Director Sato Shinsuke has had quite the competition in the past few years. 2017 saw the release of at least four live-action anime adaptations of popular manga properties, so it was a pretty loaded year and particularly with Bleach being thrown in the mix.
It took quite a while but the promotional rollout of this latest induction from Sato, who also hails the summer festival crowd with Inuyashiki, also brings a fuller, more visible cast list to the live-action realm of BLEACH that includes the raft of warriors and mystics that entail this inaugural venture. Provided it measures accordingly I’d say a sequel would be great to see spawn after this.
Indeed, the desktop version of this article looks a lot better so if you’re on mobile, feel free to switch that shit. At any rate though, Japan locals are officially two months out from bearing witness to what a live-action adaptation of Kubo Tite’s highly beloved manga, BLEACH, looks like on the big screen.
I wouldn’t rest too long on actor Fukushi Sota if you’re minding this year’s intake of live-action manga fare. More footage is finally rolling out in the tiniest bits from his latest, Kubo Tite’s BLEACH, hailing from director Sato Shinsuke of GANTZ and Library Wars fame and for that, we get a thirty-second glimpse of what last year’s twenty-second teaser was all about.
Indeed, it’s Fukushi reunited with Blade Of The Immortal co-star Sugisaki Hana re-enacting the pivotal moment in which a Ichigo, high school delinquent who can see ghosts is embued with supernatural powers by Rukia, a Soul Reaper injured from battling a “Hollow”. That’s the big creature meeting its demise and for an anime adaptation, there’s a good chance this production did what it felt needed to make such a film happen, especially for a manga with fifteen years of source material…
Talk about playing it close to the chest.
Expect more casting and more footage updates before its July 20 Japan release.
Fresh from his latest theatrical run with Ajin: Demi Human, Motohiro Katsuyuki is back with another new adaptation as the first of up to two that are forthcoming for Blade Of The Immortal co-star, Fukushi Sota. Enter the world of Laughing Under The Clouds, inspired from the pages of Karakara-Kemuri’s 2011 novel and now on full display with an official trailer to introduce the action, comedy and wartime upheaval with Nakayama Yuma and Furukawa Yuki also starring.
It’s pretty odd. It’s been nearly a year since we learned that Blade Of The Immortal co-star Fukushi Sota was to star in an adaptation of manga author Kubo Tite’s longstanding property, Bleach, for Warner Bros. Japan. We’ve seen at least a few behind the scenes pics of Fukushi in costume while much has been little ado with who else would join the cast.
I reckon with the film’s 2018 date approaching that this may change and hopefully that will change. It has a noteworthy director in Sato Shinsuke whose partial credits include The Princess Blade, Library Wars, zombie hit thriller I Am A Hero and hit manga adaptation Death Note: Light Up The New World, the latter which hits the Fantasia floor later this month.
With Bleach, its legacy hasn’t been that of complete success, but it stood as a terrific read and viewing for the manga and anime crowd in its initial years since 2001, brimming with color, vibrance and energy. The core story here lies centrally with Kurosaki Ichigo, a high school student whose ability to see and interact with ghosts isn’t as life-changing as the moment he crosses paths with Kikuchi Rukia, a Soul Reaper among many from a distant dimension known as the Soul Society.
Injured in the heat of battle with an afterworld demon called a Hollow, Rukia accidentally transfers the entirety of her power unto Ichigo. It gives him both a fighting chance, as well as a new identity and responsibilities to uphold with Rukia now left powerless and unable to return to her dimension, forging an alliance between two reluctant friends at the start of the first of many perilous journeys to come.
That’s pretty much the gist of the role Fukushi is playing while we await on what the remainder of the cast will entail. For now though, we finally have a full-on glimpse of what Fukushi’s portrayal will look like in live-action form ahead of the film’s Summer 2018 release with a fresh new teaser and one-sheet. Check it out below!
Live-action approaches to popular manga and anime properties continue to be tested as always, such are nothing new for director Miike Takashi to tackle as he’s taken on quite his fair share. His latest one whose IP is loved by many a manga reader, titled Blade Of The Immortal and now on par for an April 29 release from Warner Bros. Japan.
Samura Hiroaki’s hit 1993 Monthly Afternoon publication lays the groundwork for this new affair with actor Kimura Takura starring as Manji, an afflicted immortal swordsman whose help is desperately sought by a young woman eager to avenge her parents and their fencing school, destroyed at the hands of the “itto ryu”. Actress Sugisaki Hana stars as our heroine bent on seeking revenge opposite actor Fukushi Sota who plays one of the film’s several deadly principal villains.
Follow Miike’s career long enough and it appears you’ll prosper, because the official trailer below has arrived and while I’m not at all familiar with the manga, I’m immediately thrownback to my viewing of 13 Assassins just a few years back. Clearly Miike knows how to speak the language of chanbara and he does so with sheer excellence.
Official artwork is abound so stay tuned in the meantime and check out the trailer below.
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