Koji Seto and Kasumi Arimura to co-star as “sinners” in JUDGE

By kevin on August 08, 2013 at 7:15pm EDT

Koji Seto and Kasumi Arimura are set to co-star for the first time in JUDGE, a live-action movie adaptation of Yoshiki Tonogai’s popular death game-themed manga.

The film will mark an image departure for both actors. Seto co-starred in last year’s blockbuster horror film Sadako 3D and will co-star in a live-action version of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai early next year. Arimura’s most recent work of note has been playing the younger version of Kyoko Koizumi’s character Haruko Amano in the NHK drama Amachan.

The original JUDGE manga was serialized in Monthly Shonen Gangan from February 2010-September 2012, reaching a total circulation of over 1.6 million copies.

The story revolves around a group of “sinners” who are locked in a confined space together and forced to participate in a death game. Each of them has committed one of seven deadly sins—pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust—which are represented by the respective animal masks they’ve been given.

The film was directed by Yo Kohatsu, who also adapted the screenplay. For added realism while shooting in such a confined location, Kohatsu utilized techniques such as surveillance camera style filming and frequent switching of camera viewpoints.

Seto’s character wears a wolf mask representing “wrath” due to an incident from his past in which his strong sense of justice led to him injuring someone. Meanwhile, Arimura’s character wears the lion mask representing pride. She plays a former pop idol who was verbally abusive to a fan.

It was also revealed that actor Jiro Sato will play the fox of the group, representing his greed in orchestrating a financial scam to bilk young people out of money which led to a suicide.

JUDGE will be released in Japan on November 8, 2013.

Source: Eiga.com