Check Out The Killer Second Trailer For KIRI: PROFESSIONAL ASSASSIN!

It won't be long before director Sakamoto Koichi heads back to the big screen with just a few weeks to go until the release of his latest live-action manga treatment, Kiri: Professional Assassin. Actress Shaku Yumiko makes her comeback in her first action role in well over a decade, which makes it even more welcoming for those who remember her role in Sato Shinsuke's The Princess Blade, especially with the first trailer of her new film already servicing with much approval.

This week, a second trailer has arrived with an extra bit of focus on actor Kubota Yuki and actress Ayane among the antagonists at hand as we get a further glimpse into the vengeful plot that unfolds, and it's safe to say that things are about to get quite brutal...and bloody... in the process. Manga author Nishikawa Hideaki's work here proves positive toward providing a perfect playing field for Sakamoto's vision of action cinema with much lip-service in favor of strong female lead characters in many of his projects as of late, making Shaku's return to the genre even much more opportune.

SYNOPSIS:

‘Killers’ is an illegal website for contract murders that conducts reverse auctions. In these auctions it is the lowest bidder who wins the murder contract. However, the contracted killers must follow a strict set of rules that have been decided upon by the website. Secretly keeping tabs on these killers-for-hire is Kiri, a woman raised from youth to be an assassin. Kiri monitors the website in the hope that she will locate an assassin whom she seeks revenge on.   

One day, a contract is offered on the website. However, the killer who wins the bid violates the rules by slaughtering people not targeted in the contract. Worse, the bodies he leaves behind have had their eyes viciously gouged out, which is exactly the kind of modus operandi Kiri has been on the lookout for. Could this be the killer she has been pursuing?

Legendary martial arts action cinema thesp Kurata Yasuaki also stars with Misaki Ayame, Arai Atsushi, Komiya Arisa and Onishi Yuka from a script by The Tiger Mask scribes Ito Hidehiro and Era Itaru. Tickets are also being made available in Japan with links in the description before it hits cinemas starting on June 20 from TOEI VIDEO/Excellent Films.

Watch the new trailer below, and for Nikkatsu's English version of the first trailer, click here. 

Shaku Yumiko Is Back For Vengeance In The Latest Teaser For KIRI: PROFESSIONAL KILLER

Legendary action auteur Sakamoto Koichi (Travelers, Red X Pink a.k.a. Girl's Blood) knows what his fans love, and that statement is no less true than for his Tokusatsu following with a cast that is sure to get their attention. For this we look at actress Shaku Yumiko in her latest return to the action fray in fourteen years in the new assassin thriller, Kiri: Professional Killer, based on Hakusensha's Young Animal Arashi publication from the work of manga author, Nishikawa Hideaki.

With Sakamoto at the helm, I'm easily harkened back to films like Drive (1997) and Broken Path (2008), and if you're familiar with Sakamoto's work DNA, you already know that he knows exactly what he's doing, especially with Shaku on hand as a black belt purveyor of martial arts herself on top of lead roles in Sato Shinsuke's 2001 thriller, The Princess Blade and Kitamura Ryuhei's 2004 fantasy adaptation, Sky High. Point in fact, watching her in the new teaser trailer below is assurance enough of just how tougher and meatier she looks here, and if this is to be her resurgence into the genre as an action star, then I would not protest against it.

SYNOPSIS:

‘Killers’ is an illegal website for contract murders that conducts reverse auctions. In these auctions it is the lowest bidder who wins the murder contract. However, the contracted killers must follow a strict set of rules that have been decided upon by the website. Secretly keeping tabs on these killers-for-hire is Kiri, a woman raised from youth to be an assassin. Kiri monitors the website in the hope that she will locate an assassin whom she seeks revenge on.  

One day, a contract is offered on the website. However, the killer who wins the bid violates the rules by slaughtering people not targeted in the contract. Worse, the bodies he leaves behind have had their eyes viciously gouged out, which is exactly the kind of modus operandi Kiri has been on the lookout for. Could this be the killer she has been pursuing?

Joining Shaku and Shinjuku Swan co-star Kubota Yuki are legendary martial arts action cinema thesp Kurata Yasuaki, with Misaki Ayame, Arai Atsushi, Komiya Arisa and Onishi Yuka from a script by The Tiger Mask scribes Ito Hidehiro and Era Itaru. The film hits Japan cinemas beginning June 20 from TOEI VIDEO/Excellent Films with Nikkatsu reprsenting the film internationally.