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Live-Action Romantic Comedy Minami-kun no Koibito Reveals Leads in Costume

The official website of Minami-kun no Koibito ~my little lover, the fourth live-action television adaptation of Shungiku Uchida's Minami-kun no Koibito (Minami's Sweetheart) manga, revealed a new visual showing lead actors Taishi Nakagawa and Maika Yamamoto in costume as their characters Minami and Chiyomi, respectively.

The tagline in the image above reads, "Love with a 163-centimeter (64-inch) height difference." Uchida's original manga centered around third-year high school student Minami, and his girlfirend Chiyomi, who one day finds herself inexplicably shrunk to a height of 16 centimeters (6.3 inches). The manga chronicles their love and life as they live together.

The rest of the series' cast includes Naomi Akimoto, Riko Yoshida, Mirai Suzuki, Erina Nakayama, Moe Sasaki, Narimi Arimori, and Kazue Tsunogae.

The live-action adaptation was first announced in May. The new show will differ from the manga by changing Minami's character from a quiet and gentle person into a handsome honors student. It will also change the manga's original ending into a new plot development. Chiyomi's height is also changed to 15 centimeters (5.9 inches), in proportion to Yamamoto's height.

Kazuya Konaka (Rayca, 2003 Astro Boy, live-action Negima! Magister Negi Magi) is directing the series, with scripts by Yūka Arai.

Uchida first published the manga in her Shungiku manga collection. It was then serialized in Katsuichi Nagai and Seirindo Co., Ltd.'s Monthly Manga Garo magazine from 1986 to 1987, with the final chapter appearing in a volume released by Seirindo in July 1987. Bungei Shunju collected and reprinted the series in 1998, and Seirinkogeisha published a revised edition in 2004.

The manga has previously been adapted into a live-action television special in 1990, an 11-episode television drama in 1994, and another 11-episode live-action television drama in 2004.

Uchida also published a short spinoff manga titled Minami-kun wa Koibito (My Sweetheart Minami) in Shueisha's Cocohana magazine in January 2013, with the premise reversed (in the spinoff, Minami is the one who shrinks down), and told from the perspective of Chiyomi. Shueisha published the manga's first and only compiled book volume in August 2013.

Source: Comic Natalie