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Live-Action Gintama Film Casts Kouichi Yamadera as Shōyō Yoshida's Voice
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The official Twitter account for the live-action film of Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama manga revealed on Wednesday that Kouichi Yamadera will voice the character Shōyō Yoshida in the film. Yamadera also voiced the character in the anime. Yoshida founded the Shoka Sonjuku school and served as a teacher to Gintoki, Katsura, and Takasugi in their childhood before the Jōin Wars separated all of them. The Twitter account revealed stills from the film showing scenes of the characters during their time under Yoshida.
The film will open 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
Jiro Sato as Henpeita Takechi
Nanao as Matako Kijima
Tsuyoshi Domoto 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
Ryo Yoshizawa as Sougo Okita, a sharp-tounged Shinsengumi member
The film is also inspiring a live-action net show that will debut on Docomo's dTV streaming service on July 15, one day after the film's opening in Japan. The show will feature the same cast and staff as the film, and will adapt the original manga's "Mitsuba Arc." Kii Kitano will play Mitsuba.
UVERworld (Blue Exorcist, The Heroic Legend of Arslan) is performing the film's theme song "DECIDED."
Sorachi began the manga in 2004 and it continues to be ranked among the top-selling manga in Japan. The manga has more than 50 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, 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: Comic Natalie
