The Korea Herald

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Kakao TV’s ‘No, Thank You’ brings popular Instatoon to life

By Lim Jang-won

Published : Nov. 17, 2020 - 18:46

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The cast of Kakao TV’s “No, Thank You” poses before an online press conference Tuesday. (Kakao M) The cast of Kakao TV’s “No, Thank You” poses before an online press conference Tuesday. (Kakao M)

Mobile content streaming platform Kakao TV will kick off its latest original drama “No, Thank You” on Saturday at 10 a.m. through its mobile app, KakaoTalk.

“No, Thank You” is based on popular webtoon “Myeoneuragi” by Soo Shin-ji, serialized on Instagram in 2016 with 600,000 followers. “Myeoneuragi” is a term coined by Soo to describe the period when a daughter-in-law, or “myeoneuri,” is new to the family and wants to be liked and complimented by her in-laws.

The Instatoon shows the struggles typical Korean daughter-in-law Min Sa-rin goes through in the world of her in-laws.

From preparing holiday meals to doing dishes and cutting fruit for the in-laws, the author challenges what has been considered the role of daughters-in-law in Korean society. The short Instatoon episodes resonated with many readers and it was made into a documentary as well as being the inspiration for an entertainment show.

“‘No, Thank You’ is a story that can be seen frequently in our lives. It can be my story, my mother-in-law’s, mom’s, dad’s and older brother’s story. It is a story that can be uneasy with people saying ‘that’s my story’ or ‘my friend was talking about that’ while watching the drama,” said director Lee Kwang-young during an online press conference Tuesday.

The Instatoon is rich in details and Lee expressed wanting to put all of it in the drama series. As such, the actors were chosen with remarkable similarity in appearance to the webtoon characters.

One difference between the drama series and Instatoon is that the relationship between the characters before their marriage and the in-law life is shown in greater depth. The director and actors also mentioned struggling to express the emotions in the eyes of characters that are represented with uniformly dotted eyes in the original work.

Many actors in the series were fans of the comic.

“To begin with, I was a big fan of the original social media toon and wanted to challenge myself when I heard it was being made in a new platform,” said actress Park Ha-sun, who plays Min.

Kwon Yul, who plays the role of Min’s husband, was unfamiliar with the source material.

“With the director and many actors keeping to the original work, I wanted to show freedom in acting that wasn’t confined,” said Kwon.

Kakao TV promised 25 original titles by the end of the year when it launched in September, including six original dramas.

The 12-episode drama series, with each episode only 20 minutes long, is released every Saturday at 10 a.m. by Kakao, in keeping with the characteristic of the platform that focuses on short and easy-to-consume contents.

By Lim Jang-won (ljw@heraldcorp.com)