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Meshibana Deka Tachibana Manga Gets Live-Action Drama
posted on by Karen Ressler
The manga series Meshi Bana Deka Tachibana by Sahee Sakado (story) and Tori Tabii (art) will get a live-action drama adaptation starting in April. Tomomi Kasai of AKB48 will co-star as the policewoman Muranaka, and she will also perform the show's ending theme. The show will star Jirō Satō (Gokusen, Densha Otoko) as Tachibana.
The gourmet police manga follows middle-aged Detective Tachibana, nicknamed "Meshibana" for the Japanese word for "meal" because of his extensive knowledge of food. His unconventional detective work involves getting people to open up by talking about food. The policewoman Muranaka is his calm coworker who is the foil to Tachibana's eccentricity. The show will also star Hitoshi Ozawa (Elite Yankee Saburo) as Nirasawa, Mirai Suzuki as Gotō, Yōichi Nukumizu (Always San-chōme no Yūhi '64 ) as Konno, and Yoshiaki Umegaki (Tokyo Godfathers' Hana) as Takehara.
Kasai will also host a "Shironishi-sho Amami-bu" (Shironishi Station Sweet Division) short segment during each episode in the series that will focus on women from the police station in the show talking about familiar sweets. Yuki Mamiya and Kokone Sasaki will star with Kasai in the short segment.
The drama will air late at night on TV Tokyo starting on April 10. TV Tokyo's official website for the series has images of the cast in costume.
Sakado and Tabii's manga currently runs in Tokuma Shoten's Weekly Asahi Geinō magazine, and the company is publishing the ninth compiled volume next month. Takarajimasha Inc.'s annual Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook had ranked the manga as the #9 manga for male readers in 2011.
Source: Comic Natalie
Update: The manga and drama's title is Meshi Bana Deka Tachibana, not Meshibana Keiji Tachibana.
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