From left, Lee Min-ho, Park Min-young and Lee Jun-hyuk at the press conference for upcoming SBS TV series "City Hunter" held in Seoul, South Korea on May 17, 2011. [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]
The biggest rival to upcoming SBS TV series "City Hunter," premiering on May 25, is probably neither MBC's "The Greatest Love" nor KBS' "Romance Town" but its original comic. "City Hunter," released by Japanese cartoonist Tsukasa Hojo in 1985, was popular through Asia including Japan and Korea, with its story about a 'city hunter' named Ryo Saeba who was a lady-killer yet made sure of resolving cases that beautiful women requested of him. However, it is not easy to find traces of the original work in its upcoming drama adaptation. Ryo is cute and optimistic but has been replaced with Lee Yoon-sung (played by Lee Min-ho), a member of the presidential Blue House's national communications network control team who has a scar on his heart. And the story in general has been completely replaced with Lee Yoon-sung settling cases in order to get revenge for his father who was wrongfully killed due to the country's administration. The fact that the plot revolves around the heart of all power in Korea is another added element.
Discussions on the cast and planning to "City Hunter" actually started in 2007. So the drama is coming about after being met with complications for about four years but producers still remain burdened by how it may get compared to the original work with fans expressing their concern of the show ending up as something that is merely named "City Hunter." However, producer Jin Hyuk said, "Our drama is the prequel to the original comic and has been adapted to fit the situation in Korea. Many people have said it's too different from the original work but if you're one of those people who read the comic properly, you really won't feel much of a difference." Scenarist Hwang Eun-kyung remarked, "I thought I wouldn't be able to do this at first because I was thinking, 'We don't have guns in Korea and who murders by contract?' But then I started thinking that it would be nice to track down the villains that people holding the key to resolving issues in Korea feel resentment toward," to emphasize the upcoming show will be a Korean-style "City Hunter."
※ Any copying, republication or redistribution of 10Asia's content is expressly prohibited without prior consent of 10Asia. Copyright infringement is subject to criminal and civil penalties.
Reporter : Hwang Hyo-jin seventeen@
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@
<ⓒ투자가를 위한 경제콘텐츠 플랫폼, 아시아경제(www.asiae.co.kr) 무단전재 배포금지>