The live-action series inspired by Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan (Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokanai), Hirohiko Araki’s spinoff from his JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga, will air its newest episode on the NHK General channel on May 4 at 9:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. EDT). The “Izumi Kyōka wa Damaranai” (Kyōka Izumi Won’t Stay Quiet) episode will tell an original, previously untold story about Rohan’s editor and close acquaintance Kyōka Izumi (albeit a story written in collaboration with Araki).
The episode depicts what happens when Kyōka gets involved in mysterious circumstances after a word from Rohan.
Both Marie Iitoyo and Issei Takahashi are reprising their roles of Kyōka and Rohan, respectively.
Naruyoshi Kikuchi (Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine) is returning with Shin-On-Gak (Shin-On-Gaku Seisaku Kōbō) to compose the music. Isao Tsuge (Shin Godzilla, live-action Attack on Titan) is again overseeing the character designs. Yūtarō Seki and Kentarō Hirase of the directorial troupe Gogatsu wrote the story in collaboration with Araki and directed the episode. NHK Enterprises is producing the project with NHK PICS.
The live-action Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan series’ first three episodes debuted in December 2020 for three consecutive nights on the NHK General channel. The second installment of three episodes premiered at the end of December 2021 for three consecutive nights as well. Two more episodes premiered in December 2023. The series’ overall ninth episode (not including the live-action film) premiered in May 2024.
The live-action film of Hirohiko Araki’s Kishibe Rohan Louvre e Iku (Rohan at the Louvre, or literally, Rohan Kishibe Goes to the Louvre; Rohan au Louvre in French) manga opened in Japan in May 2023. The film debuted on Amazon Prime Video in Japan, France, and 160 other countries and territories around the world in September 2023. Amazon Prime Video is also streaming the other entries in the live-action franchise.
The JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure spinoff manga’s 11th story titled “Dripping Gahō-hen” (Dripping Art Technique) debuted in Shueisha’s Ultra Jump magazine in April 2022, with its second part premiering that May. The 12th story episode titled “Bruschetta” ran in Shueisha’s Ultra Jump magazine on April 18, 2025.
The anime studio david production adapted two Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan stories as original anime DVDs. The “Fugō Mura” (Millionaire Village) episode was available for people who purchased all 13 DVD or Blu-ray Disc volumes of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable anime in 2017. The “Mutsukabezaka” (Mutsukabe Hill) episode was bundled with the manga’s second volume in 2018. Crunchyroll screened the overseas premiere of “Fugō Mura” at its Crunchyroll Expo event in August 2019. david production then produced two new episodes, “Zange-shitsu” (Confessional Room) and “The Run,” which played at nine screenings at six cities in Japan between December 2020 and March 2021.
Netflix began streaming the anime globally in February 2021.
Sources: live-action Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan series’ website, Comic Natalie
