Fukushi Sota and Arimura Kasumi cast in Strobe Edge Live Action Film + Thoughts

BIG CASTING NEWS GUYS! I woke up this morning and pretty much exploded into happiness after reading this news!

Strobe Edge is one of my all time favourite mangas and its by the same artist, Sakisaka Io, who is responsible for creating the currently super popular shoujo manga, Ao Haru Ride. I already wrote a post on the live action trailer of Ao Haru Ride which you can check out here. I love love love AHR but the recent chapters have been pissing me off a lot. Chapter 42 pretty much hit the ceiling for me in that as soon as I finished reading it, I sent 50+ swearing messages to my friend. Chapter 43 was just released and I've yet to read it but judging from the spoilers, I believe that my everyday prayers to the manga gods have worked and that Kou is finally going to take action!

Anyhow, when I found out that Ao Haru Ride was going to get a live action film, I instantly thought about Strobe Edge and hoped for a live action film as well even though I thought the chances were zero given that it was released a long time ago. SO WHEN THE NEWS WAS ANNOUNCED I WAS SERIOUSLY THINKING IF I SAVED A COUNTRY IN MY PAST LIFE OR SOMETHING BECAUSE I JUST COULD NOT BELIEVE MY LUCK!!

I always reread Strobe Edge every summer and it never gets boring. It always manages to give me butterflies in my stomach because Ren and Ninako are just so damn cute. If you haven't read the manga yet, here is a short synopsis:

15-year-old Ninako Kinoshita has never been in love until an encounter on the train with her school's most popular boy, the quiet Ren Ichinose. As she grows closer to Ren, she falls in love with him, but must learn to cope with the unfortunate fact that Ren already has a longtime girlfriend.

Okay, don't let the synopsis deceive you. After Ninako finds out that Ren has a girlfriend, she just becomes his friend. Their friendship is actually really cute and from there on you can see Ren slowly begin to fall in love with her while still conflicted about his girlfriend. I honestly love all the characters so much. After finishing the manga, I suffered a terrible heartache from the cursed second lead syndrome. As much as I love Ren, Andou just broke my heart. Oh never has my desire to hug a 2D character been so strong!

Now that you know how much I love Strobe Edge, lets talk a bit about the actors who were cast as the leads!

Fukushi Sota is going to play Ichinose Ren and I'm pretty happy with it. He is a bit different then who I pictured Ren it doesn't matter because everyone knows that Ren is too perfect for any human to portray. I do want to mention that Sota is also going to star in another shoujo manga adaption called Sukitte Ii Na Yo and he has the same exact hairdo (related post here). Its rare to see and it feels kind of weird but I'm happy that he's taking on so many exciting projects!

Arimura Kasumi is playing Kinoshita Ninako and I'm a little less thrilled on this one. I adore her but she looks SO WEIRD to me in short hair! She definitely does not suit short hair. PLUS Ninako's hair isn't even that short. Ohs wells. It doesn't bother me thaaat much and I'm confident in Kasumi's acting so the casting is a thumbs up for me.

The secondary characters have also been casted and I'm 100% satisfied with who they chose! First off, Takumi Andou is being played by Yamada Yuki who is best known for playing Kin-chan in Itazura Na Kiss: Love in Tokyo. At first glance he's nothing like Andou but he actually has a little bit of a bad boy vibe to him that makes him fit his character perfectly! It'll be interesting to see him playing a playboy. I had a little second lead syndrome in Ita Kiss so I guess I'm going to go through that all over again with the same actor lol.

Korenaga Mayuka who is Ren's girlfriend in the beginning will be played by Arisa Sato. I actually loved Mayuka as a character and Arisa looks pretty fitting for the role. She's super pretty just like Mayuka who works as a model. Jingi Irie plays Korenaga Daiki, Ninako's childhood friend who has a crush on her in the beginning. Not sure how many of you watched Kingyo Club but Jingi was the male lead in that short but sweet drama. He actually looks like a pretty good Daiki since he has a little bit of a awkward atmosphere. Lastly, Yuina Kuroshima plays Uehara Sayuri, Ninako's friend who falls for Daiki. I don't have much to say about her since I've never watched her works and I didn't really care that much for Daiki and Sayuri's storyline.

And that just about wraps up the casting! There is still little info about the movie regarding the release dates and such but I'll be sure to post any updates. READ THE MANGA!!!