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Yūtarō Watanabe, Shiori Tomita Star in My Neighbor Seki and Rumi's Phenomenon Live-Action Show
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
MBS' official website for Tonari no Seki-kun to Rumi-chan no Jishō (My Neighbor Seki and Rumi's Phenomenon) — the live-action television series that will adapt Takuma Morishige's My Neighbor Seki manga and Katsunori Hara's Rumi's Phenomenon (Rumi-chan no Jishō) manga — revealed the protagonists on Saturday.
Yūtarō Watanabe (pictured top row in image above), who made his debut in the Itsutsu Kazoreba Kimi no Yume film, will star as Toshinari Seki, or Seki-kun in the My Neighbor Seki half of the show. Shiori Tomita (pictured bottom row in image above), a singer and the fifth MC of the variety show saku saku, will play Rumi Ikuno, or Rumi-chan in the Rumi's Phenomenon half of the show.
Each of the eight 30-minute episodes in the program will be split in half between My Neighbor Seki and Rumi's Phenomenon. Even though the two manga were created separately, they both happen to have heroines named Rumi. The first episode will premiere on July 26 at 24:50 (effectively July 47 at 12:30 a.m.) on MBS. The show will also air on Tuesdays on TBS.
Toru Hosokawa (Polar Bear's Café, Baka Mukashi Banashi Gekijōban ~Jijii Wars~) is writing the My Neighbor Seki half of the television series and directing it with Katsutoshi Hirabayashi. Shō Tsukikawa (episodes of All Esper Dayo!/Minna! Esper Dayo!) is writing the Rumi-chan no Jishō half and directing it with Yasuyuki Fukasako. The studio Dub is producing both parts of the series.
The original My Neighbor Seki manga revolves around a girl named Rumi Yokoi who sits next to a boy known as “Seki-kun.” During class, Seki-kun continues to not pay attention and instead creates amazingly thorough little distractions, such as a detailed golf course with the course's hole being a dent in his desk, or an entire dramatic war being played out by paper shogi pieces.
Rumi's Phenomenon follows Rumi Ikuno, a second-year student who transferred into the Hanagaoka Private Girls' Academy. She leads a simple, oblivious life, even as she causes bewilderment and trouble around her. The manga depicts the profoundly strange girl's life that is sometimes amusing, but mostly irritating
Morishige began My Neighbor Seki in Media Factory's Comic Flapper magazine in 2010, and Kadokawa (Media Factory) published the seventh compiled book volume on April 23. The manga was nominated in the 5th Manga Taisho Awards in 2012. Vertical will publish the third manga volume in North America in July. The manga inspired a 2014 anime series by Shinei Animation starring Kana Hanazawa and Hiro Shimono. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. The manga also inspired several live-action commercials in 2011.
Hara launched his Rumi's Phenomenon manga in Shogakukan's Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine, and Shogakukan published the sixth compiled book volume last October.
Source: Comic Natalie
