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TV Drama Adaptation of Shinya Shokudō Manga Announced

Abe Yarō's manga Shinya Shokudō (Midnight Cafeteria) will be made into a live-action television drama series. The drama will air on Japan's TBS network starting this fall.

The manga, which was nominated for the bookseller-selected Manga Taishō ("Cartoon Grand Prize") earlier this year, tells the story of the people who work in a small, mysterious cafeteria in Shinjuku. The cafeteria opens at midnight to fix customers any dish they request. Shōgakukan's monthly manga anthology Big Comic Spirits currently serializes the manga. The fourth compiled book volume (tankōbon) of the manga will be released in Japan on August 28.

Kaoru Kobayashi, an actor who has been a fixture in Japanese dramas and movies for over thirty years, will play the lead role in the drama. The actor voiced the character of Jigo in Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, and recently won the 2008 Japanese Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Tokyo Tower.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun