This will be my last post for a while, since I don't have the luxury of setting time for writing aside with my exams coming up. With the remake of Kimi wa Petto airing right now (which I never intend to watch - like Toma Ikuta is the only Nakatsu, Matsumoto Jun is the only Momo), I thought maybe a post on Kimi wa Petto would be good. It was something I never expected to like as much as I did.
Kimi wa Petto, or You Are my Pet (or you may hear it as Tramps Like Us), is about stony-faced working woman Iwaya Sumire, who finds a young man beaten half to death and sleeping in a box outside her apartment complex. He asks if he can live with her. She jokingly tell him he can stay if he's willing to be her 'pet', and didn't expect him to agree. Thus, she names him Momo and their weird cohabitation starts.
The original manga had a unique art style that I really liked. In case you don't know, this is a 'josei' manga, aimed at older woman and therefore isn't likely to be as sunshine-and-rainbows as Chihayafuru or Hana Kimi. I thought that Kimi wa Petto was well-written and lighter moments were balanced with angst and sexual tension quite nicely. The character development was great - Sumire's transformation from a snow woman to someone who wouldn't bury her feelings was lovely, but it was Momo's journey into becoming a dependable man to her, and not just her pet, that really stole the show. Plus, the way the manga concluded was beautiful and set it something I can read over and over again.
The drama follows the plot of the manga quite faithfully for the most part, only slipping off at the end with an original ending, but they still feel like two distinctively different things. I think the main difference is that the drama puts a rosier tint over the things that happen. Kimi wa Petto is a story of healing, but there's a larger focus on that healing from the first episode of the drama. There's little to no focus on the sweet or certifiably insane characters the author created; instead, Sumire and Momo take centre stage and the writer focuses on how they become a special presence to each other like no-one else ever will. Momo provides Sumire with the unconditional love and care she hasn't experienced since she was a child, suppressing his own romantic feelings for her, and she satisfies him with the knowledge that she doesn't want to live without him. The casting was really good. Matsumoto Jun feels capable of putting an adorable spin on what otherwise could have been simple characters (Sawada Shin, Gokusen) so I think he had fun with the overexcited bundle of cuteness that was Momo. Seeing how he portrayed the real Momo under the facade was good too, because there's a man under the 'pet' dying to be acknowledged.
In conclusion, I will recommend both and leave you to decide which is better for you. The manga is longer, with a rushed but far better ending, but the drama is cuter and you may find it easier to connect with the characters if they're portrayed by living, breathing people. For more cohabitation hi-jinks, I suggest Jealousy Incarnate, and for a healing story with a lead as sweet as Momo, try Flower Boy Next Door.
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