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Live-Action City Hunter Film Gets Sequel on Netflix in 2027

Netflix announced on Thursday that the Japanese live-action film of Tsukasa Hōjō's City Hunter manga will have a sequel titled City Hunter 2 that will stream exclusively on Netflix worldwide in 2027. (Thursday, March 26 is also the birthday of the story's main character Ryō.) Keiichirō Shiraki (live-action 2012 GTO episodes, Siren, Perfect World) is directing the sequel.

The first film debuted on Netflix worldwide in April 2024. The film ranked #1 on Netflix's weekly global top 10 non-English films rankings in its first week on the service, and also ranked at #1 on Netflix's top 10 films in Japan for the same week.

Ryōhei Suzuki (HK/Hentai Kamen, Tokyo Tribe, Tokyo MER) starred in the first film as Ryō Saeba, and Misato Morita (One Week Friends, Koi Suru Haha-tachi) played the heroine Kaori Makimura. Masanobu Andō (Rohan at the Louvre, Rurouni Kenshin Saishūshō The Beginning's Shinsaku Takasugi) played Ryō Saeba's partner Hideyuki Makimura, and Fumino Kimura (Rohan at the Louvre) played detective Saeko Nogami.

Yuichi Sato (Kisaragi, live-action Nōnai Poison Berry) directed the film. Tatsuhiro Mishima (live-action Yu Yu Hakusho) wrote the screenplay, and Yoshihide Otomo (INU-OH, Lupin Zero, live-action Orange) composed the music. Shinichi Takahashi was the executive producer, and Keisuke Sanpei and Kōsuke Oshida produced. Netflix produced the film in collaboration with HoriPro and Office Shirous.

Hojo's City Hunter manga ran from 1985 to 1991 and has 35 volumes. The manga inspired four television anime series, three anime films, and several video and television specials including a 2015 original anime DVD. The original anime premiered in April 1987. The City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes anime film opened in Japan in February 2019, and the City Hunter The Movie: Angel Dust film opened in September 2023.

Coamix and Imagineer's MangaHot app and website is publishing the City Hunter manga in English digitally. Abrams ComicArts' Kana imprint licensed the manga, and plans to release the series in omnibus editions in print. Kana is using new English translations for the release.

Sources: Netflix Japan X/Twitter account, Eiga Natalie