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Live-Action Gintama 2 Film Adds 3 New Cast Members

The official website for Gintama 2: Okite wa Yaburu Tame ni Koso Aru (The Law is Surely There to be Broken), the second live-action film based on Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama manga, announced three additional cast members for the film on Wednesday. The additional cast members include:

Shinichi Tsutsumi as Katakuriko Matsudaira

Ryo Katsuji as the Shogun

Natsuna Watanabe as Ayame Sarutobi

The film opens in Japan on August 17. The story will cover both the "Shinsengumi Crisis" and the "Shogun Reception" arcs, the latter of which features the introduction of the Shogun.

The film stars (from left to right in top row in picture below): Shun Oguri as Gintoki Sakata, Masaki Suda as Shinpachi Shimura, and Kanna Hashimoto as Kagura, as well as (bottom row) Masami Nagasawa as Tae Shimura and Masaki Okada as Kotarō Katsura. The character Elizabeth (bottom row right) is also returning, but the film's website has not specified if Takayuki Yamada is returning for the role.

Other cast members include:

Tsuyoshi Muro returning as Gengai Hiraga

Midoriko Kimura as Otose

Yuuya Yagira as Toushirou Hijikata and his otaku split personality "Tosshi"

Kankurō Nakamura as Isao Kondou

Ryō Yoshizawa as Sougo Okita

Tsuyoshi Dōmoto as Shinsuke Takasugi

Haruma Miura as Kamotaro Ito

Masataka Kubota as Bansai Kawakami

Jirō Satō (seen in picture below) is also returning, but in a different role. Sato previously played the character Takechi Henpeita in the first film.

Rock band back number will perform the film's theme song "Daifuseikai."

The film will get an accompanying live-action show on Docomo's dTV streaming service, similar to the first film. Returning from the first live-action show are Shun Oguri as Gintoki Sakata, Kankurō Nakamura as Isao Kondou, Yuuya Yagira as Toushirou Hijikata, and Ryō Yoshizawa as Sougo Okita. Joining them in the second live-action show is Kanna Hashimoto as Kagura. Yūichi Fukuda is writing and directing the new live-action show, just as he has done for both films and for the first live-action show. The show will premiere in August.

The first film opened in Japan last July, and it earned 980 million yen (US$8.9 million) in its first four days. The film also inspired a live-action net show that debuted on Docomo's dTV streaming service one day after the film's opening. The film had its Canadian premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival last July, and Azoland Pictures screened the film in the United States and Canada starting on January 19.

Well Go USA released the first film on DVD, Blu-ray Disc and DVD combo pack, and Digital HD on March 6.

Source: Gintama website, Comic Natalie