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Comedian Masatoshi Hamada will be trying his luck in a more serious role in the new drama series “Kenji Onijima Heihachiro”. He will be playing a 44 year old public prosecutor.
Hamada, nicknamed “Hama-chan”, plays the tsukkomi (similar to straight man) in the comedic duo called Downtown. “Kenji Onijima Heihachiro” will be airing in October on Asahi TV.
Source: Tokyo Graph
Tokyo Graph News reported today that the drama series Iryu will begin its third season this fall on Fuji TV. The announcement included the appearance of two new characters.
Based on Akira Nagi’s manga by the same name, Iryu is led by actor Kenji Sakaguchi. Izumi Inamori will also be returning to the series after a hiatus in season 2. Also WaT member Teppei Koike will be returning as well.
The two new stars include Kenichi Endo, who will play a new rival to Sakaguchi’s character, and Mitsuki Tanimura as a new intern.
Iryu 3 will begin airing in October.
Some quick celebrity news out of Japan, Actor Tsuyoshi Abe announced on Monday that he married Chinese actress Shi Ke. The two of them met while filming the movie “Stand in Love” in 2006.
The marriage became official when the couple registered themselves on Sunday at a Tokyo office. One of Abe’s best known roles in Japan was when he played a member of the group F4 in the TV drama “Hana Yori Dango”. Shi Ke reported that she will take a break from acting some time this summer to come to Japan.
Source: Sponichi Annex (via TokyoGraph)
When Asmik Ace announced their upcoming lineup, the primary focus was on the live adaptation of Inio Asano’s Solanin. The trailer featured Aoi Miyazaki (Nana) playing the guitar and on vocals.
Filming starts on April 25.
Source: Sports Hochi (via Tokyo Graph)
Yesterday Crunchyroll’s leader, Shinji, announced that next week he will be announcing the return “a ton” of live-action drama titles. There was no specific day of the week given.
Shinji said in the forum that “we’ve been working hard with Korean, Japanese and Chinese content owners” in order to make the deal happen and said he “can’t announce the specific titles until next week, so come back and check often!”
To read the post in its entirety, please click here.
Source: Crunchyroll
Last night Viz Pictures announced that the DVD of DEATH NOTE II is expected to hit the shelves on February 10, 2009. The movie is a direct sequel to the first live adaptation of DEATH NOTE.
The movie begins with Light Yagami assisting in hunt of a serial killer known as ‘Kira’. In the mean time, Light continues his search to find out L’s real name. Bonus features will include the making of DEATH NOTE II and the original Japanese trailer.
DEATH NOTE fans may also be interested that Viz is having two promotional offers. Fans are encouraged to fill out a survey at viz-pictures.com, where ten random people will win a special DEATH NOTE II poster. The survey must be filled out before February 28. SHONEN JUMP readers are also encouraged to enter another contest where ten random people will win a copy of the DVD and three of them will be signed by one of the lead actors (Kenichi Matsuyama, Tatsuya Fujiwara and Erika Toda). The details will be available in the March 2009 issue, which will be available on February 3.
For more information about the live movies go to viz-pictures.com or deathnotefilms.com.
If you’ve been holding your breath for an American adaptation of Lone Wolf and Cub, I hope you’re ready for an even longer haul. MTV recently contacted Darren Aronofsky regarding the project and the odds do not look good.
Mr. Aronofsky said to MTV “The rights from Japan were never cleared. They tried for a while. I don’t think it’s getting out of there anytime soon.”
Source: MTV Splash Page
Orion announced the main cast for the movie BANDAGE yesterday. Although the movie won’t be available until 2010, they began filming back on November 3.
Some of the cast members include, Jin Akanishi, Kie Kitano, Nobuaki Kaneko, and Ayumi Ito. Taking place in the early 90′s, Akanishi is the leader of a band who is trying to making it during Japan’s “band boom”.
Source:Â Orion (via tokyograph), Asian popcorn
Viz Pictures and NCM FATHOM are teaming up once again to bring you full length Japanese movies onto the silver screen before they hit the store shelves. This time it is the popular sequel to the first DEATH NOTE movie, it’s “DEATH NOTE II: The Last Name” that will appear in almost 400 theaters across the US.
Taking place right after the conclusion of the DEATH NOTE, Light Yagami joins the investigation team in pursuit of the serial killer known as “Kira.” While L still strongly suspects that Light is “Kira,” Light Yagami continues to seek out the real name of L so he can kill him with his Death Note. Making things even more unpredictable are the ‘Eyes of Death’, given to the second Kira, enabling the owner to know the true identity and lifespan of any person. Adding further confusion for the authorities, a new rash of murders attributed to the Death Note occurs all over the world and is attributed to “the Second Kira.”
The head of both companies are optimistic to the success of the country-wide screening. Dan Diamond, vice president of NCM Fathom had this to say about the continuing venture with Viz Pictures:
The first DEATH NOTE event was a tremendous success, enjoyed by thousands who were given a glimpse into the making of this visually phenomenal series earlier this year. Fathom is excited to again partner with VIZ Pictures to bring Death Note II: The Last Name to the big screen and invite fans nationwide to enjoy this wonderful event at their local movie theatre.
President and CEO of Viz Pictures, Seiji Horibuchi, also had this to say:
“DEATH NOTE” has captivated millions of fans with a truly original story that has found great success as a manga, an animated series and live-action feature. Death Note II: The Last Name continues the battle of wits between master sleuth L and his nemesis, Light Yagami, as the motives between good and evil and what is moral and what isn’t are explored and played upon. The success of the first “DEATH NOTE” live-action event in North America led us to again team with NCM FATHOM to add nearly 100 more theatres, which gives an even greater number of fans an opportunity to see the event. We invite everyone to check out this newest chapter in the “DEATH NOTE” saga.
Just like before the theatre even will also have an exclusive behind-the-scenes in the making of the move, along with an in-depth interview with director Shusuke Kaneko, plus a unique profile of the cast. The movie will be screening for two days on Wednesday, October 15th and Thursday the 16th at 7:30 local time. Although tickets will be available for all on September 5th, there will be advance ticket sales exclusively to SHONEN JUMP Newsletter Subscribers on August 29th (one week before the general public). Fans of the series are encouraged to sign up for the Newsletter at http://www.shonenjump.com/news/newsblast/options.php.
For a complete list of theatre locations, prices and ticket information, please visit www.FathomEvents.com (theatres are subject to change). Additional information about “DEATH NOTE II: THE LAST NAME”, trailers and background on the manga and animated series are available at www.DeathNoteFilms.com. For more information on Death Note II: The Last Name and other VIZ Pictures films please also visit www.viz-pictures.com. For additional information on DEATH NOTE please visit deathnote.viz.com.
Source: Viz Media
This was actually announced back in June, but hopefully I will be forgiven… I stopped by the PMX website a couple of days ago and discovered that the convention will be returning to the LAX Hilton on Veterans Day weekend. This will be the second time that the convention will be held during this holiday weekend. Also posted on their front page is the brief announcement on their first musical group, the Visual Kei Band Suicide Ali. This Gothic and eccentric group started in 2005 with two their core members Goshi on vocals and Hiroshi on guitar, followed by their other three members Hisashi, Yuu, and Mst a year later. You can check out their MySpace Page here.
Registratation is expected to begin later this month, but the convention is also holding a monthly contest on their site. The current contest (set to end August 10th) is a sketch of Irene from the series Claymore. It was drawn and autographed by last year’s GOH Takahiro Umehara.
For more details go to: http://www.pacificmediaexpo.com.
Source: Pacific Media Expo (website)