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Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan Live-Action Mini-Series Wins January's Galaxy Award

The Japanese Broadcast Critics Association announced on Friday that NHK's 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, won a Galaxy Award in the television category for January. Since 1963, the Galaxy Awards honor outstanding programs, individuals, and groups with the hope of improving the quality of Japanese broadcast culture.

The association selected Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan because of its carefully selected art and direction to reproduce the original manga's unique aesthetics. The association also praised Yasuko Kobayashi's script, which extracts the essence of the original work. The association also gave special mention to Rohan's actor Issei Takahashi, and Jūgo's actor Mirai Moriyama.

The episodes premiered on the NHK General channel on December 28, 29, and 30.

Issei Takahashi (Whisper of the Heart, live-action Ikebukuro West Gate Park, March comes in like a lion) plays the titular Rohan Kishibe.

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

The first episode is based on the manga's "Fugō Mura" story, where Rohan is dragged into an incident inside a millionaire's mansion. The second episode is 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.

Kazutaka Watanabe (Only Yesterday live-action special) directed the series, with scripts by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime writer Yasuko Kobayashi. Naruyoshi Kikuchi (Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt) composed 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 as a manga artist. 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 Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan stories as original anime DVDs with director Toshiyuki Kato and character designer Shunichi Ishimoto. 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 came with the manga's second volume in July 2018. Crunchyroll screened the overseas premiere of "Fugō Mura" at its Crunchyroll Expo event in August 2019.

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 December 2019 and March 2020.

Netflix began streaming the four-episode OVA in 190 countries on Thursday.

Sources: Broadcast Critics Association, Oricon via Otakomu