Manga-based Japanese Live Action Films: Numbers of Versions

[Michael McCaskey]

By "Salaryman Kintaro" I means the Miike live action film, the English title of which I think is "Office Worker Kintaro." I think there was first a live-action TV series based on the manga, and then the anime and the Miike live action film versions. Miike is also sometimes given credit for the anime as well.

In the case of Shurayuki-hime, there are the original two films that inspired Tarantino, and then a more recent one, which seems to have a wandering plot and to be generally less good.

And there are two Azumi films and two Onmyoji films, and several Kozure okami films.

And are there some live-action horror films based on manga rather than on anime?

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown

----- Original Message -----
From: Michael McCaskey <mccaskem at georgetown.edu>
Date: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 4:14 pm
Subject: Questions re Manga-based Japanese Live Action Films

> I have have been making up an inventory for my film course of 
> major Japanese "live action" films that are based on original 
> manga, but I'm sure I must have left some out. Can people help out 
> and name some more of them? I'm certain I must be missing some 
> very important ones in the list below.
> 
> Azumi
> 
> Koi no mon
> 
> Kozure okami
> 
> Nana
> 
> Onmyoji
> 
> Sanchome no yuhi
> 
> Salaryman Kintaro
> 
> Shurayuki-hime
> 
> Yokai dai senso
> 
> The recent Hotaru no haka live action film goes back to the 
> original text by Nosaka Akiyuki, and there's no manga version--
> there's Takahata's anime, and maybe there's a storyboard book by 
> Takahata.  Ashura-jo no hitomi is based on a play. Does Oshii's 
> Red Spectacles count, since there are one or two related manga, in 
> addition to the Jin-Roh anime?
> 
> I'm not including anime based on manga, just live action films 
> derived from manga, not from anime..
> 
> Something else I've noticed is that it seems that most of the US 
> "comics-based" live action movies are about various costumed 
> fantasy figures, mostly "crime-fighters," such as Superman, 
> Batman, Spider Man, et al. Yokai dai senso seems to have a few 
> similarities to this US strain, but Miike's Zebraman simply seems 
> to be totally the creation of the scenario writer, Kudo Kankuro.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>