The staff for the live-action film of “At a Confessional” (“Zangeshitsu”), the first-ever story in Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure spinoff manga Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe (Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokanai), unveiled new footage for the film on Friday. The footage shows Rohan walking in an alley in Italy, being accosted by two pickpockets, and speaking to them in fluent Italian.
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The film will open in Japan on May 23.
Issei Takahashi (Whisper of the Heart, live-action Ikebukuro West Gate Park, March comes in like a lion) reprises the title role from the previous nine television installments and film. Marie Itoyo also returns after playing Kyoka Izumi in previous installments.
Kazutaka Watanabe is back to direct the new film at NHK Enterprises and P.I.C.S. Yasuko Kobayashi returns after scripting most of the previous live-action installments and the various JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure anime. Naruyoshi Kikuchi also returns to compose the music with Shin Ongaku Seisaku Kōbō. Isao Tsuge is again supervising the character designs and designing the costumes. ASMIK Ace is distributing the film.
The live-action Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan series’ first three episodes debuted in December 2020 for three consecutive nights on the NHK General channel. The second installment of three episodes premiered at the end of December 2021 for three consecutive nights as well. Retro Crush is streaming the first three episodes. Two more episodes premiered in December 2023. The series’ overall ninth episode (not including the live-action film) premiered in May 2024.
The live-action film of Hirohiko Araki’s Kishibe Rohan Louvre e Iku (Rohan at the Louvre, or literally, Rohan Kishibe Goes to the Louvre; Rohan au Louvre in French) manga opened in Japan in May 2023. The film sold 221,000 tickets in its first three days to earn 315 million yen (about US$2.14 million in current conversion). The film debuted on Amazon Prime Video in Japan, France, and 160 other countries and territories around the world in September 2023.
The JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure spinoff manga’s 11th story titled “Dripping Gahō-hen” (Dripping Art Technique) debuted in Shueisha’s Ultra Jump magazine in April 2022, with its second part premiering that May. The 12th story episode titled “Bruschetta” will release in Shueisha’s Ultra Jump magazine on April 18.
The anime studio david production adapted two Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan stories as original anime DVDs. The “Fugō Mura” (Millionaire Village) episode was available for people who purchased all 13 DVD or Blu-ray Disc volumes of the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable anime in 2017. The “Mutsukabezaka” (Mutsukabe Hill) episode was bundled with the manga’s second volume in 2018. Crunchyroll screened the overseas premiere of “Fugō Mura” at its Crunchyroll Expo event in August 2019. The studio david production then produced two new episodes, “Zange-shitsu” (Confessional Room) and “The Run,” which played at nine screenings at six cities in Japan between December 2020 and March 2021.
Netflix began streaming the anime globally in February 2021 with lead actor Landon McDonald.
Sources: ASMIK Ace’s YouTube channel, Comic Natalie
