2-Storyline/plot : They even changed the original manga story and didn't follow it plus it was short that i couldn't get the time to fully focus on it.
3-Acting/Cast : the female lead was totally an unforgivable choice, she ruined Kotoko's image in my mind for a while, she's so annoying that i end up not feeling sorry for her when Naoki treats her bad. The rest of the cast wasn't bad and i believe that the lead male was good.
4-Music : Fair enough
5-Rewatch value : people who liked it will rewatch others won't: it's as simple as that.
6-The ending : It was kind of rushed; it happened so quickly but it's not a bad ending.
7-Overall: I was kind of disappointed in this drama adaptation, it doesn't suit the huge size of Itazura na kiss. I believe that out of the 3 other dramas adaptations the japanese version was the worst yet seing Itazura na kiss's story all over again totally worth watching so no regrets.
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Most of the complaints it gets is about Sato's Kotoko being too loud, over the top, and "annoying", but that's what Kotoko is all about. Whether it be this adaption or another, you're probably not gonna like this story if you don't like the Kotoko character because Kotoko's the complete point of Itazura Na Kiss! She's famous for being a unique protagonist and no way would this manga/drama be so well known and beloved if she was as terrible as people like to believe. I just don't understand why anyone wouldn't love her.
Since this drama was filmed in the mid-90s, it's very charming and kinda simple, straight to the point. It's not ridiculously flashy and drawn out, with a big budget, which makes it one of my favorite comfort dramas. Compared to the other adaptions, the family/business issues are extremely cut down which I like because I always find family drama plots tiresome.
Kassy's Naoki is sooo subtle, you have to watch his facial expressions closely or you'll miss some of the best parts of the drama and the moments where he's obviously falling for Kotoko.
I really love the soundtrack. The romantic instrumentals in 90s fashion, contrast perfectly with the amazingly upbeat "Steady" by SPEED.
Overall, the humor LARGELY depends on exaggerating characters and circumstances. If you're looking for something realistic, simply don't watch it! If you can't handle shouting, quick scene cuts, camera zooms, or basic classic comedy, don't watch it. It's not suppose to be taken too seriously.
The only downside is it never got a season 2. The character development was so great, but we don't get to see that development pursued because of the quick ending.
Regardless if people like this version or not, it will always be special for being the first live adaption of Itazura Na Kiss and the only live adaption that INK's creator Kaoru Tada got to see before she died. I don't know if she advised during the production, but I'm sure if she hadn't liked how Kotoko was portrayed, she would've said something.
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This review may contain spoilers
A classic and the best adaptation.
This 1996 version of Itazura na kiss is the original and in my opinion the best one.Here's why:
Nostalgic: It's a blast from the past and a fun no frills adaptation of the manga. If you love and miss the 90s like I do then you won't be dissapointed with this version. Great stylish wardrobes from the leads. Kotoko and Naoki really can dress haha. The sets are great too. Before the popularity of the internet and cell phones, people had to actually communicate and hang out in person. That's all here. The nostalgia of the burger joint Kotoko hangs out in with her friends after school and even the Tower Records-esque store Naoki once stole a CD from.
The best Naoki:
Yes Kassy's Naoki is the best version of this character. He's not a robot or as cruel as the other versions. The emotions are all in his eyes. Kassy's acting is subtle and natural. It's clear Naoki loves Kotoko from the start and it doesn't seem like their relationship and his feelings just come out of nowhere. Naoki is detached and stubborn here but not a complete jerk. He's just a teenager that feels pressure and fears for the future.
Best Kotoko:
Sato's Kotoko is loud, funny, and annoying like her character is written, but this version actually has a backbone. She obsesses over Naoki but doesn't let him get away with treating her or his family like crap. You can see she slowly changes Naoki in a positive way and he starts to open up. Her character progression is nice in this version as well.
The best kiss scenes:
When comparing this 1996 version, the other adaptations don't hold a candle to this one. I'm specifically talking about the 2013 and Korean versions where Naoki kisses Kotoko for the 1st time to be cruel and lead her on. 1996 Naoki isn't arrogant in the first kiss scene or domineering. It's Kotoko who chases an upset Naoki down the street at night and tells him she's fed up with how he treats everyone and says she hates him. He then tenderly kisses her asking can she ever really hate him. It's the way these lines are delivered and the way Kotoko closes her eyes and kisses him back that makes this scene romantic and not toxic like other adaptations. Also, in this version Kotoko kisses Naoki for their 2nd kiss shortly after their first. And describes her kiss as warm and filled with love. Again it was another romantic bittersweet scene.
Chemistry:
All the cast have great chemistry and work off each other well. The two leads have the best chemistry and come across as believable. Also, Kotoko and her dad have such a great relationship. Their father/daughter bonding moments in the series were really sweet.
Best ost:
Seriously the soundtrack to this drama is so good and perfectly fits the scenes enhancing all the cute, sad, romantic, funny moments. I usually get sick of the songs that are repeated throughout a drama but not this time.
Bonus:
I loved the style of filming (very 90s) with closeups of the characters and sometimes exaggerated facial expressions for comedic effect. Another thing I loved was the opening and ending credits which I never skipped. It was cute how they had Naoki and Kotoko recreate scenes out of the manga and show the drawn version vs irl. Also cute the way Yuki was a sort of narrator of his brother's relationship with Kotoko.
All in all, I give this version a 10/10. It's a must watch!
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The female lead was really disturbing. Her acting wasn´t even cute... only dumb. The result: As a viewer I couldn´t believe the story, which shouldn´t be the case of each good story.Every good written fiction should beacome in the eyes of the viewer at least just a little bit possible. It is a pity, that this disadvantage covered up all good sides of this drama. The other actors played their roles quite well. Maybe sometimes overdone but not the whole time.
For those, who are looking for something cute and funny, don´t have great expectations like I had, maybe you wan´t be so disappointed like I was.
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This review may contain spoilers
Your heart will melt.
On a cold and rainy day, you may look for Itazura na Kiss -1996. I found it quite by accident. Once, I suddenly saw a familiar name: Takashi Kashiwabara. My first movie crash from Love Letter. In the late 90s and early 2000s, movies based on Japanese manga were rarely heard of. But Japanese movies were my weakness. Of course, I will watch, - I decided - and I was right.You probably already know the plot, so I present it as I saw it back then: the two accidentally collide lips-on-lips in the corridor on the first day of high school. She raises her (by the way, beautiful!) eyes to him and - blurs into a dreamy, satisfied smile. And the male lead says what I would have said here: Disgusting. After all, his heart broke down. It was an honest answer. Two years later, the same girl gives him a love letter in front of his colleagues, and he again reacts accordingly. He leaves everything as it is and does not react. All girls are the same.
Then, people, their prejudices, and some evil circumstances break them everywhere. Everything is just as the boy (alias, who keeps to himself, is supersensitive, and skeptical) had thought. And even worse. Both suffer, torture, and give up on each other more than once. But fate desperately brings them together. Every time the boy sees a new positive side of the girl (and a bunch of the shortcomings!) and receives one more ray of sunshine in his heart. And each time, his protection from her emotions becomes thinner. And it's getting harder and harder for him to contain himself.
After all, the main thing is to find the one who shines for you. And even more: to take a step and talk to him in his language. In order not to lose him.
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A meh adaptation.
Since I'm watching all the Itazura na Kiss adaptations, I guess I'll review them all as well. Note: I've read part of the manga and seen the anime, so they are the only thing I can compare this drama too. Another note: my favorite part of this drama was probably the ending theme, which paid homage to the manga (so adorable!).I didn't hate this drama, only it left me disappointed at certain points that I felt the manga/anime did better. For some reason, Kotoko never annoyed me as in the manga/anime as much as she did in this drama. No offense to Sato Aiko, who was a bit screechy at times. I think it was mostly a writing issue. There is never a moment when Kotoko becomes just fed up with Naoki (God, I really wanted this moment). It's incredibly frustrating. On the other hand, I rather liked Kashiwabara Takashi as Naoki. I felt more sympathetic to him than Kotoko tbh. She really seemed like an "ordeal" to him and I kept telepathically telling him to run away.
As for the rest of the cast, I thought Asada Miyoko and Akashi Ryotaro were perfect as Naoki's mom and Yuki. I really enjoyed his voice-overs in the episodes. The majority of the other characters were good/okay but no stand-outs. I was disappointed in Kinnosuke's character. Though Aoki Shinsuke resembles him really well, they reduced his character to pure comic relief and he becomes a lot more annoying because of it. And lastly, I thoroughly disliked Ozawa Maju as Reiko (Yuko in the manga/anime). She was portrayed so evil in this drama with absolutely no sympathy at all. Ugh I really hated it.
The ending of this drama left me with mixed feelings, which I still cannot put my finger on. I've given it a rating of 7, only because I didn't absolutely hate it. If I was a professional reviewer, I would likely give it a 5 or 6. I think only die-hard fans should watch this (and even then y'all might not like it). Casual fans should beware, unless you're the type to skip scenes (alas, I'm not). Well, on from this meh adaptation to the next.
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This review may contain spoilers
Initially, I was very wary on starting this drama, one; because it was made in 1996 and I wasn't sure what to expect, and two; because I was afraid that the story would be butchered.Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the 90-feel it had, however, I had mixed feelings on the drama itself.
This version of the story/series has very strong points which weren't in the other versions, But, it does have some obvious downsides, so it strongly depends on the watchers preference, whether the good outweigh the bad or vice versa.
The Good:
Naoki, Yuki and Noriko (Machiko) were portrayed AMAZINGLY well in this version.
Unlike the other versions, Naoki seemed to have a bit more emotions, and his feelings were more clearly shown, additionally, Noriko's comments seemed to have some truth in them; "he's just embarrassed" was something I felt was most likely true.
The same can be said for Yuki, despite him being much more of a brat, we did get to see his side of the story, and understand his standpoint through the 'diary' he wrote, and we also got to see how he starts to somewhat like Kotoko.
I absolutely LOVED the relation ship between Noriko, Shigeki and Shigeo, you really felt that they were very close friends, and I really appreciated that they made Noriko part of the 'friend group' in this adaption.
*Small note, I also really liked the reason for Kotoko and Shigeo moving in with the Irie's; having their house burn down sounds much more feasible that having a meteor hit it, ISWAK did a god job here as well with the earthquake.
The Bad:
Quite contrary to the characters mentioned above, Kinnouske, Shigeki (Masaki) and Shigeo were less than good.
Kinnouske was more of a comic relief than an actual person/character with feelings, difficulties and struggles, and was taken very lightly in comparison to other adaptions, which was very disappointing.
Shigeki and Shigeo on the other hand were not horribly portrayed, for one, I really liked their take on Shigeo, but they both barely had a role in the drama, and were also not taken very seriously either.
My other biggest issue with this drama, is that they kept making the romance build up, it went on and on, and finally when the 'climax' happened, it was extremely underwhelming, unlike the other adaptions(I'm guessing its because they stuck to the original story and events), and you couldn't really see Naoki and Kotoko being sweet.
Conclusion:
Lots of people had great issue with Kotoko, but personally I did not mind her as much, I enjoyed the newer "Love in Tokyo" portrayal of her much more, but this Kotoko is definitely not the worst.
Additionally, in this adaption some issues were focused on more, in comparison to the newer adaptions, which I felt was interesting.
Overall, I think it's safe to say that I enjoyed this version of the story, despite all its shortcomings, and I would recommend it, if you don't mind its weaker aspects.
If you haven't watched any of the other adaptions however, I would recommend that you watch one of the others before this one, to actually enjoy it and see its worth.
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This adaptation was just very bad especially compare to the other show that came later on. I mean it's a good thing to watch on a rainy afternoon when you have totally realize that your computer is dead and that there's nothing worth to watch on T.V. Seriously it's good that they tried to be somewhat original but they just went totally out of the manga, the only thing that may be recognize is the characters name and just probably the fact that they family are somewhat the same too. I found this reviews that I wrote in 2010 and I was so struck by the fact that today in 2014 I still feel the same about this drama.
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First, But Definitely Not the Best
I watched this solely because I'm a huge fan of the Itazura na Kiss franchise and I had high hopes for this one since it was regarded as the first adaptation. Generally, I approached the series with an open-minded perspective even after I've read the bad reviews. To break it down:1. Casting was a bit of a 50-50. Takashi Kashiwabara is probably the best and most unique version of Irie Naoki in all of the adaptations. However, Aiko Sato delivered a version of Kotoko that didn't stick well with me. As the series drew closer to the end, it seemed to me that all Kotoko did was scream and yell. Appearance wise, they're both very good choices, though.
2. Music was nice, gave off a very retro vibe that I loved.
3. I didn't like some of the relationships of the characters, it was kind of uncomfortable to watch. (e.g. Shigeo and Machiko, Irie's teacher).
4. The story pacing was sort of all over the place. The ending seemed very rushed.
All in all, I don't recommend this as the first adaptation of ItaKiss to watch. I think it is a nice watch for those who want to dig around for the roots of the franchise, though.
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