News
Masami Nagasawa, Masaki Okada to Star in Kiyoku Yawaku Film
posted on by Egan Loo
Actress Masami Nagasawa (Crying Out Love, In the Center of the World, Gaku, Moteki, From Up On Poppy Hill) and actor Masaki Okada (Otomen, Space Brothers, Confessions) will star in next Fall's live-action film adaptation of Ryo Ikuemi's Kiyoku Yawaku manga. This is the first time that two have starred in the same film, and the first such adaptation of the manga. Takehiko Shinjō (Boku no Hatsukoi o Kimi ni Sasagu, Paradise Kiss) is directing the flim.
Nagasawa will play Kanna Seto, a woman still consumed by the loss of her childhood friend in an accident. Okada will play Roku Akazawa, a man dealing with his own guilt over an accident that resulted in the death of a female friend in elementary school.
Ikuemi, Nagasawa, and Okada commented on the film project:
Ikuemi: "My expectations and uneasiness for the very first adaptation are swirling around in my head. What'll I do if it's more interesting than the original manga?! I think seeing the movie with sound and video and seeing it without sound has a different, but equal beauty. I'm really looking forward to it."
Nagsawa: "I'm actually a fan of the original manga (the feelings and words of the characters, the development of the story, the fashion... I love it all!), so I was nervous if I would be all right for the role, but when I saw the "positive, forward-facing" heroine, I also felt my courage well up, and I felt that maybe I could do my best to play her. I hope to have good teamwork with the other actors and make this a wonderful movie!"
Okada: "The role I will be playing is an attractive, cute man with both a child-face and an adullt-face. Though I will stay faithful to the original, I hope to give the movie a new meaning to "Kiyoku Yawaku" along with Ms. Nagasawa."
Ikuemi serialized the manga in Shueisha's Cookie magazine from 2004 to 2010, and it won the Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shōjo Manga in 2009. The series is actually an omnibus series of story arcs; the film is adapting the Kanna arc.
Source: Comic Natalie
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history