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HiGH&LOW The Worst Crossover Film Gets TV Prologue in July

The official website for HiGH&LOW THE WORST, a crossover film that integrates Hiroshi Takahashi's Crows and Worst manga with the HiGH&LOW franchise, revealed on Wednesday that the film will have a television drama prologue titled HiGH&LOW THE WORST EPISODE.0 that will premiere on NTV, Hulu, and dTV on July 17. The announcement also noted that Takahashi, who also worked on the film's script, provided "illustrations" for the television prologue.

The prologue centers on Fujio Hanaoka (Kazuma Kawamura) and Tsukasa Takajō (Hokuto Yoshino), both new students at Oya High School. Other cast members for the drama include Shigeru Izumiya as Fujio's father Tetsuji, and Tomoko Fujita as Fujio's mother Miki. MAG!C☆PRINCE music group member Shūhei Abe and ONE N' ONLY music group member Naoya Kusakawa also joins the cast as Oya High School students. The film's director Shigeaki Kubo is serving as chief director of the prologue, and Takahashi's film co-writers Norihisa Hiranuma, Shōichirō Masumoto, and Kei Watanabe are writing the prologue with Shōhei Fukuda.

The film itself will open in Japan on October 4.

The movie centers on a conflict between the students of Hōsen Academy from Crows and Worst, and the students of Oya High School from HiGH&LOW. Hōsen Academy is often called a "pack of killers," who are all bald except for their leader. Oya High School are one of five in the "SWORD" area where delinquents gather. In the film, the uneasy peace maintained by Hōsen Academy's new generation crumbles, with many gangs now seeking supremacy over one another in a new age of conflict.

The cast of the Oya High School characters includes:

(Left to right in image above): Ryūji Satō, Satoshi Uekiya, Ryū, Takahide Suzuki, Gōki Maeda, Kazuma Kawamura, Hokuto Yoshino, Kōhei Fukuyama

(Left to right in image above): Shō Jinnai, Shō Kiyohara, Wataru Ichinose, Yūki Yamada, Takayuki Suzuki, Ken Aoki

Shigeaki Kubo is directing the film, and EXILE HIRO (Hiroyuki Igarashi) is credited as producer. Takahito Ōuchi is the action director. Takahashi is penning the script alongside Norihisa Hiranuma, Shōichirō Masumoto, and Kei Watanabe.

Takahashi's Crows manga ran for 26 volumes, and inspired a two-episode anime OVA adaptation. The manga also inspired three live-action films, with Takashi Miike directing the first two films, Crows Zero and Crows Zero II. Crows Explode, the third film, opened in Japan in April 2014. Tokyo Shock released the first film on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America, and video label MVM released both Crows Zero and Crows Zero II in the United Kingdom.

Takahashi began Worst as a continuation of his earlier Crows series in 2001, and ended it with 33 compiled volumes in 2013. The story follows a delinquent named Hana Tsukishima as he rises to the top of the gangs at the notorious Suzuran Boys' High School. A single-volume side story titled Worst Gaiden ran in Monthly Shonen Champion in 2009. The franchise launched a new spinoff manga titled Worst Gaiden: Dokuro (Worst Side Story: Skull) on February 12, as well as another spinoff titled Worst Gaiden: Guriko (Worst Side Story: Guriko) that launched on January 17.

The HiGH&LOW live-action entertainment project, launched by Japanese supergroup Exile Tribe, began as a 10-episode drama series titled HiGH&LOW: The Story of S.W.O.R.D. that premiered on television and Hulu in Japan in October 2015. A second drama series titled HiGH&LOW Season 2 ran from April to June 2016. The Road to HiGH&LOW film premiered in theaters in May 2016. A second film titled HiGH&LOW The Movie premiered in theaters in July 2016, followed by the HiGH&LOW The Red Rain film, which opened in Japan in October 2016. A series of live performances titled HiGH&LOW The Live ran from July through October 2016 across Japan. HiGH&LOW The Movie 2: End of Sky opened in theaters in August 2017. The franchise's "final chapter" film, titled HiGH&LOW The Movie 3: Final Mission, opened in November 2017.

CLAMP launched a manga in March 2017, and ended it in August 2017. The manga inspired a series of Flash anime.

Sources: HiGH&LOW THE WORST film's website, Comic Natalie