Netflix is continuing its trend of providing numerous Korean movies and television shows on its platform, cashing in on just how popular the country’s programming has become. These range from life-and-death scenarios such as Squid Game and the zombie survival horror All of Us Are Dead to more wholesome romances. A Valentine's Day addition was closer to the latter, though it’s certainly more risqué than many love stories.
Love and Leashes combines unintended office romance with the painfully pleasant world of BDSM, although there are still far fewer than 50 shades to this movie’s grays. Unbeknownst to some, however, it’s also based on a Korean webtoon series, showing the full circle effect of the Korean Wave. Here’s more on what the movie and Webtoon are about, as well as why viewers and readers can’t get enough of their torture.
What Webtoon Is the Netflix Movie Love and Leashes Based On?
The original Love and Leashes Webtoon, also known as Moral Sense and The Sensual M, was created by Gyeowool (or Winter). The storyline involves office workers Jung Ji-Woo and Jung Ji-Hoo, whose similar names result in a personal package mishap. The result is that Ji-Woo discovers the other’s fetish for BDSM, thereafter taking on the role of his domineering sexual master. Although their “romantic” relationship is meant to be a temporary and fetish-driven arrangement, it eventually blossoms into true affection.
The original Webtoon series ran from 2015 to 2018, although its more than 140 chapters only recently got adapted. As is the norm in Korea, this adaptation wasn’t an animated feature like with Japan and anime, but a live-action movie. While its Korean name retained the Moral Sense moniker, it’s known internationally as Love and Leashes. Adapting much of the story into a roughly two-hour movie, the film was a romantic, if rough addition to the Netflix streaming service back in February.
Why Is Love and Leashes So Popular?
Part of the reason why audiences are eating up the Netflix movie version of Love and Leashes is the big push in Korean media. Both K-Pop and K-Dramas are bigger than ever, and they can have a more universal and international appeal than Japanese anime shows. The fact that the movie was released on the biggest name in streaming -- one that has already been home to several Korean hits -- certainly made it easier to pitch to potential streamers.
There’s also the subject matter, which works in the movie’s favor in different ways. Obviously, something as potentially risqué as BDSM is sure to draw a few clutched pearls, but also just as many interested eyes. Add in the Valentine’s Day release date, and the recipe for romantic success was pretty much a given. Conversely, none of the material is ever too coarse or graphic; it certainly pales in comparison to 50 Shades of Grey or even the notorious nudity of films such as The Wolf of Wall Street and Eyes Wide Shut.
This, when combined with the actual romance, makes the movie a lot more wholesome than many would imagine -- and such a combination of sweet pleasure and merciless pain has made Love and Leashes the master of slightly racy Korean romance on Netflix.
