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Akagi Manga Ends, New Live-Action Series Dated for May 25
posted on by Karen Ressler
The official website for the live-action television adaptation of Nobuyuki Fukumoto's Akagi mahjong manga announced on Thursday that the new three-episode mini series Akagi: Washizu Mahjong Kanketsu-hen (Akagi: Washizu Mahjong Concluding Chapter) will premiere on May 25. In addition it announced that Shōnan no Kaze wrote the theme song titled "Kokushimusō" (after the name of a high-scoring Mahjong hand).
Fukumoto launched the original manga series in Takeshobo's Kindai Mahjong magazine in 1992 and ended it on Thursday after 27 years. The 36th and final compiled volume will ship in May.
The new show will star:
- Kanata Hongou as Shigeru Akagi
- Masahiko Tsugawa as Iwao Washizu
- Yōji Tanaka as Takeshi Ōgi
- Satoshi Jinbo as Yasuoka
Hitoshi Iwamoto and Mitsuru Kubota are directing and producing the series, and Mitsuru Tanabe is the scriptwriter.
The manga series begins on one stormy night, when Nangō is playing a game of Mahjong with the local yakuza. Soon, he finds himself on a losing streak. If Nangō loses, he will have to pay with his life. Suddenly, a young teenaged boy, Shigeru Akagi, barges in, drenched from the rain. After watching a couple of games, he offers to replace the struggling Nangō. At that moment, a new legend is born.
The manga inspired a 2005 television anime by the Studio Madhouse, and Crunchyroll streamed the anime starting in 2013.
The manga also inspired a 10-episode live-action television series starring Hongou in summer 2015, and Crunchyroll streamed that series as well. A second season, titled titled Akagi "Ryūzaki, Yagi-hen" "Ichikawa-hen" (Akagi "Ryūzaki, Yagi Arc" "Ichikawa Arc"), premiered last October.
Fukumoto's gambling manga Kaiji also inspired two television anime and two live-action films.
Source: Comic Natalie
