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Space Bros./Uchū Kyōdai Postage Stamps to Be Issued in May

The postal service hobby goods distributor Yūshu Service Company announced that it will issue a postage stamp set inspired by the Uchū Kyōdai (Space Brothers) manga and its live-action film adaptation on May 1. The postage stamps celebrate the live-action film's May 5 opening in Japan.

The set of ten stamps features five images of the brothers Mutta and Hibito from Chūya Koyama's original manga and five images of Shun Oguri (Hana-Kimi, Hana Yori Dango [2005], Fullmetal Alchemist movie [2005]) and Masaki Okada (Hana-Kimi, BokuKimi, Mahō Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto) as the film's title characters. The 50-yen (about US$0.62) stamp set will include a holder that measures 204 millimeters (about eight inches) by 275 millimeters (about eleven inches) high. Character and story background information appears on the inside cover of the framed set. Yūshu's Stamaga Net online shop is offering the stamps for 3,150 yen (about US$39).

Based on Koyama's manga, the story of the film follows two brothers, Mutta (Oguri) and Hibito (Okada), who made a vow as kids to travel to space. The younger brother Hibito did become an astronaut, but not Mutta. However, Mutta's life changes one fateful day.

The Japanese postal service began issuing Dragon Ball Kai stamps on January 23, and its "Anime Hero Heroine Series" stamps have also featured characters from Patlabor, Pokémon, Gundam, Galaxy Express 999, Detective Conan (Case Closed), Neon Genesis Evangelion, Future Boy Conan, and Manga Nihon Mukashi Banashi. The Japan Post also issued two kinds of postage stamp souvenir sheets for the K-ON! franchise on November 15 and released Lucky Star stamps on New Year's Eve.

Source: Comic Natalie

Images © 2012 Uchū Kyōdai Production Committee