Hibana: Spark (火花) is a television series adaptation of the novel Spark by Naoki Matayoshi. It premiered worldwide on Netflix on June 2, 2016. The story follows an aspiring stand-up comedian Tokunaga (Kento Hayashi), who embarks on an apprenticeship with Kamiya (Kazuki Namioka), a seasoned manzai artist.
Contents
Cast
Kento Hayashi as Tokunaga
Kazuki Namioka as Kamiya
Mugi Kadowaki as Maki
Masao Yoshii (Inoshita Yoshii) as Yamashita
Hideaki Murata (Toro salmon) as Ōbayashi
Nahana as Erika Nishida
Sayaka Yamamoto as waitress
Eri Tokunaga as Ayumi
Maryjun Takahashi as Yurie
Rina Takeda
Shugo Oshinari as Sasamoto
Kyūsaku Shimada
Shōta Sometani as Ogata
Tomorowo Taguchi as Hyuga
Kaoru Kobayashi as Watanabe
Hiro Honda as VIP guest
Reception
David Cirone of J-Generation criticized the slow pacing of the first half of the series, but said "even with its rough edges, Hibana shines with the power of its two leads [Hayashi and Namioka]." Maggie Lee of Variety called the series "a profoundly reflective and achingly tender look at Japan's vibrant yet cutthroat comedy scene". Elissa Loi of Stuff complimented the show for "steering away from the usual predictable Japanese tropes".
Soundtrack
Theme song
Okamoto's - "Brother" (released June 1, 2016)
Soundtrack album
Netflix Original Drama Hibana -Spark- Soundtrack (released February 26, 2017 by Yoshimoto Music Ltd.)