Absolute Boyfriend (Taiwanese TV series)

Absolute Boyfriend (simplified Chinese: 绝对达令; traditional Chinese: 絕對達令, alternatively titled My Perfect Darling[1]) is a Taiwanese romance drama television series based on the manga Absolute Boyfriend by Yuu Watase. Jiro Wang, member of Taiwanese boy band Fahrenheit played Night Tenjo's role while South Korean actress Ku Hye-sun played Riiko Izawa.[2][3][4]

Absolute Boyfriend
Promotional poster for Absolute Boyfroend
Also known as絕對達令
GenreRomance
Based onAbsolute Boyfriend
by Yuu Watase
Directed byLiu jun Jie (劉俊傑)
StarringJiro Wang
Ku Hye-sun
Kun Da
Opening theme"Mr. Perfect" by Fahrenheit
Ending theme"假装我们没爱过" (Pretend We Have Never Loved) by Jiro Wang
Country of originTaiwan
Original languageMandarin
No. of episodes13 (Original)
20 (International)
Production
ProducerWang Xin Gui (王信貴)
Production locationTaiwan
Running time90 minutes (incl. advertisements) (Original)
60 minutes (incl. advertisements) (International)
Production companyGTV
Release
Original networkFTV, GTV
Picture formatNTSC
First shown inTaiwan
Original release8 April (2012-04-08) 
1 July 2012 (2012-07-01)
Chronology
Preceded bySkip Beat!
Followed byOnce Upon a Love
Related shows
External links
GTV official website
Absolute Boyfriend
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese絕對達令
Simplified Chinese绝对达令
Japanese name
Kana絶対彼氏

Plot

Guan Xiaofei, an ordinary office worker, is disheartened when she once again gets rejected by a man she loves, Shi Lun. While walking through a park, Xiaofei picks up a cellphone dropped by an eccentric salesman, Lei Wuwu. In return for retrieving the phone, Wuwu gives Xiaofei a website address dedicated to the "Absolute Darling" project. Still skeptical, Xiaofei decides to fill up her order anyway and requests her own "darling", codenamed "Nightly 01" with hundreds of wish fulfillments. Xiaofei is surprised when Kronos Heaven, the company that Wuwu works for, delivers Nightly 01 the next day, and is even more flabbergasted when Nightly 01 turns out be a hyper-realistic, human-like male sex robot whose power activation requires a kiss. Despite his function as a sex robot, however, Xiaofei refuses the offer for sex and instead wants the robot, whom she names "Wan Naite", to be her boyfriend.

However, Xiaofei is informed that after three days of trial period that she has to buy the robot for NT$100,000,000. An attempt to search for work at a club is fruitless when Naite reacts violently to seeing Xiaofei being harassed, so instead Naite applies for a job at Xiaofei's office. His unusual attachment to Xiaofei becomes a sensation at the office and attracts the attention of Xiaofei's friend, Luo Meijia, who is revealed to be the one stopping Xiaofei from having a boyfriend due to an old incident at work where Xiaofei humiliated Meijia at the workplace. At a company retreat, Meijia tries to sabotage Xiaofei and attracts Naite's attention, but her plans are unsuccessful and she herself later quits the office in humiliation when everyone discovers her true nature. At the same time, Naite also incites jealousy on the part of Yan Zongshi, a childhood friend of Xiaofei who has long been in love with her.

Wuwu later tells Xiaofei that she does not need to pay for the original price, but instead she merely has to pay for Naite's service costs as well as recording all emotions to be displayed in Naite's emotion ring: calm (white), happy (red), pleasure (pink), upset (blue), sad (black), and an increased libido (yellow). To earn more money, Naite works at a club servicing female customers, though this only makes Xiaofei jealous. One of Naite's customers is Meijia, who kisses him, causing his allegiance to switch to her due to his simple programming. Despite this, though, the fact that he still remembers Xiaofei makes Wuwu realize that there is still hope for him to return to Xiaofei, who then goes through a swimming challenge to finally be able to kiss Naite back, a task that she is successful with.

Agitated with the hard road for libido, Wuwu arranges for Xiaofei and Naite to have a honeymoon at a private island, to no avail due to Zongshi's appearance. Kronos Heaven's leader, Jiang Baiqi, also sends another model, Nightly 02 under the name of his brother and Xiaofei's childhood friend, Jiang Junshu, to steal Naite's place in Xiaofei's heart, which ends in Naite's pyrrhic victory, resulting in him having to be sent to Kronos Heaven to be scrapped. Nevertheless, Naite works his way to Xiaofei and defeats a doppelganger sent in his place for Xiaofei. Realizing that he has grown beyond his programming, Baiqi decides to let him go.

However, it is revealed that due to developing his own will, Naite is slowly dying from battery failure. Despite this, he does not tell Xiaofei and continues to make her happy in the days before his "death", all the while asking Zongshi to take care of Xiaofei once he is not around. In the final episode, Xiaofei and Naite arranges for a wedding. However, Naite and Xiaofei hold a dress rehearsal with just the two of them the night before the planned wedding, during which Naite finally shuts down, much to Xiaofei's grief. On the day of the funeral, Wuwu and Zongshi go to the church to find Naite already packaged to return to Kronos Heaven to be preserved by Baiqi until technology can improve to possibly revive him once more. Upon finding out Naite has 10 seconds left of charge, Xiaofei shares some last words with him in hopes he can still hear her.

Cast

Note: Characters' names displayed as "in-drama Taiwanese name / original Japanese name"

ActorCharacter
Jiro WangWan Naite (萬奈特) / Night Tenjo
Ku Hye-sun
Chien Shih-Yin (young)
Guan Xiaofei (官筱菲) / Riiko Izawa
Hsieh Kun DaYan Zongshi (嚴宗史) / Soushi Asamoto
Uei Hsun-NaLei Wuwu (雷霧霧) / Gaku Namikiri
Cherry HsiaLuo Meijia (羅美佳) / Mika Ito
Tsai Han-TsenFang Zhixi (方智希) / Satori Miyabe
Im Jun-yeongSKY
Bi Xiao-HaiJiang Baiqi (江白奇) / Yuki Shirasaki
Shiou Chieh-KaiJiang Junshu (江俊樹) / Toshiki Shirasaki
David ChenShi Lun (石綸) / Ishizeki

Production

It was announced at a press conference on October 5, 2010 that a live-action adaptation of Absolute Boyfriend will be filmed,[5]starring singer-actor Wu Chun as "Night" and South Korean actress Ku Hye-sun as "Riiko".[6] On May 3, 2011, Jiro Wang replaced fellow Fahrenheit band member Wu Chun as the male lead of the drama series.[7] The series premiered on April 1, 2012 on FTV.

Broadcast

ChannelCountryDebut dateFinale dateBroadcast date & timeInfo
FTV Taiwan8 April 20121 July 2012Sundays, 10.00pm
GTV Taiwan14 April 20127 July 2012Saturdays, 10.30pm
MediaCorp Channel U Singapore8 April 20121 July 2012Sundays, 9.30pm
ABS-CBN Philippines24 June 201316 August 2013Monday-Friday, 5:00pm
Channel 7 Thailand4 May 201623 June 2016Wednesday-Friday, 1.10am

This is the first overseas drama to air in Singapore first before its premiere in Taiwan, although the Singapore broadcast didn't include bloopers/behind the scenes.

Reception

Formosa Television (FTV) (民視) Ratings
EpisodeOriginal Broadcast DateAverageRankRemarks
18 April 20121.005This includes bloopers.
215 April 20120.915
322 April 20120.925
429 April 20120.763
56 May 20120.673
613 May 20120.673
720 May 20120.643
827 May 20120.702
93 June 20120.584
1010 June 20120.603
1117 June 20120.812
1224 June 20120.663
131 July 20120.863
Average0.75-

Source:China Times

Ratings (Philippines)

TV Ratings airing in Philippines
Date Episode Nationwide (Kantar Media) Mega Manila (AGB Nielsen)
June 24, 2013018.9%8.3%
June 25, 20130210.4%8.7%
June 26, 20130310.8%8.3%
June 27, 20130410.8%8.4%
June 28, 20130511.5%7.9%
July 1, 2013069.9%7.7%
July 2, 20130711.5%7.0%
July 3, 20130812.2%8.7%
July 4, 20130911.7%8.6%
July 5, 20131010.9%8.1%
July 8, 20131110.7%7.6%
July 9, 2013129.5%8.1%
July 10, 20131311.1%7.1%
July 11, 20131411.7%7.1%
July 12, 20131511.2%7.8%
July 15, 20131612.0%7.8%
July 16, 20131712.5%8.0%
July 17, 20131811.1%8.9%
July 18, 2013199.9%7.3%
July 19, 20132012.3%9.4%
July 23, 20132112.4%10.2%
July 24, 20132211.5%7.8%
July 25, 20132310.6%6.1%
July 26, 20132412.3%8.5%
July 29, 20132510.3%9.6%
July 30, 2013269.8%7.0%
July 31, 20132712.5%9.7%
August 1, 20132811.2%8.0%
August 2, 20132911.4%9.3%
August 5, 20133011.1%9.9%
August 6, 20133112.1%7.7%
August 7, 20133211.9%8.7%
August 8, 20133311.6%7.3%
August 9, 20133411.3%7.0%
August 12, 20133514.0%11.0%
August 13, 20133611.6%9.4%
August 14, 20133711.1%9.7%
August 15, 2013389.8%8.0%
August 16, 20133911.7%10.4%
Average11.5%8.6%

References

  1. "絶対彼氏~My Perfect Darling~|オフィシャルサイト". Cinemart (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-11-22.
  2. Lee, Gyeong-Ho (8 March 2012). "Ku Hye Sun appearing in pink pajamas in a Taiwanese drama series Absolute Darling". Star News. Archived from the original on 2014-12-21. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  3. Sunwoo, Carla (10 March 2012). "Ku Hye-sun to star in magic world with custom-order boyfriends". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  4. Choi, Eun-hwa (24 April 2012). "Author of Absolute Boyfriend Comic Applauds Gu Hye Sun′s Acting". enewsWorld. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
  5. "吳尊當機器人男友 與具惠善譜戀曲". The Epoch Times (in Chinese). 6 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  6. "吳尊具惠善《絕對達令》現場照公開 吳尊王子很帥". CRI Online (in Chinese). 22 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  7. "汪東城難甩背後靈 聞吳尊一派恍神" Archived 2011-05-05 at the Wayback Machine. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 3 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
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