Kimi Wa Petto is a TBS 2003 Japanese drama based on the manga with the same name.
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Episodes: 10
Summary
A successful, hardworking, and seemingly perfect woman, Sumire, works as a reporter for a popular newspaper. She is cold and difficult to get close, with which leads her boyfriend to break up with her. One day after work, she discovers a box with a young man, bloody and hiding. She decides to take him to her home. When she learns that he’s homeless, she makes an odd request, could he be her pet?
Review
Kimi Wa Petto (2003) is a drama that I chose to watch after watching Hana Yori Dango. In Hana Yori Dango, I fell in love with MatsuJun and his passionate acting. This drama is actually no different. He is so good at being a dog that sometimes I forget that he is suppose to be human.
Sumire Iwaya ( Koyuki ) graduated from both Tokyo University and Harvard. She’s obviously intelligent, but also beautiful, tall, and successful at work. Despite all that, she struggles with intimacy and every man she encounters becomes intimidated.
She finds Takeshi “Momo” Goda (Matsumoto Jun) outside in a box. He agrees to be her pet since he has no where else to live. She ends up taking great care of him: bathing him, washing is hair, feeding him, petting him, and giving him a place to stay. Since she considers Momo a pet and not a human, she is able to divulge her true self to him.
One day she runs into an old college crush, Shigehito Hasumi (Tanabe Seiichi) who also happens to have a crush on her too. They start to date and then trouble and jealous soon follows.
Story
Originally this was a manga with the same name created by Ogawa Yayoi. The story is creative and original. At first glance, it’s a very odd story. How can she just pick up a strange guy from the street and bring him into her home? And asking another person, who you just met, to be your pet?…Weird.
As the story goes on, these question seem to fade and get lost within the story. Takeshi does an amazing job acting like a pet (Matsujun is such a good actor), but towards the end he starts to slip up and acts like a man.
As for Sumire, she learns to be more willing to make mistakes at work and was also able to open up to Momo (but I’m not sure if it counts because he was her “pet”). Takeshi also had grown too. In the beginning, he was immature and unsure about his future until he met Sumire.
Music
I never have much to say about Japanese dramas. Here’s a playlist I found with the instrumental songs.
Here is the song that Takeshi danced to in Episode 7.
And then there’s the opening song that I like
Favorite Scenes
Quotes
“Humans betray other humans. But a pet will never betray us, we can tell them 100% openly how much we love them.”
Afterthoughts
- I wonder if people would react differently to the drama if the roles were reverse. It already seems like an old situation, but how would you feel if it was a man that found a woman and asked her to be his pet.
- How come Hasumi is so passive? It’s irritating. No wonder she wasn’t attracted to him.
Recommendations
- The newer version: Kimi Wa Petto (2017), You’re My Pet (2011)
- Older Woman, Younger man: Chugakusei Nikki, Big, Anego, Pretty Proofreader
- Manga Adaptations: Mischievous Kiss 1 and 2, Boys Over Flowers, Good Morning Call 1 and 2
Drama-to-Life
Here are some things I saw in the drama that I wanted to learn more about or try to do.
Culture
Travel Locations
Omurice
Modern Dance