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'Merry Berry Love' With Ji Chang-wook and Mio Imada Sets October Disney+, Hulu Premiere

Disney+ and Hulu will premiere the Korean-Japanese romantic comedy 'Merry Berry Love' on Oct. 7, starring Ji Chang-wook and Mio Imada. The series follows a strawberry farmer and a city dweller who form an unexpected bond on a Japanese island. Produced by CJ ENM with Nippon TV, the show marks a notable cross-border collaboration.

By Tertius News AI Desk 2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Sep 2, 2026 Published 7h ago

distinct = voices after wire copies and reprints of the same article collapse; mastheads = publisher names; articles = URLs

Premiere Date Set for 'Merry Berry Love' on Disney+ and Hulu

Disney+ has set Oct. 7, 2025, as the premiere date forMerry Berry Love, a Korean-Japanese romantic comedy series starring Ji Chang-wook and Mio Imada. The series will stream on both Disney+ and Hulu, with Disney+ listing the release date and Variety confirming the dual-platform launch.

Plot and Characters

Set on a Japanese island, the series follows Karin Shirahama, a strawberry farmer dedicated to growing the island's best strawberries, and Lee Yubin, a city man whose fortunes have declined. According to Disney's official logline, the pair share a 'hilariously uncomfortable first encounter' before an unexpected misunderstanding keeps them," "spending a lot more time with each other."

Ji Chang-wook, known for roles inThe Worst of Evil andThe Manipulated, plays Lee Yubin, described by Variety as a space planner. Mio Imada, who appeared inTokyo Revengers, plays the farmer Karin Shirahama.

Creative Team and Production

The series is co-directed by Kim Sooyoung and Roh Youngsub (the latter's name also appears as Nohh Youngsub), with a screenplay by Lee Jaeyoon. The production is developed and produced by CJ ENM, the company behind hits such asCrash Landing on You andQueen of Tears, alongside Disney and co-produced by Nippon TV, a Japanese broadcaster.

The series exemplifies a rare Korean-Japanese co-narrative, joining recent ventures such as Netflix'sRomantics Anonymous as one of the few cross-border television projects between the two nations. It will add an Asian originals lineup on Disney+ and Hulu that already includes Korean titles such asPerfect Crown andSoundtrack #1.

How each outlet told it

A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.

The Hollywood Reporter

Framing: Announces the release date at Disney+

as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC

Facts Included:

Disney+ has set a streaming release date for Merry Berry Love
The series is a Japan-set Korean romantic comedy starring Ji Chang-wook and Mio Imada
The logline reads: "Set on an idyllic Japanese island, Merry Berry Love follows hardworking farmer Karin Shirahama as she pours her heart and soul into cultivating the best strawberries possible. One day, a down-on-his-luck city boy, Lee Yubin, arrives on the island and after a hilariously uncomfortable first encounter, the pair end up spending a lot more time with each other due to an unexpected misunderstanding."
Ji Chang-wook, the Korean singer and actor who has starred in films like Colony and Revolver and TV shows such as The Manipulated and The Worst of Evil, stars as Lee Yubin
Japanese actress Mio Imada (Trillion Game: The Movie, Anpan, Tokyo Revengers) plays strawberry farmer Karin Shirahama
Merry Berry Love is directed by Kim Soojung and Roh Youngsub and written by Lee Jaeyoon
The show was developed and produced by Korean giant CJ ENM (Crash Landing on You, Queen of Tears() and co-produced by Japan’s Nippon TV
Japanese-Korean television co-productions are rare, with Netflix’s Romantics Anonymous the notable recent exception

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Variety

Framing: announces the series' release window and platform (Disney+, Hulu) for October — promotional and informative,emphasizing the show's appeal through cast credentials and cross-cultural production

as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC

Facts Included:

Korean-Japanese romantic comedy series 'Merry Berry Love' starring Ji Chang-wook and Imada Mio, is bowing on Disney+ and Hulu this October
Set on a picturesque Japanese island, the series follows Karin Shirahama, a strawberry farmer, and Lee Yubin, a city dweller whose fortunes have taken a sharp turn for the worse
Ji Chang-wook, known for 'The Worst of Evil' and 'The Manipulated,' plays Lee Yubin, a space planner
Imada Mio, who appeared in 'Tokyo Revengers,' takes the role of Karin Shirahama
the series is co-directed by Kim Soojung ('Semantic Error') and Noh Youngsub ('My Lovely Liar'), with a screenplay by Lee Jaeyoon, writer of 'Divorce Insurance.'
It was developed and produced by CJ ENM – the Korean entertainment company behind global hits 'Crash Landing on You' and 'Queen of Tears' – alongside Disney,with Nippon TV serving as co-producer
The series streams on Disney+ and Hulu from Oct. 7.

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What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the mastheads we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimThe Korean-Japanese romantic comedy series 'Merry Berry Love' is set to stream on Disney+ and Hulu starting Oct. .	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimThe series stars Ji Chang-wook and Imada Mio (also credited as Mio Imada).)	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimThe series is set on a picturesque Japanese island.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimThe plot follows strawberry farmer Karin Shirahama and down-on-his-luck city boy Lee Yubin, who meet after an awkward first encounter and end up spending more time together due to an unexpected misunderstanding.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimJi Chang-wook plays Lee Yubin, a space planner.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC
ClaimImada Mio plays Karin Shirahama, a strawberry farmer.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimThe series is co-directed by Kim Soojung and Noh Youngsub (also credited as Roh Youngsub).)	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimThe screenplay was written by Lee Jaeyoon.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimThe series was developed and produced by CJ ENM alongside Disney, with Nippon TV as co-producer.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimJi Chang-wook is known for roles in 'The Worst of Evil' and 'The Manipulated.'	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimImada Mio appeared in 'Tokyo Revengers.'	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC
ClaimCJ ENM is the Korean entertainment company behind 'Crash Landing on You' and 'Queen of Tears.'	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Variety as of Sep 2, 2026, 1:17 AM UTC, The Hollywood Reporter as of Sep 2, 2026, 10:46 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articles consulted: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety 12 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-09-02