In continuing to stand as the prime contrary example to the popular belief regarding manga’s inability to be successfully adapted to live-action, following its predecessor’s domination at the Japanese box office, Toho has officially disclosed their war plans for their fourth film adaptation of Yasuhia Hara’s Kingdom.
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Set during China’s Warring States period (roughly around 476-221 BCE), Yasuhisa Hara’s award-winning manga follows the journey of Shin (Kento Yamazaki – Saichi Sugimoto in the live-action Golden Kamuy film), a young war orphan who dedicates himself to becoming one of the Qin dynasty’s Great Generals of the Heavens.
In order to achieve this dream, Shin soon finds himself in the employ of the Qin’s young emperor Ei Sei (Yoshizawa Ryo – Manjiro “Mikey” Sano in the Tokyo Revengers live-action film series) and tasked with helping his liege complete his own goal: The total unification of China.
This bevy of new information, including related to the Chinese war seinen series’ next entry was first revealed by Toho on December 12th via a brand new teaser trailer posted to the studio’s official YouTube page.
Therein, Toho not only unveiled the film’s first key visual, but also its full title, Kingdom IV: Return of the Great General.
As seen in the trailer, with Return of the General, the live-action Kingdom series will close out its theatrical adaptation of the Qin’s all-out battle against the Zhao, as depicted in the manga’s Battle of Bayou arc
Further, the teaser also confirmed that Shin’s next campaign would hit theaters on July 12th, 2024.
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Return of the General‘s production team will continue to be helmed by director Shinsuke Sato (Netflix’s upcoming live-action My Hero Academia film), with Tsutomu Kuroiwa (One Piece Film: Red) and the aforementioned series creator Yasuhisa Hara teaming up to pen the script.
In response to the latest announcement, Sato and Hara revealed what fans could expect to see in Return of the General (translated via Deep L).
“Kingdom IV: Return of the Great General will be released in theaters on July 12, 2024,” Sato declared. “The new ordeal unleashed by the previous film, The Flame of Destiny, will run its course with a furious climax. And the secret battle of the generals is finally revealed. This is truly the climax of the entire film. Please enjoy it next summer.”
Likewise, Hara announced, “The fourth installment of the movie series, Kingdom IV: Return of the Great General, will be released next summer. Those of you who have seen the previous film, The Flame of Destiny, may already be wondering, but the climax of the ‘Battle of Bayou’ will finally be depicted!
“It is a film that will probably be surrounded by great emotion that will remain in the history of Japanese cinema,” the mangaka added. “I too will never forget the images I saw in the rush before editing. Please wait with anticipation until the summer of 2024!”
At the time of this article’s writing, the live-action adaptation’s first two outings, Kingdom and Kingdom 2: Far Away, are currently available to stream on Netflix.
And while Kingdom III: The Flame of Destiny is available to purchase digitally, dedicated fans may want for the January 10th release of the film’s special edition Blu-ray, which is set to include over three hours of exclusive bonus footage.
As noted above, Kingdom IV: Return of the Great General marches into Japanese theaters on July 12th.