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Ghibli's Joe Hisaishi Composes for In This Corner of the World Live-Action Series
posted on by Karen Ressler
The staff for the live-action television series adaptation of Fumiyo Kouno's In This Corner of the World (Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni) manga unveiled the main cast and staff on Saturday. Joe Hisaishi (Studio Ghibli films) is composing the music, Nobuhiro Doi (Jūhan Shuttai!, Season of the Sun) is directing the series, and Yoshikazu Otada (Hyokko) is writing the script.
The cast includes:
- Sairi Itō as original character Sachiko Kariya
- Kaho Tsuchimura as Shino Dōmoto, a housewife whose husband is at the front
- Sayu Kubota as Suzu's younger sister Sumi
- Machiko Ono as Shūsaku's older sister Keiko Kuromura
- Tomorowo Taguchi as Shūsaku's father Entarō Hōjō
- Ran Itō as Shūsaku's mother San Hōjō
Filming will take place from early May to early September. The series will premiere in July and air Sundays at 9:00 p.m.
Sunao Katabuchi (Black Lagoon, Mai Mai Miracle) previously wrote and directed an award-winning anime film of the manga produced by GENCO and MAPPA. The anime premiered in Japan in November 2016. Shout! Factory and Funimation Films screened the film in the United States and Canada last August. Funimation describes the story:
The award-winning story of IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD follows a young lady named Suzu Urano, who in 1944 moves to the small town of Kure in Hiroshima to live with her husband's family. Suzu's life is thrown into chaos when her town is bombed during World War II. Her perseverance and courage underpin this heart-warming and inspirational tale of the everyday challenges faced by the Japanese in the midst of a violent, war-torn country. This beautiful yet poignant tale shows that even in the face of adversity and loss, people can come together and rebuild their lives.
Before the anime film, the manga had already inspired a live-action television special that starred Keiko Kitagawa and aired on NTV in 2011 .
Kouno serialized the manga in Weekly Manga Action from 2007 to 2009, and Futabasha published three compiled book volumes for the manga. Seven Seas Entertainment released the manga last October.
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (Yūnagi no Machi, Sakura no Kuni), another Kouno manga that similarly centers on wartime events in Hiroshima, is also inspiring a live-action series adaptation this summer. The manga previously inspired a live-action film in 2007.
