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Chūgaku Sei Nikki Live-Action Series Casts Kenshi Okada as Akira

The official website for the live-action series adaptation of Junko Kawakami's Chūgaku Sei Nikki manga revealed that Kenshi Okada (seen below) will join the cast as the male lead character Akira Kuroiwa, a student who is in love with Hijiri, his homeroom teacher. He is a mysterious but pure boy who acts on his feelings despite knowing that Hijiri is engaged. The role is Okada's debut role.

The previously announced cast members are as follows (Note: Character name romanizations are not official.):

Top row, left to right, in image above

• Yui Natsukawa as Aiko Kuroiwa, Akira's mother, who takes care of him as a single mother
• Kasumi Arimura as Hijiri Suenaga, the protagonist
• Keita Machida as Shōtarō Kawai, an elite businessman, and Hijiri's fiance
• Yō Yoshida as Ritsu Haraguchi, Shōtarō's senior at work, and who later develops feelings for him

Bottom row, left to right, in image above

• Makita Sports as Tsutomu Kamiho, an original character, a subordinate of Aiko at her import business
• Mari Natsuki as Michio Shiotani, the vice principal at Hijiri's school
• Tomochika as Chizuru Niwa, an original character, and Hijiri's confidant

Ayuko Tsukahara, Kentarō Takemura, and Toshio Tsuboi are directing the series. Arisa Kaneko is penning the script. The series will premiere on TBS on Fridays at 10:00 p.m. starting in October.

The manga is a love story between Akira Kuroiwa, a 14-year-old boy who knows nothing of love, and Hijiri Suenaga, his new 25-year-old homeroom teacher. One fated summer, Akira begins to realize he has feelings for Hijiri, but Hijiri has a long distance fiance. The story follows the pair over the course of several years.

Kawakami (It's your world, Galaxy Girl, Panda Boy) launched the manga in June 2013, although the first volume did not ship until July 2016. The fourth volume shipped on July 19. The manga won the seventh anan Manga Awards in 2016.

Source: Chūgaku Sei Nikki series' official website, Comic Natalie