Questions re Manga-based Japanese Live Action Films

[thomas.lamarre at mcgill.ca]

Here are a few that come to mind; sorry if there are repeats:

Sanctuary
Saishû heiki kanojo
Ping Pong
Munô no hito (really brilliant manga and a good film)
Boogie Pop Phantom
Uzumaki
MD Psycho (though this is TV drama)
Tetsujin


There are lots of Hong Kong films based on manga, too.  As for N 
America, there's Guyver and in production Gunmu and Astro Boy; and the 
French version of Bera Bara is interesting.  There are two or three 
books in French on film based on comics, but none in english that I 
know of.

There are some recent American films that are not based on caped 
crusaders: Road to Perdition, American Splendor, Ghost World, and 
History of Violence come to mind.

Tom

> It seems that there are indeed many Japanese manga-based live action 
> films, maybe enough for a course in itself. I wondered at first 
> whether this was a separate genre, and it really is.
>
> Has anyone written a book secifically about this yet?
>
> I wonder why there are not more US films like this--or are there many 
> of these I'm not aware of? I thought about V, but it's again about a 
> costumed figure, as many of the US ones seem to be.
>
> I also thought about some anime films like the remade Appleseed, 
> based on a manga original, where the computerized effects make it 
> seem at times as if the figures are almost live action.
>
> Michael McCaskey
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jim Harper <jimharper666 at yahoo.co.uk>
> Date: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 4:48 pm
> Subject: Re: Questions re Manga-based Japanese Live Action Films
>
>> I think Ishii directed a sixth film, in 1994.
>>
>>  Jim.
>>
>> "H. Boxberg" <kaijyutheater at boksi.fi> wrote:
>>  The Angel Guts -series. Total of five films by Chusei Sone,
>> Noboru
>> Tanaka, Toshiharu Ikeda and Takashi Ishii, all based on the mangas
>> by Ishii.
>>
>> - Henri Boxberg
>>
>> > 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.
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.flipsidemovies.com
>> http://jimharper.blogspot.com
>>
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>