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Takahiro Sakurai Narrates Trailer for Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan Live-Action Mini-Series

NHK began streaming a trailer on Friday for its three-episode live-action mini-series adaptation of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan (Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokanai), Hirohiko Araki's spinoff manga for his JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga. Takahiro Sakurai, who has played Rohan in various anime featuring the character, narrates the video.

NHK's Twitter account also began streaming the video on Monday.

Issei Takahashi (Whisper of the Heart, live-action Ikebukuro West Gate Park, March comes in like a lion) will play the titular Rohan Kishibe, and the episodes will premiere on the NHK General channel on December 28, 29, and 30 at 10:00 p.m. (8:00 am. EST).

The first episode will be based on the manga's "Fugō Mura" story, where Rohan is dragged into an incident inside a millionaire's mansion. The second episode will be based on the "Kushagara" short story by Ballad Kitaguni in the novel spinoffs, where Rohan receives a strange request from fellow manga creator Jugo Shishi. The third episode is titled "D.N.A.," and is also based on a story from the manga where Rohan is investigating his editor's memory loss through hypnosis.

The additional cast includes:

• Marie Iitoyo as Kyoka Izumi, Rohan's editor
• Fūga Shibazaki as Ikkyū, a butler in the millionaire's mansion
• Mirai Moriyama as Jūgo Shishi, Rohan's colleague
• Kumi Takiuchi as Mai Katahira, a widow who lost her husband in a car accident six years ago
• Tomoya Nakamura as Tarō Hirai, a cameraman accompanying Kyoka

Kazutaka Watanabe (Only Yesterday live-action special) is directing the series, with scripts by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime writer Yasuko Kobayashi. Naruyoshi Kikuchi (Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt) is composing the music.

Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan is a series of Hirohiko Araki's manga one-shots starring his JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable character Rohan Kishibe, who is also Araki's fictional alter ego. Shueisha published the first compiled book volume of the different Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokanai stories in November 2013. The manga's latest installment, titled "Episode 10: The Run," debuted in February 2018 in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.

The anime studio david production adapted two previous Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan stories as original anime DVDs. The "Fugō Mura" (Millionaire Village) episode was available for people who purchased all 13 DVD or Blu-ray Disc volumes of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable anime in 2017. The "Mutsukabezaka" (Mutsukabe Hill) episode was bundled with the manga's second volume in 2018. Crunchyroll screened the overseas premiere of "Fugō Mura" at its Crunchyroll Expo event in August 2019.

The studio david production then produced two new episodes, "Zange-shitsu" (Confessional Room) and "The Run," which played at nine screenings at six cities in Japan between last December and this March.

Netflix will stream the anime globally next spring.

Sources: NHK, NHK Drama's Twitter account via Hachima Kikō