Takeshi’s Castle Reboot Cast Lineup Revealed, Out Late April On Amazon Prime Video

Takeshi’s Castle returns in April, and before that, Amazon Prime Video unveiled its cast list. Serving as a reboot of the original 1980s Japanese game show, Takeshi Kitano returns as the resurrected castle lord, setting up difficult obstacles for its participants. Other additions include Osamu Shitara (Star Wars Rebels) and Yuki Himura as the main servant and vassal of Takeshi Castle, respectively. Comedians Shinya Ueda, Naomi Watanabe, and Ennosuke Ichikawa IV will appear as governors of three castles guarding the center of Takeshi Castle. TV presenter Hayato Tani and Subaru Kimura – best known for voicing Takeshi Goda/Gian in the Doraemon anime – serve as attack captains.

“Takeshi Castle is filled with variety show bases,” Castle Lord Kitano said in a prepared statement. “The way people boldly try something almost impossible and end up failing is one of the funniest things to watch. I hope you enjoy the show without thinking too much. For the uninitiated, Takeshi’s Castle was a Japanese game show, where more than 100 determined volunteer participants took part in a series of well-designed physical challenges, such as balancing on a surfboard, swinging through a muddy pit, navigating giant bowling pins, a game of claustrophobic maze, and much more.While most challenges are skill- and intelligence-based, some lean heavily towards luck, instantly disqualifying unlucky participants.Eliminating Takeshi in a laser gun-based cart battle , the player would win 1 million yen (about 6.14,000 rupees), at the time.

The Ball Run course allows competitors to climb a steep slope while avoiding giant boulders
Photo credit: Viacom/Comedy Central

The series spawned several other international versions of Takeshi’s Castle and even inspired physical game shows such as Wipeout in the US and Total Wipeout in the UK. In India, an abridged version of Takeshi’s original Japanese castle aired on the Pogo TV channel, with comedic Hindi dub/commentary by Jaaved Jaffrey (Jaadugar), which was perhaps the show’s biggest draw and made it hugely popular with Indian audiences when it aired in the 2000s. When news of the aforementioned reboot broke last year, the actor expressed interest by lending hilarious comments to the Hindi speaking audience. Currently, it is unknown if the voiceovers will be included in the Amazon Prime Video version.

While Takeshi’s Castle’s commentary style might seem aging to modern audiences – if they follow the same format – it’ll be interesting to see what technology they use to make the challenges more intimidating. Proximity sensors could be a good way to modernize the show, while another cool idea would be to have competitors wear a GoPro or other action cameras, so we can feel the impact firsthand when a giant rubber beam slams against their face or they fall face-first into the mud.

The Takeshi’s Castle reboot will be available to stream in late April on Amazon Prime Video.