"Kimi wa Petto"

Soooo, apparently Kim Hyun Joong has signed up to play the "pet" character in the Korean remake of Kimi wa Petto.



For those of you who don't know, Kimi wa Petto is a hilarious, awesome J-dorama from 2003 that actually has a lot of interesting social commentary. The story revolves around a modern day career woman who is tall, smart, beautiful and well off but gets dumped by her insecure boyfriend who leaves her for a less successful, cuter, meeker girl. She is surrounded by men and women who both respect and hate her for her success, and she is unable to open herself up enough to heal from her scars as well, until she stumbles upon a beat-up young runaway and starts taking care of him as a human "pet." It sounds creepy, but the two characters fall into their roles so naturally that the "master-pet" relationship becomes an effective metaphor for evaluating the stages of their relationship as well as their relationships to other people. It's as much an exploration of gender politics in modern Japanese society as it is a fluffy, romantic comedy, and it is one of my favorite J-doramas. Koyuki is perfect in the lead female role, and so is Matsujun as Momo, her pet. It's funny and sad at all the right moments and the actors have a lot to do with making the rapid transitions from absurd to insightful that are so common in J-doramas smooth and endearing.

Now, Kim Hyun Joong is handsome, hard-working and entertaining. I loved him in the reality wedding variety show 우리 결혼했어요, and I like him in SS501 (even though he is not the best singer). Those roles require charisma more than anything, and he's got a lot of that. Funny thing, though. Most of his charms come from the way his thoughts are so unfiltered. He says what he wants to say and is pretty much unapologetic about/ oblivious to his abnormal responses to things. He's dorky but edgy- sweet, but kind of a bad boy. Sounds great, right?



Well. We all know what happened with Boys Before Flowers, the Korean remake of Hana Yori Dango. He slaughtered the beloved Hanazawa Rui role with his dead fish eyes, emotionless line delivery, and the absurd facial expressions he must have confused with as portraying anger. His cool, quirky charms don't show up through his "acting," which is sad for both him and the audience. I think he over thinks his actions and everything just comes off stiff and wrong.


(He sure was pretty in the beginning, though)

Bottom line, his character was totally flat and boring. The only thing that saved him from my absolute disdain was the fact that the entire show became hopeless and painful to watch. The show's faults overshadowed his limitations, so my disappointment became directed towards the abysmal writing and direction- a sentiment I've since settled with.

It's too early to make any judgement calls, especially since the director, scriptwriters and lead actress have not been announced. It is troubling, though, that the first person announced in the project was ... KHJ. sigh... whatever sells, right? Still, in the original Kimi wa Petto, the person that anchored the show was the female lead, and if they get a really great Korean actress who might for some crazy reason have amazing chemistry with KHJ, it might still work out.

I think I wrote too much about a subject that is not even that important to me. I mean, if they ruin the show, the original is still good (Go watch it! It's a short 10 episodes. http://www.mysoju.com/kimi-wa-petto/). I was only angry with Boys Before Flowers because I had such high hopes for it. Also because I was kind of in love with Rui and KHJ did such a great disservice to Oguri Shun's stellar performance in HYD.


(Well done angst is a weakness of mine and Oguri Shun does brooding angst beautifully.)

I'm definitely less attached to this Momo character, so... I guess, GOOD LUCK to Kim Hyun Joong! Hopefully this next director will be more effective at leading his/her actors, and hopefully KHJ will be more effective at... acting. -____-;;