Kamiki Ryunosuke to star in the 2-part movie adaptation of "Sangatsu no Lion"

Kamiki Ryunosuke will be starring in the 2-part movie adaptation of Umino Chika's manga "Sangatsu no Lion" which is due to be shown in cinemas next year and directed by Ohtomo Keishi who was famous for his "Rurouni Kenshin" series. The manga which started in 2007, won various awards such as the 4th Manga Taisho 2011, the 35th Kodansha Mangasho in 2011, the Tezuka Osamu Bunkasho Manga Taisho in 2014 and Da Vinci BOOK OF THE YEAR 2015 (No.1 in comic ranking) and the anime version will be shown on NHK this autumn.

Kamiki plays the lead character Kiriyama Rei, a 17-year-old professional shogi player who made his debut during junior high which was extremely rare. He lives alone at a suburb town in Tokyo as his parents and younger sister died during a traffic accident when he was young. While coping with the loneliness in his life, Rei aims to become a top-class shogi player. One day, Rei comes to know three sisters from the Kawamoto family i.e. Akari, Hinata and Momo which offers him much-needed warmth in his life as he grapples with the struggles in the competitive shogi world.

When news of the movie adaptation first came out, Kamiki was one of those whose names were suggested as most suitable to play the lead character. Kamiki himself also expressed his joy when offered the role as he is a fan of the manga which is widely popular. Despite feeling the pressure, he promised to try to convey the heartwarming theme as projected in the original manga. Ohtomo who last worked with Kamiki in the Rurouni movies, expressed excitement at seeing how the latter has grown in the last two years and is looking forward to see how he will portray Rei this time. Meanwhile, the original manga's author also praised Kamiki for being a guy who feels as if there is a lion residing inside of him and is very happy about him playing the lead character.

Source: Oricon