A risque new trailer for the upcoming Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human) movie was uploaded to YouTube by the Asmik Ace channel. The unexpectedly hot and steamy trailer shows flashes of Ōba Yōzō, the main character’s dramatic life. The film focuses on Ōba Yōzō and the mess with his three lovers, one mistress expressing she wants to die together with him, and one saying she wants a child. Ōba Yōzō snarls with a bloody nose, “I feel like I’ve become some sort of awful god,”. There’s so much drama in one 60 second trailer.
The visuals in the trailer switch back and forth from extremely vibrant and colorful to dark and dreary. The film is based off an original novel by Osamu Dazai that saw a lot of popularity when it was released in 1948. Ningen Shikkaku translates in this context to “Disqualified from being human”. The novel is written as an autobiography yet published as fiction, and is about a troubled man who is incapable of revealing his true nature to other people, and in turn must play the facade of a cheerful person. The story tells us about the main character, Ōba Yōzō’s difficulties in integrating into society. His life is taken over by love and drenched in alcohol as he struggles to find balance.
This isn’t the first time we’re seeing No Longer Human come to film. A movie adaptation of the story was released in 2009, on the 100th anniversary of author Osamu Dazai’s birth. The novel has also seen a few adaptations, including a story re-telling in an anime in 2009 and even a manga adaptation by mangaka Junji Ito.
No Longer Human is being directed by Ninagawa Mika, and is set to be released in Japan later this year on September 13. You can keep up with the film on the movie’s official Twitter.