Kento Yamazaki ( Orange live-action film's Kakeru, Death Note live-action series' L) and Suzu Hirose (Chihayafuru: Shimo no Ku's Chihaya, Umimachi Diary live-action film's Suzu) will star in a live-action film adaptation of Naoshi Arakawa's Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso) manga. Yamazaki will play the piano prodigy Kōsei Arima, and Hirose will play the free-spirited violinist Kaori Miyazono. The film is slated to open in Japan in 2016.

In the original manga's story, the two characters are junior high school students, but Kōsei and Kaori will be second-year high school students in the film. Yamazaki and Hirose began practicing piano and violin about half a year before the start of filming.

E-girls all-female pop group member Anna Ishii will play Kōsei's childhood friend Tsubaki Sawabe, and Taishi Nakagawa ( Ao Oni ver.2.0's Hiroshi, Minami-kun no Koibito ~my little lover live-action series' Minami) will play Ryōta Watari. Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu and Kiyoku Yawaku live-action romance film director Takehiko Shinjō is directing off scripts by Strawberry Night live-action series scriptwriter Yukari Tatsui.

The domain name 'kimiuso-movie.jp' was registered under the name of the Japanese film production and distribution company TOHO on August 24.

A television anime series adaptation of Arakawa's manga premiered in 2014. Aniplex of America streamed the anime on the Aniplex Channel, Hulu, and Crunchyroll as it aired in Japan. The company plans to release the series with an English dub.

Arakawa's original shōnen manga follows Kōsei Arima, a former child prodigy who lost his ability to play the piano when his mother died. His daily life is monochrome, but it begins to gain color when he meets a female violinist by chance. Kaori Miyazono is an audacious go-getter who is overflowing with personality. Enchanted by the girl, Kōsei starts to move forward with his own legs at the age of 14.

Source: Comic Natalie via 0takomu

Image © Naoshi Arakawa/Kodansha