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Terraformars Film Gets Live-Action Prequel Special

Docomo's dTV streaming service announced on Tuesday that it will premiere a live-action special based on the live-action film of Kenichi Tachibana and Yū Sasuga's science-fiction manga Terraformars manga on April 24, just five days before the film. The live-action drama will be a prequel to the film titled Terraformars: Aratanaru Kibō (Terraformars: A New Hope).

The visual's tagline reads "We will be the ones to go to Mars."

The prequel will center on the research institute responsible for screening candidates for the Mars mission. The candidates will cheat and betray each other in a mental battle to be chosen as part of the crew, and it will reveal why the 15 crew members in the film were the ones chosen.

Hideaki Itō, Emi Takei, Mariko Shinoda, Rina Ōta, Rinko Kikuchi, Masaya Katō are reprising their roles from the film. Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Kōji Matoba, Ken Aoki, Takahiro Kuroishi, Kento Hayashi, Tetsuya Sugaya, Takemi Fujii, and Saki Takaoka are playing other characters who are unique to the prequel.

Yoshitaka Yamaguchi is directing the prequel on the film's sets, while the film's director Takashi Miike is supervising its production.

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The film will open in Japan on April 29, during the Golden Week holidays. Takashi Miike (live-action films of Ichi the Killer, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Yatterman, As the Gods Will, Crows Zero, Mogura no Uta) is directing the film, and Kazuki Nakashima (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill) wrote the screenplay. The Sandaime J Soul Brothers from Exile Tribe music group will perform the theme song for the film.

The site previously streamed a teaser:

Tachibana and Sasuga launched the original Terraformars manga in 2011, and Shueisha published the 15th volume on November 19. The manga has 10 million copies in circulation. Viz Media is releasing the manga in North America, and it describes the story:

In the late 26th century, overpopulation on Earth is reaching the breaking point, and humanity must find new frontiers. The terraforming of Mars has taken centuries, but is now complete. The colonization of Mars by humanity is an epoch-making event, but an unintended side effect of the terraforming process unleashes a horror no one could ever have imagined...

After humanity's first manned mission to the Red Planet was lost, a second expedition arrives. The explorers prepare to exterminate the cockroaches that were used to transform the Martian environment. They are shocked to discover that the insects have mutated into giant, aggressive humanoids with one overriding goal: exterminate the humans! But this crew of explorers has each undergone the "Bugs Procedure, " terrifying experimental surgery designed to make them more than human...

The official website unveiled a new poster visual for the film on Monday.

The film's cast includes:

Hideaki Itō (Princess Blade, Onmyoji, Umizaru, Sukiyaki Western Django, Lesson of the Evil) will play the lead role of Shōkichi Komachi.

Emi Takei (live-action Rurouni Kenshin's Kaoru, Kyō, Koi o Hajimemasu's Tsubaki, Ai to Makoto's Ai, Clover's Saya) stars as the heroine Nanao Akita.

Takayuki Yamada (Densha Otoko, Bakuman., H2: Kimi to Ita Hibi) as Ichirō Hiruma

Shun Oguri (Lupin III, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa, Detective Conan) as Kō Honda

Kane Kosugi (Street Fighter Alpha, Choy Lee Fut, Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear) as God Lee

Rinko Kikuchi (Pacific Rim, Babel, The Sky Crawlers) as Asuka Moriki, based on Victoria Wood

Masaya Katō (Crying Freeman, 1998 Godzilla, Unfair) as Keisuke Dōjima, based on Donatello K. Davis

Eiko Koike (20th Century Boys, Seppun, Nasu: Summer in Andalusia) as Mina Ōbari, based on Zhang Ming-Ming

Mariko Shinoda (former AKB48 idol, Ouran High School Host Club) as Sorae Ōsako, based on Jaina Eisenstein

Kenichi Takitō (Ryōmaden, Climber's High) as Shunji Tezuka, based on Tejas Viji

Rina Ōta (The Next Generation -Patlabor-, Princess Jellyfish) as Maria Renjō, based on Maria Viren

Rila Fukushima (The Wolverine, Arrow, Game of Thrones) as the new, original character Sakakibara

The non-Japanese team members in the original manga have had their names and part of their characters changed. For example, the Thai character Thien is now Jin Mutō, as played by former NEWS band member Tomohisa Yamashita (a.k.a. "Yamapi" from Kurosagi, Ikebukuro West Gate Park, Ashita no Joe).

Source: Comic Natalie