The manga series Minami-kun no Koibito, otherwise known as Minami’s Lover, is getting a live-action adaptation in Japan with plans for a July 2024 broadcast via TV Asashi and others. The series flips the roles from the manga itself as directed by Tadaaki Horai, Takashi Komatsu, and others from the scripts by Yoshikazu Okada. This will be the fifth adaptation of the work into live-action form.
The latest update on the production is an expansion on the supporting cast which is pretty solidly done here. Check out the full cast visual after.
The previously announced Japanese cast includes:
- Ai Iinuma as Chiyomi
- Yusei Yagi as Minami
The newly added cast includes:
- Shinji Takeda as Shintarō
- Yoshino Kimura as Kaede
- Mariko Kaga as Yuriko
- Ikki Sawamura as Haruyuki
- Shigeru Moroi as Hisako Kimura
- Ken Mitsuishi as Shinichi Yamataka
˗ˏˋ𓇼 共演者解禁𓇼ˎˊ˗
30年前に《南くん》を演じた#武田真治 さんが、
今作では主人公・ちよみの父親役に…！#加賀まりこ さん#室井滋 さん#光石研 さんに加え、“朝ドラ”で夫婦を演じた#沢村一樹 さん#木村佳乃 さんも…✨
豪華出演者の皆さんが勢ぞろい🌟#飯沼愛#八木勇征#FANTASTICS pic.twitter.com/kgNU3Emj3u
— ｢南くんが恋人!?｣✩.*˚火曜よる9時【テレビ朝日公式】 (@minamikun_ex) May 29, 2024
The manga from Shungiku Uchida began in the 1980s and was released as a single-volume work that saw an English release previously through Fantagraphics.
Plot Concept: In this raunchy, moving, funny manga for adults, high school student Minami’s girlfriend, Chiyomi, shrinks down to six inches tall — and moves in with him!
Originally appearing in the underground/alternative manga magazine Garo in the 1980s and adapted for television several times, the Japanese pop culture sensation Minami’s Lover is the story of two high schoolers’ romantic relationship when one of them shrinks down to six inches tall. Everyone thinks Chiyomi has disappeared, and suspicion naturally falls on Minami, identified as her boyfriend in her diary. But after inexplicably finding herself in such a state, Chiyomi moves in with him. As depicted in Uchida’s clean, loose line and Zip-a-Tone textures, the two soon adapt to the unusual circumstances, devising ways for Chiyomi to use the toilet, brush her teeth and hair, attend classes, and more. After some silly sequences of trial and error, they even figure out a sex life. But in addition to learning how to navigate logistics, jealousy, and the cat, they’re also growing up (if not taller). Uchida uses the conceit of a teen couple literally learning how to take care of one another to examine gender dynamics and intimacy.
[Source: ANN]
