News

Gintama 2 Falls to #3, Kasane Debuts at #9

Gintama 2: Okite wa Yaburu Tame ni Koso Aru (The Law is Surely There to be Broken), the second live-action film based on Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama manga, dropped to #3 in its fourth week. The film sold 136,000 tickets and earned 185 million yen (about US$1.66 million) over the weekend. The film has earned a cumulative total of 2,439,699,300 yen (about US$21.96 million).

The film opened in Japan on August 17 in 345 theaters. The film earned over 800 million yen (about US$7.27 million) from Friday to Sunday to rank #1 in its opening weekend. The movie sold 215,903 tickets for 279,910,100 yen (about US$2.54 million) on that Friday, 190,682 tickets for 260,606,100 yen (about US$2.37 million) on Saturday, and 194,210 tickets for 267,002,200 yen (about US$2.43 million) on Sunday. As of September 4, the film has earned more than 2.5 billion yen (about US$22.6 million) after 19 days. The film reached the 2.5 billion yen mark two days faster than the first film, which reached the amount after 21 days.

The film's story covers both the "Shinsengumi Crisis" and the "Shogun Reception" arcs, the latter of which features the introduction of the Shogun. The film stars Shun Oguri as Gintoki Sakata, Masaki Suda as Shinpachi Shimura, Kanna Hashimoto as Kagura, Masami Nagasawa as Tae Shimura, and Masaki Okada as Kotarō Katsura.

The first film opened in Japan last July, and it earned 980 million yen (US$8.9 million) in its first four days. Well Go USA released the first film on DVD, Blu-ray Disc and DVD combo pack, and Digital HD on March 6.

The live-action film adaptation of Daruma Matsuura's Kasane manga ranked #9 on its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan on Friday.

Tao Tsuchiya is playing Nina Tanzawa, as well as Kasane with Nina's face. Kyōko Yoshine is playing protagonist Kasane, as well as Nina with Kasane's face. The plot involves the two characters trading faces through the power of a magical tube of lipstick.

Yuichi Sato (live-action Nōnai Poison Berry, Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru) directed the film, and Tsutomu Kuroiwa (GANTZ:O, One Piece Film Gold, live-action Black Butler) wrote the script.

Kodansha Comics began releasing the manga digitally in English in May 2017. The company describes the story:

Kasane's face is so hideous, you couldn't bear to look twice at her—and her ugliness has forced her to walk a harsh path in life. But her mother left her something: a tube of lipstick. The power of this lipstick will change everything about her downtrodden life.

The anime film of Yoru Sumino's I want to eat your pancreas (Kimi no Suizō o Tabetai) novel dropped off the top 10 in its second weekend.

Non Non Biyori Vacation, the anime film of Atto's Non Non Biyori manga, remained at #1 in the Japanese mini-theater rankings in its third week. The film opened on August 25.

Sources: Eiga.com, Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC