It was revealed on April Getsuku that actors Miho Kanno and Eiji Akaso will be co-starring in the mystery film "About a Certain Place in the Kinki Region" (directed by Koji Shiraishi, scheduled for release on August 8th). The trailer and teaser visuals were also released.
The original work is a novel of the same name by Sekinsan (KADOKAWA), which has sold over 350,000 copies. The first chapter was posted on the novel website "Kakuyomu" in January 2023, and as the series continued, it expanded its fan base, especially among young people. It was a hit, with a total of over 22 million page views. The final chapter, chapter 34, was posted in April of the same year, and the series was published in book form in August of the same year. It won first place in the 2024 edition of This Horror is Amazing!
The film is directed by the talented director Shiraishi, who has also worked on films such as "Noroi" (2005), "Sadako vs. Kayako" (2016), and "Sayuri" (2024), and the original author, Sekin, who is a big fan of the director and has been influenced by him, is also participating as a scriptwriter.
An editor of an occult magazine suddenly goes missing... Until just before his disappearance, he seemed to have been gathering various pieces of information, such as investigative materials from unsolved cases, feature articles on mysterious phenomena, and shelved interview notes from the past, and was investigating something. While searching for him, fellow editor Ozawa and writer Chihiro discover that all of these events happened in "a certain place in the Kinki region." Why did the incidents occur in that place? This is a new type of "location mystery."
Kanno plays the role of occult writer Seno Chihiro, while Akaso plays Ozawa Yusei, a magazine editor who becomes fascinated by the mystery of a certain place while working with Chihiro. Both actors are taking on unique roles in their careers.
A trailer video of the "scary but funny" plot, starting with "I'm looking for a missing friend", was also released. In addition, a teaser visual was released in which the QR code of the visual of "videos you should not watch" and "audio you should not listen" that was the topic of discussion recently, which covered the faces of a man and a woman, was removed, revealing the faces of Kanno and Akaso.
Comments from the co-stars, Kanno and Akaso, are as follows:
◇Comment from Miho Kanno
When I heard about the project, I was really drawn in by the fact that the cover of the original novel I received had a strange and unsettling atmosphere, and the facts that were completely different from those of a normal novel were described in a calm manner and connected together. It was scary to read the PC site bulletin board posts and the hidden words while thinking about the strangeness myself, but it felt like I was going to receive the fear myself, and I felt that it was a wonderful original work that had the power to draw me into the world of the work. Recently, the summer in Japan has been so hot that it's almost too hot, but I think that the movie "About a Place in the Kinki Region" will give you a chilly feeling. I'm sure it will be a movie like no one has ever seen before. Please look forward to it.
◇Comment from Eiji Akaso
Horror films such as Director Shiraishi's "Teke Teke" (2009), "Noroi" and "Kuchisake Onna" (2007) were my youth, so when I heard about the role, I honestly thought, "I'll finally get to meet Director Shiraishi!" As the original novel is confronted with each new fact related to the Kinki region, I was able to relive the story as if I were the protagonist, and while it was scary, I also felt the joy of progressing towards the truth, and I felt more immersed in it than a normal novel. This movie is scary because it could be something very close to us, and it has many tricks as a movie, so I think it's fun to watch it again after watching it, so please get cold in a movie theater with the air conditioner on full blast during the hot summer.
