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Rieko Saibara's Jōkyō Monogatari Manga Gets Live-Action Film
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Rieko Saibara's (Mainichi Kaa-san, Onnanoko Monogatari) loosely-autobiographical Jōkyō Monogatari manga is getting a live-action film adaptation starring actress Kii Kitano (Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life's Sheena, GeGeGe no Kitarō: Sennen Noroi Uta's Kaede) in August.
The film will also co-star Fumino Kimura, Asuka Kurosawa (Ushijima the Loan Shark, Himizu, Jellyfish Eyes), Ittoku Kishibe (Hula Girls, Onmyoji), and Asaka Seto (Death Note's Naomi Misora). Toshiyuki Morioka (Onnanoko Monogatari) is writing the scripts and directing the film. The punk rock band Glory Hill will perform the film's theme song "Nowhere."
The manga centers on Natsumi Takahara (Kitano), a manga artist in a slump who looks back on her college days and the time she spent living with a man named Ryōsuke. Natsumi had moved from her hometown to Tokyo to attend college. There, she meets Ryōsuke and begins Living With Him. However, after getting irritated with Ryōsuke for not holding down a steady job and spending his days lazing around, the two decide to break up. In the midst of their breakup, Natsumi is getting a book published, and she remembers the times that Ryōsuke supported her. Shogakukan released the one-volume manga in 2004.
Jōkyō Monogatari (pictured at left) will be the third of Saibara's manga to get a live-action film adaptation. Her Onnanoko Monogatari manga received a live-action film adaptation starring Eri Fukatsu in 2009, and Mainichi Kaa-san received an award-winning live-action film adaptation starring Kyōko Koizumi in 2011. Onnanoko Monogatari received a mobile phone flash anime adaptation in 2009, and Mainichi Kaa-san also received an anime adaptation that ran from 2009-2012. Crunchyroll streamed that adaptation outside of Japan.
Saibara actually wrote three different loosely-autobiographical manga about different stages in her life: the Onnanoko Monogatari about her bonds with her childhood female friends, Jōkyō Monogatari about her move from her hometown to Tokyo, and Eigyō Monogatari about her new working life. All three manga were used to inspire the live-action Onnanoko Monogatari film.
Image © 2012 Rieko Saibara, Shogakukan / Jōkyō Monogatari Production Committee
Source: Eiga.com
