Danica Davidson
August 10, 2022 
The live-action adaptation of My Broken Mariko by Waka Hirako is being released in Japanese theaters on September 30. Ahead of that, a minute and a half long trailer has been unveiled. For those familiar with the story, you can see that it flashes back and forth in time.
The movie is directed by Yuki Tanada (screenplay writer for the live-action film Sakuran), who co-wrote the My Broken Mariko script with Kōsuke Mukai.
Looking to the cast, Mei Nagano (Sae Kashiwagi in the live-action Peach Girl movie) plays Shiino, Nao plays Mariko Ikagawa, Masataka Kubota plays Makio, Toshinori Omi plays Mariko’s dad, and Yō Yoshida plays Kyōko Tamura, who is Mariko’s stepmom.
Some people were able to see the movie at Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival last month. It took home the Best Screenplay Award (Cheval Noir Competition).
The original manga was published by Kadokawa in the very beginning of 2020. Yen Press licensed it, and released it in English later that year. This is the description Yen Press gives for it:
“Tomoyo Shiino has stood by her friend Mariko through years of abuse, abandonment, and depression. However horrific her circumstances, their friendship has been the one reassuring constant in Mariko’s life-and Tomoyo’s too. That is, until Tomoyo is utterly blindsided by news of Mariko’s death. In life, Tomoyo felt powerless to help her best friend out of the darkness that ultimately drove her over the edge. Now, Tomoyo is determined to liberate Mariko’s ashes for one final journey together… to set free her dear, broken Mariko.”
The manga is also an award winner, taking home the New Face Award in 2021 from the Japan Media Arts Festival Awards.
Have you read the manga, and are you interested in checking out the live-action movie adaptation?
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
