On March 10th, an SM Entertainment (SME) rep announced that the company had obtained the rights to produce a Korean adaptation of the Japanese manga,Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (For You in Full Blossom).
To be entitled 아름다운 그대에게 (Beautiful You) in Korea, this project comes in the light of JYP Entertainment’s success in producing the idol drama, Dream High.
The Japanese manga, which is better known to avid readers as Hana Kimi, has achieved widespread success with over 17 million copies sold worldwide.
In Taiwan, the drama adaptation of the manga recorded the highest viewership in 2006 while its Japanese counterpart also managed to garner an average of 17.04% in viewer ratings. Thus, fans responded almost immediately to the news, resulting in the phraseHana Kimi trending on Twitter just a few minutes after the official announcement.
For the uninitiated, the story is basically about the lives of “pretty boys” staying on campus, and focuses on a girl — disguised as a boy — who enters the all-boys school with a mission.
Consequently, representatives of SME revealed that the 16-episode Korean version will most probably air this summer with a strong storyline backed by a slew of handsome actors.
Since SME houses mega Hallyu stars such as BoA, TVXQ, SNSD and Super Junior, many have been speculating that a majority of the Beautiful You characters will be portrayed by its artists. However, an SME rep said that, “some SM artists will be chosen but not all.”
Nonetheless, netizens have been attempting to create their own all-star cast since the drama’s producer hinted that netizens’ votes or suggestions may determine who will be in the drama. Here are amongst some of the hottest suggestions (in Korea and internationally) so far:
Taeyeon (SNSD), Yoona (SNSD), Sulli [f(x)], Amber [f(x)] or Yeon Hee (last seen in Paradise Ranch) as Mizuki Ashiya, the female lead who disguises herself as a boy to help her idol, the excellent high-jumper, Izumi Sano jump again.
Minho (SHINee), Eunhyuk (Super Junior) or Kyuhyun (Super Junior) as Izumi Sano, the male lead who stopped high-jumping for unknown reasons and finds out Ashiya’s true gender pretty early in the series, without her realizing it.
Sungmin (Super Junior), Eunhyuk (Super Junior) or Onew (SHINee) as Shuichi Nakatasu, the second male lead who becomes a close friend of Ashiya and becomes conflicted with his sexual preference when he begins to fall for Ashiya, not knowing that she is a female.
Changmin (TVXQ), Donghae (Super Junior) or Siwon (Super Junior) as Minami Nanba, the dorm leader of the 2nd dormitory and a “ladies man”.
Heechul (Super Junior) or Yunho (TVXQ) as Hokuto Umeda, the school’s hot homosexual doctor who was the first to discover Ashiya’s true gender.
So, what will your ideal cast be for 아름다운 그대에게 (Beautiful You)?
