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Battle Royale/Kill Bill's Kuriyama, Gackt Star in Dragon Age

Actress Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale, Kill Bill, The Sky Crawlers), singer/actor Gackt (Shiki, Supernatural: The Anime Series, Sket Dance), and actor Shōsuke Tanihara (Vexille, The Sky Crawlers, Pokémon the Movie: Black - Victini and Reshiram) will voice next year's Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker (Dragon Age: Blood Mage no Seisen) film. Kuriyama will play the knight heroine Cassandra Pentaghast in this computer-animated film based on a role-playing game, while Gackt will play a Knight-Commander and contribute the theme song "Until the Last Day." Tanihara will play a mage named Regalyan D'Marcall.

The film serves as a prologue to the second game in BioWare and Electronic Arts' fantasy game franchise Dragon Age. Director Fumihiko Sori (Ichi, Ashita no Joe, Ping Pong) and the studio Oxybot are working together after previously collaborating on Vexille - 2077 Isolation of Japan and To. The first game shipped in 2009 and has since sold over 6 million copies worldwide.

Cassandra will be Kuriyama's first lead role in an animated feature, although she played the character Midori Mitsuya in The Sky Crawlers alongside Tanihara (Naofumi Tokino). The voice cast was announced during a presentation on Tuesday. The presentation was held in a Tokyo church to invoke the game franchise's story setting; in the games, the world is ruled by the religious organization Chantry.

Jeffrey Scott of the original game wrote the film's script, and Daisuke Nakayama (Tweeny Witches) designed the characters. Tetsuya Takahashi (Appleseed , Halo Legends, To, Resident Evil: Degeneration) composed the music, while Koji Kasamatsu (Afro Samurai, Appleseed, Halo Legends, To) served as the sound designer.

The film will open in Japan on February 11.

Sources: Oricon, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web

Image © 2011 Dragon Age Project

Update: Movie Collection's video of presentation added.