Lights, Camera, Ghosts!

 

When he was a boy, Hajime Shinichi spent most of his time in the hospital.  Only the movies he got to see on the TV or on DVD could show him really anything about the world.  This led to his growing up to know everything there is to know about movies and cinema, and even to become head of his school’s Movie Research Club.  Yet he is still uninterested in actually making any movies of his own at this time.  Hajime is the perfect Japanese student, focusing on his exams so that he can get into a good college…and have plenty of time to watch movies.

 

But it is while watching one such movie at the local indie theater that he gains the attention of Takihiko Tenmaku, the ghost of a long-dead screenwriter and the titular “Tenmaku” of “Tenmaku Cinema”.  It turned out that he died before he could finish writing his movie script and get it off to his director.  His director who, unfortunately, has been dead for decades.  His spirit (no pun intended) broken, Takihiko resigns himself to haunting Hajime and remaining unfulfilled until he spots Hajime’s classmate Hinaki and, in a rush of inspiration, writes up an entirely new movie from scratch, just for her to star in.

 

(The footnotes claim that there is a process called ategaki, in which a screenwriter comes up with a script strictly as a vehicle for an actor they know.  But this is the first that I’ve heard of it.)

 

And so, in the manner of Hikaru no Go and, like, every other Yu-Gi-Oh protagonist, Hajime finds himself working hard to complete Takihiko’s life’s work, get his movie made, and help his erstwhile friend cross over to the other side.

 

Author Yuto Tsukuda and artist Shun Saeki, the duo behind Food Wars: Shokugeki No Souma (which I have also reviewed, if you would like to take a look at my archives), have brought us into another intricate brotherhood/occupation of the world that most of us would not know about in their latest manga.

 

There is humor here, but still the definite sense of professionalism, much like there was in their previous series.  The story itself is reminiscent of Ichigo 100% (and yes, I know I’m dating myself here), mixed with Hikaru no Go and Shokugeki No Souma.  And, even though we’re currently only in the early chapters, there’s even a whiff of a mystery thrown in for good measure.

 

Just who was Takihiko Tenmaku before he died?

 

Even though this series is even less within my wheelhouse than “Souma” was, I still intend to keep following it on the Shonen Jump website.  And I hope that you readers do, too.