It's still quite a long way away, but nonetheless.

It has been announced that Sho-chan will be playing the lead role in the movie "Yatterman" which is an old anime from Japan.

Taken from:

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Arashi's Sakurai Sho (25) will be playing the lead role in the movie "Yatterman" which will be out in theaters spring of '09. This movie is the live-action version of a popular anime that will have re-runs starting next January 14th (Nihon TV). Sakurai plays the main character Yatterman #1 (Takada Gan), who is a hero that fights against the evil Doronbo-s with the mechanics he creates.

Sakurai says "I am very excited to be a part of that character, song, words that are embedded in my childhood memories." The original had rigorous action scenes, which will become the key to this live-action version.

Producer Chiba commented, "It will become a beautiful, great action if Sakurai-san does it." The line, "As long as Yatterman is here in this world, there will be no evil!" will also be included.

During December the heroine Yatterman#2 (Ai-chan), and the evil villains Doronjyo, Boyakki-, Tonzura- will be determined.


[edit 11/25]

More about the story.

GO LOOK AT THE WEBSITE GUYS. SERIOUSLY. The anime looked cute-ish, but omg the drawing here...It's easier to imagine Sho-chan in this outfit, esp. now that he's lost weight and stuff.

Rough translation from:

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The popular anime "Yatterman" that was aired in the late 70s will be turned into a live-action film, with Arashi's Sakurai Sho as the lead role.

Nikkatsu will be using 2 billion to make this huge film. Synopsis: The "God of Evil" Dokurobe and Doronbo gang tries to look for the 4 skull stones that are scattered around the world in order to "stop Earth's time and steal the future." Takada Gan, an only-child of a toy store, turns into Yatterman #1 to stop them, along with his girlfriend Ai-chan, Yatterman #2. The two of them create a robotic dog, Yatterwan, and determines to save the world. The TV anime was aired from 1977-1979, a total of 108 episodes. The new anime episodes will be aired from January 2008, from Nihon TV.

The director Miike Takashi says "The anime "Yatterman" has a strong image of the Doronbo gang, but the hero really does play out. Takada Gan must have a strong hero look to him, and Sakurai Sho has all of this. It is his destiny to play this character."

Sakurai was one of the many who enjoyed the anime through re-runs. He will start training for the use of kendama, which becomes Yatterman #1's weapon.

The filming will start in March 2008 and aims for theaters Spring 2009.






[edit 12/11]

More news!

Fukuda Saki will become Yatterman #2, Ai-chan.

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Roughly translated:

Actress Fukuda Saki (17) will play the heroine Yatterman #2 Ai-chan in the live-action movie "Yatterman."

Along with Yatterman #1, played by Arashi's Sakurai Sho (25), she will fight against the Doronbo- trio. She loved the Ultraman and Kamen Rider series, and this is her long-awaited live-action film.

Although she does not know the original anime, she is happy to "play a role in the live-action film of an anime that her mother's generation enjoyed."





[edit 1/10]

The part of the evil and sexy villain Doronjyo will be played by FUKADA KYOKO! (She was in the drama "Minami-kun no Koibito" with Nino)

[edit 1/14]

More news on the three villains!

Roughly translated from:

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Three villains against Yatterman: Fukakyon, Namase, Kenkoba

The cast for the evil "Doronbo- trio" in "Yatterman" was announced on the 14th.

The sexy leader Doronjyo will be played by actress Kyoko Fukada (25). She will wear a scandalous costume close to what the original anime looks like, and said "The sexy parts I will make sexier, and the comical parts I will try my best to maintain the original image." She is excited about "the Doronbo- trio's songs and comical banter, as well as the scene where the three of them ride a three-person bicycle."

Katsuhisa Namase (47) will play Boyakki-, the mechanics creator of the team, and Kendo- Kobayashi (35) will play the powerful Tonzura-. Namase strongly said "I'll do anything for Miss Doronjyo, whether it be in fire or water!" It will become a hard battle for Yatterman #1 played by Sho Sakurai (25) and Yatterman #2, Saki Fukuda (17).




So the cast is now:

Yatterman #1: Sho Sakurai (25)
Yatterman #2: Saki Fukuda (17)

Doronjyo: Kyoko Fukada (25)
Boyakki-: Katsuhisa Namase (47) *He was the vice-prinicple from Gokusen!
Tonzura-: Kendo- Kobayashi (35) *comedian
　

Sho's next movie Can't wait for it to come out.. heheh.. Too bad it's still such a long way.. But will wait patiently~!
I've never watched the drama before.. maybe I should google it.. But I really like Kamen Rider.. so it should be good~! Sho = HERO~!

Thanks again for the info, petto~!

Just additional info...

Official website:

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Nothing is in there yet, but the Y-logo..... (which looks like a steel underwear to me. ^^;;)

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Anime characters: (see what I mean by Elvis-suit. On one hand, it is skin tight (woo hoo!), but on the other hand, can Sho pull it off? >_<)

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I never heard about this anime.... well.... ganbatte sho-chan! I will watch of course. ^^

Yay Sho's the lead~
Thanks for the info, petto!

Spring 2009 is long wait but it'll be worth it.

Alright Sho's in a new movie!! I can't wait to see it. Though, I've never heard of Yatterman. I'll have to look up more on it. Thanks for the info!

I'm so excited! This anime is very funny - Yatterman will send cute weapon against enemy and I love to see Sho wears the suit but he will get ultra skinny because the tight suit too ><
Thanks for the news!

...
i was kind of disappointed with this..

don't know what to expect...

maa, just ganbatte ne, sho-kun....

ano, are the above Sakurai is our Sho-kun??because as far as i know, he was born in 1982 right?

2009... wow that's a long wait! Bit I think it will be worth it... "Yatterman" was my favourite anime when I was young... and now Sho's playing the leading role!! YAY!!!

Yeah, that is weird. The website must've gotten Sho-chan's birth year wrong. (Deleted )

This ought to be an interesting step for Sho in his acting career. The plot is so sci-fi I'm very interested to see how it turns out. I also wonder who's going to play Ai...

I read from local newspaper: there are some people in Japan forums said that they felt disappointed because Sho act the leading role! They think Sho is not suitable for the role - not that type and will refuse to watch the movie!!
Is that true??Are the forums really said that?? If true..it's really unfair to Sho because he always do his best for every performance..I'm not force someone to like him but they should take time to see the result..

sho'll act yattaman ...i can't wait to see...i'm so curious!!
ganbatte shochan!!!

that's a really skinny suit... honestly, i can't imagine sho wearing it... hopefully he can pull it! is this going to be a comedy movie? i'm not really familiar with the anime.

woww cool ! lead role for Sho i'm really looking forward to the movie! impressive really.. if the director of the movie has said that it's Sho's destiny to play this character.. ^^