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Tezuka Osamu no Sensō Live-Action Special Reveals Trailer, New Cast, August 12 Debut

NHK revealed on Wednesday the trailer, additional cast members, and August 12 debut for Tezuka Osamu no Sensō (Osamu Tezuka's War), a live-action television special based on manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka's autobiographical manga short "Paper Fortress" ("Kami no Toride").

The newly announced cast members are (image above second row from left to right): 

• Tetsushi Tanaka as Kenzō Kassai
• Taiiku Okazaki as Takuji Kurokawa
• Maru Nouchi as Kyōko Okamoto
• Natsu Kuno as Kenji Akashi
• Kento Yamada as Akira Mitsui

The series will debut on August 12 on NHK at 10:00 p.m. JST. 

The special will star Kengo Kōra (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Shin Godzilla, Miss Hokusai) as Tezuka himself (left in photo above) and Konosuke Harada (Sabakan) as the "Paper Fortress" story's protagonist Tetsurō Osamu (right in photo above).

The official website describes the story of the manga:

This manga is based on Osamu Tezuka's experiences in junior high school during World War II. The story follows Tetsuro Osamu, a junior high school student who continues to draw manga secretly despite it being prohibited during wartime. Due to this, he is sent to a special training camp by his instructor who considers him unpatriotic, and then forced to work at a munitions factory. At the factory, he accidentally reunites with Kyoko Okamoto, a female student he had encountered before. However, Kyoko, who dreams of becoming an opera singer, suffers severe injuries to her face during an air raid in Osaka.

The special will also draw inspiration from another of Tezuka's autobiographical short stories, "God Father's son" ("Godfather no Musko") which follows Tezuka's life as a student. In addition to the story set during World War II, the special will cover Tezuka's life in 1970s, when he faced the dual personal blows of his Mushi Productions anime studio's bankruptcy and his manga series' cancellation. 

It was during this tumultuous period in the 1970s that Tezuka looked back at his wartime childhood and created both "God Father's son" and "Paper Fortress."  The special will weave its narrative between both Tezuka's own life in Tokyo in 1973 and his alter ego Tetsurō Osamu's life in Osaka in 1945.   

Wataru Suzuki (The Mystery Collection of Enmado Sara, Scarlet) is directing the special based on a script by Ryōko Kuwahara (Happiness comes from eating, sleeping and waiting).

Tezuka's Phoenix (Hi no Tori) manga is inspiring a "live manga" performance titled Mangalogue: Hi no Tori that is running from April 22 to May 16 at the MoN Takanawa: The Museum of Narratives' Box1000 theaters. The Phoenix manga recently inspired a stage play that ran at Theatre West at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater in July 2024. The play was based on the manga's "Karma" arc ("Hō-ō-hen," or literally "Firebird Arc").

Sources: NHK Drama website and X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie