Love Live! Franchise Gets 1st Live-Action Series on November 21 – News

Sunrise, Kadokawa, and Lantis‘ Love Live! franchise announced on Thursday that the franchise is inspiring its first live-action series adaptation titled Love Live! School Idol Musical the Drama. The series is based on the franchise‘s first stage musical, and will premiere on MBS, TV Kanagawa, TV Saitama, Gunma TV, Tochigi TV, and Chiba TV on November 21.

The series’ cast includes:

• Miho Watanabe as Rurika Tsubaki (center left in image above)
• Nanaka Tomita as Anzu Takizawa (center right)
• Nanami Asai as Yuzuha Sumeragi (left column, upper right; reprising role from stage musical)
• Ayaka Yasumoto as Misuzu Wakatsuki (right column, upper left)
• Julia Ann as Yukino Hōjō (left column, upper left; reprising role from stage musical)
• Yuna Nakamura as Toa Kurusu (right column, upper right)
• Mizuki Yamauchi as Hikaru Amakusa (left column, lower right)
• Rina as Rena Suzuka (right column, lower left)
• Akari Yura as Maaya Mikasa (left column, lower left)
• Airi Yamamoto as Sayaka Harukaze (right column, lower right)

Keijirō Tsubakimoto and Hiroto Totsuka are directing the series, with scripts by the stage musical’s director and scriptwriter Kōki Kishimoto.

The musical features an all-new story, setting, and characters, and centers on students from two legendary schools in Hyogo and Osaka. Takizakura Girls Academy in Osaka has an idol club, with select members from its performing arts track, that it has successfully marketed into a brand. Tsubakisakuhana Girls High School in Hyogo boasts a stellar reputation in college acceptance rates. The daughters of both schools’ respective chairpersons are rivals, and lead their respective schools’ school idol club.

The musical had its first run at the New National Theatre in Tokyo in December 2022, and at the Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka in January 2023, adding more performances at the Nippon Seinenkan Hall in Tokyo in August 2023 (with some cast replacements). The stage musical had more performances at the THEATER MILANO-Za in Tokyo on January 11 to 21 earlier this year, and will have more performances scheduled at the Nippon Seinenkan Hall in Tokyo in February 2025, and at the Shin Kabuki-za in Osaka in April 2025.

The Love Live! franchise recently opened the first film of Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Dōkōkai Kanketsu-hen, the Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club (Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Dōkōkai) franchise‘s new anime film trilogy, on September 6. The third season of the Love Live! Superstar!! anime is also premiering on October 6.

Sources: MBS, Comic Natalie

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