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2nd Live-Action Kakegurui Film Opens on June 1 After COVID-19 Delay

The official Twitter account for Kakegurui 2: Ultimate Russian Roulette (Kakegurui: Zettai Zetsumei Russian Roulette), the live-action film sequel based on Homura Kawamoto and Tōru Naomura's Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler manga, announced on Monday that the film will now open in Japan on June 1.

The film was slated to open in Japan on April 29, but was delayed due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the state of emergency declared in four prefectures on April 25. The film was then slated for May 12 before it was delayed yet again due to COVID-19 and the extended state of emergency in Japan.

Montreal's 25th Fantasia International Film Festival will screen the film's North American debut at the virtual film festival. The staff of the festival describes the film:

Welcome back to Hyakkaoh Academy, where the students engage in compulsive gambling to climb the social ladder, but this time around the return of a demented alumni will wreak a new kind of havoc on the school. KAKEGURUI 2: ULTIMATE RUSSIAN ROULETTE, written and directed by Tsutomu Hanabusa (PROJECT DREAMS), raises the stakes beyond money and clout to a game of life and death. This highly creative, colorful, and thrilling manga adaptation makes a reinvented poker game as engaging as a championship match.

The film will include a returning cast, but will focus on a new antagonist, the shrewd gambler Makuro Shikigami, played by Johnny's West member Ryūsei Fujii. Tsutomu Hanabusa is returning to direct the film, and is also writing the screenplay with Minato Takano.

The manga inspired a 10-episode live-action show that premiered in Japan in January 2018. Netflix is streaming the series outside of Japan. A second season premiered in March 2019. The first live-action film then opened in May 2019. Katsura Saiki's Kakegurui Twins manga spinoff also inspired a live-action series that debuted on Amazon Prime on March 26.

The main manga inspired a television anime series that ran from July to September 2017 in Japan. The series premiered outside of Japan on Netflix in February 2018. The anime's second season premiered in January 2019, and Netflix began streaming the series in June 2019.

Sources: Kakegurui 2: Ultimate Russian Roulette film's Twitter account, Comic Natalie