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Kaiji's Live-Action Film Gets Sequel Green-Lit in 2011
posted on by Egan Loo
The live-action film adaptation of Nobuyuki Fukumoto's Kaiji gambling action manga has a sequel green-lit for release in 2011. Tōya Satō directed the first film with Death Note star Tatsuya Fujiwara in the title role of a gambler 3.49 million yen (about US$36,000) in debt. Besides Fujiwara, no other cast members have been announced for the sequel.
In the first film, actress Yūki Amami (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Socrates in Love) plays Rinko Endō, a loan shark (originally a male character in the manga) who convinces Kaiji to board a gambling ship to clear his debt — with his life literally at stake. Satō previously directed the live-action versions of Gokusen, Grave of the Fireflies, and Sexy Voice and Robo.
There have been three manga sequels since the original 1996-1999 Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji manga series ran in Kodansha's Young Magazine, including the ongoing Tobaku Datenshi-Roku Kaiji Kazuya-Hen. The first film opened on October 10 and has earned over 2.1 billion yen (about US$23 million) so far. The Joost website had streamed NTV's 2007-2008 television anime version in the United States.
Source: Sports Hochi
