You know, with so many robot dramas on the way already, I’m not at all shocked that an adaptation of Absolute Boyfriend is going to be among them. It would be weirder not to have it at this point, even though I really do think we’ll be overrun with cyborgs in dramaland soon. There’s a new drama adaptation of the popular Japanese manga on the way called Rom-Com King (for some inexplicable reason), and an offer is out to Song Ji-hyo (This Week, My Wife Will Have an Affair) to headline.
The manga Absolute Boyfriend (Zettai Kareshi) was adapted into a Japanese drama in 2008 and a Taiwanese drama in 2012, and for a short time there were talks of a Korean version with Kim Haneul and TOP, though that fizzled pretty quickly. But the project has been brought back to life by writer Yang Hyuk-moon of Mirror of the Witch and PD Jung Jung-hwa of Flower Boy Next Door, and is potentially going to air on OCN later this year.
The original tells the story of a career woman who has always struggled with her love life. She ends up accidentally ordering a tailor-made perfect boyfriend AI robot who begins to develop human emotions, and they end up in a love triangle with her childhood friend who also falls for her.
Song Ji-hyo has been offered the leading role, and in the adaptation, the heroine will be a special makeup artist who ends up with a perfect boyfriend bot, and the third leg of the love triangle will be a top star.
Song Ji-hyo is great in romantic comedies and most recently starred in JTBC’s This Week, My Wife Will Have an Affair, which really ran the gamut from hilarious to heartbreaking. I’m hoping that Rom-Com King will be a sensitive exploration of humanity at best, or at least a sweet romance that raises a few questions like I’m Not a Robot did. Fingers crossed for the rest of the casting to go well.
Rom-Com King is currently in consideration for OCN’s Monday-Tuesday romance block sometime this year.