Live Action Kamen no Ninja Akakage Series Drops a Trailer

The official account for the live action adaptation of Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s Kamen no Ninja Akakage shared a new promotional trailer on Friday. Narrated by voice actor Junichi Suwabe, the video reveals and previews the opening theme, Swish Dat, performed by Psychic Fever.

The series premieres on October 26. It tells an untold chapter of the Sengoku era, focusing on the secret ninjas who served Oda Nobunaga, and it promises modern visual effects alongside grand scale monster battles. It is the second team up between TV Asahi and Toei.

The cast is led by Taiki Satō as Akakage, joined by Keito Kimura as Aokage, Ryō Katō as Shirokage, Shūgo Oshinari as Kazumasu Takigawa, and Tokio Emoto as Hideyoshi Hashiba.

There is notable talent behind it as well. The acclaimed genre director Takashi Miike serves as chief director, with Yūsuke Watanabe writing the scripts, while Wolf Howl Harmony of Exile Tribe performs the ending theme, Marmalade.

Yokoyama’s original manga ran from 1966 to 1967 in Weekly Shonen Sunday, and it has a long screen history, including a 1967 special effects drama, a late 1980s anime, and a 2001 film released abroad as Red Shadow: Akakage.

My take: A Takashi Miike take on a classic ninja tale, complete with monster battles, sounds wonderfully bold. I am very curious to see how it blends Sengoku history with that larger than life spectacle.