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Prison School’s live-action cast appears in costume, looks the part of its anime inspiration

Casey Baseel Sep 9, 2015
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As tricky as the process of adapting a hit anime to live-action can be, in the case of the most popular series, it’s not hard to see why someone would want to try. Even if you can’t please everyone when making the transitions, in the case of something like Attack on Titan, having a huge, solidly cemented fanbase that’s hungry for more content is incredibly attractive to producers.

But not every anime-to-live-action project is based on such an established hit. While creator Akira Hiramoto’s Prison School manga was first published in 2011, its TV anime hasn’t even been on the air for two months yet. Nevertheless, there’s already a live-action television drama in the works, and the first pictures of the cast, in costume, have just been released.

Prison School is set in Hachimitsu Academy, and while ordinarily it’d be odd enough for a school that until recently was only for girls to give itself a name that means “Honey Academy,” what really makes the school unique is that it has its own on-campus jailhouse. As the series opens, Hachimitsu Academy has just gone co-ed, and the story follows the school’s first handful of male students.

In short order, though, the boys find themselves on the wrong side of Hachimitsu’s strict code of student conduct, which responds to transgressions with imprisonment and sadistic punishments which are, surprise, doled out by their attractive female classmates.

Playing protagonist Kiyoshi Fujino will be Taishi Nakagawa, who also appeared in last year’s TV drama adaptation of Hell Teacher Nube.

Meanwhile, the producers turned to the world of gurabia swimwear models to cast Asana Mamoru as Meiko Shiraki, the vice president of Hachimitsu’s shadowy Underground Student Council.

▼ Ironically, Hachimitsu Academy is controlling enough to need a prison, yet very hands-off in limiting how much cleavage students are allowed to show while in uniform.

While Meiko’s domineering personality would frighten a lesser man, masochist Reiji Ando (played by comedian Gari Gari Garikuson), whose family name has earned him the nickname Andre, is more than happy to offer himself as a target on which to vent her vexation.

The identity of the man slipping on the hoody of the mysterious Joji “Joe” Nezu is still a mystery, although maybe some of the actor’s more ardent fans will recognize his cheeks and chin.

Mari Kurihara, president of the Underground Student Council, will be portrayed by Hirona Yamazaki, who was also seen in horror movie As the Gods Will.

Tokio Emoto will rock the spectacles of the anime’s Takehito “Gakuto” Morokuzu.

Aoi Morikawa, whose resume includes the xxxHolic TV drama, will appear as Underground School Council secretary Hana Midorikawa.

Chiyo, Mari’s sister, Kiyoshi’s objet d’amour, and daughter of the school’s chairman, will be played by Rena Takeda in her TV drama debut.

Speaking of Chairman Kurihara, actor Masahiro Takashima is looking pretty close to the manga version, mustache and all.

Filling the role of Shingo Wakamoto, the final member of Hachimitsu’s undersized male student body, is Masato Yano, who also showed up in the 2012 TV drama iteration of GTO.

And finally, rounding out the central cast is Yuko Araki, who appeared in Kamen Rider Wizard before being tapped to play Prison School’s Anzu Yokoyama.

Considering how much of Prison School is composed of disturbingly perverted hijinks and punishments, much of which is censored even in anime form for its TV broadcast, it remains to be seen just how faithful the live-action version can be to its source material. But at the very least, these photos show us that when the cameras are allowed to be on the cast, they’ll at least be looking the part.

The Prison School drama premiers on MBS at 12:50 a.m. on October 26. If you’re having trouble waiting, you can always head over to the show’s official website and pass the time scalding Meiko’s cleavage with hot coals or whipping the buttocks of an indeterminable member of the male cast.

▼ Seriously

Source: Prison School TV drama official website
Images: Prison School TV drama official website (edited by RocketNews24)
[ Read in Japanese ]