A stage greeting for the independently produced film "Samurai Time Slipper," which premiered with a single screening at Ikebukuro Cinema Rosa, known as the "holy land of indie films," and has since been released nationwide thanks to word-of-mouth reviews, was held in Tokyo on the 14th.

The main star, Makiya Yamaguchi (51), and director Junichi Yasuda (57) were in attendance. The film began screening at one theater, Cinema Rosa, in Ikebukuro, on August 17, but was flooded with rave reviews on social media and elsewhere, leading to a nationwide release on September 13. It is currently screening at 172 theaters nationwide, and has proven to be a huge hit.

Yamaguchi said, "I'm not very good with social media, but I'm reading your opinions, so I'm not getting enough sleep every day," and was overwhelmed with emotion. Director Yasuda revealed his ambition, saying, "I want Tom Cruise to reboot this movie. I want to go to Hollywood!" and was met with applause from the packed venue.

The story depicts a samurai from the end of the Edo period who travels forward in time to a modern period drama studio and lives as a "killed character." Co-stars Norimasa Tomiya, Yuno Sakura, Hajime Inoue, Tsutomu Tamura, and Yuji Takadera also attended the stage greeting.