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Disney to Stream Live-Action Files of Young Kindaichi Globally As Part of Partnership With NTV
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Nippon TV Holdings announced on Friday that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Walt Disney Japan. The two companies will jointly develop various content for the global market such as live-action series, anime, and variety shows.
As part of the partnership, Disney+ will stream the upcoming live-action series adaptation of Fumiya Sato and Seimaru Amagi's detective manga The Kindaichi Case Files (Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo) globally, under the English title The Files of Young Kindaichi. The stream will mark the first worldwide release for an NTV serialized live-action series.
The series will premiere on April 24 and will air on NTV on Sundays at 10:30 p.m. NTV and Disney will announce the show's debut date on Disney+ at a later date.
Naniwa Danshi band member Shunsuke Michieda is the fifth actor to play the titular detective Hajime Kindaichi, and this will be his first solo starring role in a live-action series. Moka Kamishiraishi will play Miyuki Nanase and Ikki Sawamura will play Isamu Kenmochi. Taishō Iwasaki of Bishonen and Johnny's Jr. will play Ryuta Saki, a first-year high school student who likes to film videos.
Yuuko Kawabe (episodes of Ergo Proxy, Tweeny Witches: The Adventures) and Tetsuya Ōishi (Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee, live-action Death Note and Blade of the Immortal) are writing the scripts, and Hisashi Kimura (live-action Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo: Hong Kong Kyūryū Zaihou Satsujin Jiken, Nagasawa-kun) is directing. NTV is presenting the series in collaboration with Office Crescendo. Johnny & Associates' Naniwa Danshi will perform the theme song "The Answer."
The Kindaichi Case Files manga centers around a high school boy named Hajime Kindaichi who usually seems dull. However, when there is a case, he demonstrates an IQ of over 180 and remarkable deductive skills inherited from his famous detective grandfather. He solves crimes with his childhood friend Miyuki Nanase and Inspector Isamu Kenmochi.
The new series will adapt selected cases and set them in modern-day Japan.
Sources: NTV, Animation Business Journal (Tadashi Sudo), Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
