Mischievous Kiss/Playful Kiss mini-Review

Mischievous Kiss, also known as Playful Kiss or Naughty Kiss, was the last adaptation of Itazura na Kiss I saw. Seeing as I’ve already seen ISWAK 1&2, Itazura na Kiss the anime and drama, this new version had a lot to live up to. I tried not to compare the series every step of the way so I could appreciate the subtleties. Unfortunately it is hard not to compare this series to the others since they all follow the manga very closely.

Here’s a short review:

Jung So Min and Kim Hyun Joong, cute but lacking

The Korean adaptation Mischievous Kiss offers an aesthetically impressive production design to glamorize a rather simple story but unfortunately its cinematography is overshadowed by the lack of strong leads who fail to emote any depth to their characters leaving the plot development to be shallow and superficial. The story struggles to offer any romantic development between the characters which ultimately drags the story all the way to the end. However, the cutesy story-telling is sure to win over fans of Kim Hyun Joong, who plays the austere and cold male lead.

The youtube extended series(special editions to MK), Naughty Kiss, is the only incentive to continue the series and see what all the hype has been about circling this version of Itazura Na kiss as the extensions offer a quick overview of the lives of our protagonists as they  head into married life. Fast character development and variances to the original manga story make for a better plot development and maturity for our lead characters which finally makes this remake worth appreciating.

Overall this story earns itself a 6/10