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Japanese Box Office, October 24-25

Takehiko Shinjō's live-action film adaptation of Kotomi Aoki's Boku no Hatsukoi o Kimi ni Sasagu (I Give My First Love to You) romance manga debuted at #1 on Kogyo Tsushinsha's Japanese box office chart during the October 24-25 weekend. According to Variety and Rentrak Theatrical, film gained the equivalent of US$3,065,672 on 302 screens. In this shōjo romance story, actress Mao Inoue (Hana Yori Dango, Anmitsu-hime) plays a girl named Mayu who experiences first love with Takuma (Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e, Robo Rock's Masaki Okada), a boy being treated by her cardiologist father. Takuma tries to hide from Mayu the possibility that his heart will stop functioning at any moment after he turns 20 — even though Mayu already knows.

Tōya Satō's live-action film version of Nobuyuki Fukumoto's Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji manga dropped from #1 to #3. It earned US$2,183,335 on 306 screens in its third weekend to add to its total of US$15,410,878. Death Note star Tatsuya Fujiwara stars in the title role of a gambler trying to clear 3.49 million yen (about US$36,000) in debt.

The animated film adaptation of The Rebirth of Buddha (Buddha Saitan) book by controversial religious figure Ryuho Okawa also fell from #2 to #4 in its second weekend. It garnered US$1,028,178 on 194 screens for a gross-to-date of US$3,612,994. Okawa founded the Happy Science (Kōfuku no Kagaku) organization, and the film illustrates Happy Science's belief that the religious figure Buddha will return "when the world sinks into darkness."

The third film in Yukihiko Tsutsumi's three-part live-action adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys manga dropped from #9 off the charts in its ninth weekend. Yōichi Sai's (Choi Yang-il's) live-action film adaptation of Sanpei Shirato's Kamui Gaiden ninja manga also fell from #10 off Kogyo Tsushinsha's chart in its sixth weekend.

Source: Kogyo Tsushinsha