Itazura na Kiss Love in Tokyo Japanese Drama Review July 21, 2013

I finished watching Itazura na Kiss Love in Tokyo a Japanese Drama, which is based on the manga. It has been made into a Korean drama in 2010 called Mischievous Kiss/Playful Kiss/Naughty Kiss and also a Taiwanese drama called It Started With a Kiss. I did watch the Korean version when it came out so it has been a while since I watched it and could not remember the details that well to compare. I think that I enjoyed the Korean drama more and not just because I watched it first but I enjoyed how far into the plot they went with the story line as the Love in Tokyo did not go as far into the future. I have not read the manga so I am not sure which one kept to the real plot better.

  I think this is a drama that I love to hate and I felt the same way when I watched the Korean version. The main girl is so needy and she always puts up with the guy who treats her horribly. I had so many instances when I am yelling at her to act differently and to push him back as much as he pushes her. She just takes too much crap and sometimes I just get so irritated with how she acts. At the same time I still need to keep watching and I guess I am just waiting for the point when she melts his heart and his actions become different.

In Love in Tokyo I liked the main girl Kotoko most of the time but I found it weird that in almost every episode she never had her hair cover her ears. Not that I really care about it but to me it just seemed like she had larger ears and I would think you would want to hide it? maybe it was just me? I found that she overacted in this drama and a lot of her scenes were overacted. There were actually a lot of characters in this drama that were also overacters such as the mom, little brother sometimes, and Kin-chan. I found that a little offputting and hard to take serious but maybe that is okay then it was more of a lighter drama than a really serious one.

I liked Naoki as the main lead. He did a very good job at being cold and mean but I did not think there was enough balance because he was never nice. Even when he was supposed to be having a moment with Kotoko there was little warmth from him so it seems very farfetched that he even wants to have anything to do with Kotoko, even at the end. I think I started to dislike him towards the end because I feel like there was not enough growth within him to even be with Kotoko. I mean the ending is disappointing because it feels like we don’t get to see what we were waiting for the two of them just being together like a real couple. I guess I just expected more out of this drama.

I have to say,  I really liked Kin-chan in this version or the other love interest. I did not the other guy in the Korean version very much but Kin-chan was not bad as a character. I wished I could have seen Naoki and Kin-chan fight a little bit more rather than Kin-chan doing all the yelling and Naoki never saying anything.

I enjoyed this drama most of the time but found the ending unfulfilling! I am not sure if they are making a second season or not but if there is a continuation that maybe there is a chance to be fulfilled from that. If you have already watched a version of this drama not why not watch another one! I always love to see my favorite characters reborn in different dramas! If you have never watched it you may enjoy it but I am sure you will become frustrated at some point, but that is the risk you will have to take.

Nails Shop Paris Episode 10 (Final) Summary July 1, 2013

The tenth episode starts with Alex telling Yeo-Joo that he likes her and Kei phones her and she leaves to answer it.

The next day Yeo-Joo comes in and tells the boss that she wants to quit Paris and the Boss tells her to come with her on her errand. Kei grabs her arm before she leaves and asks why and she tells him that it is because everybody knows. As they are driving the Boss asks why she is quitting and she tells her that she had lied to her and the Boss says it is because she is really a woman and not a man. They get out of the car and Yeo-Joo recognizes the place and the Boss says that 16 years ago Yeo-Joo got lost in that mountain and she was the one that rescued her. The boss says that Yeo-Joo recognized this necklace before and it starts glowing. Yeo-Joo says that it was fake and the Boss says that she had to trick her. The boss tells her that she is trying to help her again like before and that her fictional stories about  their being a mutation born between hum and Gumiho is what Yeo-Joo is.

Yeo-Joo is at home and remember what the Boss told her and that she is Gumiho but before she is awakened she is just like a normal person and that if she is awakened past the age of 20 many things will change. Yeo-Joo then phones her dad.

Ji-Soo runs to join Jin because he is being interviewed again by the same paper and they go into the cafe together. The reporter asks who she is and then says that she thought he didn’t have a girlfriend and she wrote that previously. After it is over Ji-Soo is mad and Jin tries to explain he had that written for his fans and she is mad that he chose his fans over her and she says that she even left the hospital for Jin. Jin then gets angry because of that Intern Doctor Jeong that she was having a relationship with. He pulls her in the cab because he can’t walk her home. Ji-Soo cries in the cab.

Yeo-Joo goes to visit her dad who is feeding his sheep. Yeo-Joo scolds him for not being more happy to see her and give her a hug and he acts gruff with her. She asks him what her mom was like because her grandma told her that she died in a car accident when she was a baby. He tells her that she didn’t die but ran away after her birth and he felt sorry he couldn’t be nicer to her because she reminded her of her mother. Yeo-Joo asks if he has any photos of her and he tells her if he finds it he will send it to her. Yeo-Joo is helping her dad with the fence and he tells her that she should clear things up back home because he knew something was wrong because she never phones or comes home. He tells her that no matter what she hears or see she should block it out and do what she wants.

Jin goes to the flower shop to pick out flowers for Ji-Soo and texts her that he is coming with an apology. The Doctor Jeong appears before her outside her house and he tells her that disappearing wouldn’t end things between them and that he doesn’t want to like a girl who has a boyfriend but he knows that she likes him too and that she had already made him fall for her. She tries to protest and he tells her that she needs to clarify things when Jin is walking towards them with flowers.

He tells Dr. Jeong to takes his hands off of her and punches him and Ji-Soo scolds him Jin gets mad and leaves. Ji-Soo stomach hurts and Dr. Jeong asks if she is okay.

Yeo-Joo gets off the bus and she gets a call from the hospital so she goes to see Ji-Soo. Dr. Jeong tells her that the infection got worse and that she will need to stay here a while. Jin comes and Dr. Jeong pulls him out to talk to him. Dr. Jeong punches Jin and tells him that it was for Ji-Soo and that she left the hospital as if she was running away from something and that she did that for him to maintain their relationship and that even when in pain she was calling for him. He tells him that Ji-Soo is too good for Jin.

Alex and Kei are at Paris and Alex tells Kei that the customers are complaining about him and that he needs to know the line between personal and professional. Kei gets mad that Alex isn’t affected by Yeo-Joo leaving and Alex says that he encouraged his feeling for Yeo-Joo. Kei tells him that he didn’t want Yeo-Joo to be forced to quit. Alex asks him to promise that they can still remain friends no matter who Yeo-Joo chooses and Kei just walks past him.

The next day Jin and Yeo-Joo are at the hospital and Yeo-Joo asks him where he has been and he goes in to talk to Ji-Soo. Jin recalls yesterday and he went out with Alex and was told that he should go back to Ji-Soo and that even if she had felt something for Dr. Jeong she has realized who she really likes now and if he doesn’t stay next to her that she would feel very sad.

Ji-Soo apologizes that she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He apologizes too for misunderstanding and not trusting her. She says he is a good boyfriend and he kisses her on the lips and then on the cheek. 

Yeo-Joo is watching outside and then sees Dr. Jeong as she turns around and he walks away. Yeo-Joo gets a call from Alex and goes to Paris. Alex asks if she is really quitting and she says that he and Kei are having a hard time because of her. He asks if she is going to take the exam and it would be a waste because she spent so much time preparing. He gets her to promise that she will take it. Alex text Kei to come at 8 to the shop. Alex tells her that no matter how she chooses either him or Kei has to leave here and she says she can’t let it happen. He says he doesn’t want to leave either or leave her and then hugs her. Kei walks in and sees them hugging and walks out. 

Yeo-Joo bows to Alex and then runs after Kei. She begs him to listen to her because it is a misunderstanding. He is angry she was hugging Alex without even talking to him because he has been worried. He asks if the misunderstanding is that she wants to be with Alex and now she can’t because he is bothering her. She tells him that she liked Alex and that she stills does but without him it means nothing. She starts crying and says if she lost Alex it would hurt her heart but if she lost Kei she would die and that she likes him. She starts crying harder and grabs him arms saying not to go and he then pulls her into a hug.
 

Kei and Yeo-Joo are sitting on a bench and he asks when she is going to give him the ring. She pulls it out and puts it on his hand. He asks about hers and she hasn’t brought it and he tells her that she was supposed to wear it everyday and warns her not to be around any guys.

Jin is feeding Ji-Soo at the hospital and Ji-Soo asks Yeo-Joo is going to go back to Paris and she doesn’t know but she is going to take the test. Jin goes to get ice cream. Yeo-Joo meets Kei at her exam and he didn’t get lost and she shows him her ring. He gives her a nail filer and it is the nail filer he used for his exam and the competitions he has won. She jokes it is old and then he tries to take it back. She jokes about him being so sensitive and mentions if Alex hadn’t told him to come last night she wonders if she wouldn’t have seen him and then it would have been completely over.

At the shop Alex had to tells something to the boss and when Alex comes out Kei asks to talk to him. Kei asks why Alex sent him the text last night and Alex says he thought it would clear things up faster and Kei tells him to stop pretending. Kei tells him that Yeo-Joo said that if he hadn’t called him their relationship would have completely ended and tells him it would’ve been better for Alex to have ignored him. Alex says that Yeo-Joo picked Kei anyways and Kei isn’t happy he did that. Alex tells him that he is going abroad to study and that he has already booked the ticket and is going this next week. Yeo-Joo comes in and has heard it all and Kei says he thought she should know too. Kei is outside and Alex and Yeo-Joo are talking she asks why he did that and he tells her he wanted her to stay with him and not go after Kei and but now he is glad she didn’t because he wanted her to express her feeling and be happy. So he wants to give her a gift and gives her a one of a kind manicure and tells her that by the time the manicure is gone all that happened here will become a beautiful memory.

Jin is at the hospital and calls the reporter to tell her that he want the article changed to say he has a gorgeous girlfriend. The Dr. has overheard and Jin tells him that he is never going to give up Ji-Soo, 2 nurses run by and the Dr. asks what is wrong and Ji-Soo is in danger. They all go in and the Dr. is mad that she was given ice cream to eat. Yeo-Joo comes and she asks the Dr. what has happened and he tells her that she has enterobiasis and it means that there is a hole in her intestine and has made her bleed and they can’t do surgery because her blood pressure is too low. Yeo-Joo holds Ji-Soo’s hand and a light glows from Yeo-Joo and then Ji-Soo’s blood pressure goes up and they order the surgery.

Yeo-Joo is waiting and she recalls the Boss telling her that if she is awakened past 20 she will have a strong healing power and the ability to foresee the future and her biorhythm will become different from normal people. Yeo-Joo gets a text from her dad with his wedding picture and it is a picture of the Boss.
 

Yeo-Joo is at Paris and she confront the Boss about her being her mother and the Boss says that he day she got lost in the mountain she went out following someone and that she went there for a few minutes and then left and when she saw her miss her footing and fell down the mountain she couldn’t stand there and watch. She asks Yeo-Joo if she can forgive her mother and Yeo-Joo says there is no way and that it can’t be happening.

The Boss says that she didn’t want to leave but when she realized that her dad couldn’t turn her into a human she knew that when people got older she would always stay the same and couldn’t stay with her like that. Yeo-Joo then says that she can’t believe what she is saying but she will believe that she is helping her just like 16 years ago and that she will believe that. The Boss then hugs her. The Boss tells Yeo-Joo that she is going into a long hibernation soon and it is unavoidable because she is completely awakened as a gumiho and that she wants to tell her something so that she doesn’t have to live the way she did. In her novels she describes a hunter and a helper and that she wanted to help her meet the hunter so she didn’t have to live as a Gumiho forever. Yeo-Joo ask if she is saying that Alex was really a helper.

In Yeo-Joo’s story Kei has Alex pinned down and is about to kill Alex when Yeo-Joo kills Kei instead. 

Yeo-Joo is upset and says she had no other choice and Alex takes her back to the shop and says he is going to show him who he really is now and they hold hands and he they open the doors and it is a bright light.

It is 6 years later and 2 young guys working at Paris are reading the story online and talking about how it is an open ending. Yeo-Joo is the Boss and they ask her if Alex was really the helper. 

A little girl comes running in calling mom and runs to Yeo-Joo, she tells her that Hoya keeps telling her that she is ugly and Yeo-Joo tells her that they will have to get her dad to scold him. 

Alex and Kei come in the door and the girl goes running to her dad Kei. Yeo-Joo’s mom narrates that she never knows who is the helper and who is the hunter but even if she chooses the wrong guy and live the rest of her life as a Gumiho as long as she has Alex next to her she will never feel lonely because Alex is also half Gumiho like her. 

One of the guys working tells Chief who is Alex that he got a letter from Japan. It is a letter from Jin and Ji-Soo and it is a picture of Ji-Soo and Jin in front of a nail salon in Japan.

They complain they never call and Alex asks if they should call them then and they agree. The little girl sees the cat and looks outside at it and her eyes turn red and then there is no cat.
 

Well this was an expected and unexpected ending for me! I really wasn’t expecting the Boss to be Yeo-Joo’s mother. I did think that the Boss was going to be a gumihoo but I didn’t expect Yeo-Joo to be half gumiho. It wasn’t quite clear about what that meant for Yeo-Joo, I guessed based on her story if she doesn’t find the human to make her human she will stay as a gumiho. In her story Kei was killed and Alex was the one for her so that was  a bit confusing when in reality she chose Kei and not Alex. I have to say 6 years later and she has a little girl that looks about 6 years!! Her and Kei will have had to have children almost right away? Why did Jin and Ji-Soo have to go to Japan? The boss was going into hibernation I am not exactly sure what that meant?  I didn’t really understand that but does that mean the gumiho part of her was already awakened before she got older? So if her little girl is gumiho does that mean that she wasn’t turned human by Kei? because if Kei had turned her human wouldn’t her child be human as well?? I just have to say poor Alex he sure gets the raw end of the deal! I mean if he finds his true love wouldn’t he turn human as well? He does have the potential to turn human and she got be left leaving as a gumiho alone? The whole living forever part kinda reminds me of twilight! so I kinda felt like a flashback and also with the half human part of everything!! I can’t say I love the comparison! I guess I have to say it was a shocking ending and I have to hand it to the writers for doing that just for the end and not making every episode about it!! I have not enjoyed every part of this drama but I think overall it was fairly entertaining and enjoyable! I never got bored watching it and I have to say that Kei really was a star in this drama!! I found it to be a fulfilling end and I am sooo happy that the writers did not leave an open ending like the ending in Yeo-Joo’s novel! I don’t think I could fully say goodbye to the drama if they did that!! The ending was a bit confusing but overall it seems to answer the basic questions like Yeo-Joo and Kei ending up together and Alex still being able to be around them and stay friends!  One thing is that they never told us if she passed the exam I am assuming that she did because in the future she is working at the shop.  I also didn’t understand that Yeo-Joo doesn’t remember her mother because she was going after her mother and then she saves her and how does she not recognize that the gumiho is her mother? She was literally looking for her mother and then her mother saves her that is just a little too unbelievable!! I also do not understand the ending where her child looks for the cat and then her eyes glow and it shows no cat there? is she seeing an imaginary cat or did she make it leave with her powers???

I am happy that I watched this drama and I will miss it! I did not always agree with the subject matter in this drama but overall I think it was an enjoyable drama. I loved that there was a lot more skinship in this drama Kei kisses Yeo-Joo a good amount of times and they seem like more of what a realistic couple would be like! not just one kiss for the whole drama. I am glad that I was wrong about Alex becoming the final love interest and Kei did not end up getting hurt!!