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Humanoid Monster Bem's Bela Character Gets Live-Action Film in September
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
ADK Emotions announced on Thursday that it is producing Yōkai Ningen Bela (Humanoid Monster Bela), a live-action film based on the character Bela from the Yōkai Ningen Bem (Humanoid Monster Bem) franchise. The film will open in Japan on September 11. The teaser visual below has a tagline that reads, "The illusive final episode of Yōkai Ningen Bem."
As with the recent BEM anime re-imagining of the franchise, Bela (played by emma) in this incarnation is a high school student. The film's story begins with the meeting between Bela and the main character Kōsuke Arata (Win Morisaki), a man who works at an advertising firm. Kōsuke is tasked with entering an abandoned building in his task to research the classic anime Yōkai Ningen Bem, and finds the anime's "illusive final episode." Meanwhile, Bela Yurigasaki transfers into her new school, and her arrival heralds a change in the school's mood, and a creeping madness that slowly consumes all of her classmates.
As Kōsuke is driven to pursue Bela, he too slowly goes mad. His wife Ayumi (Akane Hotta) and son Hinata (Sōsuke Yoshida) begin to be disturbed by Kōsuke's unstable behavior. Ayumi hires a curiously aloof and quiet private detective named Taku Kirishima (Seiji Rokkaku) to investigate.
The other cast members include Rinne Yoshida, Hiyori Sakurada, Hiroya Shimizu, and Akira Onodera.
Tsutomu Hanabusa (live-action Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, Grand Blue Dreaming, 3D Kanojo Real Girl) is directing the film, and Daisuke Hosaka (Chi's Sweet Adventure) penned the script. Minami Nozaki (Wanwa the Puppy, Voice of Fox, Michiru Rescue!) is composing the film's music, and BREAKERS performs the film's theme song "BARBARA."
Yōkai Ningen Bem (Humanoid Monster Bem) is a classic supernatural adventure anime that aired from 1968 to 1969. In the original 26-episode anime, Bem, Bela, and Belo are ugly humanoid monsters (yōkai) who fight for justice. The monsters live among humans and protect them from evil yōkai. The three find themselves ostracized from both humans and other yōkai, but the three continue to fight in hopes of one day becoming humans themselves.
The BEM television anime re-imagining premiered in July 2019. Funimation streamed the series as it aired in Japan. The anime will have a new anime movie titled Gekijо̄ban BEM~BECOME HUMAN that will open in Japan this fall.
Sources: Yōkai Ningen Bela website, Comic Natalie
