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2016 Live-Action Death Note film casts former AKB48 idol Rina Kawaei

Anime News Network Feb 24, 2016
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Kawaei possesses 1 of 6 Death Notes in fall film.

The official website for this year’s live-action Death Note film revealed that former AKB48 idol group member Rina Kawaei (Azumi: Bakumatsu-hen stage play) plays Sakura Aoi, a girl who possesses one of the six Death Notes in the film. She is described as the most terrible Death Noteuser ever, an indiscriminate murderer, and the complete opposite of Light Yagami. The website revealed a visual of Kawaei in costume.

The previously announced cast includes:

Sōsuke Ikematsu (The Last Samurai’s Higen, MOZU’s Kazuhiko Shingai) as Ryūzaki, L’s successor and a world-famous detective

Masahiro Higashide (live-action Parasyte‘s Hideo Shimada, live-action Ao Haru Ride‘s Kō Mabuchi) as Tsukuru Mishima, an investigator pursuing the Death Notes

Masaki Suda (live-action Assassination Classroom‘s Karma Akabane, live-action Kuragehime‘s Kuranosuke Koibuchi) as Yūgi Shion, a cyber terrorist who reveres Kira

In Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata‘s original 2003-2006 supernatural suspense manga, a teenager named Light finds a notebook with which he can put people to death by writing their names. He begins a self-anointed crusade against the criminals of the world, and a cat-and-mouse game begins with the authorities and one idiosyncratic genius detective.

In the new film’s story, the present-day, highly advanced information society is beset by global cyber-terrorism in 2016. New charismatic figures, who inherited the DNA of Light (previously played Tatsuya Fujiwara) and the detective L (Ken’ichi Matsuyama), emerge. The successors of the two geniuses will wage a war over six Death Notes on Earth.

A crucial plot element will be the “Six-Note Rule”: Only six Death Notes are allowed to exist at a time in the human world. Of course, the Shinigami (Gods of Death) themselves are limited to the number of Death Notes. Therefore, up to six Shinigami may exist in the human world. This rule existed in the original manga, but the movies, live-action series, anime, and stage play have not used this rule thus far.

The new film will open in Japan this fall.

Shinsuke Sato (live-action Gantz, Gantz: Perfect Answer, Library Wars films) is directing the film. The film is a “forbidden sequel” to the two earlier live-action Death Note films, 2006’s Death Noteand Death Note: The Last Name. The film is shooting in overseas locations, and Warner Brothers will distribute.

The manga inspired three live-action films (including one spinoff centering on L), a 37-episode television anime series, and a live-action television series in Japan. The manga has 30 million in print worldwide, and the first two films earned 8 billion yen (about US$70 million). The L change the WorLd spinoff played in over 60 countries, and the live-action series premiered with a 16.9% rating and ran in 127 countries shortly after the Japanese airing.

The manga also inspired a musical by a Japanese and American team that ran at Tokyo’s Nissay Theatre last April. Warner Brothers has been developing a planned live-action film in the United States.

Viz Media released the Death Note manga, the anime series, and a spinoff novel in North America. Viz Pictures released the three live-action films in American theaters.

Source: Cinema Today (Yūichirō Nakayama) via Hachima Kikō