NHK on Monday revealed five more cast members for Anpan, the latest in the six-month Renzoku Terebi Shōsetsu (Serial Drama, also known as “Asadora” or Morning Drama) series. decade. The new live-action weekday morning series is inspired by the life story of Anpanman manga creator Takashi Yanase and his wife Nobuo Komatsu.
The newly announced cast includes:
Fumiya Takahashi as Kentarō Karashima, Takashi's character classmate and best friend Image via NHK Drama's X/Twitter Account
© NHK
Sara Shida as Usako Ogawa, Nobuo's classmate and childhood friend 
Image via NHK Drama's X/Twitter Account
© NHK
Sonim as Mimi Yamashita, a teacher at Nobuo Girls' High School 
Image via NHK Drama's X/Twitter account
© NHK
Kumi Takiuchi as Yukiko Kuroi, a teacher at the Girls' Normal School that Nobu attended after graduating from high school 
Image via NHK Drama's X/Twitter account
© NHK
Kōichi Yamadera as Haruto Zama, a teacher at Takashi's art school and his mentor 
Image via NHK Drama's X/Twitter Account
© NHK
Previously announced cast includes:
The film will star Takumi Kitamura as Takashi Yanai and Mio Imada as Nobu Asada.
The film will tell the story of Takashi and Nobu's childhood, and follow them through the creation of Anpanman.
Miho Nakazono will be the scriptwriter for the series and Ken Kurasaki will be the main producer. The series will premiere in spring 2025.
Froebel-kan Co., Ltd. previously produced a biographical anime television special about Yanase in February 2019 titled Yūki no Hana ga Hiraku Toki: Yanase Takashi to Anpanman no Monogatari ( When the Flower of Courage Blooms-Takashi's Story Yanase and Anpanman), based on the novel of the same name by Kumiko Kakehashi.
Yanase is best known for his work Soreike! Manga Anpanman, inspired by a television anime made in 1988. This manga has also inspired 35 anime films to date. Soreike! Anpanman: Baikinman to Ehon no Lulun, the 35th film, opens in Japan on June 28. The character is popular not only in Japan but also abroad. Yanase passed away on October 13, 2013.
The Renzoku TV series Shōsetsu previously aired Natuzora's story about the early days of Japanese animation from April to September 2019 for 156 episodes. The series is based on the life of animator Reiko Okuyama. Each series in the series is typically 15 minutes long every weekday morning for half the year, with a total runtime of over 30 hours.
Source: NHK, Eiga Natalie
