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2nd Live-Action Higanjima Film Casts Minami Sakurai as Yuki

The staff for Higanjima Deluxe, the second live-action film of Kōji Matsumoto's Higanjima manga, revealed on Monday that Minami Sakurai has been cast in the film as the character Yuki. The staff revealed a still featuring Sakurai in costume.

Yuki is a childhood friend of Akira (Shunya Shiraishi), and comes to Higanjima with companions to save Atsushi (Ryōhei Suzuki). When she reaches the island, she reunites with Ken, her former lover whom she had thought had turned into a vampire and died. Although he has already turned into a vampire, Yuki protects him.

The film will open in Japan on October 15.

The staff previously streamed a teaser trailer for the film last month.

Shiraishi and Suzuki are reprise their roles as the brothers Akira Miyamoto and Atsushi Miyamoto, respectively.

A second live-action television series adaptation of the manga will also debut this year.

The new TV drama and film project was first announced in August 2014. The announcement at the time had said that the new projects would adapt the Higanjima: Saigo no 47-Hiai (Nirvana Island: The Last 47 Days) manga. The original announcement also stated that the series will continue where the first series left off, and characters such as the Master will make an appearance. The resistance will also be introduced. The 2014 announcement had also stated that an "unprecedented amount" of over two hundred million yen (about US$1.9 million at the time) was spent on the production of the show.

The first live-action series adapting Higanjima: Saigo no 47-Hiai premiered in Japan in 2013. Matsumoto ended the 16-volume manga in July 2014. The original 33-volume Higanjima manga also inspired a live-action film in 2010. Funimation released the film on home video in North America in 2011.

Matsumoto launched the Higanjima: 48-Nichigo... (Nirvana Island: 48 Days Later...) sequel manga in August 2014, and Kodansha published the seventh volume on June 6.

Source: Comic Natalie