News

Live-Action Your Lie in April Film's English-Subtitled Trailer Posted

Fuji TV began streaming an English-subtitled trailer for the live-action film adaptation of Naoshi Arakawa's Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso) manga on Monday.

The film opened in Japan on September 10. The film earned 245 million yen (about US$2.40 million) by selling 200,000 tickets to rank #3 in its opening weekend.

Kento Yamazaki (Orange live-action film's Kakeru, Death Note live-action series' L) played main character Kōsei Arima, while Suzu Hirose (Chihayafuru: Shimo no Ku's Chihaya, Umimachi Diary live-action film's Suzu) played heroine Kaori Miyazono. E-girls all-female pop group member Anna Ishii played Kōsei's childhood friend Tsubaki Sawabe, and Taishi Nakagawa (Ao Oni ver.2.0's Hiroshi, Minami-kun no Koibito ~my little lover live-action series' Minami) played Ryōta Watari. Other cast members included Rei Dan as Kōsei's mother Saki Arima, and Yuka Itaya as Hiroko Seto, Saki's colleague and Kōsei's guardian.

Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu and Kiyoku Yawaku live-action romance film director Takehiko Shinjō directed off scripts by Strawberry Night live-action series scriptwriter Yukari Tatsui. Ryo Yoshimata composed the film's music. Ikimono-gakari performed the film's theme song "Last Scene."

In the original manga's story, the two characters are junior high school students, but Kōsei and Kaori are second-year high school students in the film. Yamazaki (right in visual above) and Hirose (left) began practicing piano and violin about half a year before the start of filming.

A television anime series adaptation of Arakawa's manga premiered in 2014. Aniplex of America streamed the anime on the Aniplex Channel, Hulu, and Crunchyroll as it aired in Japan. The company released the series with an English dub, with the first Blu-ray Disc released on March 29, and the second volume released on May 31.

Arakawa's original shōnen manga follows Kōsei Arima, a former child prodigy who lost his ability to play the piano when his mother died. His daily life is monochrome, but it begins to gain color when he meets a female violinist by chance. Kaori Miyazono is an audacious go-getter who is overflowing with personality. Enchanted by the girl, Kōsei starts to move forward with his own legs at the age of 14.

The manga debuted in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine in 2011, and ended in February 2015. Kodansha published the 11th and final compiled volume in Japan in May 2015, which shipped with an OVA episode. The series won the Best Shōnen Manga category in Kodansha's 37th Annual Manga Awards in 2013. Kodansha Comics is releasing the manga in North America, and released the 10th volume on November 1.

Image © Naoshi Arakawa/Kodansha