Kazuya Nakai joins cast as Tatsuhiko Shibusawa

The official website for the Bungo Stray Dogs anime franchise began streaming a trailer for the Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple anime film on Wednesday. The video reveals that the film will open in Japan on March 3.

The website also revealed a key visual, cast list, and story summary. Most of the cast members are returning from the television anime, with Kazuya Nakai joining the cast as Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (pictured below).

The returning cast members include:

Yūto Uemura as Atsushi Nakajima Mamoru Miyano as Osamu Dazai Kensho Ono as Ryūnosuke Akutagawa Kishō Taniyama as Chūya Nakahara Sumire Morohoshi as Kyōka Izumi Yoshimasa Hosoya as Doppo Kunikida Hiroshi Kamiya as Ranpo Edogawa Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Junichirō Tanizaki Hiroyuki Kagura as Kenji Miyazawa Yu Shimamura as Akiko Yosano Chiaki Omigawa as Naomi Tanizaki Rikiya Koyama as Yukichi Fukuzawa Mitsuru Miyamoto as Ougai Mori Sora Amamiya as Elise Junichi Suwabe as Sakunosuke Oda Jun Fukuyama as Ango Sakaguchi Akira Ishida as Fyodor D.

The film's story involves a mystery case of power users around the world suddenly committing suicide one after another, in all cases after a strange fog appears at the scene. At a request from Ango Sakaguchi, the Armed Detective Agency head out to investigate Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, a power user who calls himself "collector," and a man suspected of being tied to the incident.

Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple will open in Japan in early spring 2018.

Takuya Igarashi is returning to direct the film at BONES. Yoji Enokido is returning to write the film, in collaboration with original manga writer Kafka Asagiri. Nobuhiro Arai is returning as character designer and chief animation director, Fumihiro Katagai is the mechanical designer, and Taku Iwasaki is returning to compose the music. Kadokawa Animation is distributing the film.

GRANRODEO, the band that performed the first television anime's opening theme song, is returning to perform the opening theme song for the film. Luck Life, the group that performed the ending theme songs for both anime seasons, is returning to perform the film's ending theme song.

The first television anime adaptation of Kafka Asagiri and Sango Harukawa's Bungo Stray Dogs manga aired in April-June 2016, and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. The anime's second 12-episode series aired from October-December, and Crunchyroll again streamed the series as it aired. Funimation and Crunchyroll plan to release the series on home video with an English dub.

The manga is also inspiring a stage play adaptation and a smartphone game. An OVA shipped with the manga's 13th compiled volume on August 4.

The "battle action" story centers around a league of literary figures with supernatural powers. For example, in real life, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa wrote acclaimed stories that inspired Akira Kurosawa's Rashōmon film and the Aoi Bungaku Series anime's Jigoku Hen (Hell Screen) arc. In Bungo Stray Dogs, he has the power to transform and manipulate his cloak into a monster-like entity. Together, some of these writers solve mysteries as part of the "Armed Detective Agency," while others appear as antagonists.

Yen Press published the fourth volume of the manga in English on September 19.

Source: Comic Natalie