Sugisaki Hana to play Kuchiki Rukia in new real-life adaptation movie "BLEACH"

Sugisaki Hana will be playing Kuchiki Rukia in the upcoming real-life adaptation movie "BLEACH" starring Fukushi Souta which will be shown in cinemas from 20 July. The movie which is directed by Sato Shinsuke, features Fukushi in the leading role of Kurosaki Ichigo, an ordinary senior high school student who becomes a death god in order to eliminate the evil spirits named Hollows. The original manga by Kubo Tite was serialised from 2001 and had accumulated sales of 90 million copies for its 73 volumes published so far. Although filming of the movie was done between September 2016 and November 2016, the post production process has been going on for more than a year.

Rukia is a soul reaper in charge of slaying the Hollows. During a meeting with Ichigo who can see supernatural beings such as Soul Reapers, she is forced to give him most of her powers so that he can become a death god. As a result, she becomes an ordinary senior high school student but still helps Ichigo in his fight against the Hollows.

Sugisaki said that she had done her homework of Rukia by reading the manga and watching the anime repeatedly and tried to portray the character in her own way. As for working with Fukushi again after the movie "Mugen no Juunin", Sugisaki revealed that she felt at ease from the first day of the filming. In the story, Ichigo and Rukia's relationship is that of mutual dependence and that they both grow and become stronger as a result of each other's presence so she was able to experience the same feeling since Fukushi was playing Ichigo and hoped that the audience would be moved by the friendship between them.

Sources: Eiga.com / Natalie