Osamu Tezuka's War Manga 'Paper Fortress' Gets Live-Action NHK Special
The special adapts a deeply personal work by the manga pioneer, using his own wartime and postwar struggles as the narrative frame, and marks a rare live-action treatment of Tezuka's autobiographical material.
Reporting from 1 sources: Anime News Network.
NHK is producing a live-action television special based on Osamu Tezuka's autobiographical manga 'Paper Fortress,' which depicts his wartime childhood. The special, titled 'Tezuka Osamu no Sensō,' will also draw from Tezuka's short story 'God Father's Son' and interweave his life in 1973 with his alter ego's story in 1945. Kengo Kōra stars as Tezuka, and Konosuke Harada plays the protagonist Tetsurō Osamu. The special premieres in August, with filming starting in May in the Kansai area.
Kengo Kōra, known for roles in 'The Tale of the Princess Kaguya' and 'Shin Godzilla,' will play Osamu Tezuka in the NHK special. Konosuke Harada ('Sabakan') takes the role of Tetsurō Osamu, the student protagonist of 'Paper Fortress.' The story follows a junior high school student who secretly draws manga during wartime, is sent to a training camp for being unpatriotic, and is forced to work at a munitions factory, where he reunites with a female student who dreams of becoming an opera singer. The special also incorporates 'God Father's Son,' which covers Tezuka's student years, and sets its present-day timeline in 1973, when Tezuka faced the bankruptcy of his studio Mushi Productions and a manga cancellation.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.