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Hitsuji no Ki Manga About Former Convicts Living in Town Gets Live-Action Film

A live-action film adaptation of Tatsuhiko Yamagami and Mikio Igarashi's Hitsuji no Ki (The Sheep's Tree) manga has been green-lit. The film will open in Japan in 2018. Ryo Nishikido will star in the lead role as Hajime Tsukisue, a kind-hearted public servant who is one of the few who know about the government project central to the story.

The manga's story is set in a former seaport town that becomes the center of a secret government project. The project involves sending former convicts to live in the town, with almost no one in the town aware that they are former criminals. The story depicts the tension between the former convicts, whose intentions are unknown, and the citizens.

Aside from Nishikido, the film will also star (clockwise from upper left in image above):

• Fumino Kimura as Aya, a former classmate of Tsukisue who is returning to town
• Kazuki Kitamura as Masashi Sugiyama, one of the former criminals, and is a proud owner of a fishing boat shop
• Yuka as Rieko Ōta, one of the former criminals, and is a seductive nurse
• Ryuhei Matsuda as Ichirō Miyakoshi, one of the former criminals, and is a simple-minded deliveryman
• Min Tanaka as Katsumi Ōno, one of the former criminals, and is a reticent cleaner
• Shingo Mizusawa as Hiroki Fukumoto, one of the former criminals, and is a timid barber
• Mikako Ichikawa as Kiyomi Kurimoto, one of the former criminals, and is an overly methodical garbage collector

Daihachi Yoshida (The Kirishima Thing, Pale Moon) is directing the film. Filming will begin in October.

Yamagami and Igarashi began the manga in 2011, and ended it in April 2014. Kodansha shipped five compiled book volumes for the series. The manga was nominated for both the 17th and the 18th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

Source: Comic Natalie