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Itazura na Kiss Gets Live-Action Sequel Special in September
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Kaoru Tada's classic unfinished shōjo manga Itazura na Kiss is getting a sequel television drama special on September 12. The Itazura na Kiss 2 ~Love in Okinawa special is a sequel to last year's Itazura na Kiss ~Love in Tokyo television drama series. The special will again star model and actress Honoka Miki (Suzuki-sensei, Maria Watches Over Us) as Kotoko and Yūki Furukawa (High School Debut, Rich Man, Poor Woman) as Naoki.
The story will follow Naoki and Kotoko on their honeymoon in Okinawa. Former AKB48 member Yuka Masuda and actor Nao Okabe will play another newlywed couple in Okinawa. Taiwanese actors Evan Yo, Lele Cheng, and Jacob will also make a cameo in the special. All three actors starred as A.N.Jell members in Fabulous Boys, the Taiwanese version of the Korean drama You're Beautiful (the Korean drama also spawned a Japanese version titled Ikemen desu ne). The special will air at 3:20 a.m. JST.
The girls band Cyntia will perform the theme song "KISS KISS KISS." Tada's widower Shigeru Nishikawa will himself handle the music production for the special. The special will get a DVD release on September 17. Oricon is currently hosting some screenshots from the special.
In the romantic comedy, a high school girl named Kotoko finally tells a fellow senior named Naoki that she has loved him from afar since she saw him on their first day of high school. However, Naoki, a haughty "super-ikemen" (handsome male) with smarts and sports talent, rejects her offhand. Fate intervenes when a mild earthquake ruins Kotoko's family house. While the house gets rebuilt, Kotoko and her dad stay at the home of her dad's childhood friend...whose son is Naoki.
The story follows Naoki and Kotoko through high school and beyond, but the manga is unfinished because Tada passed away in an accident in 1999. The popular manga has more than 30 million copies in print. The story was previously adapted into a television drama series in Japan in 1996, two drama series in Taiwan under the name It Started with a Kiss in 2005 and 2007, a 2008 stage play, and a drama series in South Korea in 2010. The manga also inspired a 2008 television anime series, which Discotek Media licensed in June.
Digital Manga Inc. is publishing the series in North America, and the company released the 10th volume in May.
Source: Oricon
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