Yes, another K-drama Jdorama remake. Yoo Seung-ho who just finished his role in Warrior Baek Dong-soo will take the lead in the upcoming K-drama Operation Proposal for a Korean cable channel TVChosun. Operation Proposal is based on the popular 2007 Jdorama Proposal Daisakusen (aka Operation Love) which starred Yamapi (Tomohisa Yamashita) and Masami Nagasawa. Is K-dramaland ready for another Jdorama remake?
The story revolves around two best friends Ken and Rei, who have been friends since elementary school. The story opens at Rei’s wedding and Ken, who has a cantankerous personality, realizes that his biggest regret in life is that he missed all his chances to confess his feeling to Rei. He has now lost his best friend and the love of his life to another man and sadly, even has to do a toast at her wedding.
A fairy that lives in the church that Rei gets married in gives Ken a second chance to try and confess his feelings and win Rei’s heart by going back in time to try and change the future. Ken gets transported back to significant moments in their history through the slide show being shown at Rei’s wedding reception. In each episode, Ken travels back through one of the pictures to the past and a small moment where he fumbled–“if only he had won the game,” “if only he had gotten her that coffee milk,” ” if only I had switched seats,” ” if only I had given her my second button…” Ken keeps trying to fix the past to change his and Rei’s future up until the last photo in the slide show. The drama is about missed opportunities, second chances, and whether or not the past can or should be changed–even if it is for true love.
Not everyone is a fan of these K-drama Jdorama remakes because remakes are hardly ever as good as the original, but I’m a fan. I watch K-dramas for the entertainment they present, so I am not too critical of the writing, acting, etc. unless it’s really bad. And while I acknowledge that some remakes were pretty bad, others have been great like City Hunter. It all really comes down to how successful the Korean scriptwriter is at altering the story to work in a Korean setting. The script writer for Operation Proposal is Yoon Ji-ryun who also happened to be the scriptwriter for Boys Over Flowers... I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not. On the other hand, there is a concern that the Korean entertainment industry might not be providing enough support to scriptwriters’ original works. And while I enjoy most remakes, it is true that original works are very important for the development of the Korean Drama Industry. Just imagine what would K-dramaland be without great works from the likes of the Hong Sisters (even though the Hong Sisters have also done remakes like Couple or Trouble).
Yoo Seung-ho is a talented young actor and at 18 years old is a little young for the character who, in the present day, is in his late 20s, but he has always handled his characters well no matter their age. He also is usually discriminating in his role choice so I do have high hopes for this remake. I watched the original Proposal Daisakusen because I happen to be a Yamapi fan and am excited to see Yoo Seung-ho’s interpretation of the role. Operation Proposal will begin filming this month and is scheduled to be released in February 2012.
