The official Twitter account for the live-action film and television series adaptations of Ritz Kobayashi and Aguri Igarashi's Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A spinoff manga announced on Thursday that log: SUPER☆GiRLS idol Nana Asakawa will reprise her role as Nodoka. Asakawa previously played the role in the original live-action Saki film.
The main cast for Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A includes:
Hiyori Sakurada as Shizuno Takakamo, the protagonist and member of Achiga Girls' Academy's mahjong team
Momoka Itō as Ako Atarashi, Shizuno's childhood friend
Yuri Tsunematsu as Kuro Matsumi, the mahjong team's top member
Kōme Watanabe as Yuu Matsumi, Kuro's older sister
Riko Nakayama as Arata Sagimori, a huge fan of Harue
Nao Minamisawa as Harue Adako, the mahjong team's coach
The project marks the first time that Sakurada has a leading role in a live-action television series or film.
The cast also includes:
Nao Sakura as Toki Onjōji
Yuka Ogura as Ryūka Shimizudani
Mizuha as Sera Eguchi
Rino Shimazaki as Hiroko Funakubo
Manami Arai as Izumi Nijō
Mikoto Hibi as Sumire Hirose
RaMu as Takami Shibuya
Karen Iwata as Saiko Matano
Yūmi Shida as Awai Ōhoshi
Yūka Yano as Kirame Hanada
Rio Kotomi as Yoshiko Yasukōchi
Haruka Iwasaki as Hitomi Ezaki
Riho Takada as Mairu Shirōzu
Sae Okazaki as Himeko Tsuruta
The live-action television series will premiere in a late-night time slot in December, followed by its special in January. The live-action film will also open in January. Similar to the live-action television adaptation of the Saki manga, the new series will have a special and four regular episodes. Yūichi Onuma is again directing the series, and Hayashi Mori is returning to write the script.
The live-action television adaptation of the original Saki manga debuted last December, followed by a live-action film in February.
The Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A manga focuses on a different cast of characters at Achiga Girls' Academy in Nara Prefecture. The series ran in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan magazine from 2011 to 2013, with six compiled book volumes. It also inspired a television anime adaptation in 2012.
Yen Press is publishing the original Saki manga in North America digitally, and it released the 12th volume on Tuesday. Yen Press describes the series:
Saki's never been a big fan of mahjong. A lifetime of being forced to play with family at holidays (and losing her money as a consequence...) has left a foul taste for the game in her mouth. When she's convinced, though, to play a game with her classmates, she discovers that not only has fending off her family left her with an uncanny ability for the game but, more surprisingly, that it can even be fun!
Is this revelation enough to cleanse Saki's distaste for the game? Can her classmates convince her to join their club, or is there just too much baggage to make it worth her while?
If you're looking for the number one mahjong manga out there, you've found it!
Kobayashi launched the original manga in the magazine in 2006, and Square Enix published the 16th compiled volume on December 24. The 17th volume is slated to ship on November 25. The manga has since inspired five spinoff manga series.
The original manga inspired a 25-episode television series in 2009, and a new television anime project titled Saki - The Nationals launched in 2014. The four-panel spinoff manga Saki Biyori inspired an anime DVD in 2015.
Source: Mantan Web