Na In Woo is set to star in a groundbreaking Korea-Japan collaborative drama.
Studio Dragon and Japan’s TBS announced on May 7th that their jointly planned and produced romantic drama Hatsukoi Dogs (meaning “First Love Dogs”) will premiere this July. The series will air every Tuesday for 10 weeks with a total of 10 episodes.
Hatsukoi Dogs follows a healing romance centered around a pet dog harboring an enormous secret. The story brings together a Korean chaebol heir, a Japanese veterinarian, and a lawyer who build a friendship and heal their emotional wounds amid conflict.
The production team boasts impressive credentials. Producers include Masako Miyazaki of An Incurable Case of Love, Saya Araki of 18/40: Unbreakable Bond of Dreams, and Cha Hyun Ji, who previously produced the Korean-Japanese collaboration Eye Love You starring Chae Jong Hyeop.
The screenplay comes from Arisa Kaneko, known for penning the film Train Man, Netflix’s Burn the House Down, and An Incurable Case of Love. Studio Dragon’s producer Kim Gyeo Re joins as a collaborating producer and writer.
Directing duties will be shared between Shingo Okamoto of Eye Love You, Studio Dragon’s Noh Young Seob—who directed My Lovely Liar and won the Silver Remi Award at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival for the tvN single-episode drama A Walk—and Yoshihiro Ito, who co-directed Black Forceps Season 2.
Na In Woo will play Woo Seo Ha, a chaebol heir who appears innocent but conceals extraordinary abilities, having relocated from Korea to Japan. The cast also includes Kaya Kiyohara as Aiko Hanamura, a divorce attorney who claims love is an illusion but secretly wants to believe in it, and Ryo Narita as Kai Shirosaki, a veterinarian who treats everyone kindly but keeps people at a distance.
Hatsukoi Dogs emerged from an MOU signed between CJ ENM and TBS Group in 2011. Since establishing this memorandum, creators from CJ ENM, Studio Dragon, and TBS have engaged in exchange programs, traveling between the two countries to share production expertise and introduce intellectual properties suitable for co-production.
Beyond Hatsukoi Dogs, Studio Dragon is preparing for worldwide releases of the Japanese version of Marry My Husband through Amazon Prime Video and the Japanese drama Soul Mate, starring Hayato Isomura and Ok Taec Yeon, scheduled for release on Netflix.
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