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Gintama Previews Live-Action Film in Ad For Manga's 69th Volume (Updated)
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The official YouTube channel for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine began streaming a television commercial on Monday for the 69th compiled book volume of Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama manga. The video features clips of the manga's upcoming live-action film adaptation. The Gintama anime's voice actors Tomokazu Sugita (Gintoki), Rie Kugimiya (Kagura), and Daisuke Sakaguchi (Shinpachi) narrate the video to promote the film and manga.
Kugimiya also narrated a television commercial for the film that debuted last week.
The manga's 69th volume shipped on July 4. Shueisha opened a special website to promote the release. In addition to the video, the website features manga in which Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi discuss creating a poster to promote the original series. The trio think that the live-action adaptation of the series is getting more attention than the manga itself, so they offer individual suggestions for a promotional poster. However, they cannot agree, and eventually their argument wakes Sadaharu from his nap. A real version of the Yorozuya members' poster debuted in Tokyo's Shinjuku Station on Monday, and it will be on display in the station until Sunday.
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
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
In addition, Kouichi Yamadera will voice the character Shōyō Yoshida in the film. Yamadera also voiced the character in the anime.
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 51 million copies in print in Japan. The manga entered its final arc last July. Viz Media published the first 23 volumes in English.
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 television anime's official website is listing that the anime will return in October on Tokyo TV with a "Porori Arc."
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.
Update: Article corrected to state the anime voice actors narrate the video, not the live-action cast.
Source: Comic Natalie, Animate Times
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