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NEWS: Live-Action Adaptation of Webtoon The Elementary School Student That I Love Canceled


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chrisb
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Joined: 07 May 2006
Posts: 766
Location: USA
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 12:23 pm Reply with quote
I honestly have no idea how they could make this into a live action and it not be extremely problematic. The only way I see it getting a pass is if it pulled a “My Wife is an Elementary School Student” and even that was initially concerning. Thankfully it left out all the romance and only focused on the love of a family.
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johnnysasaki



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 973
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:33 pm Reply with quote
They should take a page from Japan: they can get away with all sorts of risqué stuff when it's animation.
Can you even imagine a live-action Kodomo no Jikan?
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Rowri8



Joined: 28 Nov 2014
Posts: 80
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:39 pm Reply with quote
"changing sensitivities and expectations of the public."

Changing? changing? SINCE WHEN was ok to have a romance between a teacher and a FIFTH GRADER?

I didn't even know this existed in the first place lol
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Heishi



Joined: 06 Mar 2016
Posts: 1432
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:46 pm Reply with quote
Gotta say, that's pretty ballsy of South Korea to create something like this.
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TheSeventhSense



Joined: 09 Mar 2013
Posts: 179
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 2:59 pm Reply with quote
How does a fifth-grader seduce you through the Internet? Even if they say they're older, they've only gotten more brain-damaged from the time I was a child online.

"I love your skibidi rizz girl"
"Ah...he has such a way with words."
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el_morris



Joined: 09 May 2018
Posts: 448
Location: Tijuana, México
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 3:38 pm Reply with quote
This felt like the "forbidden chapters" of MT Redundancy, lol.
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GoGoGoFalco



Joined: 23 Aug 2024
Posts: 58
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 5:22 pm Reply with quote
The fact they cancelled the original series as well tells me webtoon has a seriously long way to go before it can compete against manga. This is like the 2nd or 3rd time I heard of Webtoon banning a series over 'controversy' over content that you could find in a random shounen manga.
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Dr. Wily



Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 869
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 5:25 pm Reply with quote
GoGoGoFalco wrote:
The fact they cancelled the original series as well tells me webtoon has a seriously long way to go before it can compete against manga. This is like the 2nd or 3rd time I heard of Webtoon banning a series over 'controversy' over content that you could find in a random shounen manga.


Bro, if you're reading "random shonen manga" that have grown women falling for 5th graders, I have to raise an eyebrow regarding your reading habits

edit: additionally, if this is the kind of stuff Webtoon is banning but "random shonen manga" are publishing, then the problem is not on Webtoon's end, if you catch my drift.
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ZiharkXVI



Joined: 29 Jan 2009
Posts: 450
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 7:12 pm Reply with quote
Dr. Wily wrote:
GoGoGoFalco wrote:
The fact they cancelled the original series as well tells me webtoon has a seriously long way to go before it can compete against manga. This is like the 2nd or 3rd time I heard of Webtoon banning a series over 'controversy' over content that you could find in a random shounen manga.


Bro, if you're reading "random shonen manga" that have grown women falling for 5th graders, I have to raise an eyebrow regarding your reading habits

edit: additionally, if this is the kind of stuff Webtoon is banning but "random shonen manga" are publishing, then the problem is not on Webtoon's end, if you catch my drift.


I don't think it's fair to suggest the poster reads those manga. But the poster is not wrong in terms of content problems - especially in a lot of older manga. Potential for either relationships between students/teachers or age gap scenarios are not obscure. Let's face it - understanding of these issues is mixed and decades change perceptions. I think they made a wise choice not to proceed - it's actually fascinating it got as far as it did. Even IF there was a world where this story made sense, I can't imagine being a producer and seeing the script thinking, "oh yeah, this will appeal to the masses". There may be some differences between the Korean and western audience, but not that huge of a difference.
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Sinxi and heylog



Joined: 08 May 2025
Posts: 211
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 7:32 pm Reply with quote
GoGoGoFalco wrote:
The fact they cancelled the original series as well tells me webtoon has a seriously long way to go before it can compete against manga. This is like the 2nd or 3rd time I heard of Webtoon banning a series over 'controversy' over content that you could find in a random shounen manga.


Ikr, I dont know if im just finding more of this type of news or this just happens on the regular. But I agree with you, if they want to be the new manga, they need to calm down with the censorship. Censorship not only may leave artists or writers with a sense of not wanting to dive in to controversial topics but can leave stories to be kinda samey, if that makes sense. There some manga that will probably not make it past chapter 30 if those manga were made in korea let alone even make it off the ground

I do wonder if this manwha got caught in the "dont judge a book by its cover" thing. Since it seems to be something where the teacher falls in love but dosent know he is a fifth grader, but then when she knows he is, it becomes platonic
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Hellsoldier



Joined: 21 Jun 2013
Posts: 1169
Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 10:07 pm Reply with quote
Hot take nº1 - Who was the dumbass who thought this live-action adaptation was going to be a good idea?

Hot take nº2 - The webtoon should not have been canceled. I mean, apparently, its existence in the platforms it was available at wasn't an issue before all of the controversy.

Edit: By "canceled", I meant "pulled from publication".
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 20109
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 10:48 pm Reply with quote
I can't help but feel like this would have run without incident in Japan. Not to say it would have been popular or gotten adapted, but it probably wouldn't have been canceled for its content.

Maybe I'm wrong though.
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Sinxi and heylog



Joined: 08 May 2025
Posts: 211
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 10:54 pm Reply with quote
MFrontier wrote:
I can't help but feel like this would have run without incident in Japan. Not to say it would have been popular or gotten adapted, but it probably wouldn't have been canceled for its content.

Maybe I'm wrong though.


Na your not wrong, this wouldve been fine in Japan, especially considering that the teacher dosent even fall in love with the student after she knows his age.
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Dr. Wily



Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 869
PostPosted: Mon Jul 07, 2025 10:56 pm Reply with quote
ZiharkXVI wrote:
Dr. Wily wrote:
GoGoGoFalco wrote:
The fact they cancelled the original series as well tells me webtoon has a seriously long way to go before it can compete against manga. This is like the 2nd or 3rd time I heard of Webtoon banning a series over 'controversy' over content that you could find in a random shounen manga.


Bro, if you're reading "random shonen manga" that have grown women falling for 5th graders, I have to raise an eyebrow regarding your reading habits

edit: additionally, if this is the kind of stuff Webtoon is banning but "random shonen manga" are publishing, then the problem is not on Webtoon's end, if you catch my drift.


I don't think it's fair to suggest the poster reads those manga. But the poster is not wrong in terms of content problems - especially in a lot of older manga. Potential for either relationships between students/teachers or age gap scenarios are not obscure. Let's face it - understanding of these issues is mixed and decades change perceptions. I think they made a wise choice not to proceed - it's actually fascinating it got as far as it did. Even IF there was a world where this story made sense, I can't imagine being a producer and seeing the script thinking, "oh yeah, this will appeal to the masses". There may be some differences between the Korean and western audience, but not that huge of a difference.


That's fair, I may have jumped the gun and sounded accusatory when I really didn't mean to be. I do stand by my assertion that this is not the kind of idea that should be in a shonen manga. I know times have changed and there's a lot of stuff in old manga that would absolutely not fly now, but I would hope premises like this would have been confined to the "nope" bin of history loooong ago, not be something that ran until 2020 and actually was optioned into a show.

And yeah, I am also fascinated by how anybody ever thought this would fly as a series, much less a live-action one!
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BlueAlf



Joined: 02 Jan 2017
Posts: 1768
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2025 12:31 am Reply with quote
I'm amused there's a lack of mention of Cardcaptor Sakura on this thread.

But yeah, a live action version of that is totally not a good idea.
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