I love retro and historical fashion, animals, gardening, cooking and reading.
The most important things in my life are: my pet hedgehog Mr Toffee and my custom cruiser motorbike called Rex.
Cowboy bebop is my favourite anime bar none. It has a seamless link of sci fi and realistic action (and fist fights) with anime and music, it is easy going, funny and cool. The characters are space cowboys who have a lot of our present day life in their story from their costumes to what they eat, which really makes you feel connected. This funky anime has impressed many including Keaneu Reeves who is really pushing it for production, they have a script but no one has come forward yet to take the rights for a movie. I think as an American actor in a very westernised anime he would make a good Spike Spegel and I look forward to some more information on it, Watch this space.
There is a big retro culture for our generation and as adults we love our 80’s cartoons, the top dog of which is Thundercats (although my favourite will always be Brave Starr). There have been several rumours about this live action movie and the rights for a CGI movie have been obtained for realise in 2010, not other information at this time. CGI sounds good as like Dragonball Z live action it could easily look silly, there are so many things that could go wrong. To prove me wrong here is a fan trailer – which took 18 months to produce btw- with a dream casting; Brad Pitt, Vin diesel and Hugh Jackman. So much eye candy! They look great and convinces me live action could be the way to go. Vin Diesel is the perfect Panthra, plus I’m sure he would look great in spandex lol They all look great, even Garfield and the spykids : D
Japanese anime classic Akira has a live-action remake. There will be two movies and both will be based on the 6 Manga graphic novels rather than the 1988 anime movie we all know and love. The first of which is due to be realised summer 2009, although there is no date and no trailer as of yet which is a bit worrying. It is being made by Warner Brothers and directed by Leonardo DiCaprio who also plays Keneda, a 34-year-old white man to play a Japanese teen? It is odd that a Japanese story will be played with American actors and I’m not sure without “americanising” it and there for ruining the atmosphere they can pull it of, but then it was always much more popular in the west than in Japan. Casting aside the cyberpunk story should translate well into live action; loads of action scenes, motorbike chases, government coups and sci-fi powers, all set in a post-apocalyptic city I can’t wait!
Ghost in a shell made in 1995 is one of the biggest anime movies of all time, it asks a lot of questions about future technology (it heavily inspired The Matrix) and I love it. It has 2 sequels, a series, several books and 3 computer games, all based on the Manga by Masamune Shirow in 1989. Dreamworks have the rights and Steven Spielberg is directing it, and an ex Marvel boss is producing. They have a script but no information on casting or a release date yet, and all the news I could find was nearly a year old. Even though it looks to be American made I’m sure the high-class production team and the 3D effects will be spectacular. I hope they don’t tone down the story line, and it’s a shame they cant use other content rather than remake the 1995 movie but I have faith in Spielberg (he is a fan of the movie himself) and I trust him with my 2nd favourite Anime Movie.
There is a big anime/Japanese culture among our generation here in the UK and after the last 5 or 6 years worth of live action comic book and 80’s cartoon blockbuster movies (transformers was awesome) it is only natural progression that they move onto anime and Manga adaptations. All together this would a be a long post so I will spilt it into 3 and try to embed trailers where possible.
This year
Blood: the last vampire is about a 16 year old girl who is really a 400 year old vampire. Set in post WWII Japan it has lots of action and samurai demon slaying, it looks good. This movie is being released on June 12th 2009 but only in the UK, no USA cinema release that just shows how large the Japanese culture is over here.
I’m not a big fan of Dragon ball Z but Dave is and the new movie is due to be realised April this year. Unlike Blood, this movie will be realised in the US and has an American cast. As with Akira I’m not sure the cast can pull it of and to a non dragonball fan the trailer does not look overly interesting - bordering on silly if im honest. This movie looks likely to disappoint fans with its attempt to draw in non-fans, and is likely to be a flop in the western world. (Sorry Dave)
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