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The official website for the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Akane Shimizu's manga series Cells at Work! released a main trailer today featuring the theme song "50%" provided by the four-piece Japanese rock band Official Hige DANdism . Official Hige DANdism was formed in 2012 and is known for their theme song works among anime fans for Tokyo Revengers and Spy x Family (2022). Official Huge DANdism released a comment for the movie: Last year, we pushed our bodies too hard and were unable to perform live for a while. We are fine now, but "health comes first," when the phrase that we should be tired of hearing stuck with us, we received this offer, then we were flooded with ideas. Live every day while working on yourself with about 50% effort, Only at those moments when you can't compromise or when it's important, do your best or have fun. We put 100% of our passion into this song,...

The official website for the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Akane Shimizu's manga series Cells at Work! today announced nine additional cast members, which include: Helper T Cell played by Shota Sometani Hepatocytel played by Kyoko Fukada Junior Red Blood Cell played by Rihito Itagaki Senior Red Blood Cell played by Ryo Kato Shin Takeda played by Seishiro Kato Pneumonia Coccus played by Ainosuke Kataoka Streptococcus Pyogenes played by Shinya Niiro Staphylococcus Aureus played by Maju Ozawa ???? played by Fukase Among them, Fukase 's role is the only one not yet revealed. The character is introduced only as “the strongest enemy for the cells." This will be the second film appearance for Fukase, vocalist of the Japanese rock band Sekai No Owari , as an actor. He made his acting debut with the role of a serial killer in the 2021 suspense film Character , where he won the 45th Japan Academy...

Tonde Saitama (“Fly Me to The Saitama”), released in 2019 and directed by Hideki Takeuchi, was based on the 1980s unfinished manga series of the same name by Maya Mineo. It was the story of a fictional world where discrimination was applied, based on birthplace and residence, and Saitama (always been looked down by Tokyo residents) was at the bottom of the rank. Playing on the stereotypes and memes that see Saitama prefecture as the “poor cousin of Tokyo”, the film proved very successful with audiences – local and foreigner alike – making it the third top-grossing Japanese live-action film of 2019.It was indeed a hilariously silly film, and the in-jokes and local references were understandable enough to be enjoyed fully by non-Japanese crowd. The success, the laughs and standing ovation it received when presented in Udine Far East Film Festival 2019 where a proof of its transnational allure.

Its sequel “Fly Me To...

Monkey Punch's Lupin III manga continues to expand its universe with a newly-announced kabuki stage play that will run at the Shinbashi Enbujo theater in Tokyo this December.

According to Anime News Network, the stage play's original story will depict Lupin and his cohorts in the Japanese Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), the same era of the original Goemon Ishikawa. While the Goemon most fans are familiar with is his 13th descendant, this play will be an opportunity for fans to see the main cast interact with the fabled original, who remains a mythological hero in Japan.

Related: The Precure Franchise is Getting a New Anime Movie in 2024

The play will star Ainosuke Kataoka as Lupin III, Matsuya Onoe as Goemon Ishikawa, Saburō Ichikawa as Daisuke Jigen, Emiya Ichikawa as Fujiko Mine and Chūsha Ihchikawa as Inspector Zenigata. The franchise has had stage plays before, but not of the kabuki variety.

In...

Shotaro Ikenami was a prolific writer of samurai novels, a number of which were adapted for TV and film in Japan. One of his most iconic characters is Baian Fujieda, an acupuncturist who also doubles as a hired killer, who has been the source of a TV series and at least four movies, with Ken Ogata and Ken Watanabe playing the character, among others. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ikenami’s birth on 1923, a consortium of media companies has produced two films based on the series.

Baian the Assassin, M.D. (Part 1) is screening at Camera Japan

Baian may be known to the world as an acupuncturist, including his maid Oseki, who treats him as a combination of nagging wife, mother, and mother-in-law, but he also doubles as a killer for hire, although he picks his targets among people whom he thinks deserve to die. The beginning of the...

Lest anyone think Rinko Kikuchi has nothing better to do than pose for obscure magazines or engage in public displays of affection with Spike Jonze, she’s once again defied expectations by joining the cast of a traditional jidaigeki drama. Today it was announced that Kikuchi will play the heroine in Tetsuo Shinohara’s Ogawa no Hotori, opposite Noriyuki Higashiyama.

The film is based on a short story by Shuhei Fujisawa (The Twilight Samurai, Love and Honor). Shinohara previously directed an adaptation of Fujisawa’s “Yamazakura” in 2008 which also co-starred Higashiyama.

Set in the fictional Unasaka domain, the story involves a samurai who’s obligated to follow an order that could destroy his relationship with his own younger sister.

Kikuchi, who had to dye her hair from blond back to black for the role, has never appeared in a jidaigeki drama before now. “The screenplay is very good,” she said.

Lest anyone think Rinko Kikuchi has nothing better to do than pose for obscure magazines or engage in public displays of affection with Spike Jonze, she’s once again defied expectations by joining the cast of a traditional jidaigeki drama. Today it was announced that Kikuchi will play the heroine in Tetsuo Shinohara’s Ogawa no Hotori, opposite Noriyuki Higashiyama.

The film is based on a short story by Shuhei Fujisawa (The Twilight Samurai, Love and Honor). Shinohara previously directed an adaptation of Fujisawa’s “Yamazakura” in 2008 which also co-starred Higashiyama.

Set in the fictional Unasaka domain, the story involves a samurai who’s obligated to follow an order that could destroy his relationship with his own younger sister.

Kikuchi, who had to dye her hair from blond back to black for the role, has never appeared in a jidaigeki drama before now. “The screenplay is very good,” she said.

Yo Kohatsu's Raise The Castle is a film that requires a certain degree of patience. Stumbling out of the gate it is a film that initially plays like any number of cheaply produced straight to video titles in Japan. The look is flat, the performances weak, the jokes not particularly funny. But then something strange happens. Around the half hour mark the film begins to find its footing. The characters begin to connect with each other and the audience, the rhythm and look of the piece suddenly click together and the film - thankfully - abandons bad slapstick in favor of a more gentle sort of whimsy. And by the time you reach the end something that began as stale and tiresome ends up being a bit of a charmer.

The setting is the village of Sanage, a remote small town in the Japanese countryside, a town that the...