Today on January 7, 2025 in Japan, NHK and Asmik Ace announced a new movie for the live action TV drama adaptation of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan. The new movie, Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan: At a Confessional (岸辺露伴は動かない 懺悔室), will be releasing on May 23, 2025.
Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan is a spin-off series of standalone stories depicting the bizarre experiences of manga artist Rohan Kishibe during his research trips, a character originally featured in the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series. Drama adaptations starring Issey Takahashi as Rohan aired in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2024. The previous film, Rohan au Louvre, released in theaters on May 26, 2023, and the previous episode of the series, Poaching Seashore, released on May 5, 2024. Rohan au Louvre surpassed 900,000 attendees and earned approximately 1.25 billion yen (~$7.9 million USD) at the box office.
At a Confessional was the first Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan chapter created by Hirohiko Araki on June 24, 1997. Despite being the first chapter of the spin-off series, it is labeled “Episode 16” in the manga. It was also adapted as an animated OVA on March 25, 2020 by David Production.
At a Confessional Key Visuals
Previous Teasers
Shortly before rebroadcasting the Rohan au Louvre film on television on January 4 in Japan, the @rohan_movie account on X changed their profile/banner to be red. Fans speculated that there would be an announcement after the movie finished airing on NHK G, but there wasn’t.
However, on January 6, 2025, the account posted a teaser image showing a burned lottery ticket on the ground labeled “Lotteria Venezia” with the numbers 382938. 382938 was the winner of the second prize of Lotteria Italia on January 6, 2024. Pieces of popcorn could also be seen on the ground in the image, hinting that they would be adapting At a Confessional. In addition, the numbers “01070700” was displayed on the left, meaning that they would post the reveal on January 7 at 7 AM in Japan time.
About At a Confessional (Manga)
While conducting research for his manga in Italy, Rohan visits a confessional booth at a church in Venice. A confessional is a place where individuals confess their “sins” to a priest to purify their souls. Intrigued by this concept, Rohan decides to experience confession for himself. However, he accidentally enters the priest’s side of the booth. Soon after, a man enters the confessional and begins recounting a horrifying incident that occurred 25 years ago. Driven by his belief that “experience breathes reality into art” and fueled by his curiosity, Rohan poses as the priest and listens attentively to the man’s confession.
At a Confessional Trailer
Production Details
The entire production was filmed entirely in Venice, being the first Japanese film to do so. It features iconic places such as St. Mark’s Square, the Church of Saint Roch (San Rocco), Pescheria di Rialto, Punta della Dogana, the Palazzo Barbarigo Minotto, Palazzo da Mosto, and the Santi Giovanni e Paolo, which also appears in the original story. Screenwriter Yasuko Kobayashi added film-exclusive scenarios to the storyline. Filming took place last fall and successfully wrapped up.
Casting
So far, the cast members aside from Issey Takahashi as Rohan Kishibe and Marie Iitoyo as Kyoka Izumi have not been revealed.
Staff Comments
Issey Takahashi
Since I first played Rohan Kishibe in 2020, the TV drama series has had four seasons, and including the last movie, there have been a total of 10 episodes over the course of five years. As I’ve mentioned before, being able to live within one character for such a long time is a valuable experience as an actor, and I feel incredibly fortunate. In addition, this time around, we were fortunate enough to shoot the entirety of “At a Confessional”, the origin of the original “Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan”, in Venice, Italy, just like in the original work. The uncertain timeline of the original work’s world is tied together in the world of the flesh-and-blood Rohan Kishibe I play.
And now, we’ve finally reached the origin of the original work. Perhaps this good fortune can only be felt by a flesh-and-blood human being. In addition to the staff I’ve worked with so far, we have also been joined by cheerful, earnest, and wonderful staff from Italy, and I think we were able to create a new world for Rohan Kishibe once again. In the last film, Rohan came into contact with his roots, his past, and his inheritance through the “regret” at the Louvre in Paris; next, he’ll encounter what you could call the flipside of that, “luck,” in the present. This work can be enjoyed both by fans of the original work and by those who love the world of the Rohan I’ve played so far, as well as those who will be watching for the first time. The new cast members are all actors that I am honored to be working with. I hope you all look forward to welcoming them as well. I am so very lucky to have been able to play Rohan up until now, and so lucky to have met everyone who has been involved with the project. I hope I can deliver what you could call the overlap of these two things to everyone who comes to the theater. I’m looking forward to it, too.
Issey Takahashi
Marie Iitoyo
I’m so honored to have the opportunity to work on “At a Confessional”, which is also the origin of the original “Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan”. This time, I visited Venice for filming, a city that lives and breathes history and art. There was a good sense of tension and excitement in the air, and I had an exceptional time on set. Savoring the happy times I’ve spent in Rohan’s world, I performed my role with the utmost care once again. I hope you will enjoy the film in theaters.
Marie Iitoyo
Kazutaka Watanabe (Director)
The origin of the ”Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan” series, ”At a Confessional”, as a film. Even now that filming has wrapped up, I can’t believe that we were able to shoot this memorable and important episode entirely on location in Venice. It was a strange city where light and darkness seemed to coexist. Ruins, cemeteries, churches, aristocratic mansions, maze-like cobblestone alleys. And in the midst of it all, Rohan standing as dignified as always… I cherish every place we filmed and every moment. I want to keep shooting forever. I don’t want this moment to end… As I continued filming with that thought in mind, I became convinced that ”At a Confessional” could not have been born anywhere besides this city. This is a story about a “curse,” but also one about “love and resolve.” I want you to take a peek into the bizarre world of the weak and preposterous people who continue a desperate struggle, one that unfolds in a city of water filled with a decadent and immoral tone.
Kazutaka Watanabe
Yasuko Kobayashi (Screenwriter)
The original work, ”At a Confessional”, was the first work to feature Rohan Kishibe as the main character. The drama has been running for five years now, but I think we needed all that time to finally reach this first episode. I would like to thank everyone for their support. The setting is Venice. As always, Rohan sees what he wants to see, hears what he wants to hear, and as a result, is struck by a disaster named luck. I would appreciate if you watched it on the big screen.
Yasuko Kobayashi
Source: Official Site
Staff
Original Work: Hirohiko Araki
Director: Kazutaka Watanabe
Screenwriter: Yasuko Kobayashi
Music: Naruyoshi Kikuchi / New Music Production Studio
Character Design: Isao Tsuge
About Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan
Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan is a spin-off of Hirohiko Araki‘s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series. It is an ongoing series of one-shots featuring the titular character, Rohan Kishibe, from Diamond is Unbreakable. Rohan serves as the narrator and/or the protagonist depending on the story. These one-shots are intermittently published in various magazines such as Weekly Shonen Jump or Jump Square.
Using his special ability “Heaven’s Door” that can read the history and secrets of whoever he chooses and write commands into them, Rohan experiences strange incidents and encounters mysterious phenomena.
The series has spawned an OVA adaptation, a collection of short stories, and a live action TV drama adaptation that airs on NHK. The TV drama currently has nine episodes and a film released. All four seasons and the film are available to watch on Amazon Prime in certain countries.
