Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo

Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo (イタズラなKiss～Love in Tokyo, Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo) is a 2013 Fuji TV Japanese television drama, starring Honoka Miki and Yuki Furukawa in the lead roles. It aired from March 29, 2013 to July 19, 2013 with 16 episodes. In early October 2013, it was announced on the official website of Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo that there is a green light for a second season. It was announced that a special titled Love in Okinawa would air on September 12, 2014. The second season was said to officially air on November 24, 2014.

Background

It is based on the Japanese manga Itazura Na Kiss written by Tada Kaoru. The Japanese series is the fifth television adaptation of the manga, following the Japanese Itazura Na Kiss in 1996, the Taiwanese It Started with a Kiss in 2005, its sequel They Kiss Again in 2007, Korean Playful Kiss in 2010 and the Thai kiss me in 2015.

Series storyline

Kotoko Aihara (Honoka Miki) isn't very intelligent and lacks ability in school. She is in class F, the least smart class in her grade. Despite this, she has been in love with the school's most handsome and most intelligent guy, Naoki Irie (Yuki Furukawa), ever since she saw him give a speech at the high school entrance ceremony.

In her third year of high school, she writes him a love letter but is rejected instantly. She is crushed to see her letter was not even looked at and decides to give up on the jerk who rejected her without even reading it. On the same day, Kotoko's house is hit by a shooting star and collapses. As it is being rebuilt, her dad gets a phone call from his longtime friend and is invited to stay with them. When she arrives, she is in shock to see that this is the house of Naoki Irie and his family. Although he shows a cold attitude, she realizes she can't help but love him. What will happen when fate takes over, and Kotoko's chance of winning Naoki's heart falls in her hands?

Cast

Main cast

• Honoka Miki as Kotoko Aihara

Kotoko Aihara is the protagonist. She has had a one-sided love for the school's most popular boy since her freshman year of high school. Though she is not good in academics, she works hard to succeed. She lives with her father; her mother died when she was young. Due to an incident with their new house, Kotoko and her father are forced to move out and now live with the Irie family. Although Naoki and his younger brother are cold to her, she is welcomed by their parents — especially their mother, who at practically falls in love with Kotoko at first sight. Kotoko feels Naoki hates her and is slow to realizing that he is actually in love with her. This is mainly due to Naoki giving her mixed signals of his feelings, when he himself didn't truly understand them. Despite his indifference, Kotoko still works hard and tries to help Naoki and his family whenever she can. Kotoko is also close friends with Kinnosuke or 'Kin-chan' who loves Kotoko openly; she does not reciprocate these feelings. When she thought that she could not stop Naoki from getting married to Sahoko, she gives up on him and tries to move on with Kinnosuke. She realises, though, that she is unable to let go of her love for Naoki. In the end, she wins his heart and he proposes to her, leaving her initially shocked, but very happy.

• Yuki Furukawa as Naoki Irie

Yuki Furukawa, who plays the role of Naoki Irie

Naoki Irie is the smartest and most handsome boy at Tonan High School. He is rumored to have an IQ of 200 and is very popular among the girls due to his intelligence and his looks. He can be somewhat intimidating to other students at Tonan, particularly the bottom ranking class F, which Kotoko is a part of. Despite being loved by almost all the girls in his school, he has no interest in any of them. He, at first, is very cold to Kotoko but warms up to her as the story progresses. He acts cool and mean in front of Kotoko, leaving the impression that he hates her, but he is falling in love with her and does not understand his own feelings. Although he is a genius, he is also slow in realizing that he loves Kotoko. Because Naoki could do everything, he had never experienced hardship before meeting Kotoko. While he makes it obvious that Kotoko causes him trouble, he admits that she has made his life more interesting, allowing him to experience feelings (such as excitement and nervousness) for the first time. He shows jealousy when he sees her with Kin-chan but never expresses it until Kin-chan proposes to her. He then thinks she is in love with him and, feeling threatened that he could lose Kotoko, decides he can finally let his feelings toward her become known and confesses. After this realisation and acceptance of his true feelings, he proposes to Kotoko and they get married. Kotoko was the reason he wanted to attend college and the reason he wanted to become a doctor.

Supporting cast

• Yuki Yamada as Kinnosuke Ikezawa

Kinnosuke is Kotoko's good friend. He has a one-sided love for Kotoko and is willing to do anything for her. He is the only one in his class who was unable to go to college due to low scores. He was upset about this, but later cheered up when Kotoko told him that he can always find something he is good at; and not graduating means he can get a head start in the work field. This encourages him to work as a chef at her father's restaurant. He has a hatred for Naoki due to the way he treats Kotoko and his cold attitude toward her, but also because he knows that Kotoko loves him. He goes to great lengths to win Kotoko over, even after high school, in the hope that his unrequited feelings will eventually be reciprocated. He proposes to Kotoko when Naoki is due to marry Sahoko. He is rejected and painfully comes to terms that Kotoko cannot love him the way she loves Naoki. When Kotoko and Irie got married, he was forced to admit defeat. Despite this, he warned Naoki that if he ever breaks her heart, he will be there to wipe her tears.

• Nanami Fujimoto as Jinko Komori

Jinko is one of Kotoko's best friends. She usually wears headphones around her neck and, along with Satomi, she looks out for Kotoko and adores her. Jinko is very into music, supported by her equally musical boyfriend. She has a habit of telling people things that are supposedly meant to be kept secret — such as when she told Naoki's mother that he and Kotoko had kissed and when she told Naoki that Kin-chan had proposed to Kotoko. She is well aware of Kotoko's feelings for Naoki and despite being aware of his cold attitude toward her, supports her friend to pursue this love.

• Kasumi Yamaya as Satomi Ishikawa

Satomi is also Kotoko's best friend. She is a little more mature than the other two. She is interested in design and hopes to become successful in this field. She is level-headed but can be just as clueless as Jinko and Kotoko.

• Tomomi Nishimura as Noriko Irie

Noriko Irie, who is referred to as "Mama" by her husband, is the mother of Naoki and Yuuki. She loves Kotoko more than anyone because she has always wanted a daughter and treats Kotoko as her own from day one. She acts very young and can be somewhat immature. She is a lot younger than her husband and is very bubbly, energetic and positive. When she first found out Kotoko loved Irie, she was very happy and from there she would stop at nothing to make sure they end up together. She supports Kotoko in her endeavour to win Naoki's heart, aiming to foil anyone else's plans to get close to him. She can sometimes be seen as a bit controlling, in the sense that Naoki moved out because he wanted to live his own life and not one that his parents planned out for him. Despite this, she really loves her family and is ecstatic when Naoki confesses and proposes to Kotoko.

• Koura Kazumasa as Shigeki Irie

Referred to by Mama Irie as "Papa", Shigeki Irie is the father of Naoki and Yuuki, and also a longtime friend of Kotoko's father. He is a very jolly man, which surprises Kotoko because he looks and acts nothing like Naoki. He is hard working and is the head of a large company, which Naoki is supposed to take over in the future. He is somewhat controlling of Naoki's life, raising him to be his successor, though his son thinks differently. When he collapses due to health problems, Naoki takes over the company. It escalates to a point where he almost allows Naoki to marry the company partner's granddaughter to save the company. In the end, he supports Naoki's wishes to marry Kotoko instead (being fond of her cheerfulness) and allows Naoki to pursue his dream to become a doctor.

• Yuga Aizawa as Yuuki Irie

Yuuki is Naoki's younger brother. He takes after Naoki and looks up to him. This makes him act cold toward Kotoko when she first moves in. An elementary school student, he is a genius and is smarter than Kotoko.

• Yoji Tanaka as Shigeru Aihara

Shigeru Aihara is the father of Kotoko. He works as a chef at his own restaurant named Aihara. He is good friends with Naoki's father. He cares about his daughter very much and knows that Kotoko's love for Irie is one sided.

• Kanna Mori as Yuko Matsumoto

Matsumoto is one of Kotoko's rivals. She also likes Naoki. She is very good at tennis and convinces Naoki to join the tennis team with her. She is very smart and beautiful but she chose to go to a college that is below her standards is because she saw and fell in love with Naoki when she was in high school.

• Riho Takada as Sahoko Oizumi

Sahoko is Naoki's fiancé near the end of the series. She fell in love with him at first sight. She is very jealous of Kotoko because Naoki's mother loves Kotoko a lot.

Guest stars

• Aiko Sato as Nurse K. Irie

The first one who portrayed Kotoko Aihara back in 1996. She was seen in Episode 10, talking to Kotoko while recalling her memories when she was at their age.

• Takashi Kashiwabara as Doctor N. Irie

The first one who portrayed Naoki Irie back in 1996. He was seen in Episode 15.

International broadcast

• Philippines - GMA Network - April 21, 2014 ^[1]
•  Hong Kong - now 101 - June 22, 2013
•  Singapore - WakuWaku Japan - November 23, 2015
•  Indonesia - RTV - November 2014
•  Indonesia - WakuWaku Japan - October 28, 2015
•  Myanmar - WakuWaku Japan - October 28, 2015
•  Thailand - True4U - May 16, 2015

References

External links

• Official site
• Fuji TV TWO official site
• Official Facebook page
• Official Twitter
• Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo at the Internet Movie Database