(C) Satoru Noda/Shueisha (C) 2024 “Golden Kamui” Film Partners
A highly anticipated live action film of ‘Golden Kamuy‘ starring Kento Yamazaki was released on January 19th in Japan. Just like the studio’s Kingdom live-action films, Golden Kamuy’s live-action movie topped the Japanese box office in its opening weekend.
The latest film has yet to announce its U.S. release, but here’s what we know so far.
The film is based on a Japanese Manga artist Satoru Noda’s manga, he launched the manga in Shueisha’s Young Jump magazine in 2014, and ended it in April 2022. According to Viz Media, here’s the description of the first volume: In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto scratches out a meager existence during the postwar gold rush in the wilderness of Hokkaido. When he stumbles across a map to a fortune in hidden Ainu gold, he sets off on a treacherous quest to find it. But Sugimoto is not the only interested party, and everyone who knows about the gold will kill to possess it! Faced with the harsh conditions of the northern wilderness, ruthless criminals and rogue Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto will need all his skills and luck—and the help of an Ainu girl named Asirpa—to survive.
The live action film was produced by Credeus, helmed by HiGH&LOW movie franchise director Shigeaki Kubo, featuring a script from Kingdom live-action film series scriptwriter Tsutomu Kuroiwa and filled with music from live-action Alice in Borderland composer Yutaka Yamada.
The film stars:
- Kento Yamazaki as Saichi Sugimoto
- Anna Yamada as Asirpa
- Gordon Maeda as Hyakunosuke Ogata
- Yuma Yamoto as Yoshitake Shiraishi
- Auska Kudo as Hajime Tsukishima
- Shuntaro Yanagi as Yohei/Kohei Nikaido
- Ryohei Otani as Genjiro Tanigaki
- Katsuya as Tatsuma Ushiyama
- Katsumi Kiba as Shinpachi Nagakura
- Hisako Okata as Huci
- Makita Sports as Takechiyo Goto
- Debo Akibe as Asirpa’s great uncle
- Hiroshi Tamaki as Tokushiro Tsurumi
- Hiroshi Tachi as Toshizo Hijikata
To guarantee that Ainu culture was properly represented on-screen, the studio enlisted the assistance of Golden Kamuy‘s Ainu language supervisor, Chiba University professor Hiroshi Nakagawa, and Ainu artisan Debo Akibe (who also appears in the film itself as Asirpa’s Great Uncle).
While the overseas fans have to wait for the ;live action film, you can watch all 25 episodes of Golden Kamuy’s first two seasons for free with ads on Crunchyroll.
(C) Satoru Noda/Shueisha (C) 2024 “Golden Kamui” Film Partners