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The popular manga born from tweets on Twitter, Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store, is getting a drama adaptation. Streaming will begin first on Hulu in January 2016. A TV broadcast will also be on air at the same time.
Directing and writing is Yuichi Fukuda. Playing Tomoharu Nii aka Mr. Nietzsche is Shotaro Mamiya, and playing Matsukoma is Kenji Urai.
Mr. Nietzsche created a huge sensation when the work, published to Twitter in 2013, was collected on the SNS tool Togetter. Soon after, it began serialization in Monthly Comic Gene (Kadokawa Media Factory) and gained popularity. More than 1 million copies are in print, and volume 4 was released on Aug. 27.
A bit of news gaining attention is the announcement that it will be first streamed on Hulu. A TV broadcast is also slated, but channels and times are yet to be revealed. This will be a new kind of drama made first available through video streaming. This new drama that develops mainly around the Internet is also unique in that its source work was created online on the popular communication tool Twitter. This choice to first stream it may have been made in taking into account the breadth of its popularity.
Netflix, a leader in video streaming that achieved huge success in the U.S. will begin service in Japan this September. Its killer content will be original dramas produced in Japan. Once service begins, it will also have original dramas produced by Fuji TV available for streaming.
In competition, Hulu, which offers a service for enjoying unlimited streaming, will begin offering Mr. Nietzsche in Japan. This move shows the rivalry between Fuji TV and Hulu’s parent company, Nippon TV.
Directing the drama is Yuichi Fukuda who is known for such live-action dramas as Aoi Honno and the Yusha Yoshihiko series. He made the following comment at the time the drama was greenlit: “The first series I worked as director on was The 3 Mei-sama. It’s a drama set at a family restaurant late at night where three helpless part-timers have rambling discussions. The setting never even leaves the family restaurant. When I received word of Mr. Nietzsche I felt like God was telling me, ‘You, return to where you began and reconsider comedy from scratch.’ I will try to consider the comedy of these three helpless people without them even setting foot outside the convenience store. I’ve been blessed with a joyful, interesting source work and the best cast. This kind of bliss rarely comes around.”
Shotaro Mamiya, playing Tomoharu Nii, is a young actor with considerable talent who has performed in the dramas Gakko no Kaidan and Chanpon Tabeta ka, and the movie Lychee Light Club. In the role of Matsukoma is Kenji Urai who has performed in a wide range of stage plays including Flowers for Algernon and Death Note the Musical, and who won the 2015 Yomiuri Drama Prize for Best Male Actor. Attention will likely gather due to this double starring of two popular and talented young actors. How will this drama that began from tweets fare as a movie adaptation? Keep your eyes glued on it.
Source: animeanime
