News
Ushijima the Loan Shark Gets New Live-Action Spinoff Series About Ushijima's Rival
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
TBS announced on Wednesday that it is producing a new live-action series based on Shohei Manabe's Ushijima the Loan Shark (Yamikin Ushijima-kun) manga as well as Ōdō Yamazaki's Yamikin Ushijima-kun Gaiden: Ramen Namerikawa-san (Ushijima the Loan Shark Side Story: Ramen Namerikawa) spinoff manga. The new 15-episode series, titled Yamikin Ushijima-kun Gaiden Yamikin Saihara-san (Ushijima the Loan Shark Side Story: Saihara the Loan Shark), will premiere on MBS and TBS' Dramaism programming block on September 23. The show will also debut on Netflix and dTV in Japan on September 13.
The new series centers on Akane Saihara, the original character who appeared in the 2014 Ushijima the Loan Shark Part 2 film as protagonist Kaoru Ushijima's greatest enemy. The new series takes place six years after Yamikin Ushijima-kun The Final.
Masatoshi Yamaguchi returns from the manga's previous films to direct the new series. Maryjun Takahashi (center in image below) will reprise her role as Akane Saihara from Ushijima the Loan Shark Part 2. Ryubi Miyase (left) will play Yūto Hazama, Saihara's new employee and associate. Makita Sports will play Murai, Saihara's right hand man.
Manabe launched main Ushijima the Loan Shark manga in Weekly Big Comic Spirits in 2004, and ended the series in March 2019. The manga's 46th and final volume shipped on in May 2019. Ōdō Yamazaki's Yamikin Ushijima-kun Gaiden: Ramen Namerikawa-san (Ushijima the Loan Shark Side Story: Ramen Namerikawa) manga also ended in its fifth volume in May 2019.
The main manga won in the General category of the 56th Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2011. The series was nominated for an Osamu Tezuka Culture Prize in 2008 and 2010, as well as for France's Angoulême Comics Awards in 2008.
A live-action television series adaptation ran from October-December 2010, and the first film opened in August 2012. A second season premiered in January 2014, with a second film then premiering in May 2014. The third season premiered in July 2016, while the third film opened in Japan in September 2016. The fourth and final live-action film, Yamikin Ushijima-kun The Final, opened in Japan in October 2016.
Source: Comic Natalie
