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Live-Action Blade of the Immortal Film's Clip Shows Yaobikuni Meeting Rin

The official Twitter account for the live-action film of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal "neo period drama" manga began streaming a clip from the film and updated cast information for the film on Thursday.

The clip shows a scene from the film where the Yaobikuni meets Rin at her father's grave and urges her to find Manji to help her accomplish her goal.

The Twitter account revealed that aside from playing the character Rin Asano, Hana Sugisaki will also play the character Machi (left in picture below) in the film. Machi is Manji's sister, and is part of the reason why Manji accepts Rin's request.

The staff previously streamed a video for the film last month.

The manga follows Manji's journey of revenge as the yōjinbō (bodyguard) of Rin, a young woman who swears vengeance against a group of sword fighters who murdered her parents.

The film's lead actors include Takuya Kimura (seen above) and Hana Sugisaki (seen right). Kimura (Howl's Moving Castle, Redline, live-action Space Battleship Yamato) plays the lead character Manji, a rōnin warrior cursed with an immortal body. Sugisaki (When Marnie Was There, live-action Humanoid Monster Bem, Tsukuroi Tatsu Hito) plays heroine Rin Asano.

Prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Yatterman, As the Gods Will, Crows) is directing the film. Filming took place in Kyoto in extremely cold weather, and the climax of Manji and Rin versus 300 enemies took about 15 days to shoot. The film will open in Japan on April 29.

The additional cast members include:

(Top row, from left to right):

• Sōta Fukushi as Kagehisa Anotsu
• Hayato Ichihara as Shira
• Erika Toda as Makie Otono-Tachibana

• Kazuki Kitamura as Sabato Kuroi
• Chiaki Kuriyama as Hyakurin
• Shinnosuke Mitsushima as Taito Magatsu

• Ichikawa Ebizō XI as Eiku Shizuma
• Min Tanaka as Kagimura Habaki
• Tsutomu Yamazaki as Kensui Ibane

Samura launched the Blade of the Immortal manga in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine in December of 1993, and he completed the series in 2012. The manga's 30 volumes have 5 million copies in print, and the series has been published in 22 countries and territories. The manga earned an Excellence Prize in the manga category of the 1st Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 1997, and it won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material in 2000. The manga is getting a reprint in Japan with new covers.

Dark Horse Comics published the Blade of the Immortal manga in North America, and is rereleasing it in omnibus form. The first omnibus volume shipped in January. The manga already inspired a television anime in 2008, and Media Blasters released it in English. The manga also inspired a stage play that starred Tomokazu Seki, who reprised his role from the anime as Manji.

Source: Comic Natalie