Live-Action Therapy Game Series Casts NAOYA and Yuki Tomita

The live-action adaptation of Meguru Hinohara’s boys-love manga Therapy Game has revealed its two leads. NAOYA, a member of the idol group MAZZEL, will play Minato Mito, while Yuki Tomita of the group Ryugujo takes on the role of Shizuma Ikushima.

The series premieres on NTV on October 29. Misato Kato and Miyako Yasoshima direct at Video Planning, with scripts by Yo Saito and Shinju Funabiki.

The story is a romantic comedy of tangled feelings. After a painful breakup, Shizuma drinks to forget and ends up spending the night with Minato. When he wakes with no memory of it, the hurt Minato quietly resolves to win him over again, only for genuine feelings to complicate his plans. It is a spinoff of Hinohara’s earlier Secret XXX manga.

Viz Media’s SuBLime imprint publishes both Therapy Game and its ongoing sequel Therapy Game Restart in English.

My take: Live-action boys-love dramas have grown into a thriving genre, and casting performers with real fan followings should help this one connect. The premise has a nice mix of comedy and heart, which is exactly what makes these stories so easy to root for.