The live-action television series of Masakazu Katsura‘s Wingman manga revealed the creditless opening movie on Wednesday. Rock band BLUE ENCOUNT perform the opening theme song “chang[e].”
© 桂正和/集英社・「ウイングマン」製作委員会
The series began airing on October 22 at 24:30 (effectively, October 23 at 12:30 a.m.) to celebrate the series’ 40th anniversary, with new episodes every Tuesday. The series also runs on the DMM TV service, beginning on October 16. TV Tokyo and Toei Video are producing in collaboration with DMM TV.
The series stars:
- Maito Fujioka as Kenta Hirono
- Konatsu Katō as Aoi
- Hina Kikuchi as Miku Ogawa
- Hiyori Katada as Kumiko Fuzawa
- Amane Uehara as Momoko Morimoto
- Jōtarō as Tomō Fukumoto
- Yūno Ōhara as Sakagami
- Ui Mihara as Kurotsu
- Haruki Tachibana as Tatsuo Saitō
- Mamoru Miyano as Kitakura-sensei
- Kurara Emi as Matsuoka-sensei
- Kōji Matoba as Seidō Hirono
- Shinobu Nakayama as Yoshiko Hirono
- Daikichi Sugawara as the Prime Minister
- Akio Ōtsuka as Rimel, the emperor who rules all of Podreams and who is after the Dream Note in Aoi’s hands
- Haruka Tomatsu as The Shiva, an assassin dispatched to Earth by Rimel
- Tomokazu Seki as Dr. Lark, Aoi’s father and the developer of the Dream Note
Kōichi Sakamoto (Kamen Rider Fourze, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, Ultraman Ginga S) is directing the series. Yoshitatsu Yamada (live-action Video Girl Ai, He’s Expecting), Masaki Nishigaki (live-action Sayonara, High School), and Yuya Nakazono (episode scripts for Bono Bono, Japan Sinks: 2020) are penning the scripts for the series.
Wingman follows tokusatsu (special effects) nerd Kenta Hirono, a second-year middle school student who dreams of becoming a hero. One day, a mysterious woman named Aoi from the realm of Podreams appears before him. After sketching his superhero Wingman on the woman’s Dream Notebook, he’s able to transform into the hero and becomes involved in a fight between good and evil.
The series inspired an anime adaptation in 1984.
Katsura launched the series in Shueisha‘s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1983. It ended serialization in 1985.
Many of Katsura’s manga series have inspired anime and live-action adaptations, including Video Girl Ai, DNA², I’s, Wingman, and Zetman. He has also provided character designs for such anime as Tiger & Bunny, Iria – Zeiram the Animation, The Girl in Twilight, Double Decker! Doug & Kirill, and Garo: Crimson Moon.