News Archive >> Kenichi Matsuyama Replaced by Hongo Kanata

NANA the Movie 2
Kenichi Matsuyama Replaced
Translated by Lisa

Following the replacements of Aoi Miyazaki and Ryuhei Matsuda for "NANA the Movie 2," a third cast change has been made. Kenichi Matsuyama will not be portraying the role of Shinichi Okazaki in "NANA 2." Instead, joining Mika Nakashima's band will be Hongo Kanata (age 15). The production company behind "NANA 2" commented that Kenichi Matsuyama's change was made because of "schedule conflict."

Many news sources have noted that when the sequel for "NANA" was first announced, the production company had promised the return of the original cast. However, with an expected December 9th release for "NANA 2," three key members have already been changed.

Shin's character has a side which portrays him to be a defenseless teen coming from a troubled background. Although not a lot of focus was made on Shin in "NANA," producers are hoping to shed more light on him in "NANA 2." Because of this, they would like to stick as close as possible to the original character of Shin Okazaki. It has also come to the attention of the producers, that fans want Shin to look and act more like the original character in the manga.

Many fans are familiar with Hongo Kanata from his recent roles in "The Prince of Tennis," "Hinokio," and "Moon Child." Hongo Kanata was quoted saying, "I will do my best so that the original image of Shin will not be broken."

Confirmed Cast (So Far):

1.) Mika Nakashima = Oosaki Nana
2.) Yui Ichikawa = Komatsu Nana
3.) Tetsuji Tamayama = Ichinose Takumi
4.) Nobuo Kyou = Honjou Ren
5.) Maruyama Tomomi = Takagi Yasushi
6.) Hongo Kanata = Okazaki Shinichi
7.) Hiroki Narimiya = Terashima Nobuo

Sources @ [ Nikkan Sports || Yahoo News! || Hongo Kanata's Profile || Official NANA2 ]