【Act-Age】 Drama! A remarkable and refreshing premise about the evolution of a young actress prodigy, as she makes her way into the film industry!!

Act-Age is a Japanese Drama manga series written by Tatsuya Matsuki and illustrated by Shiro Usazaki.

The manga series was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shounen Jump from January 2018 to August 2020. It’s individual chapters are compiled and collected into 12 separate volumes. As of 2020, the manga had over 3 million copies in circulation. In April 2019, the series was nominated for Best Shounen Manga at the 43rd annual Kodansha Manga Awards. The series was canceled following Matsuki’s arrest in August 2020, for allegedly harassing two middle school students.

An anime television series adaptation is yet to announced. Although a stage play adaptation of the manga was announced to be released in 2022, but it was later canceled due to Matsuki’s arrest.

“Until the director calls “cut! “...... Just for that short span of time...... We live the lives of others. Sometimes we experience other nations, other eras, even other worlds. The people who are drawn to this bizarre form of pleasure...... are called Actors”.

The story begins at the annual auditions held by the colossal talent agency Stars. Out of the 30,000 candidates, only 12 aspiring actresses remain. They are given the topic ‘Sadness’, which they try to portray through their acting.

Sumiji Kuroyama, one of the judges, is getting bored seeing the candidates trying to express their sadness using only their faces and not their entire body, when his eyes come across a young girl, Kei Yonagi, standing still with eyes looking lifeless, as someone who has never known happiness in her life.

“What’s her deal? How is she doing that? She’s truly inhabiting sadness right now”.

The other judges don’t understand this and question her acting skills. Sumiji calls to her, “Yonagi, show me sadness even an idiot would understand”. Instantly, tears start pouring from her eyes, amazing Sumiji.

“I’ve found one”, he says, “An Actress! ”.

Despite her show of impressive acting skills, the owner of the agency ends up rejecting her, much to Sumiji’s surprise.

Yonagi returns home to her two siblings, Rui and Rei, and gives them the bad news. While bathing together with her two siblings, she tries to smile but gives of a grin Instead, as if she has forgotten how to smile. She tells them of her decision to stop pursuing acting and get a normal job to support them. Suddenly, tears start pouring again, surprising even her.

Later that night, she watches a movie and resets her mood so she can smile again.

Back at the agency headquarters, Sumiji bickers with the agency head, for her decision of not selecting Yonagi. She claims that Yonagi is a master of method acting, a form of acting that involves recalling events from the past to evoke the emotions required for a role.

According to her, the skills Yonagi possesses can destroy her if she pursues acting.

“becoming a different person...... is a terrifying skill. When we foster that type of madness In a person, how can we take responsibility for what becomes of her”.

Sumiji however finds it as a bunch of crap, and challenges her saying, “I’ll make you remember...... what real acting is”.

The next day, as Yonagi gets ready to take her siblings to school, a car stops in font of her and Akira Hoshi, an actor staring in a famous superhero series, steps out, dazzling Rei.

He informs her that one of the final candidates has stepped down at the last moment and she is free to audition once more in her place.

He takes her to the audition hall, were she along with three other candidates are given a strange scenario , “Feral dog...... you’re facing a feral dog”. And to make it more challenging, the candidates aren’t allowed to speak.

While others are still figuring out how to perform the scenario, Yonagi jumps and takes a fighting stance.

She imitates sacrificing her right arm to the dog, so she can keep it still enough to attack and deliver the final blow. The audience standing there finally realize that Instead of acting afraid, she was protecting her two siblings who were standing behind her the entire time.

The rest of the actresses are soo immersed in her performance that they forget to perform themselves.

Despite her brilliant performance and the cheer from the audience, she still ends up being rejected by the agency owner.

Later that night, as she is sitting outside looking at the stars, Sumiji stops by in his van. He says that he was looking for a brilliant actress like her and would like her to star in a movie he is producing.

“Sumiji Kuroyama, Director. And your are? “ he asks. And In a calm voice, she replies, “Kei Yonagi, Actress “.

And so she takes her first step into the film Industry! What challenges await this young actress?