Yu Aoi heads up cast of upcoming jidai-geki romance "Raiou"

by Chris MaGee

24-year-old Yu Aoi has fast become one of today's biggest "It Girls" on the Japanese film scene. She established that reputation by her roles as young and often troubled teens and young adults in films like Shunji Iwai's "Hana and Alice", Masahiro Takada's "Honey and Clover" and Yuki Tanada's "One Million Yen Girl", but in her next film Aoi will shake things up a bit by starring in her very first historical drama.

Based on bestselling novel and helmed by "Vibrator" and "It's Only Talk" director Ryuichi Hiroki "Raiou" will have Aoi starring opposite 20-year-old actor Masaki Okada in a tragic love story set during the late Edo period. The film will have Okada's character, a high born member of the ruling shogunate, fall in love with Aoi's, a girl raised in a rural community in the mountains.

Filming is currently taking place on "Raiou" with a Japanese theatrical release slated for the fall of 2010. Thanks to Tokyograph for this news.