Weathering With You Hodaka VA Kotaro Daigo Stars in Ciguatera Live-Action Adaptation
TV Tokyo announced today that a live-action TV drama adaptation of Minoru Furuya’s coming-of-age manga Ciguatera is set to premiere on its “Drama 24” midnight programming block on April 7, 2023.
Kotaro Daigo, who voiced Hodaka Morishima in Makoto Shinkai’s 2019 anime film Weathering with You, is cast as the 17-year-old protagonist Yusuke Ogino, alongside Nagisa Sekimizu as the main heroine Yumi Nagumo.
After starring in stage plays, an anime film, and live-action films, Daigo finally gets his first starring role in a live-action drama series. He previously played the protagonist Sakamichi Onoda in the Yowamushi Pedal stage plays (2017-2018), Shoyo Hinata in the Haikyu!! stage plays (2029-2020), and Haku in the Spirited Away stage play (2022). In 2019, he was selected from an audition of 2,000 participants as the role of Hotaka Morishima in Weathering With You, where he received the New Actor Award at the 14th Voice Actor Awards.
“I was so excited to finally be starring in a serial drama!” Daigo said. “When I read the original manga and the script, I was momentarily confused by Ogino’s character, which is so different from my usual self, but because there are so many aspects that are different from my own, playing this role is a chance for me to grow further as an actor, and I am eager and very positive to take on the challenge!”
Yusuke Ogino: Kotaro Daigo
Yumi Nagumo: Nagisa Sekimizu
ドラマ24「#シガテラ」
主人公・荻野優介を演じるのは
ドラマ初主演の #醍醐虎汰朗荻野の恋の相手・
南雲ゆみを演じるのは
圧倒的ヒロイン #関水渚若手実力派俳優2人がこの春
人気青春漫画待望の実写化に挑みます!4月7日(金)深夜24時12分スタート
お楽しみに！#テレビ東京#古谷実 pic.twitter.com/glYFS6Xgz3— シガテラ????テレビ東京【公式】4月7日(金)深夜24時12分スタート！ (@ciguatera_tx) March 14, 2023
First Japanese volume cover:
Furuya’s original manga was serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Young Magazine from 2003 to 2005, then compiled in six volumes, printing over two million copies in Japan. Kodansha USA releases the English edition, and describes the story:
This coming-of-age tale from contemporary master Minoru Furuya centers on seventeen-year-old Yusuke Ogino, a self-described loser whose only refuge from the bullying hell he experiences at school is his dream of freedom on a motorcycle. But the unexpected entrance of a beautiful young woman into his life threatens to upend his whole world, forcing him to re-evaluate his relationships and even his sense of self. Instantly relatable and painfully honest, Furuya’s manga blends pitch-black humor with pathos and the awkward realities of everyday life to produce a quintessential tale of youth. The meticulous yet uninhibited art swings from stark realism to laugh-out-loud caricature, while nuanced characters and complex emotions help Ciguatera transcend the bounds of genre to take its rightful place as one of the great masterpieces of graphic storytelling.
Source: TV Tokyo
©”Ciguatera” Production Committee
©Minoru Furuya/KODANSHA
