Category: Movies

Ooku website updated and additional cast announced

by Fiona

So happy that I had clicked on the Ooku website this morning, it has been updated the movie’s poster along with additional sections. Nino looks cute here in his samurai attire and chonmage/topknot, somehow it make he look younger. Also, Shibasaki-san’s character is surfacing, she looks and feels like a shogun. I cannot wait to see this!

click on image to visit site

Back in December, it was announced that a new film adaptation of Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku manga was in the works and that it would star Kou Shibasaki and Arashi’s Kazunari Ninomiya in the two lead roles. Then in February, a new batch of co-stars was announced including Maki Horikita, Hiroshi Tamaki, Sadao Abe, and Tadayoshi Okura (of Kanjani8).

Today it was revealed that the cast will also include Kuranosuke Sasaki, Emi Wakui, Mitsuko Baisho, Muga Takewaki, and Aoi Nakamura, among others.

The film is set in an alternate an alternate version of Japan in which a disease has drastically decreased the male population, turning the nation into a matriarchal society in which young men are treated as a precious commodity never to be risked in sports or war. Within the story, gender roles and names are typically reversed. Ninomiya stars as a commoner named Mizuno who enters the Ooku (inner palace) in order to earn money for his family by becoming a member of the all-male harem. Soon, new shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune (Shibasaki) selects him as her first consort, triggering a long-standing Ooku tradition which could mean his death.

As previously reported by Tokyograph, Horikita will play O-nobu, the childhood friend of Mizuno who has feelings for him; Tamaki will play an elite member of the O-chuurou class named Matsushima; Abe will play a low-ranking member named Sugishita who has given up on advancing any further; and Okura will play Mizuno’s rival, an expert swordsman named Tsuruoka

Among the newly-revealed co-stars, Sasaki will play Fujinami, the senior harem adviser and Wakui will play Kano Hisamichi, a childhood friend of Yoshimune.

“Ooku” will be released in Japan on October 1, 2010.

From NipponCinema

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Ninomiya Kazunari – First Gantz Movie CM

by Fiona

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW0_GtzLQks

Purely awesomeness, I am so psyched about this! This is pretty much a teaser, leaving me to wait more and more. Nino look cute in his little puffed jacket ne and the rest of the cast appears to be suited for their roles. I cannot wait until 2011!

Also, the official website has been update with information about story, cast, staff, etc. You can access it here.

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Supporting cast announced for Ooku

by Fiona

In December it got announced that Arashi’s Ninomiya Kazunari (26) and Shibasaki Kou (28) would star together in Kaneko Fuminori’s “Ooku,” a live-action film adaptation of the manga by Yoshinaga Fumi. Both Ninomiya and Shibasaki never starred in a jidaigeki film before.

Today the supporting cast for the promising movie got announced. It will include other stars like Horikita Maki (21), Tamaki Hiroshi (30), Abe Sadawo (39) and Kanjani8’s Okura Tadayoshi (24)….

….Horikita will play a neighborhood girl and childhood friend of Mizuno with feelings for him. According to the press release we can look forward to a love story where neither one can be honest with each other. It will be a roller coaster ride of love and hate inside the ooku and feature fresh elements that make it a different and more unique love story compared to others.

Tamaki, Abe and Okura will play other key roles in the world of ooku’s handsome men. Of course Tamaki’s role will be no other than the most handsome of all handsome men and lead the elite group of the ooku. Abe’s role has already given up of getting promoted to serve the shogun and will be a character full of sorrow. For Okura it will be the first role in a movie and it will be that of the biggest rival of Mizuno. He is a master of the sword and one highlight of the movie is going to be a fierce battle between Okura and Ninomiya.

Other than the amazing cast, we can look forward to probably(!) more than just 1 movie and a budget of more than 1 billion yen for the first installment. “Ooku” will open in Japan on October 1, 2010.

From Kawaii Joyuu

Wow, what an extravagant cast! I was quite happy when Neener and Shibasaki-san were casted but now I’m CHO excited with the additional ones, especially Tamaki-kun. XO I can’t wait to see their collaboration, it is such happiness when your favorite artists share the same screen. Ooo, will there be some sword fighting between Arashi and Eito as well?!

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