News

Live-Action Video Girl Ai 2018 Series Casts Nogizaka 46's Nanase Nishino as Ai

The official website for Den'ei Shōjo ~Video Girl Ai 2018~, the new live-action television series based on Masakazu Katsura's Video Girl Ai (Den'ei Shōjo) manga, announced on Tuesday that Nogizaka 46's Nanase Nishino will play the title character Ai Amano. It is Nishino's first starring role in a television series, though she previously starred in the Ashinagu live-action film.

The website also revealed that episodes will stream one week early on Amazon Prime Video in Japan. The series will premiere on TV Tokyo and its affiliates in January 2018.

Nishino joins Shūhei Nomura (live-action Chihayafuru, Lychee Light Club, Typhoon Noruda), who is playing Shō Moteuchi.

Kazuaki Seki (music videos for Perfume, Gen Hoshino) is directing the live-action series, and Kohei Kiyasu (a voice actor on Hajime no Ippo, Fafner, and The Prince of Tennis) is writing the scripts after penning Destruction Babies and The Kirishima Thing. TV Tokyo's Futoshi Asano is the chief producer, and the other producers are Kimitaka Goka and Yuta Kurachi of TV Tokyo, as well as Kyōhei Sudachi. TV Tokyo Robot is producing.

Viz released the manga and its 1992 original video anime adaptation in North America, and it describes the story:

What would you do if a beautiful woman came out of your TV? "Date-less" Yōta, a loser with a heart of gold, finds himself hopelessly trapped in a love triangle between the woman he loves and his best friend. The fact that he winds up trying to help his love try and date his best friend may make him a fool, but his earnest wishes for her happiness allow him to encounter a mystical video shop that rewards him with a special video to cheer him up. To his shock and surprise, a beautiful girl jumps out of his TV! While Yōta's broken VCR has some interesting side effects upon the girl, named Ai, this is only the beginning of the best time of his life!

The live-action television series resets the timeframe to modern-day 2018, and it centers around Yōta's nephew, high school student Shō Moteuchi (Nomura). Shō harbors a secret crush on his beautiful classmate Nanami. One day, he discovers an old broken videocassette recorder at his uncle Yota's home. He fixes the recorder, and a mysterious girl named "Video Girl Ai" springs out.

Katsura published the manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1989 to 1992. Shueisha published 15 compiled book volumes, and then reissued the manga in nine volumes for its keepsake and trade paperback editions. In addition to the six-volume 1992 anime, the manga also inspired an earlier 1991 live-action film.

Another of Katsura's Weekly Shonen Jump high school romances, I''s, is also inspiring a live-action television series next year. Katsura also designed the characters in the Tiger & Bunny anime, and his other manga include DNA², Wingman, and Zetman — all three of which inspired television anime.

Source: Comic Natalie