News
Kanjani Eight's Shingo Murakami Stars in Live-Action Hakushon Daimaou
posted on by Rae First
Fuji TV announced on September 30 that KANJANI Eight's Shingo Murakami will be staring in the first live-action television adaptation of the Hakushon Daimou (The Genie Family) anime. Tatsunoko Productions' popular gag comedy anime ran on Fuji TV from 1969 to 1970. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the anime, the 31-year-old actor will play the main character, the genie Gejigon. The two-hour special is premiering this fall.
In the original anime, a young boy finds a bottle in his attic with a genie who can be summoned by sneezing. Unfortunately, the genie is not very good, and his wishes have a tendency to go wrong. Hakushon Daimou had been in the top 100 in TV Asahi's Top 100 anime in 2005 and Japan's top anime in 2006.
Murakami is joined by seven-year-old Konomi Watanabe as Akubi (another genie who is summoned by yawns) and eight-year-old Homare Mabuchi as Kan-chan (the boy who finds the bottle). Kan-chan's father will be played by 39-year-old Yōichi Nukumizu, and his mother will be played by 35-year-old Miho Shiraishi. Murakami also sings the special's opening theme, which is a revamped version of the original anime's opening.
The special is expected to use full use of CG animation to recreate the magic seen in the original anime. It took one and a half hours to transform Murakami into a genie with special makeup, giant nose, and ears.
Source: Sankei Sports
