Yuusha Yoshihiko returning this October

It was announced on Thursday that the "Dragon Quest-style" live-action television series Yuusha Yoshihiko to Maou no Shiro will be returning to Japanese television this October in a still-unnamed "chapter 2." The original Yuusha Yoshihiko series aired on the TV Tokyo network last summer, and was noted for its reminiscence to the Dragon Quest franchise, as well as its visibly low budget.

Yuuichi Fukuda (live-action One-Pound Gospel, Saru Lock) will continue to direct the series, and Takayuki Yamada (Densha Otoko/Train Man film, H2: Kimi to Ita Hibi) will once again play its main role. Haruka Kinami (20th Century Boys), Shin Takuma (live-action Touch), Tsuyoshi Muro (Ooku, Yatterman), and Jiro Sato will also reappear in the program. According to a producer at TV Tokyo, the series' "low budget" will not be changed, nor will its production be "scaled up."

The story of the original was set in an era when the entire country was still overgrown with verdant forests. A mysterious plague has spread across the land, and many have succumbed to it. Somehow, a pure young man named Yoshihiko (Yamada) was chosen to be a hero, and he embarks on a quest to save a village. He has another objective — his father never returned from his own quest to retrieve the cure, and Yoshiko hopes to rescue his father.