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Tokyo Wine Party People Novel by Drops of God's Shin Kibayashi Gets Film

Publisher Bungeishunju Ltd. announced on Thursday that Shin Kibayashi's Tokyo Wine Party People novel is inspiring a film adaptation this fall. Hideki Wada is directing the film, and Mika Hayashi is writing the script.

The novel centers on a female office worker named Shino Sakuragi, who receives an invitation from her boss to attend a wine party. There, she meets many people who teach her about the charms and customs of wine. One of the people she meets is Osada, who knows a lot about wine, and is a successful businessman. Shino finds herself attracted to him, but one day he is arrested for window dressing settlement. Shino is shocked, but she believes that the gentleman she met and his wine recommendations weren't lies, and she continues to go to wine parties and meeting more people in the wine world. Kibayashi said regarding the novel, "I didn't write this work as a manga, but I consider it one more Drops of God."

Kibayashi — under the pen name Tadashi Agi — launched The Drops of God manga with artist Shū Okimoto in 2004. The manga's final arc launched in May 2015.

Vertical published part of the manga in North America. Throughout its serialization, the manga had famously boosted the sales of wines profiled in the story. The French wine magazine La Revue du vin de France has also recognized the manga, giving it the magazine's top award. The New York Times also profiled the manga in its Dining and Wine section in 2008. A live-action Japanese series based on the manga aired in 2009.

Kibayashi (under the pseudonym Seimaru Amagi) provided the original story idea for Yōzaburō Kanari and Fumiya Sato's Kindaichi Case Files manga. Kibayashi's other pseudonyms include Hiroaki Igano (The Knight in the Area), Ryō Ryūmon (Bloody Monday), Yuma Ando (Psychometrer, Psychometrer Eiji, Sherlock Bones), and Yuya Aoki (GetBackers, Psycho Busters).

Sources: Tokyo Wine Party People film's website, Eiga Natalie