The official website for the live-action film of Masayuki Kusumi and Jiro Taniguchi's Kodoku no Gourmet (Solitary Gourmet) manga began streaming a new trailer for the film on Friday. The trailer reveals that South Korean actor Yoo Jae-myung is appearing in the film as an immigration officer who meets Gorō when Gorō wanders onto a South Korean island.
The film is based on the manga's live-action series. The series' lead actor Yutaka Matsushige is again starring the film, while also directing the film, and co-writing alongside Yoshihiro Taguchi. The film will open on January 10. The film will also screen at the Tokyo International Film Festival, which runs from October 28 to November 6.
Other cast members include:
- Joe Odagiri (top row, leftmost in image above) as the proprietor of the Chinese noodle restaurant Sincérité
- Yuki Uchida (top row, center left) as Shiho, a woman who lives in the community of South Koreans on an island that Gorō wanders into
- Hayato Isomura (top row, center right) as Nakagawa, a young man who helps out Gorō
- Anne (top row, rightmost) as Chiaki Matsuo, the daughter of Gorō's ex-girlfriend Sayuki, and the woman who calls Gorō to France for her grandfather Ichirō
- Sansei Shiomi (bottom row, left) as Ichirō Matsuo, Chiaki's grandfather and Sayuki's father, who lives with Chiaki in Paris
- Takehiro Murata (bottom row, right) as Takiyama, Gorō's work colleague
Both the Kodoku no Gourmet live-action series and original manga follow a solitary salesman named Gorō Inagashira as he travels all over Japan and samples the local cuisine found on street corners. The live-action show's 10th season premiered in October 2022.
The franchise also had a six-episode live-action mini-series project titled Kodoku no Gourmet ~Oishii kedo Horo Nigai... Inagashira Gorō no Sainan~ (Solitary Gourmet ~It's Tasty But Slightly Bitter... Gorō Inagashira's Misfortune~) that debuted on the Paravi and Hikari TV streaming services in March to April 2022.
Masayuki Kusumi and Jiro Taniguchi first serialized the Kodoku no Gourmet manga from 1994 to 1996 in Fusosha's Monthly Panja magazine (now defunct). Kusumi handled the story, and Taniguchi drew the art. Fusosha published the first collected volume in 1997. Kusumi and Fusosha published the manga's second volume in September 2015. Taniguchi died in February 2017.
Fanfare and Ponent Mon will release the manga in English. The company had said the manga will "most likely" debut in spring 2021, but the series is now listed as debuting on Dec 17, 2024.
The manga also inspired a net anime that debuted on Production I.G's "Tate Anime" (Vertical Anime) smartphone app in November 2017.
Sources: Solitary Gourmet live-action film's website, Comic Natalie