Blumhouse Television to produce TV adaptation of Japanese novel “Sparks” by Shusuke Shizukui
According to the CinemaDrame News Agency, Blumhouse Television has acquired the rights to adapt the Japanese novel “Hi no Ko” (Sparks) by Shusuke Shizukui into a television series. The novel was originally published by Gentosha.
Crystal Hutton Ziv, known for her work on projects such as Wolf Pack and The Purge, will write the pilot episode of the psychological thriller for the American version and will also serve as executive producer.
The original story follows a man named Shingo Takeuchi, who is suspected of a series of murders but was acquitted two years earlier by a retired judge, Isao Kajima. Takeuchi moves into the neighborhood of the Kajima family and gradually becomes part of their lives.
Having grown up deprived of parental affection, he constantly tries to win people over. On the surface, his behavior appears friendly—he is known for his charming smile, thoughtful gifts, and attention to the elderly. However, when he senses that others are distancing themselves from him, he reveals violent tendencies.
He gradually earns the trust of the Kajima family, but a series of unexplained incidents begin to occur around their home. Eventually, Yukimi, the wife of Kajima’s son Toshirō, begins to uncover Takeuchi’s true nature and attempts to expose the truth, even as she finds herself isolated within the family with little support.
The work was previously adapted into a Japanese television miniseries in 2016 and aired as the first title in Fuji TV’s new drama lineup. The series achieved the highest first-episode viewer satisfaction rating of its season in a Data News survey.
Executive producers on the project include Mark Amin, Kami Winnikoff, and Dave de Varis of Sobini Films, as well as Motoko Kimura.
Shusuke Shizukui first entered the literary world in 2000 and has since published numerous best-selling works. Sparks is considered one of his most successful novels, with over 770,000 copies sold. Many of his works have previously been adapted for film and television.
