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From Kobe Manga Gets Live-Action Show, Film
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Kon Kimura's From Kobe (Kobe Zaijū) manga is getting live-action television and film adaptations next year. The 90-minute television special will air on the Kobe-based television station Sun TV on January 17. January 17 will mark the 20th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which dealt extensive damage to the city of Kobe and killed many of its residents. The film adaptation is expected to open in Japan in spring 2015 or later.
The manga, which is composed of self-contained stories, centers on the daily life of Katsura TATSUKI. Katsura is a female student who goes to a university in Kobe's Western-influenced Kitano district. Kimura serialized the manga in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 1998-2006, and Kodansha released the series in 10 compiled volumes.
Ao Haru Ride star Izumi Fujimoto will star in the adaptations as Katsura. Other cast members include: Eiji Sugawara as Yōji Hinata, Arisa Urahama as Hiroko Izumi, and Misato Tanaka as Kōta. Keiko Takeshita, Takashi Nishina, Nagisa Matsunaga, Sayuri Yanagita, Mire Aika, and Takashi Matsuo will also appear in the projects.
Both the TV series and the movie will be filmed completely on location in Kobe and the Osaka-Kobe region. Mitsuhito Shiraha (She's Rain, Noto no Hanayome), who is from Hyogo Prefecture (where Kobe is located), is directing both projects. Mana Yasuda (Kofuku no Switch) is handling the scripts.
Source: Comic Natalie
