Itazura na Kiss - It Started With A Kiss

Type: J-Drama and Taiwan Drama
No. of Episodes: 9 (Jdrama), 18?? (Taiwan)
English Subs: J-drama has not been subbed, the Taiwan drama has been softsubbed by folks on d-addicts

Itazura na Kiss

Itazura na Kiss is a shoujo manga by TADA Kaoru. It is a hilarious love story that spans 26 volumes. Back in 1996, it was adapted into a great Japanese drama starring KASHIWABARA Takashi and SATO Aiko. The Japanese drama only had 9 episodes, so the story was condensed a lot, but they did a great job with it.

AIHARA Kotoko is a high school girl who is in love with the smartest, coolest guy in school, IRIE Naoki. She has had a crush on him since their first year, when it was love at first sight while watching him give a speech to the student body. It has taken Kotoko 2 years to work up the nerve to confess her feelings to him in a love letter and actually give it to him.

Unfortunately, Naoki is not interested in Kotoko's confession and rather rudely brushes her off. He tells her that he doesn't like 'dumb girls' and pretty much breaks her heart. Poor Kotoko. While Naoki is in Class A at the school, where all the brightest students are, Kotoko is over in Class F, the class with the lowest grades. All seems hopeless for Kotoko until a disaster at home changes her life forever.

Kotoko lives alone with her father, a sushi chef. They love each other very much, and her father works hard to support Kotoko since her mother passed away. Unfortunately there isn't much he can do when their house suddenly burns down. They are almost forced to live in the sushi shop when Kotoko's father is visited by some old school friends to offer to allow them to stay at their place. Kotoko goes along with her father to his friend's home and is surprised to see how rich and fancy it is. She is even more surprised when she discovers that it is Irie's house!

Things are looking up for Kotoko now! She is actually living with the guy she likes (she still likes him even after he was so mean) and can see him every day! She finds an unexpected ally in his mother, who has always dreamed of having a daughter and is all for the idea of Naoki marrying Kotoko. The wacky hijinks ensue, as the seemingly perfect but cold Naoki is stuck living with the bubbly, clumsy Kotoko. She desperately wants him to like her but he is just as desperate to avoid her. Can they ever work it out?

It Started With a Kiss

In 2005, a good 10 or so years after the Japanese drama aired, a new live action version of Itazura na Kiss began airing in Taiwan. It stars Joe Cheng as Zhishu (Naoki) and Ariel Lin as Xiangqin (Kotoko). It follows the same plot as the manga and the Japanese version of the drama, but because the Taiwan drama has more episodes to work with, they are able to stick much closer to the full manga story. There are more supporting characters in this version that had to be eliminated from the Japanese version. I love the Taiwan version. It is amazing to see so many scenes from the manga translated directly to the screen.

Xianqin spends years working up the nerve to deliver a love letter to Zhishu, only to have him reject her cruelly in front of everyone at school. However, she still cares for him. Then her new house suddenly collapses and she and her father are forced to move into the house of his close school friends- Zhishu's family! Zhishu and his younger brother are not thrilled to have Xianqin there. Zhishu's strategy is to ignore her presence. But that is hard to do when his mother keeps forcing them together. She even gives Xianqin some embarrassing ammunition to blackmail Zhishu with. Through high school and into college life, Xianqin continues to like Zhishu, in spite of the arrival of various romantic rivals.

Ariel's Xiangqin feels a bit more close to the manga version of Kotoko to me. Her hair is the right length and is often styled the same way it is in the manga. Her character is not as over the top goofy as Kotoko in the Japanese version. You can feel that she really admires Zhishu and wants him to like her.


Joe Cheng's Zhishu is awesome as well. He does a great job at acting aloof and being annoyed at Xiangqin yet slowly thaws and isn't so annoyed by her. The number of episodes in the Taiwan drama really allows the story to flow well and for us to see the slow progression of Zhishu's feelings from intense dislike to something more warm. He is a seemingly perfect guy - good at school work, great at sports... he can even cook well. His ordered life is turned upside down when Xiangqin and her father move into his home. Her clumsy but honest feelings are something new to him.

Both Itazura na Kiss and It Started With a Kiss are excellent dramas. I really hope someone will get around to subtitling the earlier show. It really deserves to be appreciated by a wider audience!