News: Live-Action Adaptation of Drops of God Confirms Azusa Okamoto Casted as Yurika Katase, an Original Character

The staff of Drops of God, the new internationally co-produced, multilingual live-action television series of Tadashi Agi and Shū Okimoto‘s The Drops of God (Kami no Shizuku) manga, confirmed on Wednesday that Azusa Okamoto plays original character Yurika Katase.

The series will begin streaming on Hulu in Japan on September 15.

The show premiered on April 21 with two episodes. New episodes screened weekly until June 2. Apple TV+ has acquired the eight-part series and is broadcasting and streaming it worldwide simultaneously.

The show screened in the International Competition at Lille’s Series Mania Forum on March 19, 21, and 24.

The official title in Japan is Kami no Shizuku/Drops of God. (Similar to the title in Japan for the second Fullmetal Alchemist television series, the live-action series’ title includes both the Japanese and English titles of the manga.)

Legendary Television is handling worldwide distribution outside of France and Japan. Hulu Japan is exclusively streaming the series inside Japan. The series filmed over 10 months in France, Italy, and Japan.

The series is a collaboration between U.S., French, and Japanese companies. Legendary Television, Dynamic Television, France Télévisions, and Hulu Japan are backing the project, and are producing the project with Adline Entertainment. Oded Ruskin (Absentia, No Man’s Land) is directing the series, and Quoc Dang Tran (Marianne, Parallel) wrote the scripts. Dynamic’s Klaus Zimmermann (Borgia, Trapped) is producing the series.

As previously announced, Tomohisa Yamashita and French actress Fleur Geffrier (Elle) star in the series. The previous announcement noted that Geffrier’s character was named Shizuku Kanzaki, the protagonist of the manga. Geffrier will play a character named Camille. An announcement also noted that rival character Issei Tōmine would be the show’s protagonist, but an earlier report in 2021 from entertainment news service Variety described the series as having a female protagonist, with Geffrier playing the role.

Apple TV+ describes the story:

“Drops of God” is set in the world of gastronomy and fine wines. Frenchman Alexandre Léger, creator of the famous Léger Wine Guide and emblematic figure in oenology, has just passed away at his home in Tokyo at the age of 60. He leaves behind a daughter, Camille (Geffrier), who lives in Paris and hasn’t seen her father since her parents separated when she was nine years old. When Camille flies to Tokyo and Léger’s will is read, she discovers that her father has left her an extraordinary wine collection – the greatest collection in the world according to the experts. But, to claim the inheritance, Camille must compete with a brilliant young oenologist, Issei Tomine (Yamashita). Biological daughter versus spiritual son: the duel is about to begin. There are three tests to break the tie, all related to wine tasting. The winner will take ownership of Léger’s empire, the loser will leave empty handed. But how could Camille win such a duel? She knows nothing about wine, and worse: she has never drunk a single drop.

Siblings Shin and Yuko Kibayashi — under the pen name Tadashi Agi — launched The Drops of God manga with artist Okimoto in Kodansha‘s Morning magazine 2004. A live-action series based on the manga aired in Japan in 2009. The manga ended in June 2014, and the 44th and final compiled book volume shipped in July 2014. The manga’s final arc, titled Marriage ~Kami no Shizuku Saishūshō~ (Marriage ~The Drops of God Final Arc~), launched in May 2015, and it ended in October 2020.

Comixology and Kodansha USA Publishing have released the manga in English digitally.

Throughout its serialization, the manga had famously boosted the sales of wines profiled in the story. The French wine magazine La Revue du vin de France has recognized the manga, giving it the magazine’s top award in 2010. The New York Times also profiled the manga in its Dining and Wine section in 2008.

Source: Comic Natalie