The live-action movie adaptation of Bungo Stray Dogs: Beast, titled Bungo Stray Dogs the Movie: BEAST, has received a trailer and a main visual.
The trailer and visual provide a look at Shōhei Hashimoto as Ryūnosuke Akutagawa and Yuki Torigoe as Atsushi Nakajima. The trailer also offers a quick preview of the characters’ respective powers in live-action form.
Bungo Stray Dogs the Movie: BEAST will release in Japan on January 7, 2022. Early ticket sales will begin on September 18. One of the early ticket sale options offers buyers an A4 clear folder depicting Ryūnosuke and Atsushi on the back and front respectively.
The movie is helmed by Koichi Sakamoto, who has directed numerous tokusatsu titles including Kamen Rider Fourze, Ultraman Ginga S, and this year’s Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga and Mashin Sentai Kiramager vs. Ryusoulger. Sakamoto also directed the live-action Mob Psycho 100 series and BLACKFOX: Age of the Ninja, the live-action movie prequel to the Blackfox anime movie.
Bungo Stray Dogs the Movie: BEAST‘s cast includes Masashi Taniguchi as Sakunosuke Oda, Teruma as Doppo Kunikida, Ryōki Nagae as Edogawa Ranpo, Kōsuke Kuwano as Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, Hitoshi Horinōchi as Kenji Miyazawa, Miho Imamura as Yosano Akiko, and Akari Saitō as Naomi Tanizaki.
Other cast members include Rui Tabuchi as Osamu Dazai, Sakina Kuwae as Kyōka Izumi, Ayaka Konno as Gin, and Keisuke Ueda as Chūya Nakahara.
Bungo Stray Dogs: Beast is a manga series by Shiwasu Hoshikawa, which began in 2020 and has three tankōbon volumes as of August 2021. It is based on the sixth volume of the Bungo Stray Dogs light novel adaptation. The light novel’s sixth volume is in turn inspired by the BEAST- Akutagawa the White, Atsushi the Black bonus story that was given out during the 2018 Bungo Stray Dogs: DEAD APPLE anime movie’s first week in theaters.
Yen Press describes Bungo Stray Dogs: Beast as:
In the world of Bungo Stray Dogs, Ryuunosuke Akutagawa is infamous for being one of the Port Mafia’s most dangerous members. But what if his past had turned out differently…? When Dazai decides to pass on taking in an orphaned Akutagawa, the boy winds up being recruited by none other than the Armed Detective Agency! With his sister still in the Mafia’s clutches, Akutagawa will stop at nothing to take her back. However, standing in his way is the Port Mafia’s top enforcer—the White Reaper, Atsushi Nakajima. As darkness and light face off in a twisted mirror of what could have been, a new tale begins to take shape…
Meanwhile, the main Bungo Stray Dogs manga written by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa began in 2012 and has 21 tankōbon volumes as of August 2021. It received two anime seasons in 2016 and a third in 2019. Bones produced all three seasons as well as the DEAD APPLE movie.
Crunchyroll describes the anime series as:
Kicked out of his orphanage and on the verge of starving to death, Nakajima Atsushi meets some strange men. One of them, Dazai Osamu, is a suicidal man attempting to drown himself in broad daylight. The other, bespectacled Kunikida Doppo, nervously stands by flipping through a notepad. Both are members of the “Armed Detective Agency” said to solve incidents that even the military and police won’t touch. Atsushi ends up accompanying them on a mission to eliminate a man-eating tiger that’s been terrorizing the population…
Sources: Bungo Stray Dogs the Movie: BEAST Twitter and website
