Writer and director Fukuda Yuichi is fully staking his claim in the live-action end of things for Warner Bros. Japan’s Gintama 2 these days. The sequel to last year’s feature film hit adaptation is now playing in Japan theaters while the latest dTV mini-drama is now out with a clip that sees our heroine Kagura unable to fall asleep.
It’s okay to want things! That’s at least one thing you can take away from the Shinsengumi Crisis Arc of the long running Gintama manga and anime franchise depending on your own sensibilities – such were that of “Tosshi”, Shinsengumi Vice Chief Toshiro Hijikata’s otaku persona when he chose to acquire an intriguing sword with its own dark history.
…That’s the backstory to many of the images you’ve likely caught online as post production rolled on for Gintama 2, the upcoming live-action sequel to the 2017 film that retold a slight retooling of the Benizakura Arc. Title actor Oguri Shun is back in the role of Sakata Gintoki, a lazy, sweet-toothed ronin/odd jobs entrepreneur in an alternative Edo-period Japan with Hashimoto Kanna as Yato exile, Kagura and Suda Masaki as the straight-laced Shimura Shinpachi.
Also returning is actor and musician Domoto Tsuyoshi who plays Takasugi, the elusive leader of the Kiheitai rebels, as will Yagira Yuya who plays the aforementioned Hijikata/Tosshi. Rounding out the cast of course will be several select returning cast members aside from plenty of new faces, some of which include Kimura Midoriko as Otose, Gintoki’s landlord and one of the Four Devas of Kabuki District, Miura Haruma as Kamotaro Ito, Hijikata’s ambitious, ill-gotten Shinsengumi rival, and Tokyo Ghoul star Kubota Masataka as Kawakami Bansai, an elite cohort of Takasugi’s.
Fukuda Yuichi is at the helm for this spectacular undertaking which now stakes its claim with a jam-packed, first official poster which you can view below!
View post on imgur.com
Yep. Because of course Warner Bros. Pictures Japan totally would with this poster for Gintama 2. Indeed it’s the kind of campaigning that fits right into the fourth wall-breaking spectrum of the anime and manga and those in the know would expect as much.
All else is still pending about the actual follow-up to last year’s hit adaptation from director Fukuda Yuichi. Thus, we wait, and all while enduring the kind of tomfoolery courtesy of co-star Sato Jiro (a.k.a. the not-Marlon Brando of our generation) in the poster below.
And just like that, we have a teaser for Fukuda Yuichi’s upcoming Gintama 2 ahead of its August 17 release. Your guess is as good as mine on what’s to come following last year’s Benizakura treatment and though it looks more of an announcement sans any new footage there might be, it helps to see something. Even the logo looks pretty dang spiffy.
As for the players: Oguri Shun, Masaki Suda and Hashimoto Kanna all reprise their roles based on the hit manga from Sorachi Hideaki with Sato Jiro, and even the enigmatic “Elizabeth” also returning to star.
I’m still a little bit on the fence about Fukuda Yuichi’s 2017 live-action adaptation of Sorachi Hideaki’s Gintama. Granted however, it’s a pretty short fence with lots of cozy bushes to land on as much as I’ve given the film a curve being a fan of the anime that I am and how generally fun the film was.
Needless to say, I’m already curious about what the summer will bring with the forthcoming sequel, tentatively titled Gintama 2. The latest update over at the offical website doesn’t have much in the way of anything new apart from the expected return of actor Masaki Suda and actress Hashimoto Kanna in the respective roles of straight-laced Shinpachi and loveable, battle-proficient Yato exile Kagura.
Both rejoin actor Oguri Shun who headlines the trio based on Sorachi Hideaki’s longstanding manga and subsequent anime. Gintama centers its whacky, often parodic narrative on a trio of odd jobbers self-sustaining in an alternative era of Japan where alien occupation and co-existence have since led to an intergalactic power struggle with supernatural forces partly led by a superhuman, anarchic foe connected to our hero’s past.
Fukuda directed the 2017 film which delivers a live-action telling of the Benizakura Arc, as well as a limited dTV series based on the Mitsuba Arc after. The sequel is set to arrive on August 17 as fans await the final half of the Silver Soul arc which airs in July.
Production reportedly wrapped earlier this month following an announcement in February. Actor Sato Jiro played one of the first film’s villains and is expected to return for the sequel in a different capacity which Fukuda himself has previously teased via Twitter.
Further cast, crew and plot details remain pending while the production has since ponied up three new interlinked character posters of our title cast which you can view below.
GINTAMA 2: Character Posters
Meghan Whitfield and Kishita Kirt contributed to this report.
Going into some more adaptations, I have at least five others in mind worth pointing out, one of which already might be in production given the recent announcement of Gintama 2. Little is known about the project which will have Fukuda Yuichi back at the helm advancing a follow-up to this year’s live-actiom rendition of the Benizakura Arc in his 2017 film starring Oguri Shun, Kahsimoto Hanna and Masaki Suda; Well Go USA is releasing that one in the Spring on DVD and Blu-Ray while we await more info on the sequel and what it entails.
Chinese moviegoers will continue to endure their beloved folklore as seen on the big screen in time for the Chinese New Year release of The Monkey King 3: Kingdom Of Women. Aaron Kwok is back in the title role with William Feng as the monk Tang under director Soi Cheang who shepherds this latest chapter that now sees our heroes mitigating their newfound place in a self-sustaining kingdom of women and its stern leader. February 16, 2018 is the date which might see a day-and-date release with the U.S. as well from Well Go USA. We’ll see.
Kubo Tite’s Bleach saw better days for its 2001 manga and bustling anime early on, although granted, there’s still a fanbase that Warner Bros. Japan still wishes to tap into, even if actor Fukushi Sota is the only name publicly attached to the pic. Here he stars as a high school student gifted with the ability see ghosts, who is further imbued with the abilities of a Soul Reaper when stumbling upon an epic battle between an afterworld warrioress from the Soul Society, and a ghoulsh entity known as a “Hollow”. I love the anime through the Soul Society arc and I’m curious about where this will go. Sato Shinsuke directs. And I’m pretty certain others will star in it too because having Sota all my himself is starting to get pretty damn weird.
Kim Jee-Woon of I Saw The Devil fame is well underway with a feature adaptation of his own with Inrang, taken from the alluring action, drama and suspense seen in Oshii Mamoru’s acclaimed 1998 animated thriller, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. This one resets its story in the future where the path to a unified Korea remains fragile due to skirmishes between formalists and radical dissidents. Kang Dong-Won stars along with Han Hyo-Joo, Jung Woo-Sung, Han Ye-Ri and Choi Min-Ho for the film’s expected 2018 release.
I’m not too familiar with the Laughing Under The Clouds manga but the anime is keeping me pacificed at the moment. At any rate, folks can catch this latest precursor to Bleach from Ajin helmer Motohiro Katsuyuki with Fukushi Sota leading the cast of characters for the tale of three brothers entrusted with protecting an ancient shrine in lieu of the Meiji government’s takeover of Japan. The trailer itself has some appeal as well and for that matter, a full cast compared to…well… Sato-san’s Bleach (like seriously, someone needs to get on that, STAT!) Laughing Under The Clouds opens in March in Japan!
Another batch of five arrives tomorrow! Stay tuned!
なんと… #映画銀魂
You must be logged in to post a comment.