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Live-Action Densetsu no Head Shō Series Reveals 3 More Cast, Main Visual, July 19 Debut

The official X (formerly Twitter) account for the live-action series of Takeshi Natsuhara and Takashi Hamori's Densetsu no Head Sho manga revealed on Tuesday the show's main visual, three more cast, and its July 19 premiere.

The newly announced cast are: Naoko Iijima as Beniko Ijūin (center in image above), Shō's grandmother and the first president of the "Ladies Beni" group; Karma as Shin Tōjō (right in image above), boss of the "Blood Mafia" group; and Moe Yuki as Kanako Kasumi, former member of "Ladies Beni," and an employee of the bar run by Beniko.

The series will premiere on TV Asahi on July 19 at 11:15 p.m. JST.

Fumiya Takahashi (Kamen Rider Zero-One) will play both protagonist Tatsuhito Yamada and gang leader Shō Ijūin. Previously announced cast member Nagisa Sekimizu will play the role of Aya Fujitani, the ace member of the "Old Street Corner Sukebans" idol group, known for her foul mouth.

Takashi Sumida, Keisuke Kondō, and Hisashi Ueda are directing the series, with scripts by Kazunao Furuya, and music by Alisa Okehazama.

The manga centers on the chance encounter between two people who look exactly the same: gang leader Shō Ijūin, whose Grand Cross gang has more than 1,000 members, and Tatsuhito Yamada, a student on the lowest rung on the school caste. Circumstances force them to switch lives.

Natsuhara and Hamori published the manga in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 2003 to 2005. It was Natsuhara's debut work. Kodansha published 11 compiled book volumes for the manga.

Natushara and Kuromaru later worked on the Kurosagi - The Black Swindler manga, which ran in Shogakukan's Weekly Young Sunday from 2003 to 2008, with 20 compiled book volumes. The next series, titled Shin Kurosagi, launched in Weekly Young Sunday, but switched to Big Comic Spirits after Young Sunday ceased publication in 2008. The sequel manga ran until 2012, with 18 compiled book volumes. Shin Kurosagi Kanketsu-hen began in 2012, and ended in 2013, with four compiled book volumes. The manga inspired a live-action television series starring Tomohisa Yamashita in 2006, a sequel live-action film in 2008, as well as a new live-action series that premiered in October 2022.

Natsuhara and Hiroki Miyashita launched the Yakuza Reincarnation manga in Shogakukan's Sunday GX magazine in July 2019, and it is ongoing. Seven Seas Entertainment is releasing the manga in English.

Sources: Densetsu no Head Sho series' X/Twitter account (link 2), Comic Natalie