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4th Live-Action Kingdom Film Casts Yuko Araki
posted on by Anita Tai
The staff for the live-action films of Yasuhisa Hara's Kingdom manga revealed on Monday that Kingdom: Taishogun no Kikan (Return of the General), the fourth live-action Kingdom film, will add Yūko Araki to the cast. The TOHO Movies channel began streaming a new trailer previewing Araki's character Kyō, a mysterious general who is involved in the fateful connection between Wang Qi and Houken.
The film will open on July 12. Shinsuke Satō is again directing the new film.
The film covers the manga's Shi Ka (Zi Xia) arc and the Battle of Bayou — the first time Shin (Xin) and Ō Ki (Wang Qi) stood on the battlefield together, to fend off the invasion by the mighty Chō (Zhao) from the north. Anne (Anne Watanabe) returns to the cast as the pivotal character Shi Ka (Zi Xia). Other cast members include Kataoka Ainosuke VI as Fuu Ki (Feng Ji), Kōji Yamamoto as Chō Sō (Zhao Zhuang), Yuki Yamada as Man Goku (Wan Ji), Eri Murakawa as You Li (Yū Ri), and Hinako Sakurai as Dong Mei (Tō Bi).
Kento Yamazaki, Ryō Yoshizawa, Takao Osawa, and Kanna Hashimoto all reprised their respective characters Shin (Xin), Ei Sei (Yin Zheng), Ō Ki (Wang Qi), and Ka Ryō Ten (He Liao Diao), respectively, from the two previous films. Nana Seino, Hiroshi Tamaki, and Kōichi Satō from the second film also reprised their respective characters Kyо̄ Kai, Sho Hei Kun (Lord Changping), and Ryo Fui (Lu Buwei).
Shinsuke Satō (live-action Gantz, Death Note Light up the NEW world, Bleach) returned as director. Hara and Tsutomu Kuroiwa (One Piece Film Gold, live-action Black Butler, GANTZ:O) returned to write the script.
The first film opened in Japan in April 2019, and eventually earned a cumulative total of 5.73 billion yen (about US$53.2 million). Funimation screened the film at Anime Expo in July 2019, and screened the film in theaters in the United States and Canada in August 2019. The second film Kingdom II: Harukanaru Daichi e (To Distant Lands) opened in Japan in July 2022, and earned 5.16 billion yen (about US$37.8 million), making it the highest-earning Japanese live-action film in Japan in 2022.
The record-setting manga launched in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine in 2006.
The anime's fifth series premiered on the NHK General channel on January 6.
Sources: TOHO Movies' YouTube channel, Eiga Natalie
