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How to Become Ordinary Anime Casts Makoto Furukawa as Kengo Dōjima

The official Twitter account for the How to Become Ordinary television anime of Honobu Yonezawa's Shōshimin mystery novel series revealed on Monday that Makoto Furukawa is joining the cast as Kengo Dōjima, the athletic and courteous childhood friend of the protagonist Jōgorō Kobato.

Dōjima goes to the same high school as Kobato and is a member of the newspaper club. He's uncomfortable with Kobato's ordinary aspirations, but still relies on him.

The anime will star Shūichirō Umeda as Jōgorō Kobato and Hina Yomiya as Yuki Osanai.

Mamoru Kanbe (Elfen Lied, The Promised Neverland, You and Me.) is directing the anime at studio Lapin Track. Toshiya Ono (The Promised Neverland, Shadows House, 86) is overseeing the series scripts, Atsushi Saitō (Black Fox, Love Live! Superstar!!) is designing the characters, and Takahiro Obata (Cinderella Nine, The Promised Neverland) is composing the music.

The anime will adapt the Shunki Gentei Ichigo Tart Jiken (The Case of the Springtime Limited-Edition Strawberry Tart) and Kaki Gentei Tropical Parfait Jiken (The Case of the Summertime Limited-Edition Tropical Parfait) novels in Yonezawa's series. Tokyo Sogensha published Shunki Gentei Ichigo Tart Jiken in December 2004 and published Kaki Gentei Tropical Parfait Jiken in April 2006. The novel series also includes the two Shuki Gentei Kuri Kinton Jiken (The Case of the Autumn-time Limited-Edition Candied Chestnuts and Sweet Potatoes) books and the Paris Macaron no Nazo (The Mystery of the Paris Macaron) book, as well as other non-compiled stories. The latest novel, Tōki Gentei Bonbon Chocolat Jiken (The Case of the Wintertime Limited-Edition Chocolate Bonbons) will release in late April.

The story centers on Jōgorō Kobato, who wishes to live a quiet and ordinary life after a painful experience. He and Yuki Osanai form a "mutually beneficial relationship" as Yuki also wants the same thing. They start high school as classmates with a plan to spend their peaceful days as ordinary people, but unfortunately they keep getting wrapped up in mysteries and disasters as they happen one after another.

The novel series has had several manga adaptations, including Anko Manjūya's Shunki Gentei Ichigo Tart Jiken, which ran in 2008-2009 and has two volumes. Omiomi drew a two-volume adaptation of Kaki Gentei Tropical Parfait Jiken in 2010-2011.

Yonezawa is perhaps best known for his Kotenbu (Classic Literature Club) novel series, which began with Hyōka, the first novel, in 2001. Kyoto Animation and late director Yasuhiro Takemoto adapted some of the stories in the series into a 22-episode television anime series titled Hyōka in 2012. The novels also inspired a manga in Kadokawa's Monthly Shōnen Ace magazine.

Yen Press has also published Yonezawa's Black Dungeon Castle (Kokurōjō) novel in English.

Sources: How to Become Ordinary anime's Twitter account, Comic Natalie