RED BY HBO, the Asian movie and entertainment channel of HBO Asia, has announced on Sunday that the live-action film adaptation of the manga series Rainbow Days will premiere this month.
The channel also announced that Japanese live-action films Last Hold and The Antique will make its television premiere this May.
The three Japanese films will premiere on the channel’s “Stay Home Friday” movie block, which airs every Friday nights at 10:00pm (09:00pm JKT/VIE).
Last Hold is scheduled to premiere on May 3, while The Antique will premiere on May 10, and Rainbow Days will make its premiere on May 24.
Last Hold
ラスト・ホールド！
Okajima, a senior at Toridesaka University who has dedicated himself to the sport of bouldering, is facing a crisis. With his graduation imminent, he is the only member of the bouldering club. It needs at least seven members to stay in existence. Determined not to let the long history of the club end at his generation, Okajima desperately solicits new students and, after a lot of hard work, manages to recruit six new members: Arai, Momoda, Takaido, Nakamichi, Kuwamoto, and Kawaguchi. However, with the exception of Kawaguchi, they are all beginners. (Synopsis from IMDb)
Last Hold is a Japanese slice-of-life drama film, which was screened in Japanese cinemas in May last year.
Yukinori Wakabe, who worked in Japanese short films like Tokyo Sky Story and A Piece of Dogu, directed the film, while the team of Namiwo Kawami and Kenji Takami handled the screenplay, which was released by Shochiku.
Ryoichi Tsukada, who is a member of the Japanese boy band A.B.C.-Z and portrayed “Blonde Teacher” in the television series Kamen Teacher, played the lead role of Senior “Okajima”.
He was joined by Tatsuya Fukusawa (as Akai), Shota Watanabe (as Momoda), Ryota Miyadate (as Takaido), Ryohei Abe (as Nakamichi), Daisuke Sakuma (as Kuwamoto) and Hikaru Iwamoto (as Kawaguchi). The six are members of Johnny’s Junior male group “Snow Man”.
The Antique
ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖
Kamakura south of Tokyo has a special book store, which is operated by Shioriko. She loves her books, her store and stocks rarities and specialties. Daisuke also works there. A stranger targets the store and seems to be after something specific. The two set out to find out what the figure is after and how they should protect themselves. (Synopsis from IMDb)
The Antique is the second live-action adaptation of the mystery drama light novel series Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou (Antiquarian Bookshop Biblia’s Case Files), written by En Mikami and illustrated by Hagu Koshijima, which was published by Kadokawa’s ASCII Media Works from March 2011 to 2017 with a total of seven (7) volumes.
This will be the novel’s first live-action theatrical film adaptation, produced by Kadokawa Pictures and 20th Century Fox (Japan), which was screened in Japanese cinemas last November 1.
Yukiko Mishima, known for writing and directing films like Broken Hearts for Sale and Night’s Tightrope, directed the film, while the team of Ryohei Watanabe and Kana Matsui handled the screenplay.
Haru Kuroki, who played “Minamikujo Ayame” in the live-action film adaptation of Silver Spoon, portrayed the book store owner “Shioriko Shinokawa” and Shuhei Nomura, who played “Taichi Mashima” in Chihayafuru’s live-action film trilogy, portrayed the store clerk “Daisuke Goura”.
Rainbow Days
虹色デイズ
Natsuki Hashiba, Tomoya Matsunaga, Tsuyoshi Naoe and Keiichi Katakura are high school students. They are very close friends, even though they have different personalities and hobbies. Their days are spent happily and vibrantly. Natsuki Hashiba gets a crush on female high school student Anna Kobayakawa and their daily lives begin to change. (Synopsis from AsianWiki)
Rainbow Days is the live-action film adaptation of the shoujo manga series by Minami Mizuno, which was serialized in Shueisha’s Bessatsu Margaret magazine from February 2012 to March 2017 with a total of 15 volumes.
The manga had a television anime adaptation, produced by Production Reed, which was aired from January to June 2016 with a total of 24 episodes.
Rainbow Day’s live-action film adaptation was directed by Ken Iizuka, who has written and directed the live-action television and film adaptations of Arakawa Under the Bridge, while Saint Young Men anime film scriptwriter Rika Nezu handled the screenplay.
The slice-of-life romance film was screened in Japanese cinemas in July last year, which was produced by Warner Bros. (Japan) and distributed by Shochiku.
The film’s cast are led by Reo Sano (“Tatsuki”, High & Low: The Story of S.W.O.R.D.) as “Natsuki Hashiba”, Taishi Nakagawa (“Arata Kaizaki”, ReLIFE live-action film) as “Tomoya Matsunaga”, Mahiro Takasugi (“Kazuomi Oga”, ReLIFE live-action film) as “Tsuyoshi Naoe”, and Ryusei Yokohama (“Takeru Hibiya” Wolf Girl & Black Prince live-action film) as “Keiichi Katakura”.
RED BY HBO is available on SKYcable (Ch. 74 in Mega Manila, Ch. 422 in Cebu, Davao, Baguio and Bacolod), Cignal TV (Ch. 50), and SatLite (Ch. 70).
For schedule and other details, please visit their website at redbyhbo.com.
