The DMM TV streaming service began streaming the trailer for the live-action adaptation of Toshiya Wakabayashi’s Happy Kanako’s Killer Life (Shiawase Kanako no Koroshiya Seikatsu) manga on Tuesday. The trailer reveal additional cast members and confirms the series’ February 28 premiere on DMM TV.
Additionally, DMM TV revealed a “strongest buddies” key visual:
Newly Announced Cast Members:
- Yūma Yamoto as Kazuo Takehara
- Hirona Yamazaki as Ōmori
- Yūka Sugai as Kiyomi Yoshioka
- Shun Sugata as Yakuza boss
- Tae Kimura as Kanako’s mother
- Atsuro Watabe as the president of the assassin company
Non (left in the key visual) stars as Kanako, an ordinary girl who unexpectedly becomes an assassin—only to discover she has a knack for it. Taisuke Fujigaya, a member of the boy band Kis-My-Ft2 (right in the visual), plays Sakurai, Kanako’s assassin mentor and partner, who constantly worries about her.
The series is directed by Tsutomu Hanabusa (live-action Tokyo Revengers).
Story Synopsis (via Seven Seas Entertainment):
Nishino Kanako despises her job and jumps at the first opportunity to leave. But she never imagined her next job interview would be at a contract killer agency—or that she’d turn out to be a natural at the trade!
Happy Kanako’s Killer Life
Lacking self-confidence, Kanako struggles to adjust to her new life as an assassin. Can she earn the respect of Sakurai, her prickly (but undeniably attractive) new coworker? Find out in this dangerously funny, full-color manga!
Background & Publication:
Wakabayashi originally launched the four-panel web manga on Twitter and his pixivFANBOX account, with Seikaisha later serializing it on the Twi4 platform.
Seikaisha published the seventh compiled volume of the manga in March 2023, while Seven Seas Entertainment released its English edition in April 2024.
Wakabayashi is also known for Tsuredure Children, a manga that presents a series of short school romance stories in an omnibus format.
Originally launched online in October 2012, it later began serialization with new content in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 2015 before concluding in July 2018. Kodansha USA Publishing released the manga digitally in English.
The series also inspired a television anime, which premiered in July 2017. Crunchyroll streamed the anime with English subtitles as it aired, while Funimation provided an English dub.
