Mogura no Uta

Mogura no Uta (土竜の唄; "Mole's Song") is a Japanese manga series written by Noboru Takahashi [ja]. It was serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Young Sunday from 2005 to 2008, and transferred to Big Comic Spirits in 2008. It has been adapted into a live-action film, titled The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji in 2013, which was followed by a sequel, The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio, released in 2016.

Mogura no Uta
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Reiji Kikukawa
土竜の唄
Genre	Action[1] Crime[1]
Manga
Written by	Noboru Takahashi [ja]
Published by	Shogakukan
Magazine	Weekly Young Sunday (2005–2008) Big Comic Spirits (2008–present)
Original run	August 18, 2005 – present
Volumes	85
Live-action films
The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji (2013) The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio (2016) The Mole Song: Final (2021)

By May 2023, the manga had over 10 million copies in circulation. In 2014, Mogura no Uta won the 59th Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category.

Plot

Reiji Kikukawa, a silly young man still a virgin, managed to join the police. Remaining in a position of simple agent at the bottom of the ladder, Reiji is one day fired. In reality, this dismissal hides a completely different mission, because Reiji is offered to become an undercover agent, in other words, a "mole".

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Noboru Takahashi [ja], Mogura no Uta debuted in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Sunday on August 18, 2005.^[a] The magazine ceased its publication on July 31, 2008,^[4] and the series moved to Big Comic Spirits on September 9 of that same year.^[5] Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on January 5, 2006.^[6] As of August 30, 2024, 85 volumes have been released.^[7]

Live-action films

The manga was adapted into a live-action film titled The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji, which was directed by Takashi Miike and released in Japan on February 15, 2014.^[1][8][9] Miike also directed the sequels The Mole Song: Hong Kong Capriccio (2016)^[10] and The Mole Song: Final (2021).

Reception

Mogura no Uta won the 59th Shogakukan Manga Award in the general category in 2014.^[11] The manga had over 6.5 million copies in circulation by January 2016;^[12] and over 10 million copies in circulation by May 2023.^[13]

Notes

1. It debuted in the magazine's 38th issue of 2005,^[2] released on August 18 of that same year.^[3]