30-year-old actor Yoshio Inoue is starring in the live-action film adaptation of Satoshi Karasuya's autobiographical Onobori Monogatari manga, and Yasutaka Mōri is directing the film for July 17 opening in Japan.

The coming-of-age story in the original manga follows the trials and tribulations of a budding manga creator after he moves to Tokyo from the countryside. Karasuya based his four-panel manga on his own experiences in Tokyo. The manga ran in Takeshobo's Manga Club magazine from 2006 to 2008, and the complete series was compiled into one volume in 2008.

Inoue is best known for starring in a number of musicals in Japan, such as Mozart!, Marie Antoinette, and Miss Saigon. Onobori Monogatari will be his third film role and his first film lead role.