News

AKB48's Haruka Shimazaki Guest Stars in Yo-kai Watch Film

The official website for the Yo-kai Watch film, Yo-kai Watch: Tanjō no Himitsu da Nyan! (Yo-kai Watch: The Movie: It's the Secret of Birth, Meow!), announced on Wednesday that AKB48 member Haruka Shimazaki (ATARU The First Love & The Last Kill), kabuki actor Ainosuke Kataoka (Hanzawa Naoki, Glass no Ie), and actor and comedian Ken Shimura will guest star in the film.

Shimura will play the strongest and most respected yokai named Master Nyaada. Master Nyaada is a legendary cat sage who has mastered a mysterious "energy force."

Kataoka is making his voice actor debut in this film, and will play the role of Ubaune, an evil old woman.

Shimazaki will play Keita's grandmother Yukippe when she was a child.

The film will star Haruka Tomatsu as Keita Amano, Tomokazu Seki as Whisper, Etsuko Kozakura as Jibanyan, and Yūki Kaji as Fuyunyan. Other cast members include Tohru Nara as Kuma, Aya Endō as Fumika Kodama, and Chie Satou as Kanchi Imada. Yoichi Kato will provide the scripts for the film, while Ken'ichirō Saigō will compose the soundtrack. Oriental Light and Magic is animating the film.

The film will open in Japan on December 20.

Game developer Level-5 announced the Yo-kai Watch franchise in 2011 with a game, manga, and anime already planned. The franchise's first game for the Nintendo 3DS debuted in Japan in July 2013, and the Yo-kai Watch 2 3DS game shipped in July. The anime premiered this past January. The manga has four volumes that have sold 1.5 million copies.

Dentsu Entertainment USA is offering the anime to broadcast and merchandising partners in the Americas. Other game franchises from LEVEL-5 Inc. — Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven — also inspired films.

Source: animeanime.jp