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Cheeky Angel Creator's Kanakana Manga Gets Live-Action Show
posted on by Alex Mateo
NHK announced on Friday that Cheeky Angel creator Hiroyuki Nishimori's Kanakana manga is getting a live-action show that will premiere on NHK in May. The show will star Gordon Maeda as Masanao Higurashi.
Yо̄ Kawahara and Toshiyuki Morishita are directing the series. Shuko Arai and Rima Kitaki are writing the screenplay. Aki Manabe and Yuki Munakata are composing the music. Kiyoshi Umibe of NHK and Jun Kurosawa of Telepack are the managing the production.
Nishimori launched the manga in Shōnen Sunday Super in June 2020. Shogakukan published the manga's second compiled book volume in July 2021, and it will publish the third volume on February 18.
The manga's story begins with an encounter between a lonely girl and an intimidating man with a scarred face. The man turns out to be a legendary former delinquent who then busies himself taking care of the child.
Nishimori began Cheeky Angel (Tenshi na Konamaiki) in 1999, and Viz Media published all 20 volumes in English. The series inspired an anime adaptation in 2002. Viz no longer holds the license.
Nishimori's Kyou Kara Ore Wa!! manga also inspired an original video anime adaptation in 1992 and a live-action television series in October 2018. That live-action series has an upcoming live-action film that opened in July 2020, as well as a live-action television spinoff special.
Nishimori's Manten no Hoshi to Aoi Sora (The Starry Heavens and the Blue Sky) novel, which shipped in July 2012 as his debut novel, also inspired a manga. Yuuki Iinuma launched the manga in Shogakukan's Monthly Sunday GX magazine in August 2018 and ended it in September 2020.
Sources: NHK, Comic Natalie
