WOWOW started streaming the main trailer video and revealed new cast members for the live-action series of Io Sakisaka's Strobe Edge manga on Sunday.
The newly announced cast are (character romanizations are not confirmed for all characters):
- Kei Inoo as Kyōichi Miyoshi (image above, top left)
- Yudai Chiba as Chiaki Hoshina (top right)
Cast on image above from bottom left to right:
- Kyōko Hasegawa as Aki Takazawa
- Shunsuke Nakamura as Yōhei Korenaga
- Tooru Nomaguchi as Toshio Hasebe
- Kazutoyo Koyabu as Hajime Moriya
Additionally, Sakisaka revealed on their X (formerly Twitter) account on September 16 that the Strobe Edgemanga will get a spinoff story in the November issue of Shueisha's Bessatsu Margaret magazine, which will ship on October 10. The 32-page spinoff story will focus on the character Takumi Andō.
The Strobe Edge live-action adaptation will have two seasons to adapt the entire manga. The first season will debut on October 31 at 11:00 p.m. on WOWOW and will have six episodes.
The series will star Riko Fukumoto as Ninako Kinoshita and Kyohei Takahashi as Ren Ichinose.
Additional cast includes (character romanizations are not confirmed for all characters):
- Kōki Yamashita as Takumi Andō
- Nao Kosaka as Sayuri Uehara
- Motoki Nakazawa as Daiki Korenaga
- Tsubasa Nakagawa as Manabu Miyoshi
- Sora Inoue as Yuutarou Terada
- Neo Inoue as Tamaki Tsutsui
- Yui Oguri as Ritsuko Kashiwagi
- Ririka Tanabe as Mayuka Korenaga
The series is reuniting the staff of WOWOW's previous live-action series adaptation of Sakisaka's Blue Spring Ride (Ao Haru Ride) manga that premiered as two seasons in September 2023 and January 2024. Masato Kimura and Yūsuke Matsuda are again directing the Strobe Edge series, and Sayaka Kuwamura is again penning the script.
Strobe Edge previously inspired a live-action film that opened in Japan in March 2015. Sōta Fukushi and Kasumi Arimura starred in the film.
Viz Media published the 10-volume manga in English, and it describes the story.
What is love, anyway? Ninako Kinoshita's friends tell her it's one thing, but Ninako wonders what this mysterious feeling really is. When she meets Ren Ichinose, a handsome, enigmatic guy who all the girls worship, her life takes an unexpected turn. With just a few words and a smile, he changes her world...
Sakisaka launched the manga in Bessatsu Margaret magazine in 2007, and ended it in 2010.
Viz Media has also released Sakisaka's Blue Spring Ride; Sakura, Saku!; and Love Me, Love Me Not manga in English.
Sources: WOWOW, Comic Natalie