It has been revealed that STARTO ENTERTAINMENT will be streaming a series of short dramas called "Esdra" starting in April. The first installment will be "Memory Buyer," starring Koichi Domoto and produced by BABEL LABEL director Michihito Fujii, and all episodes will be streamed for free on the official YouTube channel in April and May.
Domoto plays a mysterious man named Chrono who buys and sells people's memories, which leads to various events happening as he buys and sells memories from the protagonist of each episode. In Episode 1, Shinozuka Daiki from "timelesz" plays a university student who sells memories he wants to forget, in Episode 2 Tozuka Junki plays an unsuccessful manga artist who buys the special memories of others to use in his manga, and in Episode 3 Daito Shunsuke plays a chef who tries to sell his memories for his beloved wife.
The second installment will be a horror/fantasy film, "All the Beautiful Monsters," starring timelesz's Sato Shori and written and directed by Ninomiya Ken, who has worked on the TV series "Apollo's Song" (MBS). Sato will play Junpei, a handsome zombie hired as the manager of a haunted house.
Furthermore, in July, they plan to release "Fall in Love, Heir," a romantic comedy in which Ryosuke Hashimoto of "ABC-Z" plays a single prince, and in August, they plan to release "Chat Boy," which sounds the alarm about "positive relationships" in a "chat AI society," starring Yoshinori Shokado of "Ae! group" and featuring Noeru Kawashima of Travis Japan. Further irregular releases are planned thereafter.
Comment from Koichi Domoto, lead actor in Esdra's first film, "Memory Buyer"
-Do you feel there is any difference between this vertical drama and the dramas and movies you have appeared in so far?
When I first heard that it was a vertical drama, I couldn't imagine it, but when filming actually began, I felt the severity of creating the images due to the narrow horizontal angle of view. The director and all the staff were really professional, and I was able to film with a sense of their attention to detail, so I learned a lot from them.
--Is there anything you'd like us to pay attention to?
I think the staff's attention to detail has resulted in a wonderful visual, so I hope you'll look forward to the vertical worldview as well. The story is mysterious, sad, confusing... I hope it will evoke a variety of emotions while you try to imagine who Crono really is. I hope that many people will watch it and enjoy it.
◇ Comment from BABEL LABEL's Michihito Fujii (Producer of "Memory Buyer")
This will be BABEL LABEL's first attempt at a vertical production. In a world of video that changes at an incredible pace every day, we are committed to "portraying people" and "portraying the times," and by joining forces with wonderful people including Domoto Koichi, we hope to create a work never before seen. Please look forward to the release.
