Hideki Arai’s manga SPUNK! is officially slated for a live-action film adaptation, with a planned release for next fall. The project reunites Arai with writer and director Keisuke Yoshida, who previously helmed the 2018 adaptation of Arai's Itoshi no Irene. To support production, the team has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Motion-Gallery with a target of 3 million yen, set to run for the next three months.
The narrative follows two contrasting women—the assertive Natsuna and the timid, bookish Fuyumi—as they navigate the world of S&M and begin working as Mistresses. To ensure authenticity in the film's depiction of the subculture, Yumiko Kagami, owner of the S&M salon Eureka, has been brought on board as an advisor and costume supervisor.
This announcement follows the conclusion of the original manga, which was serialized in Kadokawa's Monthly Comic Beam from 2022 until August 2024, spanning four compiled volumes. The collaboration marks another entry in the ongoing partnership between Arai and Yoshida, whose previous work on Itoshi no Irene and the Miyamoto kara Kimi e series has established a consistent track record for adapting Arai's gritty character studies into live-action.
While this project moves into production, Arai’s portfolio continues to see activity elsewhere, including an anime film adaptation of his Hina manga titled Hina is Beautiful, currently in development under director Kenji Iwaisawa. With the crowdfunding campaign now live, the primary question remains how the production will scale its resources to meet the planned autumn release window.
