As some of you probably know, the manga 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa (Monster, Pluto) is getting the film treatment too. Three films, in fact. The first of a movie trilogy adapting Urasawa's epic story (including the final chapter of the story, released as 21st Century Boys) will be coming out in Japan on August 30.
As Viz folks have hinted at on a few occasions, the plan is to release 20th Century Boy in English after the release of Monster has concluded. Urasawa specifically requested that they wait to serialize any new titles (including Pluto, the "Watchmen of manga" according to Carl Horn) until the current series is completed. By my count, that could theoretically mean us getting the series by mid-2009? Maybe?
I've only read the first volume (in Japanese) so far, but it's utterly fascinating, dense and exciting. I can't really do it justice, but it's a mix of SF, political thriller, coming of age story and post-apocalyptic futurism. Terrorist sects, weird interweaving plots and childhood memories, a giant robot and deadly viruses. A dude on some message board called the later sections of the series, "Pop culture reimagined as a totalitarian nightmare."
More production and cast details can be found on the 20th Century Boys official site. Enjoy this 4-minute clip, via our good friends at Twitch (the best film blog on the entire internet):
Hot on the heels of the successful Dororo adaptation and its already planned sequel, a film adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's dark opus of murder, priest sex and domestic terrorism has begun filming.
According to the Japanese film site, Cinema Today, the film will star Hiroshi Tamaki as the dark protagonist Yuuki, the sociopathic son of privelege who seduces everyone and schemes on taking revenge on the Japanese-US military industrial complex. Takayuki Yamada stars a Yutaro Garai, the conflicted priest who also survived the MW chemical leak as a child and alternatingly bangs and tries to murder Yuuki. Sounds awesome, although isn't Takayuki Yamada a little femme for the priest's role? I remember him with shorter hair and buffer...
(Why haven't you read this yet? Don't give me that it's an 800 page hardcover that costs 25 bucks nonsense! What kind of manga nerd are you?)
Filming of scenes in Thailand started on April 20 (probably the early MW gas leak scenes in an unspecified South Asian island), and MW is scheduled for release in Japanese theaters in 2009.
Quick post regarding cool news I plucked from Twitch (the best blog for fucked up international SF & horror films-- and they update about 30 times a day!).
It looks like another Kazuo Umezu manga is getting the film treatment... this time it's the Orochi series.
Twitch provides more details: "Norio Tsuruta will direct the film and Hiroshi Takahashi (If it had a Ring in the title he was a part of it), who has worked with Kazuo’s material before, is providing the screenplay.
And now for the talent in front of the camera. Yoshino Kimura [Sukiyaki Western Django] will be playing two separate roles, the older sister Kazusa, and her own mother. The younger sister Lisa will be played by Noriko Nakagoshi and the mysterious girl, Orochi, will be played by Mitsuki Tanimura. Taro Yamamoto [Battle Royale] plays Kazusa’s boyfriend.
And here’s the storyline of this series from 1969 and 1970. We have our two sisters, Kazusa and Lisa. For Lisa, no matter what she does, her sister Kazusa has done it better. Lisa is always told that she’ll never be comparable to her sister. As any sibling rivalry is wont to do it results in feelings of jealousy and vengeance. As Lisa grows she learns to hate and at times lashes out at the sister she once loved. A tragic accident sets things in motion and so appears the mysterious young girl named Orochi."
As with previous Umezu adaptations notwithstanding some cool parts in the first Tomie movie! (Whoops, that's lack-of-sleep talking!), I have a feeling that they're gonna mangle the source material and go with a direct-to-DVD-esque film. We'll see.
If you want a refresher on what amazing heights an Umezu adaptation can aspire to (I think I mean this both earnestly and ironically, somehow), check out our friend Clay's video review of the 1980s Drifting Classroom adapation. OH GOD, THE HORROR?
Clay, gaijin abroad and Same Hat reader, has (perhaps unwittingly) become the internet's star expert on the laughably awful, ridiculous movie adaptation of Kazuo Umezu's Drifting Classroom.
A few weeks ago, Clayton did a video review of the late-80s, multilingual film adaptation of this infamous horror manga. The review is hilarious, and is only outdone but the utter SHITTINESS and CRAZINESS of this film:
You can also view the review directly on his site. Most recently, Clayton was somehow able to score an interview with one of the child stars of this film, Arthur Johnson, who talks about his experience as an African-American kid in Japan starring in a Umezu adapation. in the Eighties. that was in English. Stuff like this is the why internet is teh best!!
Thanks again for the links and patronage, Clayton!
Here are 10 minutes of selected shorts from the film:
These are just the tip of the iceburg. My favorite internet invention of the past year, YouTUBE, has about a zillion and one awesome J-Horror clips for consumption. Check out these things I found over the past week!! Please leave URLs for other clips/trailers/CMs related to Same Hat in the comments, and I'll add them to this post!
Hilarious CM for an energy drink starring... Kaz Umezu! The horror-manga moments are great!
Umezzma: Sony Mobile add-ons for your Japanese phone starring Umezu! Nice props :)
Strange-ass narrated Junji Ito comic, animated panel by panel. For the story "Fashion Model"-- Like a manga audiobook...
Part 1 of 7 of a 1-hour Junji Ito live-action adaptation of his comic "Long Dream". Apparently, the subtitles were done by Alexis Grass, of http://junjiito.trilete.net/. Read a review of the movie at Snowblood Apple!
Some exciting and crazy news on the j-horror movie front: They're making a movie of "Left Hand of God, Right Hand of the Devil" by Kazuo Umezu! HOLY CRAP!
There's a ton to be said about this, but the first is... where are they going to get enough dismembered body part prosthetics, rusty scissors and GALLONS and GALLONS of fake blood? We have a copy of the first volume of this series and it is CHOCK FULL of people getting scissors through their eyes, scissors snipping open noses, skeletons being pulled out from people's mouths, skin being melted off by acid showers, etc.etc. The comic is relentless, horrific and unceasingly gory and gross. If they were faithful, this would put Dead Alive to shame in terms of blood spillage.
But! The movie probably is going to get dumbed down and perhaps have little to do with Umezu's source material. There is a creepy official site online here. I really dig the landing image. Here is a short summary of the series from the bibliography at the back of Orochi:Blood:
"Umezu's most relentless "pure horror" work: a masterpiece of the abnormal, of dream and reality colliding head on. A young boy experiences visions and nightmares that turn out to be related to his sister's massive vomit attack. It all goes back to a gruesome serial killing spree that occurred before they were born and still haunts the local community."
Sounds crazy, doesn't it?
But the fact that this movie is being made alone is just the tip of the iceburg. It has been announced that this movie will be featuring 11-year old wunderkind Saaya Irie. If you haven't heard about her, this is the young F-CUP idol whose picture was posted on a Chinese BBS as a peace offering between the two countries. Tension was high due to Japan being retarded and flaring controversy with another bullshit war revisionist textbook. The Chinese were already upset, and then the Japanese beat them in a soccer match hosted in China-- leading to nationalist violence (read: protests/riots)at the stadium, and later at the Japanese Embassy in Shanghai. Then, some brilliant Japanese dude posted Saaya Irie's pic with a call for understanding between the two nations.
Her spike in popularity lead to her idol singing group (Sweet Kiss) being thrust into the jpop spotlight, her manager banning her from posing for swimsuit pinups again, and much rejoicing among pedo white dudes around the world. You can read all about the controversy in this article. She even has a wikipedia entry! holy crap.
Anyway, she's still famous because of the China/Japan incident, (and sure, she still has her huge baby bosom) so this will be her first big movie role. From what I've read of Left Hand of God, Right Hand of the Devil, she will probably play the little sister, and if so, she can expect (you guessed it!) lots of scissor mutilation. yeeesh.
Oh, also-- the Japanese idol Reon Kadena is gonna be in it. I dunno what role she'll play, but this movie seems to be popluated with belle du jours from all over the jpop strata. It's offical though, check it out on IMDB. Looks like the screenwriter is Shusuke Kaneko, who did a bunch of giant monster movies and some low-budget horror stuff (like an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft).
UPDATE: Just found this article, with a full cast list and link to the screenwriter's homepage.
PS: WE FINISHED A MAJOR SCANLATION LAST NIGHT, AFTER A FEW MONTHS OF WORK! WE WILL POST A PREVIEW PICTURE IN THE NEXT DAY OR SO. NEW SUEHIRO MARUO!
Updated: SAME HAT stopped updating in 2013! For all new projects, please see Youth in Decline's sit and Instagram.
All fan translations of manga that you'll see in the archives are previously untranslated into English and range from comedy to horror to avant-absurd weirdness.
Same Hat is written & edited by Ryan. If you would like to contact me, please email: samehat @ gmail.com. Also, you can Ask me anything on the Same Hat Tumblr!
