Tuesday, July 8, 2014

I Am A Hero #15

Great news with the release of volume 15 of Kengo Hanazawa's (花沢健吾) I Am A Hero, with the movie adaptation announced to hit cinemas in 2015.

It is set to star Yo Oizumi (大泉洋) as struggling manga artist turned hero, Hideo Suzuki (鈴木英雄). I'm not familiar with Oizumi's work at all. He has featured in a huge amount of TV dramas, and variety programs as well as regularly appearing in movies. If you've seen the original Japanese cast version of Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し) or Howl's Moving Castle (ハウルの動き城) you would have heard his voice. He was one of the main staff members at the bathhouse in Spirited Away, and also the Prince and Turnip Head in Howl's Moving Castle.

Kasumi Arimura (有村架純) is set to star as school girl Hiromi (比呂美). Kasumi is a young actress who has featured recently in several popular TV dramas, and is looking to establish herself as a movie actress well. Masami Nagasawa (長澤まさみ) is a more established actress taking on the role of Yabu (藪) a.k.a. Tsugumi Oda (小田つぐみ). You might have seen her work if you've seen the film adaptations of Gaku (岳) and Moteki (モテキ), both worth checking out.

The story covered so far is probably too much for one movie, so I can see the Kurusu (来栖) Gang story arc not being included for now. I don't want to give anything away for those that haven't read this yet, but the movie will probably deal with the initial outbreak, and the story from the outlet mall. I'm really looking forward to it, I'll let you know once a trailer or any footage has been released.