Hiroshi Motomiya's popular manga series "Salaryman Kintaro" is once again being adapted as a television drama. It previously ran for four seasons on TBS between 1999 and 2004 with Katsunori Takahashi as the star, and it even had a movie directed by Takashi Miike after the first season. The new version, however, is jumping to TV Asahi and has a brand new actor, Masaru Nagai.

It is uncommon for a television network to produce a drama series based on the same source as another drama from a different network. One of the few examples is Fuji TV's 2006 series "Saiyuki," which was originally dramatized by NTV from 1978 to 1980.

As for the role of Kintaro, Takahashi offered his encouragement to the younger Nagai. The two have plenty of experience working together, as they both appeared in the "Tokumei Kakarichou Tadano Hitoshi" drama series, which has had three seasons and is having a movie version released in December.

The new "Salaryman Kintaro" will air in TV Asahi's Friday 11:15pm time slot, starting in October.