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Shonen Jump's 'KochiKame' Manga Gets Stage Play to Celebrate 40th Anniversary
posted on by Karen Ressler
The first 2016 issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine will announce on Monday that Osamu Akimoto's Kochira Katsushika-ku Kamearikouen-mae Hashutsujo ("Kochikame") police comedy manga will get a stage play adaptation in fall 2016 to celebrate the series' 40th anniversary.
Lasar Ishii will reprise his role as protagonist Kankichi Ryotsu from the 1996-2004 television anime series and two anime films. Ishii also played the role in earlier stage play adaptations. These plays had four performance seasons, the most recent of which was in 2006.
Akimoto debuted Kochira Katsushika-ku Kamearikouen-mae Hashutsujo in 1976 and it has since become Weekly Shonen Jump's longest-running manga series. Shueisha published the 197th volume on Friday.
In addition to the television anime adaptation, the manga inspired an anime special in 1985, live-action films in 1977 and 2011, and a live-action drama adaptation in 2009.
ラサール石井また舞台でこち亀やるんか pic.twitter.com/mg1qH9UGQa
— カズ (@kazu4281) December 3, 2015
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