Looking around for new properties, and realizing that a number of classic Hollywood films have fallen out of copyright, the publisher Manga Bank has decided to adapt Casablanca and other beloved movies into manga:
Supervised by Kenshi Hirokane, renowned for his successful Kacho Shima Kosaku (Division Chief Shima Kosaku) series, the new comic book series, titled Manga: Sekai Meisaku Movie, was launched Nov. 17 with its first four titles: Kasaburanka (Casablanca), Sharedo (Charade), Ekibasha (Stagecoach) and Arashigaoka (Wuthering Heights).
Based on the translations of the movie scripts and created by Manga Bank, the comic books (Gentosha Inc., 160 pp, 1,380 yen each) were drawn by separate mangaka, including Tatsuya Ihara, who has worked as an assistant to Motoka Murakami, known for his Musashi no Ken series.
The accompanying DVDs contain the original full-length theatrical release versions of the films, with Japanese subtitles.
Manga Bank is considering publishing more titles on a regular basis in the future, including Roman Holiday, Gone with The Wind and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
That image was taken from Japanator by the way.
December 10th, 2007 at 7:21 am
Chihiro’s a girl’s name. Just thought you should know…
December 10th, 2007 at 8:33 am
I know. I thought it might be more amusing if I used a girl’s name.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Play it again, Mecha-Omega-Bot 1!
December 10th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Of all the post-apocalyptic wastelands, trippy technofutures, and ultraviolent samurai epics in the world, she had to walk into mine.
December 10th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Casablanca is out of copyright? How long are Japanese copyright terms anyway?
December 10th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
“I thought it might be more amusing if I used a girl’s name.”
And indeed it is!
(sorry if I sounded like a know-it-all…)