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Live-Action Video Girl Ai 2018 Series' Promo Video Streamed

posted on by Karen Ressler
Drama premieres January 13 on TV Tokyo, earlier on Amazon Prime in Japan

The official website for Den'ei Shōjo ~Video Girl Ai 2018~, the new live-action television series based on Masakazu Katsura's Video Girl Ai (Den'ei Shōjo) manga, began streaming a promotional video on Friday. In the video, Ai speaks with masculine language.

The series will premiere on TV Tokyo and its affiliates on January 13, but episodes will stream one week early on Amazon Prime Video in Japan.

The live-action television series resets the original manga's timeframe to modern-day 2018, and it centers around Yōta's nephew, high school student Shō Moteuchi (Nomura). Shō harbors a secret crush on his beautiful classmate Nanami. One day, he discovers an old broken videocassette recorder at his uncle Yota's home. He fixes the recorder, and a mysterious girl named "Video Girl Ai" springs out.

The cast includes:

Shūhei Nomura as Shō Moteuchi

Nogizaka 46's Nanase Nishino as Ai Amano

Marie Iitoyo as Nanami Shibahara, the school "Madonna" on whom Shō has a crush.

Hiroya Shimizu as Tomoaki Furuya, Shō's old childhood friend.

Karen Ōtomo as Rika Ōmiya, Shō's underclassman who has a crush on him.

Shigeyuki Totsugi as Yōta Moteuchi, the original manga's protagonist, now a 42-year-old picture book illustrator who travels all over Japan.

Jun Murakami as Kōji Shimizu, a producer who once produced hit movies, but now has few jobs. He was a dancer in the original manga

Kazuaki Seki (music videos for Perfume, Gen Hoshino) is directing the live-action series, and Kohei Kiyasu (a voice actor on Hajime no Ippo, Fafner, and The Prince of Tennis) is writing the scripts after penning Destruction Babies and The Kirishima Thing. TV Tokyo's Futoshi Asano is the chief producer, and the other producers are Kimitaka Goka and Yuta Kurachi of TV Tokyo, as well as Kyōhei Sudachi. TV Tokyo Robot is producing.

Viz released the manga and its 1992 original video anime adaptation in North America, and it describes the story:

What would you do if a beautiful woman came out of your TV? "Date-less" Yōta, a loser with a heart of gold, finds himself hopelessly trapped in a love triangle between the woman he loves and his best friend. The fact that he winds up trying to help his love try and date his best friend may make him a fool, but his earnest wishes for her happiness allow him to encounter a mystical video shop that rewards him with a special video to cheer him up. To his shock and surprise, a beautiful girl jumps out of his TV! While Yōta's broken VCR has some interesting side effects upon the girl, named Ai, this is only the beginning of the best time of his life!

Katsura published the manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1989 to 1992. Shueisha published 15 compiled book volumes, and then reissued the manga in nine volumes for its keepsake and trade paperback editions. In addition to the six-volume 1992 anime, the manga also inspired an earlier 1991 live-action film.

Another of Katsura's Weekly Shonen Jump high school romances, I''s, is also inspiring a live-action television series next year. Katsura also designed the characters in the Tiger & Bunny anime, and his other manga include DNA², Wingman, and Zetman — all three of which inspired television anime.

Source: Mantan Web


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