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Yuuki Kaji, Hiro Shimono Star in Live-Action Way of the Househusband Spinoff About Family Cat

NTV unveiled a new special mini-series for the live-action series of Kousuke Oono's The Way of the Househusband (Gokushufudō) manga on Sunday. The three shorts adapt the "Gin no Sanpo" (Gin's Stroll) bonus manga installments published in the back of the main manga's compiled book volumes, and they are streaming on NTV's YouTube channel in Japan. The first episode is already available (but region-locked to Japan only), with the second episode available on Monday, and the third on November 29.

Yūki Kaji (center in image above) plays Gin, the housecat of Tatsu's family, who has learned how to speak in Kansai dialect and yakuza phrasing from his owners. Hiro Shimono (left) plays Kikugorō, a dog who stumbles into Tatsu's household in the second episode. Tina Tamashiro (right) returns from the live-action series, but as a different character: a cat named Rose that Gin falls in love with in the third episode.

The spinoff commemorates the cat-focused "Ii Nyan Nyan no Hi" day of November 22. November 22 or 11/22 is often called "Good Couple Day" in Japan because the date's numbers can be read as "ii fūfu" or "good couple." They can also be read as "ii n(yan) n(yan)" or "good meow-meow."

The main live-action series premiered on NTV on October 11. Tōichirō Rutō (Ossan Love) is among the directors of the series, and Uda Manabu (99.9 -Keiji Senmon Bengōshi-) is one of the show's scriptwriters. Male idol group Da-iCE are performing the series' theme song "CITRUS." Hiroshi Tamaki stars as Tatsu. Voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda narrated the show's fourth episode. Tsuda has appeared before in the live-action commercial for the manga last December, where he played protagonist Tatsu. He will also star as Tatsu in the recently announced 2021 Netflix anime series adaptation of the manga.

The live-action series inspired another spinoff that premiered on November 8. The show, titled 3-nen Tatsu-gumi: Gokushufu-sensei, imagines if Tatsu became a substitute home economics teacher while the main home economics teacher was on maternity leave. The show will have 6 episodes.

The Way of the Househusband follows a retired yakuza member known as "Immortal Tatsu" who is living out his post-crime career as a househusband. He still manages to find his way into trouble from time to time, except it's in the grocery aisle instead of some back alley.

Oono launched the manga on Shinchosha's Kurage Bunch website in February 2018, and Shinchosha published the fifth volume on June 9. Viz Media is publishing the manga in English, and it released the fourth volume on September 15.

The manga won the Best Humor Publication category at this year's Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. The series was acknowledged as a runner-up in last year's Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Awards' web manga category and came in at #9 in this year's Web Manga General Election. The Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook for 2019 ranked the manga at #8 for its top manga series for men. The series also ranked on Honya Club's "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics" lists for 2018 and 2019.

Source: Comic Natalie