Shojo manga magazine Margaret is teaming up with the streaming service Hulu to create live-action adaptations of three of their series! This is not a drill!
In an announcement that first appeared on Comic Natalie on February 20th, it was revealed that three series from the magazine’s catalog have been chosen to receive new adaptations: Zakuri Satō’s Mairu no Vich, Ayumi Komura’s Kami-sama no Ekohiiki, and Miyoshi Tomori’s Akuma to Love Song (A Devil and Her Love Song).
The first of the three to receive a live-action adaptation will be Mairu no Vich, which ran in the magazine from 2010 to 2014 and concluded its run with twelve volumes. Baka Updates describes the story as follows:
Kinoshita Mairu has a cute name and she’s apologetic for it, because she’s ugly. In fact, she’s apologetic for her very existence because she’s not cute. Classmates call her “Poison Mushroom” behind her back and even her own brother treats her with disdain. However, all of that is about to change with the help of her transgender mentor/neighbor, Fuwari-chan, and the “school king,” Kumada Tenyuu!
The live-action adaptation will premiere this fall with an eight-episode run. The cast will be announced at a future date.
The second series to get the live-action treatment is Kami-sama no Ekohiiki, which is the most recent series to be chosen for this project as it ran from 2017 to 2018. It wrapped up in five volumes. There was no announcement made on when this one would hit the streaming service or how many episodes it would be. Baka Updates describes the story as:
To gain the confidence to confess his love to his crush, high school student Yashiro visits a secluded shrine for 100 days straight. This earns him the attention of the enshrined deity and his fox attendant Ukon, who follow Yashiro on the 100th day to see how the confession turns out. However, they are surprised to see him confess to a guy, Yashiro’s longtime friend Kenta, only for Kenta to turn him down. Although heartbroken, Yashiro tries to joke around with Kenta, but he accidentally gets killed when a truck runs into him.
Yashiro awakens in the presence of the shrine’s god and Ukon, and as a show of gratitude, the god decides to restore him back to life to give him a second chance with Kenta. In doing so, the god grants his wish to be reborn as a high school girl and gives her the name Kagura Tendou. However, she soon discovers that the god and Ukon plan to watch over her relationship with Kenta, although she’s the only one who can see and hear them.
The final series to get the nod for this partnership is the only one that has gotten a commercial English release, Akuma to Love Song. Running in Japan from 2006 to 2011, Viz Media licensed and released all thirteen volumes of the series under the localized title A Devil and Her Love Song. Viz describes the story as:
Maria’s frank nature gains her more enemies at her new school, but her angelic singing voice inadvertently catches the attention of Yusuke Kanda and Shin Meguro. Can these boys mend her hardened heart, or will they just end up getting scorched?
This is a great venture for Hulu and I wish them much luck on this project, though I wish more details were available such as if the adaptations are going to be presented with Japanese cast members or will the adaptations be more western. Either way, as soon as I hear more details about these series, I’ll share them here!
