kento yamazaki

GOLDEN KAMUY Official Teaser Signals ‘High & Low’ Director’s Latest With Kento Yamazaki In 2024!

Director Shigeaki Kubo of HiGH&LOW franchise fame is a name I, and others among my mutuals have come to love and appreciate over the last eight years or so. His latest return to the big screen comes by way of Toho nowadays as fans of actor Kento Yamazaki can now look toward January 19 for the Japan release of the new survival action thriller, Golden Kamuy. Hailing from Credeus, Inc., the production label behind the Yamazaki-led Kingdom trilogy from director Shinsuke Sato, Golden Kamuy is based on Satoru Noda’s award-winning Seinen manga out of Weekly Young Jump which ran from 2014 to last year. The story, set in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War, sees Yamazaki in the role of Sugimoto, a celebrated Imperial war hero who, along with an indigenous Ainu hunter named Asirpa, finds himself at the center of a mystery involving a band of prison escapees beholden […]

KINGDOM 2: FAR AND AWAY Review: Shinsuke Sato’s Epic Sequel Ignites The Franchise Spark

Lee B. Golden III

Shinsuke Sato’s 2019 manga adaptation, Kingdom dared us to dream. His hit sequel, Kingdom 2: Far And Away, demanded we saw our dreams through… Shin (Kento Yamazaki) takes the mantle as he leads a regiment of makeshift soldiers accomodating the Qin forces of King Eisei (Ryo Yoshizawa) and battlefield General Hyoko (Etsushi Toyokawa) to the Daikan Plains in response to the advancing neighboring forces of Wei. Along the way, Shin finds himself reuniting with Bihei (Amane Okayama) and elder brother Bitou (Takahiro Miura) before the regiment’s arrival to the plains where the men must group into units of five to be formidable. Joined by the unassuming Takukei (Takayuki Hamatsu) and the terse but deadly Kyoukai (Nana Seino), Shin and the brothers form a quintet and charge into battle with the regiment under the leadership of Commander Bakukoshin (Kiyohiko Shibukawa). The attack leads to the first of multiple battles with Wei […]

Shinsuke Sato’s KINGDOM 3 Rings In The New Year With The First Official Teaser!

Lee B. Golden III

Bringing the trilogy full circle this year is director Shinsuke Sato with a third installment of the Kingdom saga based on the work of mangaka Yasuhisa Hara. Following the film’s announcement a few weeks ago in Toho’s 2023 line-up, we now have the film’s first official teaser to kick off the new year which you can view below. The film reunites Sato with actor Kento Yamazaki following their latest banner success with season two of Alice In Borderland on Netflix. Sato and Yamazaki paired up for the inaugural hit film in 2019 which is set against the backdrop of the Warring States period, and tells of a young slave who finds himself protecting a king in exile against his usurped stepbrother. The film also starred Ryo Yoshizawa and Kanna Hashimoto who returned for the 2022 summer sequel, Kingdom 2: To The Land Of Faraway, with both films becoming top box […]

ALICE IN BORDERLAND Sees No Way Out For Our Players In The Explosive Season Two Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

The official Japan account for Netflix is already hyping up live-tweet viewing parties for fans of the hit series, Alice In Borderland, which you’re totally invited to check out on your own terms, but do it quick. Season two is en route for later this month and the official trailer is finally here to show us all that’s in store for the seemingly neverending game of death. Read all about season two, and then watch the brand new trailer below and peep the second season artwork just beneath. Of course, for a season one refresher with thoughts from yours truly, click here! – “If we clear all the games, can we return to the real world?” – This mega-hit survival drama starring Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya and directed by Shinsuke Sato has been widely anticipated across the globe. Now, the long-awaited continuation of the series that reached the Top […]

KINGDOM 2 Continues The Sweeping Warring States Action Saga In The New Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Call it obligatory, call it obsessive, I don’t care. Any day a trailer gets launched for a Shinsuke Sato flick is a good day, much like Thursday over here in the west as Japan is just now waking up to Friday in their time zone with a brand-spanking new trailer for Warring States-set epic, Kingdom 2, and that’s all I’m gonna call it until it gets a proper title translated so that I don’t end up butchering it. The sequel is based on Yasuhisa Hara’s 2006 manga which evidently led to Shueisha producing a live-action short ten years later, which in turn, paved the way for the amazing 2019 feature film adaptation from Toho, and you can read about that film here. Kento Yamazaki, who is running high on momentum this year as he is also set to reprise his role for a second season of Sato’s hit survival series, […]

Shinsuke Sato’s KINGDOM Sequel Campaign Kicks Off 2022 With New Teaser Announcement And Artwork Goods!

Lee B. Golden III

We now have our first look at new teaser and poster art for the brand new Kingdom sequel from Toho, thanks to the film’s campaign announcing a Summer 2022 release. Filmmaker Shinsuke Sato (Bleach, Alice In Borderland) is back in the director’s chair with a mix of new and returning cast members headlining, including Kento Yamazaki, Kanna Hashimoto, Ryo Yoshizawa and Takao Ozawa all reprising their roles. Kingdom was released in 2019, based on Yasuhisa Hara’s 2006 Weekly Young Jump publication. The story for the inaugural epic is set against the backdrop of Qin – one of the seven major territories in 255 B.C. during the Warring States period – where a young war orphan named Shin (Yamazaki) bans together with a tribal drifter, and an exiled king with a keen likeness to Shin’s departed best friend, to help unify China by defeating the king’s evil younger half-brother who’s usurped […]

Now On Netflix: Shinsuke Sato’s ALICE IN BORDERLAND Delivers Exhilirating Action Sci-Fi With Chilling Effect

Lee B. Golden III

Standing at eight episodes in total with close to an hour for each, it’s difficult to get past the need for a more brisk pace in dialogue and story delivery when it comes to episodic dramas. With Shinsuke Sato’s Alice In Borderland, it certainly helps that this one is an action-packed stimulant from a filmmaker credited for some of the most ample, worthwhile successes in action direction. From the first episode onward, manga author Haro Aso’s own titular work is the basis for this story as we meet Ryohei Arisu, (Kento Yamazaki), a gaming addict and overall slacker. When he’s not wasting away at the controls to the chagrin of his much more successful, albeit judgemental brother and father, he escapes from under their microscope to hang out with friends Karube and Chota. After getting chewed out by his family and thrown out, Arisu convenes with his friends at the […]

ALICE IN BORDERLAND: The Death Games Begin In The Official Series Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

If you take away nothing else from the work of Bleach helmer Shinsuke Sato, take the fact that he nearly never disappoints when it comes to storytelling. His latest work, Alice in Borderland, looks to continue that legacy heading toward its December 10 stream date at 3:00 a.m. EST on Netflix, and we finally have an official trailer to show for it. Arisu—a listless, jobless and video-game-obsessed young man—suddenly finds himself in a strange, emptied-out version of Tokyo in which he and his friends must compete in dangerous games in order to survive. In this strange world, Arisu meets Usagi, a young woman who’s navigating the games alone. Together, they set out to unravel one mystery after another as they risk their lives and confront what it means to live. Sato ran point for all eight episodes, based on Haro Aso’s Shogakukan man publication. The film marks a reunion for […]

THE DOOR INTO SUMMER: Kento Yamazaki Chooses The Future In The First Teaser

Lee B. Golden III

Taking his cues from Robert A. Heinlen’s 1957 novel of the same name, Fortuna’s Eye helmer Takahiro Miki’s got his sights set on some alluring cerebral sci-fi as teased in the latest footage for next year’s The Door Into Summer. Starring Kento Yamazaki from a script by Time Traveler: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time scribe Tomoe Kanno, Toho and Aniplex are teaming up for the film’s Japan release in February. The Door Into Summer is set in 1995, and centers on Soichiro Takakura (Yamazaki), a robotics specialist who is also on the verge of completing a plasma storage battery, thus fulfilling the dream of his late father’s deceased friend, Matsushita. Devastated and faced with an ultimate betrayal by his partners and loved ones, Takakura takes it upon himself to rest in cryostasis in hopes of awakening to a better future, which still remains to be seen when he finally […]

CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI Lands At Well Go USA For North American Release

Lee B. Golden III

Third in line since debut directing Death Trance and the recent Shudder release of Re:Born, dynamic action duo Tak Sakaguchi and Yuji Shimomura will be bringing the crazy to North America with their latest feat, Crazy Samurai Musashi. Well Go USA has acquired the rights to the ambitious period sword thriller, marking Sakaguchi’s first time back to the label since 2011 with the U.S. release of several Japanese genre titles, namely Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon and Deadball. In Crazy Samurai Musashi, Sakaguchi stars as the 17th century samurai of legend, Miyamoto Musashi, who battles more than four hundred warriors in a deadly challenge against the Yoshioka Ryu. Actors Kento Yamazaki, Yosuke Saito, Ben Hiura and Arata Yamanaka also star in the film which is now being sold internationally for this year’s virtual market at the Toronto International Film Festival by sales agent, Princ Films. Crazy Samurai Musashi has […]

Fantasia XXIV Review: Yuji Shimomura’s CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI Is An Audacious Jidaigeki Experiment That Stands The Test Of Time

Lee B. Golden III

Just over ten years ago, fan favorite Tak Sakaguchi made headlines with director Sion Sono for an ambitious “super genre” action project which, for some reason or another, took on an entirely different identity than intially intended. Much of that project was shot in the space of seventy-five minutes in a single afternoon, only to be shelved for the next several years until it fell into the prospective hands of longtime friend and film cohort, Yuji Shimomura, back in 2018. Together with executive producer Takayuki Ota, the race to finish what would become ultimately known as Crazy Samurai Musashi, is one that definitely required a strong blitz. The addition of actor Kento Yamazaki, one of the biggest film actor in Japan today, and the lead actor of one of Sakaguchi’s most recent credits, Shinsuke Sato’s Kingdom, is exactly what the doctor ordered to help get this film back on radar. […]

CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI Kills And Kills Again And Again In The Newest Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

The newest trailer is online for Yuji Shimomura’s new film, Crazy Samurai Musashi, starring the one and only Tak Sakaguchi and Kento Yamazaki. For both actors, the film will also mark their latest return to Fantasia Festival next month since appearing in last year’s striking premiere of Shinsuke Sato’s riveting hit manga adaptation, Kingdom. NON-STOP ACTION AWAITS IN CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI! Martial artist Tak Sakaguchi (VERSUS, WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL, YAKUZA WEAPON) is back in the spotlight with CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI – a long-in-the-making, unique take on swordsman Musashi Miyamoto’s most fabled battle, shot here as a single 77-minute action sequence by director Yûji Shimomura (DEATH TRANCE, RE:BORN). It’s Tak, 588 foes, and no room for error! Canadian Premiere. A Japan release will follow suit with a date set for August 21, 2020. In the meantime, Sakaguchi’s other pairing with Death Trance helmer Shimomura in Re:Born is now […]

CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI Lands An August Release, And A New Poster With Kento Yamazaki!

Lee B. Golden III

Actor and action star Tak Sakaguchi’s proliferation continues no less than Thursday’s unveiling of an official poster for Crazy Samurai Musashi. The official release date in Japan will be on August 21, whereby fans of the action star can undoubtedly expect to hear more on the film’s progression in the international circuit through 2021. Next to rejoining long time colleagues Sakaguchi and filmmaker/stunt maestro Yuji Shimomura, the film also signals a few more cast additions, namely the prospective billing of Sakaguchi’s Kingdom protagonist, actor Kento Yamazaki. An international trailer also began making the rounds as well through an extended intro video by way of the Wiiber YouTube channel last month. This film, taken around the time of “Out and Deluxe,” consists of the most famous battle of the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. In this 77-minute, one-scene, no-cut action sequence, Miyamoto (TAK∴) defeats 588 enemies, one after the other. There is no […]

Shinsuke Sato Inherits A KINGDOM Sequel!

Lee B. Golden III

Buried in all the terrible goings-on of news in the world in the last few weeks, at least one gem came to pass and just recently made my way with word that a sequel has been greenlit to follow-up Bleach helmer Shinsuke Sato’s hit manga adaptation, Kingdom. The official website presented an illustration from Kingdom creator, mangaka Yasuhisa Hara, to signal the sequel, formalizing the return of actors Kento Yamazaki and Ryō Yoshizawa, and actress Kanna Hashimoto to reprise their roles. Indeed, Sato himself, whose work I’ve enjoyed since The Princess Blade with Yumiko Shaku years ago, will return to the helm. Sequel details are pending, although those who are more apt to the franchise may have an idea for what may come after Sato’s intricate and sweeping Warring States Period story, about a young war orphan destined to become a hero following the death of his best friend. Designed […]

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JOJO’S BIZZARE ADVENTURE: DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE – CHAPTER 1: VIZ Media Takes A Stand For Takashi Miike’s Live-Action Horror Manga Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Otakus and cinema fans alike who’d been hoping to take a gander at Takashi Miike’s live action adaptation, JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – Chapter 1, are in luck with Tuesday’s newly-announced release of the film on Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack. Based on Hirohiko Arai’s hit manga franchisen, the film opened in Japan back in 2017, a provenly huge year as it was nearly wall-to-wall in live-action manga/anime adaptations. VIZ Media is supplying the masses following their acquisition in 2018 in the wake of snagging rights to the JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Golden Wind anime. The film marks another move proliferating actor Kento Yamazaki for the American market following last year’s rollout of Funimation Films’ Kingdom. Yamazaki is joined by Yusuke Iseya, Ryunosuke Yamada, Nana Komatsu, Masaki Okada and Mackenyu among the cast. Welcome to idyllic Morioh, whose ocean views and charming townscapes make it a breezy Japanese utopia. But a […]

ALICE IN BORDERLAND: ‘Kingdom’ Star And Director Tackle New Netflix Survival Thriller Series

Lee B. Golden III

Netflix is announcing an all-new original series with Alice In Borderland, based on Haro Aso’s popular manga reteaming Kingdom star and director, actor Kento Yamazaki and celebrated director Shinsuke Sato. Also starring is actress Tao Tsuchiya who last paired with Sato for 2015’s Library Wars: The Last Mission. Yamazaki will play Alice, an aimless, jobless videogame addict who finds himself swept into a desolate version of Tokyo with his two best friends when a strange light appears. They soon discover they must fight for their lives, competing in one dangerous game after another in order to survive with the help of extraordinary climber, Usagi, played by Tsuchiya. Aso’s thrilling life-or-death game manga originally published in 2010 and onward from Shonen Sunday Super/Weekly Shonen Sunday. Sato is best known for hits like The Princess Blade, The Library Wars trilogy, Gantz, Bleach and Inuyashiki and now takes to a limited U.S. theatrical […]

Fantasia Review: Shinsuke Sato’s KINGDOM Is A Soaring, Sweeping Epic That Dares You To Dream

Lee B. Golden III

Following the success of Bleach, I least expected Shinsuke Sato to have directed his latest rags-to-renown action adventure epic, Kingdom – a title in what would be a series of thrilling back-to-back films from a director who first landed on my radar around 2004 with a DVD copy of The Princess Blade from A.D. Vision. Actress Yumiko Shaku starred in that one and showcased key action direction by Donnie Yen, and it aptly invoked Sato in his early growth as a filmmaker who knows action. I still have yet to see all his films, but to date, he’s never let me down; I toiled through the Bleach anime before the film and save for what you can read for yourself, I can easily say it is one of the best films I’ve ever seen, and I’m proud to say I’m not alone in that opinion. Instantaneously, upon seeing the teasers […]

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JOJO’S BIZZARE ADVENTURE: DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE: Watch The First Thirteen Minutes Of Miike Takashi’s Live-Action Manga Thriller!

Lee B. Golden III

It remains to be seen when exactly we’ll see some acquisition news regarding Miike Takashi’s second of two anime adaptations this summer, JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable. Apart from that, all one needs to know is that the reactions have all but largely fared well by those who’ve managed to spy an eye on the spooky live-action fantasy horror treatment of Araki Hirohiko’s longstanding anime about a high school student’s journey of self-discovery amid epic battles with “stand users” that soon start to affect the quiet town of Morioh. The film opened in Japan on August 4 following festivals premieres at Neuchatel and at Montreal’s Fantasia Festival. With more updates pending on its rollout, Warner Bros. Japan has been unveiling a series of clips online with our cast in action, as well as some of the striking VFX work put into showcasing the “stands”. I also realize that not […]

Miike Takashi’s JOJO’S BIZZARE ADVENTURE Shines Bright Like A Diamond With A New Poster And A Slick First Teaser

Lee B. Golden III

Miike Takashi is well on the way with his latest, Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure hitting screens in Japan this August. Indeed, the story does reach some seriously bizzare and weird points which makes a guy like Miike such a fitting director as he has a knack for approaching oddities at great depth on film. Such is what we now get in his latest follow-up from working on recent titles like Yakuza Apocalypse and Terra Formars and the forthcoming Blade Of The Immortal which opens in April. For this, it’s off to the finish line with the first official teaser now making thïe rounds from Warner Bros. Japan with actor Yamazaki Kento leading the cast for the film, inspired by Diamond Is Unbreakable arc in Araki Hirohiko’s hit manga series. SYNOPSIS: In the fictional town of Moriou, Josuke Higashikata is the illegitimate son of Joseph Joestar. He possess a Stand (super power), […]