is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series by . ''Setsuyaku Rock'' was serialized in the

manga magazine are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics an ...

Morning Morning is either the period from sunrise to noon, or the period from midnight to noon. In the first definition it is preceded by the twilight period of dawn, and there are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and nigh ...

'' from December 22, 2016, to July 6, 2017. A live-action television drama adaptation was broadcast on

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

from January 22 to March 26, 2019 as the seventh entry to their late-night Monday television programming block, .

Plot

Takao Matsumoto, a 30-year-old salaryman who has a passion for Western

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

, has no money in his savings, causing his girlfriend, Makiko, to break up with him. After discovering how delicious homemade food is, Takao decides to start being frugal in order to get back together with Makiko. Each chapter depicts Takao saving money in various situations, such as food, electricity, clothes, and medical expenses. Every time Takao saves money, it is accompanied with a visual gag of him hearing money rain down into an imaginary

piggy bank A piggy bank (sometimes penny bank or money box) is a coin container normally used by children, featuring a slot at the top to insert coins or folded bank notes. The piggy bank is known to collectors as a "still bank" as opposed to the " mecha ...

Characters

; : :Takao is a 30-year-old salaryman who works at an advertising agency, earning a net income of . He plays in a band and has no sense of money. ; : :Makiko is Takao's ex-girlfriend who breaks up with him over his lack of sense of money. ; : :Inaba is a refreshing and handsome man who Takao sees as his rival, especially when Makiko befriends him. ; :Hamada is a follower of Takao's

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account and they develop a close relationship when they meet in person.

Media

Manga

''Setsuyaku Rock'' is written and illustrated by . It was serialized in the

'' from December 22, 2016, (2017 issue nos. 4 and 5) to July 6, 2017 (2017 issue no. 32). The chapters were later released in three bound volumes by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

under the Morning KC imprint.

Television drama

A live-action television series adaptation was announced on November 18, 2018, as the seventh entry to

's late-night Monday television block, . The series aired on Nippon TV from January 22, 2019, to March 26, 2019, for 10 episodes. The series was re-imagined as a buddy comedy and stars

KAT-TUN was a Japanese boy band under Starto Entertainment. Their formation under Johnny & Associates was in 2001. The group's name was originally an acronym based on the first letter of each member's family name: Kazuya Kamenashi, Jin Akanishi, Junnos ...

member Tatsuya Ueda as Takao and

Johnny's West West. (stylized as WEST.), formerly known as (stylized Johnny's WEST), is a boy band consisting of seven members formed under the Starto Entertainment talent agency. The members are Daiki Shigeoka, Junta Nakama, Takahiro Hamada, Akito Kiriyama ...

member Daiki Shigeoka as Inaba. On December 24, 2018, Mina Fujii was cast as Makiko. Other series regulars include and Takashi Ukaji as Rin Shiina and Keizō Kuwata respectively, original characters created for the drama. from the comedy duo also plays an original character created for the drama as the "god of rock", with ten different appearances based on popular Western musicians. The drama adaptation is directed by Kaku Mizuno, Atsushi Okamoto, and Kai Ōe, with writing the script and Hidehiro Kawai composing the music. The theme song is "Go Ahead" by

. In addition, Ueda performed the insert song "Setsuyaku Rock." A version of the song was also performed as a duet between Ueda and Shigeoka, credited as the "Setsuyaku Rockers." Nippon TV rebroadcast the drama beginning on July 20, 2020, with the addition of newly filmed scenes. The new scenes took place a year after the initial broadcast of the final episode and take place in July 2020, depicting Takao and Inaba reflecting on the events of the past year as they are being kidnapped.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Morning 2016 manga 2019 Japanese television series debuts Comedy anime and manga Japanese television dramas based on manga Kodansha manga Nippon Television dramas Seinen manga