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Ushijima the Loan Shark Manga Gets 3rd Live-Action TV Season, 2 New Films
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The live-action adaptation of Shohei Manabe's Ushijima the Loan Shark (Yamikin Ushijima-kun) manga is returning with Season 3 on television in July, along with two films titled Yamikin Ushijima-kun Part 3 and Yamikin Ushijima-kun The Finale debuting this fall.
Takayuki Yamada (Train Man, Crying Out Love in the Center of the World, Crows Zero, Gantz, 13 Assassins) reprises his titular lead role from the previous adaptations, Gō Ayano (Kamen Rider 555, Gantz II: Perfect Answer, live-action Gatchaman) reprises his role as Inui from the second season, and Hiromi Sakimoto (Kamen Rider Gaim, Death Note) reprises his role as Takada from previous seasons.
The original Ushijima the Loan Shark manga depicts the human drama in the black market world, as seen through the eyes of the titular loan shark. Ushijima heads Kaukau Finance, an outfit that lends money at an illegal interest rate — "Togo" or 50% every 10 days.
The third season will adapt the "Sennō-kun" (Brainwashing-kun) story from volumes 26 to 28 of the manga. Kaoru Mitsumune joins the cast as Mayumi Uehara (pictured right), an editor for a women's magazine. Tomoya Nakamura plays Ōmichi Shindō (below left), a mysterious man who is mind-controlling Mayumi and her family. The new season has also cast Kokone Sasaki, Chikara Honda, Ikumi Hisamitsu, Jessica Kizaki, Ayuri Konno, Mayu Koseta, Saryū Usui, Riri Kōda, and Toshikazu Itō.
Masatoshi Yamaguchi (Smuggler, all previous Ushijima the Loan Shark live-action adaptations) and Taisuke Kawamura (Kuragehime) are directing the third season, and Masahiro Fukuma (previous seasons of the series) is writing the scripts. Karasu is performing the theme song "Sudachi."
The manga has been running in Shogakukan's Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine since 2004. The series won in the General category of the 56th Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2011, and it was recommended by the jury at the 2007 (11th) Japan Media Arts Festival Awards. The manga was also nominated for the Osamu Tezuka Culture Prize in 2008 and 2010, as well as for France's Angoulême Comics Awards in 2008.
The first live-action television series ran from October-December 2010, and the first film opened in August 2012. A second season premiered in January 2014, with a second film then premiering in May that same year.
Source: Comic Natalie
