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Live-Action Rurouni Kenshin Sequels Previewed in 5-Minute Highlight Reel
posted on by Egan Loo
The animeanime.jp website began streaming over five minutes of video from this summer's Rurouni Kenshin live-action films on Friday. The "highlight reel special" aims to acquaint filmgoers with the first film in five minutes.
The video notes that a March 21, 2013 Internet Research poll found that 87% of potential viewers were looking forward to these sequels. It also notes that the two films have a combined budget of 3 billion yen (about US$30 million). The video features the theme song "Mighty Long Fall" by the band ONE OK ROCK, who also performed the first live-action Rurouni Kenshin film's theme song. The video then introduces the main antagonist of the new films, Shishio, as well as Shishio's right-hand man, Sōjirō Seta.
Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Taika-hen (Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno) will open on August 1, followed by Rurouni Kenshin: Densetsu no Saigo-hen (Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends) on September 13. The film is holding a promotional campaign in all 47 prefectures in Japan:
The sequels will feature the return of the following cast members:
- Takeru Satoh as Kenshin Himura
- Emi Takei as Kaoru Kamiya
- Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara
- Yū Aoi as Megumi Takani
- Yōsuke Eguchi as Hajime Saitō
Additional cast members include:
Tao Tsuchiya as Misao Makimachi
Ryunosuke Kamiki as Sōjirō Seta
Yusuke Iseya as Aoshi Shinomori
68-year-old Min Tanaka (Tekkonkinkreet, The Twilight Samurai, 47 Ronin remake) as Nenji Kashiwazaki/Okina
47-year-old Kazufumi Miyazawa (The Boom music band) as Toshimichi Ōkubo
39-year-old Yukiyoshi Ozawa (Umi no Hotaru) as Hirobumi Itō
12-year-old Kaito Ōyagi (Ninja Kids!!! Summer Mission Impossible) as Yahiko Myōjin
25-year-old model Maryjun Takahashi as Yumi Komagata
The cast of the Juppongatana (Ten Swords), a group of elite swordsmen led by Shishio (played by Tatsuya Fujiwara), include:
- Ryōsuke Miura as Chō Sawagejō
- Kenichi Takitō as Hōji Sadojima
- Tomomi Maruyama as Anji Yūkyūzan
- Matsu Murata as Usui Uonuma
- Hiroko Yashiki as Kamatari Honjō
- Yuuya Hara as Henya Kariwa
- Takao Yamada as Iwanbō
- Kentarō Shimazu as Saizuchi
- Kōta Yamaguchi as Fuji
Taketo Tanaka played Yahiko in the first live-action Rurouni Kenshin film. Director Keishi Ōtomo (Ryōmaden) returned from the first film along with character costume designer Kazuhiro Sawataishi.
The first live-action Rurouni Kenshin film opened in Japan in 2012. The film had its North American premiere in Los Angeles in December 2012.
Watsuki's manga ran from 1994 to 1999 in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and sold over 58 million copies. The creator also drew the Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration retelling that launched in Jump Square magazine in May 2012 and ended last year. He is now drawing a new Rurouni Kenshin spinoff manga about Shishio.
An anime series aired in Japan from 1996 to 1998 and spawned several anime film and video projects. Viz Media publishes both manga in North America, while Media Blasters released the television anime. ADV Films released two later original video anime projects and a film on DVD, and Aniplex released these three titles on Blu-ray Disc. Sentai Filmworks released the two more recent video anime series on Blu-ray Disc and DVD, which also covered the Kyoto arc.
Images © Nobuhiro Watsuki/Shueisha © 2014 Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Taika-hen/Densetsu no Saigo-hen Production Committee
