A live-action film adaptation of Cowboy Bebop has been known to be in the making ever since a deal between anime studio Sunrise and film producer Erwin Stoff (The Matrix, A Scanner Darkly) was revealed last summer. But it wasn't until last month that Sunrise officially announced the Cowboy Bebop movie, confirming their collaboration with 20th Century Fox (and 3 Arts Entertainment), as well as Keanu Reeves' presence among the cast - presumably as Spike Spiegel.



Back in December when Keanu Reeves expressed his burning desire to play the lead role, he also revealed that the live-action Cowboy Bebop movie will be based on the "Red Eye" storyline from the anime's beginning. Other than that, not much else is known about the story. But there's probably no need to worry, seeing how the production team includes (...)

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Tone deaf lolis no good for you? Very well, then, here's some real music anime news for you melomaniac types. The increasingly plentiful franchise spawned by Tomoko Ninomiya's original Nodame Cantabile manga shows no signs of stopping its expansion anytime soon. Just this week, a new TV anime series plus 2 new live-action films were announced. So if the impending season finale of the ongoing Nodame Cantabile: Paris chapter was somewhat intimidating, rest assured, there's much more to come!



The 3rd anime season of Nodame Cantabile is currently planned to air in the same ol' late-night "Noitamina" timeslot on Fuji TV, starting from autumn 2009. And by all accounts, you can expect it to be a direct continuation of the Paris Chapter.

Over on the live-action front, the 2 newly announced Nodame Cantabile movies will premiere in January 2010 and spring 2010, repsectively. Their story will also be set in Paris, continuing the 2006 live-action TV drama series and this year's TV special, "Nodame Cantabile in Europe". And once again, the lead characters Chiaki and Nodame will be played by Hiroshi Tamaki and the oh-so-cute Juri Ueno.

Nevermind what BokuKimi stands for... or, if you really must know, it's Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu (I'll Give You My First Love) - some lovu-lovu manga by Kotomi Aoki. The real eye-catcher of this story is Mao Inoue, a very cute Japanese actress (and former U-15 idol) who has been chosen to play the main loli character in an upcoming live-action movie adaptation of said lovu-lovu manga, that's coming out in autumn 2009.

"Inoue will play a girl named Mayu Taneda who experiences first love with a boy named Takuma Kakinouchi. However, Takuma tries to hide from Mayu the possibility that his heart will stop functioning at any moment after he turns 20."

The only reason I bored you with this generic romance / drama plot is that the BokuKimi manga won the best shoujo category in the 53rd annual Shogakukan Manga Awards, so surely it's not that generic after all. Not to mention that the manga is actually a spinoff of Aoki's earlier incest manga, Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru (animated as an OVA in 2005). Speaking of incest manga / anime, I'd sure love to see a Koi Kaze live-action movie...

- 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.

 (...)

 Continue reading 'Checkpoint: Oldboy, Doraemon, Miyazaki'...

Various news about live-action movies adapted from anime or manga caught my eye these days. And not because I'm looking forward to any of them (which I'm absolutely not... except maybe for the last one), but simply because of the titles and names involved: from Dragonball, Akira, Ninja Scroll and Oldboy, to DiCaprio, Spielberg and Will Smith.

The most resounding of them - the live-action Dragonball movie - has been the subject of our attention for more than a year. Yet its release date is still pretty far away, having slipped to 2009. Last time we mentioned it, the North American premiere was supposed to take place on April 10. But now... Hey, relax, we have good'ish news! According to IGN, 20th Century Fox pulled the release two days earlier, so now it's set for April 8, 2009. (Update: Dragonball movie trailer added locally)

Next up, we got Akira and Ninja Scroll. Both of these live-action adaptations are currently being produced by Leonardo DiCaprio's company Appian Way. The good news is that he's not interested in "acting" in any of them, instead leaving that job to someone with more talent (should be real easy to find). The bad news is that the final script draft for the Akira movie will soon be done, so... brace yourselves!

Finally, we have Steven Spielberg teaming up with Will Smith - one of the very few black actors who can actually play. Their goal is to do a remake of the Korean movie "Oldboy" from 2003, which was based on the Japanese psychological thriller manga Old Boy, "about a man who was imprisoned for over a decade and now hunts down his mysterious former kidnappers to take revenge". Will Smith going into Shion-mode sounds mighty fine! Though I'm sure my comrade would rather see Jet Li in that role...

To this day, we have yet to watch the first live-action Higurashi movie, for fear it could - quite likely - ruin the superlative impression we have of the franchise, thanks to the two anime series released so far (still waiting for the third one... and waiting... and waiting... and GIEF ALREADY FFS!). Seriously, all this waiting might make us do something really stupid, like getting hyped over the second live-action movie. And why not, really? If the bashful reviews were anything to go by, it's not like the sequel can be any worse than the first one, can it?


To answer that, we'll have to wait (yes, more waiting) until mid 2009. As recently announced in Frontier Works' production diary, the next film will premiere in Japan at the beginning of May 2009, under the title "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Chikai". That would be "chikai" as in "oath", not "basement". Though I could think of a memorable Higurashi scene or two taking place in Mion / Shion's basement...

Moving on to more animated licensing news, a North American distributor has finally picked up Clannad. About time! The brave one in question is ADV Films, but as for which of the various Clannad anime projects they placed their eyes and finances upon... that part is still uncertain. The annoucement was confirmed on the official website of Sogen Con (the event that started this whole mess), bluntly stating that "ADV Films has licensed CLANNAD for US distribution!". I guess we can safely assume it's not the Clannad After Story sequel; so it's either the Clannad anime, or the Clannad Movie. We'll see how this one turns out.

Meanwhile, FUNimation acquired "varied rights" for the Mushishi live-action movie, furhter squeezing their grip on the albino-emo franchise (they already had the anime version). The film will be released stateside on DVD at some point in 2009, and don't be too surprised if you see the less-poetic title "Bugmaster" slapped on its cover.


Speaking of FUNi,  (...)

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The story about a live-action movie based on the Yomigaeru Sora: Rescue Wings anime / manga series has been around for a few months already, ever since the official website announced that filming had begun in early July. But today ANN saw fit to bring it back to our attention, revealing a few more details in the process.

Setting aside the fact that Bandai Visual is producing the film adaptation, and Masaaki Tezuka ("Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla", "Sengoku Jieitai 1549") is directing it, the real eye-catcher is the change of perspective planned for the Rescue Wings movie. Unlike the anime's story, the movie will revolve around a female pilot named Haruka Kawashima, played by model and actress Yuuko Takayama (also photoshopped below). Oh, did I mention she's still 15?... Yeah, that's what I meant by "eye-catcher"!

"Tomokazu Miura (ALWAYS Sanchoume no Yuuhi), Yoshino Kimura (Shota no Sushi), Shuya Isaka, and Dai Watanabe will also star in the film. The Japanese Ministry of Defense, Air Self-Defence Force, and Maritime Self-Defense Force are participating in the project, so real UH-60J helicopters, F-15 fighters, and escort vessels will appear in the film. Filming began on July 7, and the movie will open in Japan in December 2009."

- FUNimation once again dominates the anime licensing scene, with the fresh acquisition of Kaze no Stigma, Gonzo's 24-episode supernatural action series from 2007. On the downside, the localized DVD release won't happen anytime sooner than summer 2009. But on the bright side, FUNi has claimed 32.7% of North American anime sales in the first half of 2008, compared to Viz Media's 15.9%, ADV Films' 10.5%, Bandai's 7.7%, and Media Blasters' 5% for the same period.

- ADV Films UK has announced 4 "complete collection" anime packs, most of which have already been released by now, though the press release has only just popped up on ANN a few days ago. The first 2 DVD packs - containing the full series This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, and Yugo the Negotiator - were released on August 25, and this week E's Otherwise also hit UK stores. I wish I could say that they saved the best for last, but... Next up, on September 22, will be RahXephon: Grand Cannon Collection, a pack including the original mecha series, along with the RahXephon: Pluralitas Concentio anime film.


- Right Stuf & Nozomi Entertainment are the next in line, at least chronologically. On November 25, they will release the "genre classic" Toward the Terra anime film on DVD, featuring remastered video footage from its 2007 Japanese DVD release, Japanese audio and English-language subtitles. And also on November 25, the second season of Maria-sama ga Miteru will get its North American DVD release.

- Viz Pictures also earned a place for itself in this round-up, even if for a live-action movie license. In just a week, on September 16, they will release the first Death Note movie on DVD in North America, featuring a newly dubbed English soundtrack, along with the original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles, and some other goodies. Death Note / L / Kira fans freaks, rejoice.

- Death Note II: The Last Name, the second live-action movie that is, is to be screened in U.S. theatres this October 15 and 16. You can thank (or curse) Viz Media for the English dubs it will feature, and for this Death Note 2 movie trailer we grabbed from the official website. At least the trailer is also available with the original Japanese voices.

- Hells Angels, some OVA adapted by Madhouse from a dark fantasy manga, will finally be screened this October at the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), thus making its late world debut. It was supposed to be screened at last year's edition, but was "withdrawn due to various issues". Pantsu?

- Ghibli's veteran director Hayao Miyazaki thinks that, after this year's Ponyo hand-drawn film, his next anime project will see the light of the silver screen at least 3 years from now. By that time he will be over 70. Or dead.

- Tonari no 801-chan, that anime adaptation based on the 801-chan (Yaoi-chan) 4-koma comedy manga announced not so long ago, has been cancelled. It was just a dream, as the manga's creator puts it.

- Asakiyumemishi: The Tale of Genji, some historical shoujo manga from... over 9000 years ago, will be getting an anime adaptation. The manga itself is based on a classic Japanese story about the lives of a motherless prince and his descendants. The anime series will have 11 episodes, and will start airing from January 2009 (website).

- Kozue Amano, the creator of the Aria and Aqua manga series, will launch a new manga in the Comic Blade magazine's January issue (out on November 30). No title was given so far.

- And finally, Square Enix will launch a free web magazine called Gangan Online in October, packed full of manga and light novels. ANN has the "launch titles" announced so far from various manga creators, if you can be arsed to check them out.