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New Tomodachi Game Live-Action TV Show Adds 5 Cast Members

The staff for Tomodachi Game R4, a new live-action television drama based on Yuki Satō's Tomodachi Game (Friends Games) manga, revealed new cast members for the show on Friday.

Sayu Kubota (upper left in image above) plays Shiho Sawaragi, the class vice president. Mayū Yokota (upper right) plays Yutori Kokorogi, a girl who loves popular manga. Tetta Sugimoto (bottom center) as Akinori Hotei, a sadistic leader part of the group running the Tomodachi Game. Yuki Katayama (bottom left) plays the wild and unrestrained Maria Mizuse. Lisa Naitō plays Haru Kisaragi, the digital cyber expert who receives orders from Hotei.

The new show will premiere on TV Asahi on July 23.

The cast will include members from boy bands Johnny's Jr. Bishо̄nen and HiHi Jets. The cast for various members in the series' C and K groups includes:

• Hidaka Ukisho (Bishо̄nen) as Yūichi Katagiri
• Ryūga Satō (Bishо̄nen) as Tenji Mikasa
• Mizuki Inoue (HiHi Jets) as Makoto Shibe
• Fujii Naoki (Bishо̄nen) as Kei Shinomiya
• Taishō Iwasaki (Bishо̄nen) as Jūzō Kadokura
• Sōya Igari (HiHi Jets) as Hyakutarō Onigawara
• Issei Kanasashi (Bishо̄nen) as Chisato Hashiratani
• Yūto Nasu (Bishо̄nen) as Banri Niwa

Boy band Sexy Zone's Fūma Kikuchi will play an original character Novel Himuro. Novel, a newcomer to the Tomodachi Game management team, will "hold the key" to the show's whole story, and he appears to have a past connection with the protagonist Yūichi.

Takurо̄ Oikawa, Hajime Takezono (TV Asahi), and Toshiaki Kamada are directing the series. Takuji Higuchi and Shinya Hokimoto are writing the screenplay. Yoshinori Nakamura is composing the music. Mikoto Yamaguchi and Sato are credited for the original work.

The manga's anime adaptation premiered on NTV on April 6. JST. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it airs in Japan, and it is also streaming an English dub.

The story, based on Mikoto Yamaguchi's original concept, centers on Yūichi Katagiri, a young man with a perfect student life who has four friends with difficult lives. His peaceful daily life comes to an end when 2 million yen (about US$20,000) in school trip fees goes missing. Riddles unfold as Yūichi gets caught up in a mysterious game for money and must decide whether friendship or money matters more.

Sato (Sherlock Bones, Yokai Doctor) launched the manga in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in December 2013. The manga went on hiatus in December 2019, returned for one chapter in February 2020, and then went back on hiatus. The manga entered its final arc in August 2020.

The manga has inspired a previous live-action drama series and two live-action films. The first film, Tomodachi Game Gekijōban, opened in June 2017 after the live-action television drama series premiered in April 2017. The second film screened in Japan in September 2017.

Source: Comic Natalie