K-Drama Review: Playful Kiss

Riya Choudhary, Delhi

Playful Kiss is a K-Drama based on the Japanese manga series Itazura na Kiss by Kaoru Tada. The story of this drama revolves around a girl who scores poor grades in studies and has a crush on a handsome boy, who is pretty famous because he is the topper of the school.

Jung So-min plays the role of Oh Ha-ni, who is not-so-smart when it comes to getting good grades in her academics. She lives with her father who runs a noodle shop. Her mother passed away when she was a child. She has a crush on Baek Seung-jo, played by Kim Hyun-joong and always day-dreams about him. Baek Seung-jo is the topper of the school. She has two best-friends in the school, Dokko Min-ah, played by Yoon Seung-ah and Jung Ju-ri, played by Hong Yoon-hwa. All three of them, score poor grades but they always support each other and are kind at heart. There’s also Lee Tae-seong, who plays the role of Bong Jun-gu, a Busan boy who always tries to win Oh Ha-ni’s affection.

Baek Seung-jo, is handsome and always gets good grades like scoring 500 on 500 in the exams. He lives with his parents and his younger brother. His father runs a gaming company. His family is perfect! His mother, Hwang Geum-hee, played by Jung Hye-young is friendly and cheerful lady. She always stays updated about what his son is doing and is supportive towards him. There’s another girl as the second lead, Lee Si-young who has played the role of Yoon Hae-ra. She is smart like Seung-jo and likes him as well.

One of the funny incidents from the drama is when Oh ha-ni gives a love letter to Seung-jo but ends up getting it back after Seung-jo corrects her grammatical mistakes. A turn-around in the events take place, when Oh Ha-ni’s house collapses due to an earthquake, and she shifts to her father’s friend’s house, which ultimately turns out to be Baek Seung-jo’s house. After that, the drama starts progressing, taking interesting turns when they live in the same house. Eventually Seung-jo falls for Ha-ni and we get to see the cute chemistry between the couple.

If you are Kim Hyun-joong’s fan then it’s a must-watch drama. He is nailing this cold but cute role in this K-drama. I saw this after watching Boys Over Flowers and it is refreshing for me to watch him as the main lead instead of the second lead. For Jung So-min, she is really cute in this K-drama. I enjoyed the scenes where she keeps fantasizing in her mind and daydreams about his crush. She is a lovely daughter, a loyal friend, and a loveable partner. The drama has several mesmerizing OSTs. There are two songs which I particularly liked a lot, one of them is WILL YOU KISS ME sung by G.NA and another one is ONE MORE TIME sung by Kim Hyun-joong. Playful Kiss is a drama filled with emotions of love and sadness, family relations and friendships. It is funny to see how the relationship between the lead pair unfolds. As an amazing rom-com, this drama attracted even more viewers after the series completed, such that the show makers aired special episodes on youtube later. Do let me know your views about this K-drama.