NHK on Friday revealed the main cast of Anpan, the latest work in the six-decade long Renzoku Terebi Shōsetsu (Serial Drama, also known as “Asadora” or Morning Drama) series. century. The new live-action weekday morning series is inspired by the life story of Anpanman manga author Takashi Yanase and his wife Nobuo Komatsu.
The film will star Takumi Kitamura (pictured below) as Takashi Yanai. Kitamura previously starred in live-action Tokyo Revengers as Takemichi and in Netflix's live-action series Yu Yu Hakusho as Yūsuke. NHK previously announced that Mio Imada (Hinata Tachibana in live-action Tokyo Revengers) will also play Nobu Asada.
Image via NHK Kochi Twitter account
© NHK
The series will follow 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-The Story of Takashi 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. The manga has also inspired 34 anime films to date. Soreike! Anpanman: Baikinman to Ehon no Lulun, the 35th film, will open 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 Shōsetsu series 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: Today's Cinema (名鹿祥史) (link 2, 名鹿祥史)