I was quite late to know about this Japanese manga. I was first interested in reading this manga since I watched an Indonesian drama series based on this manga titled Cowok Impian. I found the manga much more interesting than the drama. I also found that it’s one of the famous manga in the late 90s. Besides in Indonesia, this manga has been brought into drama series in its origin country, Japan, and Taiwan.
The story
It tells about a teenage girl, Aihara Kotoko, who has fallen in love with a genius good-looking teenage boy, Irie Naoki since the first time she saw him giving speech in student welcoming day. After two years of having the feeling, Kotoko decides to send Naoki a love letter. “I don’t want it” is the rejection she gets from Naoki. Though feeling embarrassed, Kotoko decides to move on. By a twist of fate, her house collapses. She and her dad then stay in the house of one of her father’s good friend who turns out to be Naoki’s father. Here, their love story begins. The story consists of 23 volumes of manga spans over a long period of time, starting from teenage until their marriage life.
The main characters
Irie Naoki is illustrated as a good-looking teenage boy whose IQ is about 200. He is good at almost everything, from school subjects to sports. However, he is a kind of introverted and ice-cold person. He rarely smiles and hates girls for some reasons, especially the scatterbrain ones like Kotoko. At first, he doesn’t like Kotoko at all since she is not brainy and sloppy. The manga interes
tingly tells how Naoki’s love for Kotoko develops in each volume.Unlike Naoki, Aihara Kotoko is a cheerful sloppy teenage girl who is far from brainy. She often gets bad scores at school and seems that many things she does would go wrong. Her persistence of loving Naoki so selflessly seems to be the core reason that shakes Naoki’s cold heart. She eventually marries Naoki and becomes a nurse working besides Naoki, as a doctor.
The Indonesian drama
Cowok Impian, the Itazura Na Kiss based drama, casts Marcel Chandrawinata and Ayudhia Bing Slamet as Kevin and Arika. The drama only takes the high-school life of the characters. It ends with Arika-Kevin reconcile after having misunderstandings for quite sometime. In the last episode of the drama, Kevin, who thought that Arika’s feeling for him has changed for Willy, decides to apply for scholarship abroad. Being a genius, he succeeds it. At the airport, when he is about to leave, Arika runs after him and tells him that her feelings for him have never changed. Unfortunately, he still has to go. He hugs her and kisses her on the forehead telling her to wait for him. They part as he is holding her love letter and kissing it. Some parts of the drama are not developed based on the manga, but in general the storyline is just the same.
Marcel Chandrawinata plays the role of Kevin (Naoki, the manga) in the Indonesian version of Itazura Na Kiss drama: Cowok Impian. Through his acting, Kevin turns to be less ice-cold than Naoki, though other personalities are generally the same. Kevin’s feelings for Arika (Kotoko, in the manga) are s
ometimes seen through his facial expressions and cynical comments that turn to be funny but sweet. I can say that Marcel succeeds in displaying a different color of Naoki character. At the moment, Marcel is one of famous Indonesian young celebs who often appear in teen tabloids, magazines, or TV infotainments. Many young audience seem to favor his western good looks. Since the drama ended in Feb ’07, Marcel has played in another Indonesian sinetron (drama) where, unfortunately, his acting turns out to be in a what-do-you-expect level. Perhaps this happens also because the drama story is not good enough to boost his acting (well, you know many Indonesian sinetrons are weird and unrealistic). Actually he has the talent to be a good actor, only if he is selective enough in choosing the scenario he plays in, and not takes part in a drama/movie only for the sake of being on screen in a regular basis. Otherwise, he may end up becoming a rich young celeb who is famous just for his good looks instead of his quality acting.
Ayudhia Bing Slamet takes the role of Arika (Kotoko, in the manga) in the Indonesian version of Itazur
a Na Kiss drama. Through her acting, the manga character seems to come into life in terms of both physical appearance and personality. Only that Arika is shown to be less stupid than Kotoko. Maybe it has something to do with culture or educational message (if there is). Instead of looking stupid, Arika is shown to be cheerful, naive and soft-hearted. She often cries because of Kevin’s ignorance and cynical comments, though these don’t fail her from going on loving Kevin. In the last episodes of the drama, Kevin seems to love her more than before. This is shown through his jealous behavior towards Willy, a good-looking young boy who cares a lot about Arika. Ayu herself is the third generation of Bing Slamet clan which is already known in the film and music industry. I think her acting talent is no doubt, since it already runs in her blood. Though her appearance on screen is not as often as some other famous female young celebs, I think this sweet young girl could be the kind of good actress in the future.
ometimes seen through his facial expressions and cynical comments that turn to be funny but sweet. I can say that Marcel succeeds in displaying a different color of Naoki character. At the moment, Marcel is one of famous Indonesian young celebs who often appear in teen tabloids, magazines, or TV infotainments. Many young audience seem to favor his western good looks. Since the drama ended in Feb ’07, Marcel has played in another Indonesian sinetron (drama) where, unfortunately, his acting turns out to be in a what-do-you-expect level. Perhaps this happens also because the drama story is not good enough to boost his acting (well, you know many Indonesian sinetrons are weird and unrealistic). Actually he has the talent to be a good actor, only if he is selective enough in choosing the scenario he plays in, and not takes part in a drama/movie only for the sake of being on screen in a regular basis. Otherwise, he may end up becoming a rich young celeb who is famous just for his good looks instead of his quality acting.Ayudhia Bing Slamet takes the role of Arika (Kotoko, in the manga) in the Indonesian version of Itazur
a Na Kiss drama. Through her acting, the manga character seems to come into life in terms of both physical appearance and personality. Only that Arika is shown to be less stupid than Kotoko. Maybe it has something to do with culture or educational message (if there is). Instead of looking stupid, Arika is shown to be cheerful, naive and soft-hearted. She often cries because of Kevin’s ignorance and cynical comments, though these don’t fail her from going on loving Kevin. In the last episodes of the drama, Kevin seems to love her more than before. This is shown through his jealous behavior towards Willy, a good-looking young boy who cares a lot about Arika. Ayu herself is the third generation of Bing Slamet clan which is already known in the film and music industry. I think her acting talent is no doubt, since it already runs in her blood. Though her appearance on screen is not as often as some other famous female young celebs, I think this sweet young girl could be the kind of good actress in the future.The Japanese drama
The drama title is the same as the manga: Itazura Na Kiss. It casts Takashi Kawashibara as Irie Naoki and Aiko Saito as Aihara Kotoko. The drama only takes the high school period of Naoki-Kotoko story, and a bit of after-high-school life in the last episode. The drama ends with Naoki realizes that actually he has fallen in love with Kotoko and that Kotoko is the one who has given much influence in his life. He chases after Kotoko who is about to get on the train leaving for another town. The train has left, and he thinks that it’s already too late. But when he turns his look across the railway, he found her standing there looking at him. He runs into her, hugs her, and tells her to stay and live with him. They kiss, and the drama ends.
Takashi Kawashibara plays the role of Naoki in the drama. His physical appearance here is really similar to the manga character. The drama based Naoki is also as ice-cold as illustrated in the manga. I don’t know much about Takashi, but indeed he is really handsome.
Aiko Saito is Aihara Kotoko in the Itazura Na Kiss drama. In terms of physical appearance, the drama based Kotoko is quite different from the one illustrated in the manga. In terns of personality, the drama based Kotoko is as comical as the one in the manga, even sometimes more embarrassing. Like Takashi, I don’t know much either about Aiko.
The drama title is the same as the manga: Itazura Na Kiss. It casts Takashi Kawashibara as Irie Naoki and Aiko Saito as Aihara Kotoko. The drama only takes the high school period of Naoki-Kotoko story, and a bit of after-high-school life in the last episode. The drama ends with Naoki realizes that actually he has fallen in love with Kotoko and that Kotoko is the one who has given much influence in his life. He chases after Kotoko who is about to get on the train leaving for another town. The train has left, and he thinks that it’s already too late. But when he turns his look across the railway, he found her standing there looking at him. He runs into her, hugs her, and tells her to stay and live with him. They kiss, and the drama ends.
Takashi Kawashibara plays the role of Naoki in the drama. His physical appearance here is really similar to the manga character. The drama based Naoki is also as ice-cold as illustrated in the manga. I don’t know much about Takashi, but indeed he is really handsome.
Aiko Saito is Aihara Kotoko in the Itazura Na Kiss drama. In terms of physical appearance, the drama based Kotoko is quite different from the one illustrated in the manga. In terns of personality, the drama based Kotoko is as comical as the one in the manga, even sometimes more embarrassing. Like Takashi, I don’t know much either about Aiko.
