Analysis of the Drama ~Itazura Na Kiss

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Contributor's Name: Erin

Itazura Na Kiss is an adaptation from same-titled manga series by Tada Kaoru. Although it is quite similar to the manga, there are quite a number of differences between the drama and manga.

	Drama	Manga
Duration	9 episodes	23 volumes . The sudden death of the author, Tada Kaoru caused an abrupt end to the manga series.
Span	High school third year to 2nd year of university (3 years)	High school third year to end of university days ( 9 years)
Main competitors for Naoki's affection	Aihara Kotoko and Matsumoto Reiko	Aihara Kotoko, Matsumoto Yuko, Matsumoto Reiko and Ozumi Saeko
Main Competitors for Kotoko's affection	Irie Naoki, Nakamura Kinnosuke	Irie Naoki, Nakamura Kinnosuke, Masato (Kotoko's junior who studies law with Reiko) and Kotoko's classmate in nursing school
Ending	Naoki asks Kotoko to stay with him when she wants to go back to Akita to finish her nursing school studies.	Naoki gets married to Kotoko when they are in university. The comic ends with the question whether Kotoko is pregnant.
Characters	Irie Naoki, Aihara Kotoko, Matsumoto Reiko, Nakamura Kinnosuke, Watanabe Junichi, Junko, Satomi, Machiko (Naoki's mother), Ki (Naoki's dad), Shige (Kotoko's dad), Yuki (Naoki's brother), Kanhara-sensei (F class form teacher), Izumi-sensei (A class form teacher)	Irie Naoki, Aihara Kotoko, Matsumoto Reiko, Nakamura Kinnosuke, Watanabe Junichi, Junko, Satomi, Machiko, Ki, Shige, Yuki, Konomi (Yuki's girlfriend), Masato, Matsumoto Yuko, Christine (Kinnosuke's wife) and some others from the nursing school and hospital which Naoki and Kotoko works in.

Kashiwabara Takashi and Sato Aiko star in this romantic comedy. As a result of this drama, Kashiwabara soared in popularity especially in Taiwan. Besides them, Maju Ozawa, Aoki Shinsuke and Naitou Takeshi are also in this drama. Of all the actors in the drama, I feel that Sato Aiko is the best in terms of acting. Sato goes all out in her role and potrays Kotoko who is loud, silly but very determined. This is done by sacrificing her goody-two-shoes image to display the boldness of Kotoko's character.
As to whether the drama or the manga is better, it depends on which you have seen first. I saw the drama first and then I bought the manga series. The drama is a bit illogical because there is not a single trace of Naoki's feelings for Kotoko. In the last episode, you can see that he cares for Reiko more than Kotoko which makes her realise that Naoki will never choose her. That is why she wants to go back to Akita quickly. At the thought of losing Kotoko, Naoki then comes clean with his love for her. Well, this is rather hard to believe.
In the manga, you will be able to see tell-tale signs of Naoki's love for Kotoko. He just conceals his feelings for her with sarcasm and sometimes rather harsh actions. If you ignore the numerous insults that Naoki pile on Kotoko, he actually treats her fairly well. For example, Naoki came home to celebrate Christmas with Kotoko when she is dumped by her friends who are celebrating with their boyfriends. Things start to get more exciting when they are married. Although Naoki appears unromantic and cold, he is very much in love with Kotoko. That is why I feel that the manga is a more logical development of events. Of course, we cannot expect the drama to follow the manga so closely or it would lose its originality. In conclusion, I would recommend this drama to you all who haven't watched it and are game for lots of laughter.

I would have liked this drama more if I didn't read the comics...I mean it's just that some of the things in the drama seems really overboard. For example, the rivalry between the A-class and F-class and Reiko slapping Kotoko....I really liked this drama the first time I watched it...then I bought the comics and read them....and I find that I like the comics better. Unlike in the drama, Naoki, in the manga really shows at some point that he cares about Kotoko. In the drama, it is really hard to see why Kotoko and Naoki ended up together...esp at the end....I mean we are shown that Reiko knows more about the house than Kotoko after she left for 2 years and Naoki attended to Reiko first rather than Kotoko....then it's kind of hard to see why he went after Kotoko instead.....
Of course, to me the highlight of this drama is Kashiwabara Takashi....he's really cool in this drama. =^_^=