So I saw Kimi wa Pet. Golly. Gee whiz. I think I’m done for. He sits. He shakes. He rolls over. You can take him for walks in the park. It’s Matsujun in a box.
So actually, the drama, as an adaptation, is really well done…I think I actually like it better than the original manga. When I read it I remember liking the story of the manga, and the characters do have a lot of personality, but I really didn’t care for the at style at all…poofy lips and really angular faces…not really to my taste. When I read the first volume I remember thinking…”Hmmm. This would work well in live action… hahaha Imagine pitching this to an American studio hahaha.” But the Japanese have come through for us again and delivered one of the best live action manga adaptations I have see thus far. (Usually they fail to impress somehow.) But I really dig this.
So for those of you who don’t know, let me recap the story and shed some light on the reason I am currently kicking my feet in the air and squealing with fangirl-ish glee. The story is about a woman, right? Who keeps a man as a pet. No, no…don’t run away! I know it sounds kinky as all get out, but it’s really cute! Really! So. Begin at the beginning. You know those guys who get intimidated by girls who are smarter than them…? And the girls who play dumb and helpless to get guys? The main character isn’t one of those girls. Sumire is a Todai/Harvard graduate who works in the foreign affairs devision of a large newspaper, who in the beginning is dumped by he fiance because she is taller and smarter and makes more money than he does, and it scares him. Feeling insecure because of his highly capable independent journalist girlfriend, the bastard cheats on her and eventually marries lil miss future housewifey type mistress when she becomes preggers. Not only that, but following the breakup, Sumire (violet) gets transfered from “Foreign Affairs” in the newspaper to “lifestyle/home” department because she refuses to put up with sexual harassment from her boss. So her life sucks, even though she is the best at what she does everyone hates her and is jealous of her for just being herself. And then she finds a homeless boy (Matsujun) in a cardboard box in front of her apartment complex. Yup.
He is pretty much the worse for the wear, so she patches him up and lets him spend the night on the couch. She leaves for work in the morning thinking he’ll be gone when she gets back, but when she comes home there he is on the floor watching TV. She tosses him out while he begs her to let him crash…so, in an attempt to chase him off, she is like “you can stay here only if you be my pet, and when I say pet I mean like a dog.” thinking “no sane person would agree to that.”…well…”Peaches” promptly agrees.
There are, of couse, a lot of dog jokes, but really the relationship between the characters is quite interesting. For the most part, its like Sumire has this boy crashing at her house (and he acts like a normal person most of the time, or as normal as his character will allow for), and she refuses to enter into a romantic relationship with him, but he keeps her company and calms her down when the stress of her career gets to her. In return he gets food and gets to sleep in the loft…Just watch it. Just watch. You’ll have to trust me on this one.
