, also titled ''Woman's All About the Looks'', is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series by . ''It's All About the Looks'' was serialized in the

manga magazine are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics an ...

Be Love ''Be Love'' is a Japanese monthly (bimonthly May 1982 – 2018) manga magazine targeting women published by Kodansha. It debuted in September 1980. It is one of the leading manga magazines for adult women, the second of its kind (the first being ...

'' from December 14, 2013 to June 1, 2017. A live-action television drama adaptation was broadcast from April 13 to June 15, 2017.

Plot

Jun Jonouchi, Seira Sato, and Mitsuko Maeda are three scientists who work as researchers at a paper company. Having been out of touch with fashion, the three women form the research group JSM (an acronym of their names) to study and try out modern fashion trends with varying degrees of success. Each chapter is centered on a modern fashion or beauty trend that the three women attempt.

Characters

; : :Jonouchi a 30-year-old woman. She is described as a plain-looking woman who has never dated in her life. ; : :Maeda is a 40-year-old woman with an outdated fashion sense. ; : :Sato is a 25-year-old woman who researches fashion to understand why she is unpopular, in spite of people of her body type being able to be fashionable. However, she would rather spend money on delicious food instead of clothes.

Media

Manga

''It's All About the Looks'' is written and illustrated by . It is serialized in the

'' from December 14, 2013 (2014 issue no. 1) to June 1, 2017 (2017 issue no. 12). The chapters were later released in five bound volumes by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

under the Be Love KCDX imprint. In addition to the manga's serialization in ''Be Love'', Okubo also drew a short comic where the characters research skincare that was published in the September 2015 issue of the fashion magazine ''Voce''.

Television drama

A live-action television series adaptation, re-imagined as a

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

, was announced on January 25, 2017, and ran from April 13, 2017 to June 15, 2017 on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

at 10 PM. The drama starred

Mirei Kiritani is a Japanese actress, model, and news anchor. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Kimi ni Todoke (film), Kimi ni Todoke'' (2010), ''Usagi Drop (film), Usagi Drop'' (2011), ''Arakawa Under the Bridge (film), Arakawa Under the Bridge'' ...

as Jonouchi.

Asami Mizukawa is a Japanese actress. She made her debut in 1996 at age 13 in an advertisement for Asahi Kasei's "Hebel Haus". In 2000, she won the ''Grand Prix'' at the “3rd Miss Tokyo Walker” competition (the first winner was Chiaki Kuriyama) and gained ...

was cast as Maeda in February 2017, followed by Chiemi Blouson in March 2017 in her acting debut. Kiritani and Mizukawa stated in an interview with Fuji TV that they were excited to play characters with interests and backgrounds different from their own. Regarding Kiritani's casting, Hiromi Okubo, the original creator, tweeted that she was looking forward to seeing Kiritani wear a lab coat. Series regulars, consisting of original characters created for the drama, include

Rika Adachi is a Japanese ''tarento'' and actress. She was born in Nagasaki Prefecture, and raised in Mie Prefecture. She has appeared in several films, including '' Say "I love you"'' (2014) and '' Ghost Theater'' (2015), and has played leading roles in the ...

as Kasumi Kishine, as Miyu Morimura, Atsushi Tsutsumishita from the comedy duo as Motoki Misawa, Ryo Narita as a beautician, and member

Keita Machida is a Japanese actor. He is a member of the theater group Gekidan Exile. Machida is represented by LDH (company), LDH. Biography Machida was born on 4 July 1990, in Higashiagatsuma, Gunma, Higashiagatsuma, Japan. He has one younger and one old ...

as Takuma Maruo. The theme song is "Joshi Modoki" by JY. The scene of Jonouchi walking down a runway was filmed at the

Tokyo Girls Collection The , sometimes abbreviated as TGC, is a semiannual fashion festival launched in 2005. It is mainly held near Tokyo area and some local cities such as Kitakyushu, Nagoya and Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa. The fashion event showcases the seasons fas ...

2017 Spring/Summer show. To promote the television drama, Blouson performed her "career woman" comedy routine with Narita and Machida at the same event, with Narita and Machida taking place of the comedy duo (who had performed as her backing group for the routine). The members of Brillian also make a cameo appearance in the drama.

References

External links

* {{Be Love 2013 manga 2017 Japanese television series debuts Japanese television dramas based on manga Josei manga Kodansha manga Comedy anime and manga