Manga and Anime Transitioning to Live Action

In upcoming months many Anime and Manga titles will see production as live action movies and television shows according to ICV2. Most interesting is that those first down the pipeline will likely be some of the smaller names, at least to non-otaku. Everyone knows that a Transformers movie is on the way, and that Vince Vaughn is working on a Speed Racer movie, but Min-Woo Hyung's Priest will likely be released before any of these bigger budget films. Priest is a narrative that should appeal to those who like demon killers in the Old West. All you Deadlands fans should already be buying the manhwa.


Roy Lee (whose name is attached to almost every import from the East since The Ring is developing one of my favorite moody anime series as a live action television show. Lee hopes to turn Witch Hunter Robin (click here for official site) into a successful live action series and more power to him. While it is difficult for me to imagine most anime series being adapted successfully to live action on a budget, Witch Hunter Robin is one of the rare exceptions. The anime version combined religious symbolism, Supernatural style stories, and hidden government agendas (very X-Files) into a moody and interesting combination. I look forward to seeing an attempt to bring this to the silver screen.



If you want to get an idea of what I am referring to, add it to your Netflix queue or ask to borrow my DVDs. I thought the animation in Robin was fluid and remarkable, but be warned the stories are directed at a slow pace. On a side note, I would love to see a Samurai Champloo live action film.