First details and steamy main cast revealed for live-action Touken Ranbu film

The historical-swords-as-handsome-guys will make their first foray into reality on film!

Whoever first pitched the concept for Touken Ranbu must have had quite the amusing development meeting. After all, it’s a story about legendary Japanese swords. Oh, and also about hot guys defeating the forces of evil. Scratch that–it’s actually about legendary swords literally transforming into hot guys to defeat the forces of evil, which turned out to be quite the recipe for success.

Since bursting onto the scene in early 2015, the online game featuring anthropomorphic, historical katana has inspired everything from a newfound love for Japanese history in many of its players (especially younger women) to Christmas cakes bearing the characters’ visages. After two anime series, a stage play, and an upcoming musical set to debut later this month, we suppose it was only a matter of time before the game received the live-action treatment as well. That day has now come with the official announcement of Touken Ranbu: The Movie, set to hit Japanese theaters sometime in 2019.

Details at this point are sparse, but we do know that Yasuko Kobayashi, who has many TV anime and tokusatsu series under her belt, will handle screenplay. The film will be directed by Saiji Yakumo, who has most recently served as director for 2017’s Ankoku Joshi (“The Dark Maidens”) and 2016’s Mars~Tada, Kimi wo Aishiteru~ (“I Just Love You”). Yakumo himself seemed a bit surprised by this turn of events as evidenced in this recent tweet:

本日発表された耶雲哉治監督のコメントです。『まさか、あの「刀剣乱舞」が実写映画化されるとは。しかもその監督を自分が務めることになるなんて。』⇒ #映画刀剣乱舞
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『映画刀剣乱舞』公式 (@toukenmovie2019) March 07, 2018

“I never thought that Touken Ranbu would be turned into a live-action movie, let alone that I would serve as director.”

So far, eight members of the cast have been announced. Here they are in historical sword’s name: actor’s name format.

Mikazuki Munechika: 32-year-old Hiroki Suzuki [reprising his role from the stage play]

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆ 舞台刀剣乱舞、明日からまたご来場お待ちしています！東京公演も今週いっぱいまで、沢山のお客様と刀剣乱舞の世界を共有して過ごしたい ★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★ https://t.co/pF4JPg05wc
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鈴木拡樹 (@hiroki_0604) June 20, 2017

Yamanbagiri Kunihiro: 28-year-old Yoshihiko Aramaki [reprising his role from the stage play]

荒牧編集長の許可が出たので、日本舞踊を舞う荒牧編集長をチラ見せ。和服の妖精かな…？笑 #荒牧編集長 https://t.co/SJEfTLHAhq
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シリーズ編集長 (@seri_henshucho) February 28, 2018

Yagen Toshiro: 27-year-old Ryo Kitamura

お久しぶりです！年末最後の北村さんBefore→After！今年も一年ありがとうございました☺️ #北村諒 https://t.co/u8iqutu7Gd
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boucle (@boucle__salon) December 31, 2017

Heshikiri Hasebe: 26-year-old Masanari Wada [reprising his role from the stage play]

東の都。 ameblo.jp/masanariwada https://t.co/6TPhgYgEMZ
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和田雅成 (@masanari6) February 28, 2018

Nihongo: 38-year-old Hiroaki Iwanaga

トレンドに伊達さんの中の人が！ #岩永洋昭 #伊達明 https://t.co/MhA4qtOLBv
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nao@ピピピママ (@friedmeat) March 07, 2018

Honebami Toshiro: 22-year-old Fuma Sadamoto

世界らん展のステージにお越し頂き、ありがとうございました^ ^ 綺麗だった〜蘭。すごい良い匂いの空間でしたね。らん展が終わった後のプロ野球の試合、リラクゼーション効果でいい試合できそうですね。イベントで使ったお花を頂… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
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定本楓馬 (@Fuma_Sadamoto) February 21, 2018

Fudo Yukimitsu: 31-year-old Taizo Shiina

ブログ更新！！ ameblo.jp/taizo-shiina-b…
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椎名鯛造 (@TaizoShiina) March 01, 2018

Uguisumaru: 31-year-old Tomoki Hirose

唇にチョコつけてあざともき！てかよ！ともきも「蘭ちゃん」呼び！！ゆいこびっくりしたよ！ 3ヶ月間蘭ちゃん蘭ちゃん呼び掛けた成果ですね！ともきちゃん期待に応えるおとこだから笑振り返り、覚悟して待たないとなぁ #廣瀬智紀 https://t.co/5BKNo7OBH3
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糸吉ＫØ@AKR沼⇔髑髏城 (@sukusukunail) March 11, 2018

If you’re curious about what these actors might look like in the live-action film version, the teaser from the December 2017 official stage play might give some hints as to stylistic cues: