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Gaki Rock Manga Inspires Live-Action Series on Amazon Prime
posted on by Karen Ressler
Daiju Yanauchi's Gaki Rock manga is inspiring a 12-episode live-action drama series that will premiere on Amazon Prime Video in Japan on April 14. The series will tell a different story from the original manga and its live-action film adaptation.
Amazon Prime began streaming a trailer for the series. The video previews the drama's opening theme song "Akai Inochi ga Moeteiru" by The Inazuma Sentai.
The main cast members are returning from the film adaptation:
- Taikō Kato'ono as the protagonist Gen Shimura
- Gōki Maeda as Makoto
- Yōsuke Kawamura as Jimmy
- Ryōji Nakamura as Mattsun
New cast members include:
- Yuki Yamada as Ryūta Kanayama, Gen's childhood friend who holds the key to the story
- Ikumi Hisamatsu as Kyōko, a takoyaki restaurant worker with whom Gen falls in love
- Tomomi Itano as the "Mama" at a girls bar
- Shizuka Nakamura as the mistress of the takoyaki restaurant
Additional cast members include Chihiro Otsuka, Katsuya, Aya Enjōji, Naomasa Musaka, Ryūji Harada, Yuki Satō, Reiya Masaki, Shimon Ōkura, and Seiya Osada.
Original creator Yanauchi (Gang King) wrote the lyrics for the ending theme song "Gaki Rock," and Pistol Takehara composed the song.
The manga initially serialized in Akita Shoten's Young Champion magazine. Daitosha originally published the one-volume manga in 2003, and then again in 2005. Shonengahosha then reprinted the series in 2010. The manga inspired a 2014 film adaptation, and the publisher released a new reprinting to commemorate the film adaptation the same year. A special one-shot manga chapter also ran in Shonengahosha's Young King magazine in 2014.
The story of the film revolves around Asakusa-born-and-raised Gen, who helps out at his family's strip club. With his friends Makoto, Jimmy, and Mattsun, the four get into fights together, as well as help out with watching out for Gen's family. One night, Gen is told by his father to pick up a woman at the train station. There, he finds the beautiful Chōcho (lit. butterfly), and falls in love with her at first sight. However, he finds out that she is the #1 strip girl in Osaka, and Gen gets eccentric when he finds out that she'll be living in "England Theater," the strip club his father runs.
One night, Gen sees Chōcho crying. When he asks the reason, she tells him that she is envious of the love of Gen's family, though she was welcomed with open arms. The next day, Gen is chased by the yakuza and saves Kanta, a man who was being beaten. Gen finds out that Kanta is a Kansai yazuka member, but due to a certain incident, he is being chased. He lost all his money at gambling, but it turns out the only one he can rely on in this situation is his younger sister: Chōcho. Gen's friends help him to grasp Chōcho's heart, and make her happy.
