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Live-Action Saki Project's 1st TV Ad Previews Theme Song By Main Cast

posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Mimi Meme MIMI composes opening theme song "Kimi ni Waltz"

The official website of the live-action project for Ritz Kobayashi's Saki manga began streaming a 15-second commercial on Friday. The ad features the television show's opening theme song "Kimi ni Waltz." Mimi Meme MIMI (theme song for Sweetness & Lightning, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches) composed the song, and five cast members (Minami Hamabe, Nana Asakawa, Aika Hirota, Seika Furuhata, Anna Yamada) perform the song.

The "Kimi ni Waltz" opening theme song will also serve as the theme song for the upcoming live-action film. Additionally, rock band Frederic will perform the television show's ending theme song "Hello Goodbye."

The project's previously announced cast members include:

Minami Hamabe as Saki Miyanaga
Nana Asakawa as Nodoka Haramura
Aika Hirota as Yūki Kataoka
Mai Kikuchi as Koromo Amae
Rena Takeda as Kana Ikeda
Seika Furuhata as Hisa Takei
Anna Yamada as Mako Someya
Mariya Nagao as Tōka Ryūmonbuchi
Kyōka Shibata as Hajime Kunihiro
Ena Koshino as Jun Inoue
Rie Kaneko as Tomoki Sawamura
Mami Kamura as Mihoko Fukuji
Aya Yoshizaki as Miharu Yoshitome
Mizuki Hoshina as Sumiyo Fukabori
Yuzu Higuchi as Seika Bundō
Natsumi Okamoto as Yumi Kajiki
Ano as Momoko Tōyoko
Aguri Ōnishi as Satomi Kanbara
Marina Nagasawa as Kaori Senō
Mari Yamachi as Mutsuki Tsuyama
Natsuna as Yasuko Fujita, a pro mahjong player, and Takei's acquaintance
Hinako Sano as Takako Kubo, the hardline Kazekoshi coach
Yuki Tamaki as Hagiyoshi, the Ryūmonbuchi butler, and assistant to Koromo

The project's official Twitter account previously revealed four poster visuals last week:

Kiyosumi High School

Kazekoshi Girls' High School

Tsuruga Academy

Ryūmonbuchi High School

The live-action project will consist of a live-action series and a film. The series will consist of four episodes, as well as a television "special." The series will premiere on MBS on December 4, and on TBS on December 6. The special will air on MBS on January 8, and on TBS on January 10. The film will open in Japan in February.

Yūichi Onuma is directing, while Hiroyuki Ishikawa is co-directing. Hayashi Mori is penning the script. T$UYO$HI (The BONEZ) is composing the music. Other staff members include:

  • Photography: Yasutaka Nagano
  • Lighting: Jun Kodama
  • Art: Shūji Yamashita
  • Recording: Takeshi Kobayashi
  • Props: Yū Yamamoto
  • Editing: Etsuko Kimura, Shiori Kawamura
  • VFX Supervisor: Junji Munakata
  • Costumes: Miyuki Katō
  • Costume Production: Bandai Apparel
  • Hair & Makeup: Chieko Uchijō
  • Sound Effects: Keisuke Shibuya
  • Mahjong Consultants: Kenneth Tokuda, Masao Kuroki, Hirokazu Baba, Babylon
  • Casting: Keiichi Anda
  • Production: Naomichi Imai
  • Line Producer: Akio Motojima

Yen Press is publishing the original Saki manga in North America digitally, and it released the sixth volume on October 25. 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 manga in Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine in 2006, and Square Enix published the 15th compiled volume on March 25. The manga has since inspired five spinoff manga series. The manga is currently on break, and will return on December 2.

The original manga was adapted into a 25-episode television series in 2009, and a new television anime project titled Saki - The Nationals launched in 2014. The Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A spinoff manga also inspired a television anime in 2012. The four-panel spinoff manga Saki Biyori also inspired an anime DVD last year.

Source: Music Natalie


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