Boy himself, Baek Seung Jo.
The drama is mostly about how different our two leads are and how Oh Ha Ni's simple, clueless charm slowly but surely wins over the robotic and emotionally stunted Baek Seung Jo. It's fun at times, endearing at others and frustrating as hell for the remainder. Oh Ha Ni's only goal in life is to love and be loved by Baek Seung Jo. That one note gets played until you want shoot yourself in the head. It wouldn't be so bad if Baek Seung Jo did the hot and cold a little more, he spends the majority of the drama stone cold mean to her, although we do get to see some nuances as he slowly warms up to her. I think those brief glimmers are what kept me coming back. Unfortunately, coming back meant I did a fair bit of eye rolling. Oh Ha Ni! Seriously?
Jung So Min as Oh Ha Ni was another reason that I kept coming back. The actress is pretty awesome and pulled off what could have been an even more annoying character with some freshness. Her expressiveness went a long way. Plus the side characters were way entertaining. Oh Ha Ni's best friends, the Dad and his BFF's One True Bromance, not to mention Seung Jo's awesome mom and his brother, Wonder Robot 2.0. There was plenty of great stuff and plenty of the not so great. But at the end of it all, I was glad that I watched. I spent that week braiding my hair, so streaming sixteen hours of a calorie free kdrama was a great way to keep me entertained in the meantime.
Catch the drama over at Drama Fever and blow-by-blow episode recaps at Dramabeans.
