'Blade of the Immortal' News & Update: Live-Action Film Reveals Actress Hana Sugisaki As Rina

By R. A. Jayme - 02 Nov '16 04:41AM

The live-action film of Hiroaki Samura's "Blade of the Immortal" neo-period drama" manga has casted Hana Sugisaki as the heroine Rin Asano. The film's staff also announced that the film will premiere on April 29.

The 19-year-old actress just finished starring as Yoshiko, the little sister of the protagonist Tsuneko in this year's daily television series "Toto Neechan." She also voice-acted in Ghibli's "When Marnie Was There" and acted in the live-action films "Humanoid Monster Bem," "Tsukuroi Tatsu Hito" and Pieta in the "Toilet," according to Natalie.

Sugisaki described Rin as an extremely weak yet strong character. She said that Rin cannot do anything by herself, but Rin hates to lose and does not give up trying anyway.

Takuya Kimura ("Howl's Moving Castle," Redline, live-action "Space Battleship Yamato") plays the lead character Manji, a rōnin warrior cursed with an immortal body. Prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike ("Ichi the Killer," "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney," "Yatterman," "As the Gods Will") is directing the film.

The manga follows Manji's journey of revenge as the yōjinbō (bodyguard) of Rin, a young woman who swears vengeance against a group of sword fighters who murdered her parents. Samura launched the "Blade of the Immortal" manga in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine in December of 1993, and he completed the series in 2012, according to Anime News Network.

The manga's 30 volumes has 5 million copies in print, and it has been published in 22 countries and territories. It earned an Excellence Prize in the manga category of the 1st Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 1997, and it won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material in 2000. Since ending "Blade of the Immortal," Samura has published the historical manga "Harukaze no Snegurochka"(The Spring Breeze Snow Maiden) and the romance "Nami yo Kiite Kure"(Waves, Listen to Me).

The manga is getting a reprint in Japan with new covers. Dark Horse Comics published the "Blade of the Immortal" manga in North America, and plans to rerelease it in omnibus form.

The manga already inspired a television anime in 2008, and Media Blasters released it in English. Watch the anime trailer below!