Live-Action Baban Baban Ban Vampire Film Opens at #5
The film was originally scheduled for a February 14 release, but was postponed due to "various circumstances." The preview screening scheduled on January 21 was also canceled. The film opened on July 4.The live-action film also stars Rihito Itagaki as Rihito Tatsuno, and Nanoka Hara as Aoi Shinozuka.The BL (indicated here as standing for "Bloody Love Comedy") manga centers on a 450-year-old vampire named Ranmaru, working part-time at an old public bath. He desires the blood of an 18-year-old virgin, and so watches over the growth of 15-year-old Rihito, the son of the bathhouse owners, and tries to prevent him from losing his virginity.The Baban Baban Ban Vampire anime adaptation premiered in Japan on January 11. The anime is streaming on Netflix.The film opened at #8 in Japan for the weekend of June 27-29. The film earned 132,757,670 yen (about US$924,000) in its first three days.Yū Aoi (live-action Rurouni Kenshin films' Megumi, Children of the Sea's Kanako Azumi) plays the central character Chapon in the film. Members of the comedy trio Panther, consisting of Satoshi Mukai, Takahiro Ogata, and Ryōtarō Kan, play guest roles in the film's cast. Mukai voices the character Robot No. 2.The film centers on Chapon, a mysterious boy who falls from the sky without any knowledge of where he came from. Staying with Anpanman, he one day helps someone out and gets to know the joy of making someone smile, and dreams of becoming a hero like Anpanman. But when Baikinman arrives, and reveals the secret of Chapon's origins, Chapon must figure out if his origins or his dreams define who he is.The film opened in Japan on May 9 and debuted at #4. The film sold 92,000 tickets and earned 189,399,380 yen (about US$1.29 million) in its first three days.Takeshi Furuta (Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom, Visual Prison) was the film's chief director, and Akiko Seki (Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima, Lycoris Recoil episode director) directed the anime at A-1 Pictures. Chinatsu Kurahana, the original character designer of several Utano☆Princesama films and series, was again credited for the film's original character designs, and Maki Fujioka (Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom, Utano☆Princesama Legend Star, Utano☆Princesama Maji LOVE ST☆RISH Tours) was the character designer. Hiroshi Nakajima (Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom, Utano☆Princesama Maji LOVE ST☆RISH Tours) was the CG director, Takeshi Ōkawa (Utano☆Princesama Maji LOVE ST☆RISH Tours, NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a) was the sub CG director, and Katsuyoshi Miyajima (Utano☆Princesama Maji LOVE ST☆RISH Tours) was the character modeling director. Elements Garden composed the music.The first story in Virgin Punk, an original anime series by director Yasuomi Umetsu and animation studio SHAFT, titled "Clockwork Girl," stayed at #1 in the mini-theater rankings in its second weekend.Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2, link 3), comScore via KOFIC
