A few days ago, a new trailer for Takashi Miike’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Nintama Rantaro, which is tentatively going by the English-title Ninja Kids!!!, was released to all the major Japanese film sites.

Based on a long-running gag manga by Sobee Amako and a subsequent TV anime series, the film is set in the Sengoku period and revolves around an 8-year-old boy named Rantaro who attends a school for young ninjas. While there, he befriends Shibe (Fuuta Kimura), the son of wealthy merchant, and Kirimaru, an orphan boy who lost his parents during a war.

Together, Rantaro and his first grade classmates are referred to as “Ninja Eggs” and get into various misadventures involving teachers, older students, and rival ninjas from Dokutake Castle.

“Ninja Kids!!!” will be released by Warner Bros. in Japan on July 23, 2011. Shochiku is handling international distribution.

Source: Cinema Today

Here’s the first teaser for Hajime Hashimoto’s Tantei wa Bar ni Iru, which recently surfaced on YouTube.

Based on Naomi Azuma’s novel “Bar ni Kakatte Kita Denwa”, the second installment of the author’s “Susukino Tantei” detective series, the film stars Yo Oizumi as a private detective who bases his business out of a bar in Susukino, a red-light district in Sapporo, Hokkaido. In keeping with that premise, Oizumi’s character turns to the audience in the teaser and says “If something comes up, call me here.”

One day, he receives a call from a mystery woman (revealed in the teaser as being played by Koyuki) who gets both he and his combative-yet-reliable partner Takada (Ryuhei Matsuda) involved in a dangerous new case. Toshiyuki Nishida also stars as a wealthy industrialist.

Toei will be releasing “Tantei wa Bar ni Iru” in Japan on September 10, 2011

Source: Cinema Today

The official website for Tetsuo Shinohara’s upcoming jidaigeki film Ogawa no Hotori has been updated with a 55-second trailer.

Based on a story by the late Shuhei Fujisawa (The Twilight Samurai, Sword of Desperation), the film revolves around a samurai named Inui Sakunosuke (Noriyuki Higashiyama) who is given a mission of vengeance from his clan. However, his assassination target is a man named Sakuma Morie, the husband of his younger sister, Tazu (Rinko Kikuchi). Thus, Sakunosuke is put in the agonizing position of choosing between love of family and duty to his clan.

Complicating matters, Tazu is also skilled with the blade, and Sakunosuke must face the distinct possibility of being forced to defend himself against her.

Toei will be releasing “Ogawa no Hotori” in Yamagata Prefecture on June 18, 2011 with a nation-wide release to follow on July 2.

On Wednesday, Bitters End uploaded a trailer for Yuya Ishii’s Azemichi no Dandy to their channel on YouTube.

The film stars Ken Mitsuishi as a 50-year-old single father named Junichi Miyata. Back in junior high, Junichi was bullied and made a promise to himself that he would grow up to be really cool.

Junichi has been raising his two children, an unemployed 19-year-old named Toshiya (Ryu Morioka) and an 18-year-old high school senior named Momoko (Jun Yoshinaga) on his own since his wife died of cancer 15 years earlier. He works extremely hard as a truck driver to buy whatever he thinks his kids want; and even though money is tight, he never lets it show.

One day, Junichi feels ill and becomes obsessed with the idea that he may be dying of cancer like his wife. Convinced his life will soon be ending, he begins putting his affairs in order and borrows tuition money from his best friend and only confidant, Sanada (Tomorowo Taguchi). However, in his never-ending attempt to be a cool adult, he refuses to burden his children with any of his problems.

“Azemichi no Dandy” will be released at Theatre Shinjuku on June 18, 2011 with a nation-wide release to follow.

Thanks to logboy for the heads up.