If you read my article on Shiori to Shimiko no Kaiki Jikenbo, then you know I really think highly of actress Nao Minamisawa and I’m totally convinced she’s going to be a big deal. So needless to say I was excited when the news broke earlier today that she’s been cast in the lead role of Akai Ito, an upcoming movie based on a popular mobile phone novel. As Tokyograph reported back in April, the story will be split between a Fuji TV television drama and a Shochiku-produced movie with both being directed by Fuji TV’s Shosuke Murakami and featuring the same cast.

Minamisawa will play the lead role of Mei. She says she’s nervous about the prospect of starring in a movie, but really excited at the same time and she’ll give it her all with reckless abandon. Mei’s love interest Atsushi will be played by Junpei Mizobata (Dive!!). Also added to the cast were relative newcomers Ryo Kimura, Rei Okamoto, Tomo Yanagishita, Anna Oshibashi, and Nanami Sakuraba. The film’s theme song will be handled by the band HY, who take their name from the initials of their hometown Higashi Yakena.

Coinciding with cast announcements, the official website for the film posted some behind-the-scenes footage of Minamisawa which you can check out here. I posted the teaser below the break, but since it was made before they announced the cast publicly you can imagine how generic it is.

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Ai Ryutsu Center (roughly “love distribution center") will be released in Japan on July 19, 2008 and the first trailer recently surfaced. Directed by Tetsuhiko Tsuchiya, the film stars 2007 Horipro Talent Scout Caravan Grand Prix winner Rika Adachi as Chikako, an ordinary high school girl without a boyfriend. In an attempt to spark her love life she wishes for true love at a Shinto shrine. Afterward, she receives a strange email on her cell phone with a sign-up page for “Ai Ryutsu Center”. She thinks it’s just junk mail, but in her attempt to delete it she mistakenly registers herself for the service. Later, a clumsy but likable salesman (Kenji Mizuhashi) shows up to assist her in finding love. As a result of his bumbling efforts Chikako ends up in a love triangle with ex-boyfriend Kenta (Goki Maeda) and her best friend Haruka (Mari Iriki). Also appearing in the film will be actress Aya Hirayama (Waterboys, The Backdancers!) and AKB48 “Team A” member Tomomi Itano.

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Japanese distributor Pony Canyon will be releasing Norihiro Koizumi’s Gachi Boy on DVD with English subtitles on September 17, 2008. For those who haven’t heard of it, the story revolves around a genius college student in Hokkaido named Ryoichi Igarashi (Ryuta Sato) who joins professional wrestling school. During his training he carries around a little notebook in which he takes copious notes of every little thing he learns. Still, he seems to have problems remembering important details. When he completely forgets that his debut match at a local shopping mall is rigged he treats it like a real life or death challenge. Surprisingly, his enthusiasm gets the crowd on his side and he becomes a popular character with the fans. His little sister (Riisa Naka) witnesses the match and clues his fellow wrestlers in on the real reason he acted the way he did: he suffered a severe head injury the year before and now has a higher brain function disorder that renders him incapable of retaining new information for more than one day. That’s why he takes so many notes.

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From Jason Gray comes the news that the release date for Takeshi Kitano’s latest movie, Achilles and the Tortoise (Akiresu to Kami) has been set for September 20, 2008. The movie’s title comes from one of Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea’s paradoxes; which surmises that motion, time, and change are all illusions. In the film Kitano plays Machisu, a man who was born into an affluent family, but loses both his parents suddenly as a child and decides to follow his dream of becoming a painter. Kanako Higuchi (Ashura, Memories of Tomorrow) plays his wife, who continues to be supportive of his painting throughout the years even though he’s never had any success and sometimes gets discouraged himself. Yurei Yanagi (Ju-on, Kaidan) and Kumiko Aso (Kairo, Casshern) play the same couple in their younger years. Check out the new trailer below.

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According to director Ryuhei Kitamura, he first met Tak Sakaguchi after witnessing him beat some guy up in a street fight. Since Kitamura didn’t really know any real actors at the time, he offered Sakaguchi a role in Versus—the frenetically-paced action film that would launch both their careers as well as the career of his co-star, Hideo Sakaki. Given his humble beginnings, the idea that less than decade later Sakaguchi would be directing veteran actors like Akaji Maro and Shun Sugata in his own movie is frankly hard to believe. Even so, the final product of his directorial debut: Be a Man! Samurai School, ended up being both absurdly funny and oddly charming. 

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