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NHK Reveals Complete Title List, Cast for 2nd Season of Live-Action Anthology Show for Fujio F. Fujiko's Short Sci-fi Manga

NHK revealed on Wednesday four more titles for the second season of Fujiko F. Fujio SF Tanpen Drama (Fujiko F. Fujio SF Short Story Drama, with SF standing for "Sukoshi Fushigi," or "a little mysterious"), a show compiling live-action adaptations of co-creator of Doraemon Fujiko F. Fujio. NHK also announced the cast for the eight titles of the second season.

The newly-announced titles and its main cast are:

"Tabi-bito Kaeru" (The Traveller's Return)
The story of a man who embarks on a lonely and epic journey to the end of the universe.

• Mirai Moriyama
• Riko Narumi

"My Shelter"
A man gets trapped in his own home he is building because of his fear of nuclear weapons.

• Kenta Hamano
• Yumi Adachi
• Seiichi Tanabe

"Jijinuki" (Leaving Out the Old Man)
A stubborn old man who has no place at home suddenly dies one day, and what does he see from heaven?

• Shigeru Izumiya
• Mieko Harada
• Nobue Iketani
• Makita Sports

"33,000 Square Meters"
A very strange man appears to a man who is desperate for his dream home.

• Kōichi Yamadera
• Gekidan Hitoru

The main cast for the previously announced titles are:

"Anko Ōi ni Ikaru" (When Anko Really Gets Angry)
A girl with a mysterious ability saves her family from a crisis.

• Miu Arai
• Sarutoki Minagawa
• Munetaka Aoki
• Yōko Oginome

"Tetsujin o Hirotta yo" (He Found the Iron Man)
A one-night story of an old man who becomes a master of a mysterious giant "Iron Man."

• Morio Kazama
• Inuko Inuyama

"Ikenie" (Sacrifice)
An out-of-school student is swayed by an outrageous request from an alien.

• Wataru Ichinose
• Airi Matsui
• Takumi Saitōh

"Aitsu no Time Machine" (His Time Machine)
The story of two friends obsessed in building a time machine.

• Daichi Watanabe
• Eita Okuno

The second season will premiere in spring. Like the first season, the episodes will be 15 minutes long.

The first season of Fujiko F. Fujio SF Tanpen Drama (Fujiko F. Fujio SF Short Story Drama, with SF standing for "Sukoshi Fushigi," or "a little mysterious") premiered on BS Premium and BS4K in April with 12 episodes, each 15 minutes long. The episodes adapted 10 works, including "Ryūketsuki," ""Kinо̄ no Ore wa Kyо̄ no Teki," "Telepathy," "Teinen Taishoku," and "Mephisto Sanka." They commemorate what would have been Fujio's 90th birthday.

Fujio's short stories inspired an original video anime (OVA) titled Fujiko F Fujio no SF Tanpen Theater in 1990-1991. His short stories inspired a live-action drama collection in 2008.

Fujiko F. Fujio was the pen name that manga artist that Hiroshi Fujimoto took on as one half of Fujiko Fujio, the duo who created the Doraemon series. The other member of the duo was his lifelong friend Motoo Abiko, also known as Fujiko Fujio A. The duo penned the world-famous Doraemon manga about the titular robot cat from the future and his friendship with the boy Nobita. The manga ran from 1970 to 1996. The pair worked together before parting in 1987, with Abiko taking the Fujiko Fujio A pseudonym, and Fujimoto taking the Fujiko Fujio F (later Fujiko F. Fujio) pseudonym. Doraemon has launched one of the most successful children's media franchises in the world, inspiring numerous anime films and three separate television anime runs, the third of which began in 2005 and is still ongoing and remains one of the most highly rated anime on Japanese television week after week.

Fujimoto had been a resident of Kawasaki, the city in which his museum is located, for many years, but passed away in 1996.

Fujio's T・P BON (Time Patrol Bon) manga is inspiring its first anime series on Netflix next year.

Sources: NHK, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web