The following contains spoilers for Tenmaku Cinema Chapter 1, “The First Movie,” by Yuto Tsukuda, Shun Saeki, Camellia Nieh, and Phil Christie, available now through Viz Media.
Manga published in Weekly Shōnen Jump are well-known for copying each other — whether intentionally or not, every series in the publication invokes similar tropes and character archetypes for the sake of appealing to the target demographic. In many cases, this allows creators to stay on-brand while also paying homage to other manga creators who inspire them.
This borrowing of ideas seems to be present in Tenmaku Cinema, the new manga from the creative duo behind Food Wars!; this series’ main female character, Himeki Kurakui, bears a striking resemblance to the protagonist of Act-Age, Kei Yonagi. Not only do they look alike, but they play similar roles in their respective stories. Depending on where Tenmaku Cinema is going with its story, more similarities between these girls may continue to pop up.
How Are HimekiKurakui and Kei Yonagi Alike?
The first thing that’s notably similar about them is their hairstyles. They both have long, black hair with subtle highlights. They also have similarly stray strands of hair. Kei has a strand that comes out of the top of her head and sweeps over her bangs; it’s her signature look. Himeki has two strands of hair that fulfill similar purposes, one that comes out of the top of her hair and another that sweeps over her bangs. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close enough to make the comparison.
Their faces are also alike. They both seem to have pretty blank expressions when they’re not acting, yet their faces still have a lot of meaning behind them; these two are prime examples of the Kuleshov effect. Despite this lack of expression, their big eyes are still deep and full of detail. They manage to get a lot across despite how little they’re shown emoting off-camera.
Of course, not everything about these two girls is quite the same. While Himeki has been acting since she was a toddler, Kei is only just starting her acting career by the start of her series. This also causes a disparity in their living conditions; Himeki seems to be rich while Kei lives in poverty with her siblings.
That said, there are still a few more potential similarities that could continue to show up. Himeki, like Kei, will likely go on to perform in increasingly important productions as the series progresses. She might also employ a lot of method acting like Kei does. She might even have goals that involve acting for someone else’s sake; Kei acts to support her younger siblings, but Himeki might be after more of a romantic pursuit. These potential similarities all depend on how the story of Tenmaku Cinema plays out.
What’s With All the Similarities?
It’s worth noting that this degree of copying characters is nothing new to Shōnen Jump. In the battle manga, for instance, many protagonists are cheery, spiky-haired, pure-hearted, ambitious, and energetic in the same way Son Goku from Dragon Ball is. Compared to this, Himeki paying homage to Kei seems like a mild and harmless possibility.
As for why Himeki seems to pay homage to Kei, there are a couple of possibilities. One is simply the fact that they’re both actresses in manga published by Shōnen Jump, so of course there are going to be some similarities. This might have also been done in light of the cancellation of Act-Age; Himeki might have been modeled after Kei to carry on her spirit and, in a way, finish her story. Nothing will be confirmed until Tsukuda admits it.
Until the homage is confirmed, the similarities can almost be written off as a coincidence. However, The fact that there are so many of them seems to suggest a pattern. Perhaps as Tenmaku Cinema progresses, Himeki will develop into more of her own character, but those connections to Kei will still be there.