Known for her role as Tatsu Yamashiro in "Arrow," Rila Fukushima is set to star in the film adaptation of the Japanese manga series "Terra Formars." She will co-star with her fellow Japanese actor Rinko Kikuchi, who is known for playing the title role in the 2014 film "Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter."
Written by Yu Sasuga, the "Terra Formars" manga series is illustrated by Kenichi Tachibana. Its serialization in the Weekly Young Jump magazine started in 2011 and its English translation published by Viz Media started in 2014.
Most of the non-Japanese characters' nationalities in the "Terra Formars" movie are changed to Japanese, according to Crunchy Roll. Among them is Kikuchi's character.
Kikuchi plays Asuka Moriki, who is based on Victoria Wood from the manga series. Born in a rural village in South Africa, the original character has dark skin and purple eyes and had female genital mutilation.
The other non-Japanese characters from the manga series changed to Japanese in the film adaptation are Dojima Keisuke (Masaya Kato) based on Donatello K. Davis, Mutou Jin (Tomohisa Yamashita) based on Thien, Mina Obari (Eiko Koike) based on Zhang Ming-Ming, Shunji Tezuka (Kenichi Takitou) based on Tejas Viji, Sorae Osako (Mariko Shinoda) based on Jaina Eisenstein and Maria Renjo (Rina Outa) based on Maria Viren.
On the other hand, Fukushima plays a new character that is not in the original manga series and is original to the film. The name of the character is Sakakibara. Details about the character are yet to be released.
Set to be released in Japan on April 26, the "Terra Formars" film is the first Japanese movie to shoot on location in Iceland, where shooting started in August 2015, three months after filming started. Fukushima and Kikuchi's co-stars include Emi Takei as Nanao Akita, Hideaki Itou as Shokichi Komachi, Takayuki Yamada as Ichiro Hiruma, Kane Kosugi as God Lee and Shun Oguri as Kou Honda.
Three years before the "Terra Formars" film, Fukushima starred in "The Wolverine" with her fellow Japanese actors Tao Okamoto, Hiroyuki Sanada and Ken Yamamura. The title role of the 2013 action sci-fi film was played by Hugh Jackman.
Earlier this month, a production still of the "Terra Formars" film obtained by Anime News Network shows Oguri's character in a Japanese slum in the year 2599. Watch the first trailer of the upcoming sci-fi film here: