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Live-Action Strobe Edge's Trailer Compares Film to Manga

Film distributor TOHO began streaming the first trailer and second teaser trailer on Friday for the live-action film of Io Sakisaka's adolescent romance manga Strobe Edge. The trailer compares the film's scenes to memorable scenes in the original manga. Both videos feature the theme song "Ai Uta~since 2007~" (Love Song: Since 2007) performed by the musical group GReeeeN's new female vocalist whiteeeen.

Ninako: I love you, Ren-kun.
Ren: But there's someone I'm seeing.
Text: From the creator of Ao Haru Ride. The long-awaited film adaptation.
Ninako: I knew from the very beginning — he has a girlfriend.
Takumi: No matter how close you get, you and Ren will never get into a relationship. I'll erase all your feelings for Ren for you.
Text: I must not fall in love any more.
Ninako: I get it!
Together: Strobe Edge
Ren: I won't leave until you answer me.

The trailer reveals that people who preorder tickets to theater screenings will receive a clear file with a special illustration by Sakisaka. A total of 30,000 clear files will be available across Japan.

Viz Media published the 10th and final volume of the manga in North America in May, and it describes the manga's story:

What is love, anyway? Ninako Kinoshita's friends tell her it's one thing, but Ninako wonders what this mysterious feeling really is. When she meets Ren Ichinose, a handsome, enigmatic guy who all the girls worship, her life takes an unexpected turn. With just a few words and a smile, he changes her world...

This will be the first film adaptation of Sakisaka's "traditional school romance" story, which has sold 4.5 million copies. The shōjo romance manga ran in Bessatsu Margaret from 2007 to 2009.

21-year-old actor Sōta Fukushi and 21-year-old actress Kasumi Arimura will star in the film. Fukushi will play the story's cool school idol; he was a "huge fan" of the original manga even before he received the offer to play the role. Arimura cut her hair by 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) into a bob to play the heroine. Yuki Yamada will play Takumi Andō, Arisa Satō will play Mayuka Korenaga, Jingi Irie will play DAIKI Korenaga and Yuina Kuroshima will play Mao Sugimoto, respectively. Director Ryūichi Hiroki began filming the Strobe Edge movie in January in Niigata Prefecture.

The popular musical group GReeeeN is contributing its early hit single "Ai Uta" (Love Song) as the theme song. However, instead of singing the vocals on "Ai Uta" for the film, the group suggested that a solo female vocalist should sing the movie's cover version instead. The group held auditions for the vocalist on their official account on the LINE messaging service in October.

The film will open on March 14, 2015. (March 14 happens to be White Day, the day for men to give gifts to women who gave them chocolates on Valentine's Day.)

American Library Association's (ALA's) Young Adult Library Services Association named the original manga in its 2014 list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens. Sakisaka is now serializing another manga called Ao Haru Ride in Bessatsu Margaret, and that manga is inspiring both a television anime this year, a live-action film in December, and an original anime DVD in December.