Hey! Say! Jump's Yuri Chinen Stars in Shōjo Manga-Based Sprout

Live-action drama adaptation of Atsuko Nanba's manga begins on July 7

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Japan's Nippon Television Network will begin broadcasting Sprout on July 7, a live-action drama adaptation of Atsuko Nanba's shōjo manga of the same name. The program will star Yuri Chinen from the Hey! Say! JUMP boy band as Souhei, a boy in high school who begins living in the same house as the story's female lead Miku, who is played by Aoi Morikawa, when her father turns their home into a boarding house.

The teen romantic drama soon turns into a multi-sided web of relationships, with Johnny's Jr. members including Lewis Jesse, Yuuta Jinguuji, and Kentaro Yasui also appearing in the program. Previews for the program also reveal that it will feature many of its young male actors' first kiss scenes.

Nanba's Sprout manga was serialized in Kodansha's Bessatsu Friend magazine, and its seventh and final collected volume was published in 2008. As a series, the title sold over 3 million copies.