BARCOS announced on Friday that it is producing a new live-action film adaptation of the late Jiro Taniguchi's acclaimed manga A Distant Neighborhood (Harukana Machi e), set to open in Japanese theaters on October 9, 2026.
This marks the first Japanese live-action adaptation of Taniguchi's beloved time-travel drama. Ryōhei Ōtani (live-action Golden Kamuy, The Full-Time Wife Escapist) stars as the adult protagonist Hiroshi Nakahara in his 40s, while Tōri Oikawa plays the 14-year-old Hiroshi. The cast also includes Momoko Isotani as Tomoko Nagase (Hiroshi's friend and crush), Kenichi Takitō as Hiroshi's father, and Naho Toda as Hiroshi's mother.
Yoshinari Nishikoori is directing the film from his own script, with Eishi Segawa composing the music.
About the Manga
Jiro Taniguchi serialized A Distant Neighborhood in Shogakukan's Big Comic magazine in 1998. The story follows Hiroshi Nakahara, a 40-something salaryman returning to Tokyo from a business trip who suddenly finds himself catapulted back into his 14-year-old body while retaining all the memories and experience of his adult self. The plot explores whether he can change his past — the day his father disappeared without explanation, the death of his mother, and his lost childhood sweetheart — or if he is forever condemned to relive each painful moment.
The manga was previously adapted into a 2008 live-action film by Sam Garbarski, which moved the setting from 1963 Japan to 1967 Paris. The new Japanese adaptation returns the story to its original cultural context.
Fanfare and Ponent Mon released the manga in English in a two-volume format in 2009, followed by a one-volume hardcover re-release in 2016 and again in 2022.
Community Reception
The announcement of a Japanese live-action adaptation has been met with enthusiasm from Taniguchi fans, who have long felt that the 2008 European adaptation, while well-made, lost some of the story's distinctly Japanese cultural texture. The casting of Ōtani and Oikawa as the two versions of Hiroshi has been particularly well-received, with the dual-casting approach seen as a smart way to capture the character's internal conflict.
Taniguchi, who passed away in February 2017, left behind a body of work that continues to be celebrated worldwide. His other acclaimed works include The Walking Man, The Summit of the Gods, and Kodoku no Gourmet (Solitary Gourmet).