NHK announced on Friday it will release a live-action series adaptation of George Akiyama‘s Haguregumo manga in fall 2026 on the NHK BS and NHK BSP4K channels.
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The story is set at Tokyo’s Shinagawa-shuku way station in the Bakumatsu period, the waning days of the Tokugawa shogunate. It follows Kumo (“Haguregumo”), an unusual man who wears a woman’s kimono and his hair tied over his forehead, and his carefree life with his wife Kame, his son Shinnosuke, and the various people he meets at his shop (including real-life historical figures).
The eight-episode series will star (left to right in photo above) Kana Kurashina (Jigoku Shōjo, Oshi no Ko) as Haguregumo’s wife Kame, Kuranosuke Sasaki (20th Century Boys, Godzilla Minus One) as Haguregumo, and Issey Ogata (Phoenix: Eden17, The Imaginary) as Yokujirō.
Ryō Takada is writing episodes 1, 2, 5, and 8, and Masashi Shimizu is writing the remaining episodes. Kōji Endō is composing the music.
Haguregumo launched in Shogakukan‘s Big Comic Original in 1973, and ended in 2017. The manga inspired an anime film in 1982.
Akiyama died in May 2020, at the age of 77.
Akiyama’s 1970s Ashura manga inspired the 2012 anime Asura, and his Sutegataki Hitobito manga inspired a live-action film that premiered in Japan in October 2013. His Koiko no Mainichi manga inspired an original video anime (OVA) in 1989.
Akiyama’s Gyara manga ran in Shonengahosha‘s Shonen King magazine from 1979 to 1981 and had eight volumes. Katsumi Kobayashi has been drawing an ongoing remake of the manga in Shonengahosha‘s Young King BULL magazine since January 2019. The manga’s first part ended on March 2020.
Source: NHK, Comic Natalie
Dil Nawaz — a writer who breathes life into emotions through words. I find beauty in silence, meaning in longing, and stories in every heartbeat. Writing for me isn’t just passion; it’s a way to connect souls, one feeling at a time.