Karl Yune Joins ‘Arrow’ As Maseo Yamashiro

Hot on the heels of the announcement that ‘Fast & Furious’ actress Devon Aoki had been cast as Tatsu Toro Yamashiro (also known as the superhero Katana) in the upcoming third season of ‘Arrow’ in flashback sequences, comes word that her husband Maseo will also play a major role and will be played by Karl Yune.

In the comics, Tatsu and Maseo were married, but Maseo was slain with the mystic sword that Tatsu came to own, which contained the souls of all the people the sword had been used to kill.  Tatsu eventually became the crime-fighter Katana and joined the Birds of Prey and then the Justice League of America.

It had previously been released that ‘Arrow’ was seeking two new characters, Toshi and Akiko, but it’s common practice for adaptations like this to use fake names for casting listings.  (Remember when everyone thought Wonder Woman’s name was going to be named Iris on the now-aborted series ‘Amazon’?)

Yune has previously appeared in ‘Real Steel’, ‘Knight Rider‘ and ‘Forbidden Warrior.’  Maseo, though a minor character in the comics, looks to be playing a larger role on ‘Arrow’ as a mentor to Oliver.  It also actually sounds like Tatsu will be taking a smaller role.  But we’ll see.

It’s interesting that the two “WTF” characters who got their own comics last year, Vibe and Katana are suddenly popping up on The CW on ‘Arrow’ (Katana a.k.a. Tatsu) and on ‘The Flash’ (Vibe or rather his alter ego Cisco Ramon, played by Carlos Valdes).  Perhaps they were trying to lay the groundwork with their solo comics.  Alas both books were promptly cancelled. but perhaps elements from those comics will appear on the shows.

Are you interested to see Oliver undergo martial arts training?  Would you like to see Katana in live action?

Source: Cosmic Book News