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Teiichi no Kuni Manga Gets 5-Episode Spinoff Live-Action Series on April 24

The official website for the live-action film of Usamaru Furuya's Teiichi no Kuni (Teiichi's Country) manga revealed on Monday that the film will get a live-action spinoff series titled Teiichi no Kuni: Gakuseigai no Kissaten (Teiichi's Country: The Café on Student Street). The series will have five episodes that will air on Fuji TV on April 24, with one episode every night until April 28.

The spinoff will star the film's main cast, including Shūhei Nomura, Ryōma Takeuchi, Shōtarō Mamiya, Jun Shison, and Yudai Chiba. Masaki Suda, who plays Teiichi in the film, will also appear in the last episode. The "omnibus story" will focus on Kikuma Tōdō and other students who are hosting strategy meetings for the student council elections at Kaitei, the coffee shop adjacent to their school. The shop's proprietor is also paying attention to the students, searching for a suitable husband for his daughter. The series will feature both live-action segments, and "manga segments" that use illustrations from the original manga.

The film opens in Japan on April 29.

Fuji TV previously streamed an English-subtitled trailer for the film last month.

The film's cast includes (clockwise from top left):

• Masaki Suda as Teiichi Akaba
• Shūhei Nomura as Kikuma Tōdō, Teiichi's underhanded classmate and childhood friend
• Ryōma Takeuchi as Dan Ōtaka, Teiichi's naturally charismatic classmate
• Shōtarō Mamiya as Roland Himuro, the student favored to be the next student council president
• Kōtarō Yoshida as Jōsuke Akaba, Teiichi's father, and an alumnus at Teiichi's Kaitei High School
• Mei Nagano as Mimiko Shiratori, Teiichi's secret friend
• Jun Shison as Teiichi's right-hand man, the uncommonly handsome Kōmei Sakakibara
• Yudai Chiba as Okuto Morizono, a member of the shogi club

Akira Nagai (Sekai Kara Neko ga Kieta Nara) is directing the film, and Yoshihiro Izumi (live-action Death Note, anohana) penned the script. Rock band CreepHyp (RIN-NE 2) will perform the film's theme song "Ito."

The manga's story follows the high school student Teiichi Akaba and his student government struggles at a private boys' school in Shōwa-era Japan.

Furuya launched Teiichi no Kuni (Teiichi's Country) in the inaugural issue of Jump SQ. 19 in May 2010, but moved the manga to the main Jump Square magazine in its March 2012 issue. Shueisha shipped the 14th and final volume last May.

The manga has already inspired three stage plays, and the latest stage play, "Saishūshō" Gakuran Kageki: Teiichi no Kuni -Kessen no Last Dance- ("Final Chapter" School Uniform Opera: Teiichi's Country -Bloody Battle's Last Dance-), ran in Tokyo in March 2016.

Sources: The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, Comic Natalie