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Itazura na Kiss Shōjo Manga Adapted for Theater
posted on by Egan Loo
23-year-old actress Asami Abe will star in a theatrical stage adaptation of Kaoru Tada's Itazura na Kiss shōjo manga classic in the Theater Sun Mall in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward from November 27 to December 7. In the romantic comedy story, a high school girl named KOTOKO finally tells a fellow senior named Naoki (Ren Yagami) that she has loved him from afar since she saw him on their first day of high school. However, Naoki, a haughty "super-ikemen" (handsome male) with smarts and sports talent, rejects her offhand. Fate intervenes when a mild earthquake ruins KOTOKO's family house. While the house gets rebuilt, KOTOKO and her dad stay at the home of her dad's childhood friend...whose son is Naoki. The manga's story follows Naoki and KOTOKO through high school and beyond, but it never ended because Tada lost her life in an accident in 1999.
Abe says she identifies with the heroine character of the Itazura na Kiss ~Koi no Mikata no Gakuen Densetsu~ play because she confessed her love to a classmate in the soccer team eight times during her first year of middle school. The 23-volume manga has already been adapted as a television drama series in Japan (1996), another drama series with a sequel in Taiwan under the name It started with a kiss (2005), and an ongoing anime series that premiered this year.
Source: Sankei Sports via Tokyograph
