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Taishi Nakagawa and Marie Iitoyo will star as Kira and Nino, respectively, in a live-action film adaptation of Rin Mikimoto's shōjo manga series Kyō no Kira-kun (Today's Kira-kun). Taisuke Kawamura (live-action Kuragehime) will direct the film, and it will open in Japan on February 25. Nakagawa starred as Kiyoshi in the live-action Prison School television series, and will play Ryōta Watari in the upcoming Your Lie in April live-action film. Iitoyo played Tsuruko in the live-action anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day special and Kira Asō in the live-action Mars television series and film. The cover of the August issue of Kodansha's Bessatsu Friend magazine that is listed on the Amazon retailer site already revealed the film adaptation. While the cover did not specify if the film would be live-action or anime, it did state that the issue will feature messages from Nakagawa and Iitoyo regarding the film. The July issue of Bessatsu Friend had teased that the manga would have a...

21-year-old actor Sōta Fukushi and 21-year-old actress Kasumi Arimura will star in the live-action film adaptation of Io Sakisaka's adolescent romance manga Strobe Edge. Fukushi will play the story's cool school idol, while Arimura cut her hair by 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) into a bob to play the heroine. Both stars received their big break by appearing in the NHK serial television "novel" Amachan last year. Oricon ranked both #1 among up-and-coming actors and actresses for the last half of 2014. While this is the fourth time the two have co-starred together, this the first film in which they appeared together. 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. 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...

Actress Mao Inoue will finally be making her long awaited return to acting! According to Yahoo! Mao will be playing the role of a female teacher in a Fuji TV drama series that will begin airing in October. This will be Mao’s first appearance in a drama series since the 2015 Taiga drama “Hanamoyu”. After the release of “Hanamoyu” Mao did not sign on to appear in many projects, her sole role being a voice acting spot in the CGI children’s movie Rudolf the Black Cat. The same month the movie was released Mao announced that she would be parting ways with her agency “Seventh Avenue”, whom she belonged to since the start of her career as a child actress. Even though Mao signed to another agency, tabloids had a field day using this as evidence that Mao was ready to settle down and perhaps marry her longtime rumored boyfriend Jun Matsumoto, member of the Johnny’s group Arashi. No marriage announcement was made and Mao continued to keep a low profile. She would occasionally be tracked down by p...

Since the mid-2000s, a huge topic among fans of J-Pop Empress Ayumi Hamasaki has been about the gradually worsening condition of her hearing. From feelings of sorrow, to worry, to being the butt of a joke from haters, as a singer, it has no doubt affected her vocal technique. Today, the Ayu took to her Team Ayu blog to talk about her current health condition and revealed that her right ear is beginning to weaken after years of compensating for her fully deaf left ear. After talking about her knee injury recovery, Hamasaki writes: Just before this year’s tour began I received a second blow – my hearing started to deteriorate further. My semicircular canals had blown, and I was experiencing crippling dizziness. I wasn’t able to walk in a straight line, and was often reduced to vomiting in the restroom at the rehearsal studio. I tried to put a brace face on things, but was told after various hearing tests that my right ear (which had been working overtime to compensate for my deaf left ea...

Time for yet another Girl of the Day for you all to cast your eyes over and enjoy and, once again, we are bringing you a very beautiful woman as our Girl of the Day. Following the success and popularity of yesterday's Girl of the Day, Japanese star Ai Shinozaki, we decided that we would stick with what works and bring you another beautiful Japanese talent as our Girl of the Day for today. As with yesterday's Girl of the Day, if you know much about the Japanese entertainment industry, then there is no doubt that you will know of the name Reon Kadena and will have seen some of her work. As well as being a beautiful and successful model, doing a number of modelling shoots in Japan, Reon Kadena has also tried her hand at acting, appearing in a number of low-budget Japanese movies over the course of her career. During her acting career, we have seen Reon Kadena appear in such low-budget Japanese movies as Triple-H (2004), Leon (2004), Girl’s Desire (2004), Virginity (2005), Style (2...

Givenchy has named Nanao as its new Japan ambassador, marking the first time the French fashion house has appointed a Japanese actress as a face of the brand, it said. A model, actress and TV personality, Nanao has starred in a variety of series and movies since embarking on her career in 2009, including action comedy “Hell’s Garden” and TV show “Ninja ni Kekkon wa Muzukashii,” the story of two ninjas from rival clans who get married without knowing each other’s true identities. Givenchy creative director Matthew M. Williams praised her attitude. “I really admire Nanao for her professional versatility as well as her personal energy and style. She will make an ideal Japan ambassador, and I look forward to working together,” he said in a statement. To mark the announcement, Nanao posed for a series of images shot by her close friend Leslie Kee, a Singaporean photographer based in Japan. “Givenchy is a timeless brand that elevates me as a woman and an actress. I am very much looking forwa...