Junta Shima’s Murai in Love Romantic Comedy Manga Gets Live-action Drama Adaptation in April

A live-action TV drama adaptation of Junta Shima’s romantic comedy manga Murai no Koi / Murai in Love is set to be aired on TBS’s newly-launched midnight programming block Dream Stream from April 5, 2022.

The manga has been serialized in Gene LINE, which was launched by KADOKAWA as a project for manga serialization exclusively on LINE’s digital comic service LINE Manga, and so far six tankobon volumes have been released in Japan.

The story tells a romantic comedy between Tanaka, a high school teacher who loves otome games, and Murai, a high school boy who is in love with Tanaka. Tanaka, who has never been involved in a real-life romance, is confessed to by Murai but rejects his confession. On the next day, Murai transforms himself into the exact likeness of Tanaka’s favorite character from her favorite otome game. 20-year-old Hikaru Takahashi, who is also cast as the main heroine Totoko in the forthcoming live-action film adaptation of Mr. Osomatsu anime series, plays the main heroine Tanaka.

“I hadn’t really thought about the possibility of a drama adaptation, so when I first heard about it, I thought, ‘What the hell is going to happen?’ But I’m grateful for the opportunity to take on a new challenge like this,” the manga author Shima says. “When I read the script, I was quite surprised at how well it summarized what I thought should have been done in the manga, and how well the detailed settings were included. Both the main characters, Tanaka and Murai, have strange behaviour, and I’m sure they are difficult roles to play, but I really hope that Takahashi-san, who plays Tanaka, and the actor who plays Murai can find the fun in their characters and go wild without allowances.”

Sources: “Drama Stream” official website, “Murai in Love” manga official Twitter

©Junta Shima/KADOKAWA CORPORATION 2022