Japanese BL drama ‘Another Child’ First broadcast in Korea today (30th)

The drama [Another Child ~ We Are Immature and Making Clumsy Progress~], based on the webtoon [Another Child] by Kidari Studio‘s own Lezhin Comics, has released its domestic poster and trailer ahead of its first domestic broadcast today, Monday, December 30th.

The drama [Another Child ~ We Are Immature and Making Clumsy Progress~] is the story of Jin Minase (Junsei Motojima), a top student who is indifferent to others, and Haruki Hirukawa (Kenshin Kamimura), a problem child at school, who get closer by chance and begin to feel emotions they have never felt before. The original webtoon [Another Child] was a hit that ranked 2nd in the all-ages BL genre category for 2 consecutive years from 2021 to 2022 on Lezhin Comics, so the dramatization itself garnered great expectations. Actor Junsei Motojima, who debuted as the lead in the ‘Kamen Rider Gatchard’ series, and Kenshin Kamimura, a member of the dance and vocal group ‘ONE N’ ONLY’, have been cast.

[Underage ~We Are Immature and Clumsily Progressing~] has proven its topicality by entering the Japan X (formerly Twitter) real-time trend every time since its first episode was released on November 5th. Not only in Japan, but also in Taiwan and Thailand, it ranked in the GagaOOLala Global TOP 2 after airing. Pop-up store events are being held for local fans in Taiwan as well as throughout Japan, including Tokyo and Osaka.

The two domestic posters released ahead of the first Korean airing capture attention with the close visuals of honor student ‘Minase Jin’ and class problem child ‘Haruki Hirukawa’ in their school uniforms. The two, sitting against the wall, show off the fresh appearance of high school students of the same age. Also, the scars on Hirukawa Haruki’s face make us wonder what kind of story he has.

In another poster, the two lean even closer with their heads together, heightening the anticipation. The visuals of Minase Jin, who is black-haired and small, and Haruka Haruki, who is blond and tall, show the contrast between the characters.

The domestic trailer released with the poster starts with Minase Jin‘s line, “I have to go to a good university and get a job at a good company,” and shows the daily lives of Minase Jin and Hirukawa Haruki, who go to school with very different personalities. Hirukawa is a delinquent student that everyone at school hates, but Minase accidentally witnesses him being subjected to domestic violence by his father outside of school and becomes concerned about him. The copy, “Two people who lived in different worlds embrace each other’s loneliness,” implies that the two people have completely opposite personalities, but they comfort each other‘s loneliness, and increases the anticipation for the romance that will blossom between the two. Here, Hirukawa’s scene where he approaches Minase and asks, “Have you ever kissed?” also adds to the curiosity.

The drama [Underage ~ We Are Immature and Clumsily Proceeding ~] will air twice a week on Channel W every Monday and Tuesday at 10 PM starting today, Monday, December 30. It will also be available through Heavenly TVOD‘s exclusive pre-release every Tuesday and Wednesday starting on Tuesday, December 31, the day after it airs on Channel W. It will be fully released on KT, SK, Home Choice, Wave, Tving, Watcha, and Heavenly starting on Saturday, February 1, when the pre-exclusive period ends.

Jeong Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com