Exciting Update: Live-Action Chihayafuru Sequel Cast Revealed
Discover how Yasuko Tomita, Tsutomu Takahashi, Kazuki Namioka, and Masahiro Takashima bring depth and maturity to the story's adult characters, enriching your reading experience.
The official Twitter account for Chihayafuru -Meguri-, the upcoming live-action television series inspired by Yuki Suetsugu's acclaimed manga, has announced additional cast members portraying the adult characters. The new additions are:
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Yasuko Tomita as Izumi Nakanishi, a classics researcher and competitive karuta player.
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Tsutomu Takahashi as Masato Shirano, the father of Umezono school karuta club member Fūki Shirano.
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Kazuki Namioka as Tsutomu Shima, a teacher at Umezono.
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Masahiro Takashima as the principal of Umezono school.
The series is set to premiere on July 9 at 10:00 p.m. JST (9:00 a.m. EDT) on Nippon Television (NTV) and affiliated channels.
Ami Tōma stars as Meguru Aizawa, a second-year high school student who quietly participates in a competitive karuta club facing the threat of disbandment due to a lack of members. Mone Kamishiraishi returns as Kanade Ōe, now a part-time teacher and the club's adviser.
Manga creator Yuki Suetsugu is involved with the new show, set a decade after the live-action films. The original films' director, Norihiro Koizumi, serves as the showrunner. Naoya Fujita, Daisuke Honda, Chiaki Matsumoto, and Kazuhiro Yoshida are directing the series. Monogatari Lab and Suzuyuki Kaneko are credited with the screenplay. Masaru Yokoyama is composing the music. Pop group Perfume returns to perform the series' theme song, "Megu (from the series title's 'Meguri') Loop." Perfume previously performed the theme song for the 2016 two-part Chihayafuru live-action films.
The first live-action film, Chihayafuru: Kami no Ku (Chihayafuru: Upper Phrase), opened in Japan in March 2016. The second film, Chihayafuru: Shimo no Ku (Chihayafuru: Lower Phrase), opened in Japan in April 2016. The third film, Chihayafuru: Musubi, opened in Japan in March 2018. A five-episode live-action tie-in series, titled Chihayafuru -Tsunagu-, premiered on Hulu Japan in February 2018.
Suetsugu launched the original manga in Kodansha's Be Love monthly magazine in December 2007. Kodansha USA Publishing is releasing the manga digitally in English. The final chapter debuted in Be Love in August 2022. Be Love published a spinoff side story in November 2022. The manga's 50th and final compiled book volume shipped in December 2022 with the spinoff manga. A sequel manga titled Chihayafuru plus Kimi ga Tame launched in Be Love in December 2023.
The manga has inspired three television anime seasons. Crunchyroll streamed all three seasons as they aired. Sentai Filmworks released all three seasons with an English dub on home video. HIDIVE is also streaming the seasons with Japanese subtitles and an English dub.
Sources: Chihayafuru -Meguri- live-action series' Twitter account, Comic Natalie