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Kami no Shizuku Manga's Korean Drama Plans Delayed
posted on by Egan Loo
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper and other Korean media sources are reporting on Tuesday that the Korean live-action drama adaptation plans of Tadashi Agi and Shū Okimoto's Kami no Shizuku (Les Gouttes de Dieu/The Drops of God) wine manga have been delayed. Bae Yong Joon, the actor who became a household name in South Korea and Japan with his starring role in the Winter Sonata (Fuyu no Sonata) drama, had been tentatively slated to star in this drama late last year as his next project. The original manga follows a young man's quest to identify the twelve wines described in his late father's will.
The Chosun Ilbo reports that a representative of Bae said that he is pursuing another project for now. Key East, Bae's production company, had signed an agreement with the Japanese publisher Kodansha for the Korean drama adaptation rights in 2008. However, the drama plans were held up by Korean regulations on product placement for the various real-life wine brands that would have appeared in the drama.
Kami no Shizuku writer Agi's family members are big fans of Bae, and Agi had actually modeled Kami no Shizuku's young wine critic character, Issei Tōmine, on Bae. The manga has been running in Kodansha's Morning magazine since 2004. The manga has been so popular in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan that sales of specific wines labels and years mentioned in the manga have spiked in Taiwan and other Asian countries.
A separate live-action Japanese drama adaptation of Kami no Shizuku premiered in Japan in January of 2009. Bae and his Winter Sonata co-star Choi Ji Woo are reprising their roles in the Korean/Japanese animated film version of the Winter Sonata drama.
Source: Sankei Sports
