Bae Yong-joon, or Yonsama, has finally revealed the Korea-related book he has been preparing for many months, called Journey in Search of Korea’s Beauty.

In order to gather information to incorporate into his book exploring traditional Korean culture, Bae Yong-joon spent over a year traveling the country to research various topics; for instance, his first step was to visit countryside villages to learn the process for making kimchi in the traditional method.

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Kind of. The “Yonsama”-led (Bae Yong-joon) 2007 drama Legend [태왕사신기] will be getting a newly edited version to be released in Japanese cinemas.

This “New Edition” will be cut into four movie-length parts and given a theatrical run. If each movie is approximately two hours long, the total eight hours will yield a condensed version of the drama’s 24 original episodes. The new edition will be arranged into the following four themes (and possible titles): Thousand-year Love, Crossed Fates, Omens of Farewell, and Impossible Love. The first will be released next spring, and tickets will begin to go on sale this fall (this fall?!).

As we know, the Japanese love Yonsama, and the fusion historical-fantasy Legend did well both in Korea and in Japan, so perhaps there’s still interest in this kind of project. I think it’s a great idea in theory, and perhaps it’s more commercially viable than I’m thinking. Legend has actually been screened in theaters before, back in 2007, and the 12 two-hour segments showed all 24 of the drama’s episodes. It was reportedly fairly popular.

A New Edition may actually turn out something quite interesting, because editing is a powerful tool and I’d be keen on watching a version of Legend with a tighter story and shorter running time.

Via Now News

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Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo, appearing together in Japan for a Winter Sonata-related event? Will the Tokyo Dome be able to contain the excitement?

Choi’s management announced on June 23 that the pair would appear at a special event in Japan on September 29 in advance of the Japanese broadcast of the animated Winter Sonata. Both actors lent their voices to dub the project, reprising their characters Joon-sang and Yu-jin from the 2002 original.

The event will take place at Tokyo Dome, and also be broadcast live via satellite into theaters nationwide to an overall audience of about 50,000.

Choi Ji-woo explained of the animated project, “The plot is basically similar to the original drama, but it has its own unique flavor and a fairy-tale-like feel.” The animated series will broadcast in both Korea and Japan this fall.

Bae Yong-joon will be pulling double-duty; the very next day, at the same venue, he will hold an event celebrating the publication of his book, Korea’s Beauty (working title).

Via Now News

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We first heard about the animated version of Winter Sonata being produced way back in 2007, and now the project is making more progress. Lead actors Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo, who helped catapult the original kdrama to pan-Asian fame, began the voice work of dubbing the animated version earlier this month.

A production rep explained, “We can’t yet reveal our schedule concretely, but the first dubbing work was completed in a studio in Korea in early May.” The series is a Korea-Japan co-production, and is planning to broadcast in both Korean and Japan later this fall.

What say you to the animated versions of Yonsama and Ji-woo-hime? I can’t really see much of Choi Ji-woo’s actual facial features in the drawing (although I think the overall look is enough like her character), but Bae Yong-joon is pretty spot-on. They got him down perfectly! (Or perhaps he’s just got a look that is easily conveyed in anime form in the first place? That might help explain the overwhelming Japanese love of Yonsama…)

Via Mk.co.kr

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When Choi Ji-woo’s current drama, A Star’s Lover, was being planned, there was particular attention to the Japanese market, given her popularity there. Hopes were high that this series would be a hit with its two big-name leads (Choi and movie star Yoo Ji-tae), so I suppose the decision to cast a Bae Yong-joon lookalike actor as Choi’s character’s ex-lover was done in fun and maybe even some fan-service. After all, it’s on the basis of their drama Winter Sonata alone that Ji-woo-hime and Yonsama amassed such huge fanbases overseas, particularly in Japan.

Philip Choi (Soulmate), above, made his first “real-time” appearance on the drama this week (he’d been teased in flashbacks and memories thus far), and I think it’s hilarious how much effort they went through to make him look, seem, and act like Bae Yong-joon. The hair particularly makes me laugh.

Philip Choi and Bae Yong-joon

Yeah, Philip Choi (who is seven years younger than Bae) has been noted for the resemblance in the past, but I think their auras and styles are so different when Choi is doing his own thing that you wouldn’t really confuse one for the other. But that’s when he’s not being told to imitate Yonsama, of course.

I know Choi was part of the drama from the start, but given that the drama isn’t performing so well, his appearance unfortunately comes off kind of like a last-ditch casting stunt. (The ratings have been stuck consistently in the 7%-8% range, versus dramas Kingdom of the Wind and this weeks’ new entry, Return of Iljimae.)

Via TV Report

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