Checkpoint: Oldboy, Doraemon, Miyazaki

- The live-action movie remake "Oldboy" we mentioned earlier this month, as a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Will Smith, might have found itself a screenwriter: Mark Protosevich, who co-wrote I Am Legend (not incidentally starring Will Smith), among others. And it turns out the movie is not a remake of the 2003 Korean film, but will be based on the original, decade-old Japanese manga "Old Boy".

- A new Doraemon anime will be discussed by - you'll never guess who (or where)... Japan's prime-minister Taro Aso, and Russia's puppet-president Dmitry Medvedev. In Peru, go figure! The joint anime project will reportedly star the Japanese manga character Doraemon and the Russian folklore creature Dorafei.

- By the way, Ghibli's Hayao Miyazaki has issues with Taro Aso. Go retire, already!

- Precure All Stars, the upcoming anime film based on the way-too-colorful Precure series, now has a website. It will premiere in spring 2009, and will feature all 3 sets of Pretty Cure heroines.


- Shugo Chara! and Skip Beat! will be streaming on Crunchyroll, along with "many other" anime series from TV Tokyo - including Naruto Shippuuden from January 8.

- And in even more girly news, the manga series Mei-chan no Shitsuji Shoujo (Mei-chan's Butler) will be getting a live-action TV drama adaptation from January 2009.

- Battlefield Baseball is a new Flash-anime based on Man-gatarou's manga spoof on martial arts and sports Jigoku Koushien (Hell Baseball Tournament). DVD release is set for February 13, 2009.

- Ad Lib Prince, some pachinko slot machine manga, will bundle a 60-minute anime DVD on December 20. Pachinko manga? Just about the most boring thing I ever heard of.