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Live-Action Sins of Kujo Series' Subtitled Teaser Reveals More Cast, Theme Song, April 2 Netflix Debut

posted on by Egan Loo
Toma Ikuta, Takenori Gotō, more join 10-episode series about lawyer for society's worst clients


Netflix posted an English-subtitled teaser trailer for the live-action series of Shohei Manabe's Kujō no Taizai (Sins of Kujo) manga on Monday. The teaser shows more of the cast, previews rock band hitsujibungaku's theme song "Dogs," and announces the series' April 2 premiere.

The newly announced cast members include:

  • Takenori Gotō as Ryōma Sugawara, a representative of a nursing facility
  • Kaito Yoshimura as Yūya Kuga, Sugawara's subordinate
  • Rintarō Mizusawa as Yūhei Fukami, Arashiyama's subordinate
  • Junsuke Tanaka as Yūto Inukai, who is serving time for a crime
  • Ryō Iwamatsu as Yūzō Yamashiro, Kujō's legal mentor
  • Makiko Watanabe as Hanae Iemori, Kujō's client
  • Akiko Kikuchi as Tomoko Ichida, a newspaper reporter
  • Sissonne comedy duo's Shinobu Hasegawa as Yoshiaki Koyama, an adult video company president
  • Yū Kashii as Reiko Kameoka, a human rights lawyer and Kujō's former classmate
  • Ken Mitsuishi as Nobuteru Nagaregi, a veteran human rights lawyer
  • Nobuko Sendō as Akiko Karasuma, Karasuma's mother
  • Toma Ikuta as Kurōdo Kurama, a prosecutor
  • Kōdai Kurosaki as Sōta Sagabe, a drug smuggler who hires Kujō for his defense
  • Biscuit Brothers comedy duo's Taiga Harada as Taku Kanemoto, a drug dealer
  • Ruka Ishikawa as Shizuku Kasagi, who walks the streets of Tokyo's Kabuikichō district

All 10 episodes of the series will stream on April 2 simultaneously around the world.

Netflix describes the story:

Does defending the greyest of the grey make him a just lawyer or a wicked one? This crime drama will make you rethink everything you know about law and morality.

Kujo Taiza is a lawyer who defends only society's worst, including thugs and ex-convicts. When elite lawyer Shinji Karasuma finds himself working for Kujo, he is quickly shocked by the man's unconventional style that doesn't adhere to standard ethics. As they represent clients with cases that reflect the gritty underbelly of society, Karasuma comes to realize Kujo's conviction but struggles to grasp his idea of justice, which he will stop at no grey method to achieve. He must decide if Kujo is truly a wicked lawyer or not.

kujonotaizai
Image via Comic Natalie

Yuuya Yagira (live-action Gintama, Aoi Honō, Crows Explode, left in image above) plays Taiza Kujō, while Hokuto Matsumura (Suzume, live-action xxxHOLiC, 5 Centimeters Per Second, right) plays Shinji Karasuma.

Other cast members include:

  • Elaiza Ikeda as Nimi Yakushimae, a social worker who watches over the accused
  • Keita Machida as Kengo Mibu, Taiza's connection to the criminal underworld who often brings him annoying cases, and runs a bicycle repair shop as a front
  • Takuma Otoo as Yoshinobu Arashiyama, who treats Taiza and Mibu as his nemeses
  • Tsuyoshi Muro as Kiyoshi Kyōgoku, the young boss of the Fushimi yakuza group

Nobuhiro Doi, Takeyoshi Yamamoto, and Hiroshi Adachi are directing the series. Shinji Nemoto is penning the scripts.

The manga centers on Kujō, a lawyer who would even defend the devil. In the new Reiwa era where chaos is spreading, he is the "guardian of darkness" who operates behind the scenes.

Manabe launched the manga in Shogakukan's Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine in October 2020. Shogakukan published the manga's 15th compiled book volume on October 30, and the series has over 4 million copies in circulation so far. 

Manabe launched the main Ushijima the Loan Shark manga in Weekly Big Comic Spirits in 2004, and ended the series in March 2019. The manga's 46th and final volume shipped in May 2019.  The main manga won in the General category of the 56th Shogakukan Manga Awards in 2011. The series was nominated for an Osamu Tezuka Culture Prize in 2008 and 2010, as well as for France's Angoulême Comics Awards in 2008. 

The Ushijima the Loan Shark manga's live-action television series adaptation ran from October-December 2010, and the first film opened in August 2012. A second season premiered in January 2014, with a second film then premiering in May 2014. The third season premiered in July 2016, while the third film opened in Japan in September 2016. The fourth and final live-action film, Yamikin Ushijima-kun The Final, opened in Japan in October 2016. A live-action spinoff series titled Yamikin Ushijima-kun Gaiden Yamikin Saihara-san (Ushijima the Loan Shark Side Story: Saihara the Loan Shark) premiered in Japan in September 2022.

Source: Comic Natalie


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