Happy Saturday, dear readers! It seems to be the summer of live-action adaptations, with the new production of Fullmetal Alchemist leading the pack. It seems popular manga Yowasmushi Pedal will soon be joining the roster! The production team recently announced the series’ cast members, including actors who were part of the Yowamushi Pedal stage play. Naoya Goumoto reprises his role as Shingo Kinjo, while Yuki Ogoe takes on Sakamichi Onoda for the camera. The series premieres in August 2016.
Relatedly, Amazon seems to have noticed the popularity of live action manga adaptations among Japanese audiences, and their upcoming series listing reflects that: 12 new shows will be commissioned for Prime users! Kamen Rider fans will be getting a whole new series, and Baby Steps‘s tennis action won’t just be limited to the page anymore. It’ll be interesting to see what else comes down the pipeline–could we possibly see more Netflix projects in response?
Speaking of responses, Japan’s political parties are re-evaluating their appeal to voters, and using manga and mascots to win them over. With the Upper Election set to happen on July 10, several pamphlets and comics on political platforms have been circulated by groups like Komeito and the Liberal Democratic Party. The change targets teen voters, who interact with manga more regularly than other media. While we’ll have to wait until next month to see the effect on voters, at least one manga has been called out for sexist portrayals of teen girls–mainly that they don’t know anything about politics and need boys to explain it to them.
