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Live-Action Chiruran Series to Stream in Over 100 Territories via HBO Max on May 9
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
The official X (formerly Twitter) account for the live-action adaptation of Eiji Hashimoto and Shinya Umemura's Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem (Chiruran: Shinsengumi Chinkon-ka) manga revealed the key visuals for the "Edo Seishun-hen" (Coming of Age in Edo Arc) specials, and the "Kyōto Kessen-hen" (Battle in Kyoto Arc) series on Wednesday. The series' staff also announced that the series will stream in over 100 countries and territories worldwide via HBO Max starting on May 9. The series will stream under the English title Song of the Samurai.
"Edo Seishun-hen" key visual
"Kyōto Kessen-hen" key visual
The previously announced cast members include (historical Japanese names listed here in traditional family-name-first order):
- Yūki Yamada as Hijikata Toshizō
- Aoi Nakamura as Yamanami Keisuke
- Kanata Hosoda as Okita Sōji
- Shūhei Uesugi as Nagakura Shinpachi
- Akira Emoto as Nagakura Shinpachi in old age
- Kisetsu Fujiwara as Saito Hajime
- Yōsuke Sugino as Abiru Eisaburō
- Shūntaro Yanagi as Tōdō Heisuke
- Hihio Iwanaga as Inoue Genzaburō
- Gō Ayano as Serizawa Kamo
- Eita Okuno as Niimi Nishiki
- Mitsuomi Takahashi as Hirayama Gorō
- Nobuaki Kaneko as Sasaki Tadasaburō
- Masanobu Andō as Tanaka Shinbei
- Yūki Sakurai as Oume
- Kento Nakajima as Okada Izō
- Meru Nukumi as Makoto Ichikawa
- Jun Matsumoto as Matsudaira Katamori
Filming began in April 2025 throughout Japan, particularly in Kyoto, Shiga, Shizuoka, and Chiba Prefectures. Akira Morii (Yū Yū Hakusho, Alice in Borderland) of THE SEVEN company is producing the project. Kazutaka Watanabe (live-action Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe, Only Yesterday) is directing off scripts by Masaaki Sakai (live-action Rasen no Meikyū, Informa).
Kensuke Sonomura (The Boy and The Beast, GANTZ:O) is directing the action sequences, and THE SEVEN's Tomofumi Akahane is producing the visual effects. Yūya Maeda (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable, Yo-kai Watch: Sora Tobu Kujira to Double Sekai no Daibōken da Nyan!) is credited for character designs. THE SEVEN's Kiri Ishida is supervising post-production. Yoshiaki Dewa (Kino's Journey - The Beautiful World, Hell's Paradise) is composing the music.
Mangamo is releasing the manga in English digitally under the title The Shinsen-gumi, and it describes the manga:
The Shinsen-gumi were a special police force in Japan in the 19th century. Tasked originally with protecting the Shogunate, they eventually dedicated themselves to restoring order in Kyoto. Hijikata Toshizo is responsible for the death of The Shinsen-gumi, but he was once one of them. This is his story.
Umemura provided the story, and Hashimoto illustrated the manga. The duo launched the series in the inaugural issue of Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Comic Zenon magazine in 2010. The manga began its final arc with the 32nd volume on January 20, 2022, and ended in April 2023.
The manga inspired a stage play adaptation that ran in April 2017.
Umemura and Hashimoto launched a comedy spinoff manga titled Chiruran Nibun no Ichi in Monthly Comic Zenon in May 2016. The spinoff manga received an anime series of shorts that premiered in January 2017. Crunchyroll streamed the series under the title Chiruran 1/2 as it aired.
Sources: Chiruran live-action series' X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie
