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Live-Action March comes in like a lion Films Reveal 9 More Cast Members

The official website for the two live-action films of Chika Umino's March comes in like a lion (Sangatsu no Lion) manga revealed nine more cast members on Thursday. The additional cast will join lead actor Ryunosuke Kamiki (Howl's Moving Castle, Summer Wars, The Secret World of Arrietty, Bakuman.), who is playing the role of Rei Kiriyama.

The cast, including Kamiki, are as follows (from left to right):

• Ryunosuke Kamiki as Rei Kiriyama
• Kuranosuke Sasaki as Kai Shimada, a hard-working shōgi player from Yamagata prefecture
• Hideaki Ito as Masamune Gotō, a shōgi player with an intimidating face
• Ryo Kase as Tōji Sōya, the youngest shōgi Meijin-level player at 21 years old
• Kasumi Arimura as Kyōko Koda, Masachika's daughter who acts like a sister to Rei
• Etsushi Toyokawa as Masachika Kōda, Rei's foster father
• Kana Kurashina as Akari Kawamoto, the oldest of the Kawamoto sisters
• Kaya Kiyohara as Hinata Kawamoto, the middle child of the Kawamoto sisters
• Chise Niitsu as Momo Kawamoto, the youngest of the Kawamoto sisters
• Gin Maeda as Someji Kawamoto, the grandfather of the Kawamoto family

Kamiki (shown above) and director Keishi Ōtomo previously worked together on the live-action Rurouni Kenshin films. Ōtomo directed the films, and Kamiki played the character Sōjirō Seta.. The project will consist of two live-action films opening in 2017.

The story of the March comes in like a lion manga follows a solitary shōgi player named Rei and his relationships with a neighboring family. He becomes acquainted with Akari, and two young girls, Hinata and Momo, who also have a large number of cats.

Umino started the series in Young Animal in 2007, and Hakusensha released the 11th compiled volume last September. The series has won several awards including the Manga Taisho award and Kodansha Manga award in 2011. The manga also won the 18th Tezuka Osamu Prizes' Top Award in March 2014.

Umino also drew the Honey and Clover manga that inspired two television anime series and a live-action film. She later drafted the original character designs for the Eden of the East anime.

A television anime adaptation of the manga has also been green-lit, with Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Bakemonogatari director Akiyuki Simbo directing the anime at SHAFT. It will premiere in NHK in fall.

Source: Comic Natalie