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Live-Action Gintama Net Series to Adapt Mitsuba Arc
posted on by Karen Ressler
The official website for the live-action Gintama net show announced on Thursday that the show will adapt the "Mitsuba Arc" of Hideaki Sorachi's original manga. Kii Kitano will play Mitsuba (pictured below), Sougo Okita's older sister and the arc's key character. The series will depict the tumultuous past between Sougo and Hijikata, and the tragic love between Mitsuba and Hijikata.
Docomo's dTV streaming service will premiere the series at midnight on July15. It will have three episodes that will all launch at the same time.
The series will have the same cast and staff as the live-action film, which opens in Japan on July 14. Yūichi Fukuda (live-action HK/Hentai Kamen, Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store) is directing the film, as well as penning the script. The film's cast includes:
Masaki Suda as Shinpachi Shimura, who works at Yorozuya
Kanna Hashimoto as Kagura, another Yorozuya employee
Masaki Okada as Kotarō Katsura, Gintoki's longtime sworn friend, alongside Elizabeth
Masami Nagasawa as Tae Shimura, a physically strong girl and sister of Shinpachi
Tsuyoshi Muro as Gengai Hiraga, the proprietor of Karakuri-dō
Jirō Satō as Henpeita Takechi
Nanao as Matako Kijima
Tsuyoshi Dōmoto as Shinsuke Takasugi (left), Hirofumi Arai as Nizō Okada (right)
Ken Yasuda as Tetsuya Murata
Akari Hayami as Tetsuko Murata
Kankurō Nakamura VI as Isao Kondo, a Shinsengumi commander
Yuuya Yagira as Toshiro Hijikata, a Shinsengumi member who is most popular with girls
Ryō Yoshizawa as Sougo Okita, a sharp-tounged Shinsengumi member
Sorachi began the manga in 2004 and it continues to be ranked among the top-selling manga in Japan. The manga has more than 51 million copies in print in Japan. Viz Media published the first 23 volumes in English. Shueisha published the manga's 68th volume in Japan on April 4. The manga entered its final arc last July.
The manga inspired a television anime that premiered in 2006 and continued (with several extended hiatuses) until 2013. The fifth and latest Gintama television anime series premiered on January 8, and the show began airing reruns in April. Crunchyroll streamed the most recent series as it aired in Japan, and is also streaming English-dubbed episodes. The manga also inspired two anime films, including the "final" Gekijōban Gintama Kanketsu-hen: Yorozuya yo Eien Nare film that opened in 2013, and various OVAs and event anime.
Source: Anime! Anime!
