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Rumiko Takahashi's Live-Action Rumic Theater Show Cast
posted on by Egan Loo
Jun Murakami (Michiko to Hatchin, live-action Cutie Honey film), Miki Mizuno (Odoru Daisōsasen, Gamera 2: Advent of Legion), and Mikihisa Azuma (Gokusen) will star in the live-action television adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's Rumic Theater (Takahashi Rumiko Gekijō) manga series. The live-action show's two episodes are each based on three short stories in the manga series, and they follow various people from all walks of life. The series will premiere on the NHK-BS Premium channel in early July.
Murakami will appear in both episodes as a man who runs a café. The first episode, "Akai Hanabata" (Red Bouquet) adapts Takahashi's "Akai Hanabata," "Hachi no Naka" (In a Pot), and "Meisō Kazoku F" (Aberrant Family Fire). The episode revolves around a sorrowful spirit of a middle-aged salaryman visiting his own funeral, a scared housewife who discovers human remains in a potted plant she received from the widow next door, and a high school girl who suspects she is being dragged on a family trip for a mass suicide. Fumiyo Kohinata, Mieko Harada, Mariya Yamada, Reiko Kataoka, Tetta Sugimoto, and Jun Yoshinaga also appear in the first episode.
The second episode, "Unmei no Tori" (Bird of Fate), adapts the short stories "Unmei no Tori," Senmu no Inu" (The Executive's Dog), and "Kimi ga Iru dake de" (As Long As You Are Here). Murakami's character has a superpower — he can see a red bird over the heads of people who are about to fall into some bad luck. Mizuno stars as wife who has to take care of a dog owned by an executive at her husband's company, while Azuma plays the executive. Kichiya Katsura plays Mizuno's weak-willed husband, and Waka Inoue plays the executive's lover. Katsuhiko Watabiki co-stars in the second episode.
Shogakukan has compiled the Rumic Theater stories into four book volumes so far, and Viz published some of them in North America. They also inspired the 2003 Rumiko Takahashi Anthology television anime series that Geneon released in North America. "Yamashii Dekigoto" (Shameful Incident), the latest Rumic Theater installment, ran in Shogakukan's Big Comic Original magazine last month. Besides Rumic Theater, Takahashi also created the Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, and RIN-NE series.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
