Live-Action Patlabor Trailer Previews Toshio Suzuki's Role

Studio Ghibli co-founder appears in 4th part of The Next Generation -Patlabor- series

The official YouTube channel for Mamoru Oshii's live-action The Next Generation -Patlabor- series and film began streaming a new trailer for the fourth part on Friday. The video includes a clip of Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki's role as a shady "Neppūsha" agent. 

The fourth part will premiere in theaters in Japan on August 30 and will include episode 6 "Daikaijū Arawaru Kōhen" (A Giant Monster Appears Part II) and episode 7 "Time Dokan." Episode six is the second half of a story about a mysterious giant sea creature. The story starts when a surfer suddenly disappears at sea. At the same time, a large sea monster appears. At the beach, marine biologist Nobuko Nanami is researching the incident, but the Section 2 Division 2 team just happened to be vacationing at the same seaside. They are caught in the investigation when the visiting tourists are excited to see a large robot like Labor fight a sea monster.

Episode seven starts when Section 2 Division 2 gets a call about bombs placed across the city. The team sets out to find where the bombs are placed and who is behind the destruction.

MaiDiGi TV also began streaming two clips from the series' third part on Friday. The third part opened in theaters in Japan on July 12 and ran for two weeks.

The third part is made of two episodes: Episode 4 "Norainu-tachi no Gogo" (Stray Dogs' Afternoon) about a battle between terrorists and Section 2 Division 2 in a convenience store, and Episode 5 "Daikaijū Arawaru Zenpen" (A Giant Monster Appears Part I) about a mysterious giant sea creature.

The Next Generation -Patlabor- project is not a remake of the earlier Patlabor anime stories, but a completely new work. The story is set in Tokyo in 2013, and it represents the "third generation" of Patlabor. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has disbanded its Section 2 Division 1 of police robots, and Section 2 Division 2 barely survived the budget cuts due to the long recession.

The project begins with this seven-part series, which is composed of the "episode 0" and 12 full episodes helmed by chief director Mamoru Oshii and other directors. Each full episode is projected to be about 48 minutes long. Finally, Oshii is directing and writing a feature-length film that will open during Japan's Golden Week holidays in spring 2015, and it is expected to run about 100 minutes long.

Oshii commented that the seven-part series will have a "slapstick" ambiance, while the feature film will be serious. Oshii and Kei Yamamura are writing the scripts for the series, and Kenji Kawai is returning to the franchise to compose the music for both the series and the feature film.

Former Hello! Project singer and actress Erina Mano stars as pilot Akira Izumino (as opposed to the earlier anime's heroine Noa Izumi). The cast also includes Seiji Fukushi as Yūma Shiobara, Rina Oota as Ekaterina Krachevna Kankaeva ("Kasha") from Russia, Shigeru Chiba reprising his anime role as maintenance crew chief Shigeo Shiba, and Toshio Kakei as Captain Keiji Gotōda (the successor to the anime's Captain Kiichi Gotō).

Live-Action Attack on Titan Confirmed for 2 Films

Hiroki Hasegawa, Kiko Mizuhara, Kanata Hongou, Takahiro Miura, Nanami Sakuraba, Satoru Matsuo, more join cast.

Live-action Attack on Titan film director Shinji Higuchi confirmed on Wednesday that the project will span two films. Both are slated to open next summer. The movies are currently filming across Japan including on Hashima Island in Nagasaki Prefecture.

Higuchi stated that, with the supervision of Attack on Titan manga creator Hajime Isayama, the story will be based on the world and characters of the manga, while incorporating new characters and new formidable enemies. Yuusuke Watanabe(Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, live-action Gantz, Gantz II: Perfect Answer, 20th Century Boys, Gatchaman) is writing the script. Film critic Tomohiro Machiyama, who is also friends with Isayama, is working on the scripts together with Isayama and Watanabe.

Isayama's manga depicts the battles between humans and the giants who now rule the world outside humans' walled enclaves.

23-year-old actor Haruma Miura is starring in the films. Joining the cast is Hiroki Hasegawa, Kiko Mizuhara, Kanata Hongou, Takahiro Miura, Nanami Sakuraba, Satoru Matsuo, Satomi Ishihara, Taki Pierre, Jun Kunimura, Shū Watanabe, Ayame Misaki, and Rina Takeda.

Hajime Isayama's original Attack on Titan manga has inspired four spinoff manga, and a 25-episode television anime version aired last year. Isayama launched the series in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in 2009, and the manga now has 40 million copies in print.

Kodansha Comics is publishing Isayama's original manga in North America. The company is also releasing three of the four spinoff manga, and the Attack on Titan Guidebooks: INSIDE & OUTSIDE. Vertical is publishing the Attack on Titan: Before the Fall light novel series.

Both Funimation and Crunchyroll streamed the anime version of the manga as it aired in Japan, and Funimation released the first part of the series on home video this year. 

Evangelion's Sadamoto Designs Live-Action Attack on Titan Characters

The Eiga.com website reported on more of the staff members for next year's live-action film of Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan manga, including illustrator and designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion, Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honnêamise, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars). Sadamoto is designing the characters of the live-action film with anime/game designer Takayuki Takeya (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children mecha/costumes/creatures, Tekken: Blood Vengeance's Devil Kazuya/Devil Jin) and conceptual designer Kouji Tajima (Captain Harlock, Les Miserables, Total Recall remake, Dragon Age, Garo).

Tajima famously created an unofficial poster for the live-action Attack on Titan film last May: 

Katsuro Onoue (Onmyoji, Space Brothers, The Floating Castle, "Kyoshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru" short) is directing the special effects, and Shōji Ehara (The Floating Castle) is the director of photography. Japan Academy Prize winner Takashi Sugimoto (Kita no Canaria) is in charge of lighitng, and Tsuyoshi Shimizu (Heisei-era Godzilla films, live-action Video Girl Ai, Waterboys, Umizaru series) is serving as art director. Isao Tsuge (Ichi the Killer, Cutie Honey, 13 Assassins, Gegege no Kitarō) is in charge of makeup, and Shinichi Miter (Mita) is designing the costumes. Yoshihiro Nishimura (Suicide Club, The Machine Girl) is producing the special effects models.

 Lead actor Haruma Miura will begin filming the project early this summer at Hashima Island or Gunkanjima ("Battleship Island"), the island known worldwide for its landscape of dilapidated buildings.

Storyboarder and special effects director Shinji Higuchi (Heisei-era Gamera films, "Kyoshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru" short) is set to helm the film. Yuusuke Watanabe (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, live-action Gantz, Gantz II: Perfect Answer, 20th Century Boys, Gatchaman) is writing the script. Film critic Tomohiro Machiyama, who is also friends with Isayama, is working on the scripts together with Isayama and Watanabe. Isayama has also been present at business meetings for the film and has offered ideas on the scripts and characters. TOHO is producing and distributing the film. 

Higuchi already shot a live-action Attack on Titan commercial for the Subaru Forester:

 

External Link 

Actor Naoto Takenaka to Appear in Live-Action Patlabor

The official poster for Part 2 of Mamoru Oshii's live-action The Next Generation -Patlabor- series and film revealed on Monday that Naoto Takenaka will make an appearance. Takenaka voiced the pivotal role of Shigeki Arakawa in Oshii's 1993 Patlabor 2: The Movie.

Former Hello! Project singer and actress Erina Mano also stars as pilot Akira Izumino (as opposed to the earlier anime's heroine Noa Izumi). The cast also includes Seiji Fukushi as Yūma Shiobara, Rina Oota as Ekaterina Krachevna Kankaeva ("Kasha") from Russia, Shigeru Chiba reprising his anime role as maintenance crew chief Shigeo Shiba, and Toshio Kakei as Captain Keiji Gotōda (the successor to the anime's Captain Kiichi Gotō). Part 2 — with episode 2 "98-Shiki Sakidō Seyo" (AV-98, Relaunch!) and episode 3 "Tekken Akira" — will premiere in Japan on May 31. 

The Patlabor franchise's original concept of police officers piloting robotic mecha (patrol labors or "Patlabors") was developed by HEADGEAR, a group consisting of director Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Sky Crawlers), script writer Kazunori Ito (.hack, Dirty Pair), mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi (Eureka Seven, Mobile Suit Gundam franchise), character designer Akemi Takada (Kimagure Orange Road, Urusei Yatsura, Fancy Lala), and manga creator Masami Yuuki (Birdy the Mighty). The franchise spawned two original video anime, a television anime series, and three anime films. The last anime film, Patlabor WXIII, was released in theaters in Japan in 2002.

The Next Generation -Patlabor- project is not a remake of the earlier Patlabor anime stories, but a completely new work. The story is set in Tokyo in 2013, and it represents the "third generation" of Patlabor. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has disbanded its Section 2 Division 1 of police robots, and Section 2 Division 2 barely survived the budget cuts due to the long recession. 

The production is budgeted at 2 billion yen (US$20 million), and principal photography ran from June to the end of December. The two life-size Ingram robots were built at the cost of several tens of millions of yen (several hundred thousand US dollars). The production also used Suidobashi Heavy Industry's real-life rideable robot Kuratas.

Oshii commented that the seven-part series will have a "slapstick" ambiance, while the feature film will be serious. Oshii and Kei Yamamura are writing the scripts for the series, and Kenji Kawai is returning to the franchise to compose the music for both the series and the feature film. 

The production company Tohokushinsha Film Corporation announced at France's Japan Expo in July that Oshii is involved in this year's live-action project of HEADGEAR's Mobile Police Patlabor anime. Omnibus Japan, an audio and computer graphics studio tied to Tohokushinsha, is co-producing the new project. The company worked on the graphics in Ghost in the Shell and the Evangelion films.

Central Park Media released the OVAs and television series in English before filing for bankruptcy in 2009. Manga Entertainment, Bandai Visual USA, and Geneon released the three films stateside but are since out of print. The North American licensing company Maiden Japan announced last year that it acquired the Mobile Police Patlabor television anime series. The same company announced the rights for the video anime series last year. 

Tsubasa Honda, Masahiro Higashide Star in Live-Action Ao Haru Ride

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Tsubasa Honda (GTO, Andō-Roid ~A.I. knows Love?) and Masahiro Higashide (Amachan, Gochisōsan) will star in the live-action film of Io Sakisaka's shōjo manga Ao Haru Ride. Honda personally wanted to look more like the story's heroine Futaba, so she gave herself 20-centimeter (about eight-inch) hair extensions.

The story revolves around Futaba Yoshioka, a girl who was in love with a boy named Kō Tanaka (played by Higashide) in middle school. However, after a misunderstanding, their relationship as friends ends when he transfers schools over summer vacation. In high school, her world is turned around once again when she meets Kō again, this time under the name of Kō Mabuchi.

 

Yua Shinkawa (leftmost in photo above) will play Shūko Murao, a "lone wolf" who likes Tanaka-sensei. Ryo Yoshizawa (center left, Kanojo wa Uso o Ai Shisugiteru) will play Aya Kominato, who loves events and is interested in Shūko. Izumi Fujimoto (center right) will play Yūri Makita, Futaba's friend who likes Kō. Yū Koyanagi (rightmost) will play Yōichi Tanaka, Kō's older brother.

Takahiro Miki (Solanin, Hidamari no Kanojo, We Were There) is directing the film off a script by Tomoko Yoshida (Gaku, Kanojo wa Uso o Ai Shisugiteru). The film will open in Japan this December. 

The manga is also inspiring a television anime this summer with Maaya Uchida, Yuuki Kaji, Mikako Komatsu, Ai Kayano, Kenn, and Daisuke Hirakawa will play the respective roles of Futaba Yoshioka, Kō Mabuchi, Shūko Murao, Yūri Makita, Aya Kominato, and Yōichi Tanaka.

Sakisaka began her Ao Haru Ride manga in the magazine in 2011, and Shueisha shipped the ninth compiled volume in Japan in January. A drama CD written by Sakisaka and featuring the anime's cast will come with the limited edition of the 10th compiled volume of the manga on May 23. The manga was ranked as one of the top 20 shojo manga recommended by professionals in the fields of manga and publishing. Viz publishes Sakisaka's Strobe Edge manga in North America. 

Comic Natalie posted more images of the film's two main stars and their original manga inspirations.