Manga series Notari Matsutaro by Ashita no Joe creator Tetsuya Chiba announced it was getting an anime adaptation back in February, which was a surprise since the manga ended sixteen years ago. Now some casting news has come in for it that’s definitely a plus as Ken Matsudaira has signed on to play the lead role in it. Matsudaira has a few voice acting roles in his career at the age of sixty, but he’s known more for his work in live action productions, such as the long running Abarenbo Shogun where he played the role of Tokugawa Yoshimune for twenty-five years. The new show, which translates to Roughneck Sumo Wrestler!! Matsutaro, is set to debut on April 6th in Japan. The original manga had a twenty year run starting in 1973 and had a couple of years running after that as well. It’s had OVAs previously in the 90′s but this marks its first TV run.
Matsudaira joines Yuko Mizutani will take on the role of Reiko Minami in the show. You can check out the Japanese official teaser site here.
Plot concept: The story follows Matsutarō Sakaguchi, a giant roughneck man with strength far beyond ordinary people. He never uttered words like “work hard,” “strive,” and “dream” like the typical shōnen manga protagonist. However, he is stronger than anyone and peerless in sumo wrestling. His greatest weakness is his own carefree personality. He grows into a full-fledged sumo westler.
[Source: Crunchyroll]
