Release date set for Norio Tsuruta’s live-action take on Kazuo Umezu’s ‘Orochi’

Earlier today a release date of September 20, 2008 was announced for the live-action adaptation of Kazuo Umezu’s Orochi. The story involves a girl named Lisa (Noriko Nakagoshi) who’s slowly developed a hatred for her older sister Kazusa (Yoshino Kimura) due to her family’s constant berating and unfair comparisons. Kazusa seems to do everything better than Lisa, and she never hears the end of it. Another girl named Orochi (Mitsuki Tanimura), who never ages due to the sleep she gets once every 100 years, silently observes the situation between these two girls and serves as the story’s narrator. One day Orochi saves Lisa from a terrible car accident and her need to sleep is triggered prematurely. Several decades later she wakes up to continue her observations and finds that Kazusa is now ill and being taken care of by Lisa. The events that follow will show that even the most noble of character have the potential for despicable thoughts.

Now, the obvious angle to take on this project would be to point out the trifecta of J-horror giants involved. Between horror manga pioneer Umezu, director Norio Tsuruta (one of a handful of directors chosen to represent Asia in Showtime’s “Masters of Horror” series), and screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi (Ring screenplay) this one has to be good, right? Well, not so fast. Each of these guys has been involved in their fair share of stinkers—some purposely tongue-in-cheek, others not so much.

What has me excited about Orochi’s potential for awesomeness is the cast. Yoshino Kimura has become downright ubiquitous in Japanese movies in recent years due to her versatility and a general air of sophistication that comes across well on camera. It won’t be much of a reach for her to play an older sister that does everything perfectly. How about Mitsuki Tanimura? She went from being a blip in the background of several movies two years ago to being the crown jewel of Hori Agency‘s talent lineup. As for Noriko Nakagoshi, well, in a transparent attempt to evade ruining the little theory I have going here I’ll just say she’ll probably be believable as the inferior sister to Kimura.

Check out the remarkably uninformative teaser trailer for “Orochi” below:

Sources:
Official website
Tokyograph

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Tags: hiroshi takahashi, kazuo umezu, kyusaku shimada, mitsuki tanimura, noriko nakagoshi, norio tsuruta, orochi, taro yamamoto, yoshino kimura