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It has just been announced that CLAMP's manga xxxHOLIC has finally been adapted for a live action series. I'm definitely excited for this and I would like to see how they would do the live action series. xxxHOLIC began as a serialized manga in Young Magazine in 2003 and ended in 2011. xxxHOLIC also has an anime adaptation with 2 series and a couple of OVAs. If you're looking for a mysterious/supernatural series with a hint of comedy to watch, I'd definitely recommend xxxHOLIC. There has been no confirmed date for the live action series but that it will air in 2013.

Plot Summary:  follows the story of Watanuki Kimihiro, a high-school student who possesses the ability to see the supernatural. One day, Watanuki comes across the time-traveling wish granting witch Yuuko and tries to persuade her to get rid of his ability to see the supernatural. But in order to get his wish granted, in return Watanuki must work in Yuuko's shop and help her grant other people's wishes.

Source: JPopAsia

Over the years, there have been talks about the controversial Japanese live action film Battle Royale being released in theaters in the United States. Finally there have been confirmed dates for the debut and the release of the film in the states. The movie release will have limited showings in select theaters in the U.S. Battle Royale was originally a Japanese novel which spawned multiple adaptations including a manga series and two feature films. Unfortunately an anime series was never created. *rages* (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ .

Battle Royale's story takes place in a totalitarian state known as the Republic of Greater East Asia. 50 third-year junior high school students are selected at random according to their school and are put in what they call "the Program". The Program forces the students to fight the other members of their class to death until there is only one left. There are numerous rules that are added in the program to keep the game interesting and keep the reader focused. (And no, Battle Royale didn't copy Hunger Games ^_^)

Battle Royale will also make it's way to New York City to premiere at the IFC Center theater. According to the theater website, the showing will take place on May 25th, 2012. If you haven't seen it before, I definitely recommend seeing it. It's not for the faint of heart though. If you already saw the movie, why not see it in a real theater this time?! And if you absolutely can't wait to see it in theaters on May 25th, the DVD/Blu-Ray copies of Battle Royale are also out in the U.S so be sure to grab yourself a copy.

Even though the Mirai Nikki anime series ended, doesn't mean that this series will lie by the wayside and collect dust. As mentioned in a previous article in Feburary, Mirai Nikki has finally aired the first episode of the live action called Mirai Nikki: Another World. You can check out the trailer after the jump.

Yes you read the title correct, Mirai Nikki also known as The Future Diary is in talks about making a live action show based on the manga. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. Whenever a person hears the worlds "live-action" they tend to turn away from it. A recent Oricon poll revealed that the Japanese audience is frequently dissatisfied with live-action adaptations of anime and manga. As opposed to the American live-action of Japanese anime series *cough* Dragon Ball Evolution and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li *cough* Japanese live-actions haven't turned out to be all that bad. The live action of Hana Kimi and Boys Over Flowers proved to be so successful that it spawned multiple versions of the drama in different languages.

So will the Mirai Nikki live action follow in the footsteps of Hana Kimi and Boys Over Flowers? Who knows... Hopefully it doesn't disappoint. The Mirai Nikki live action show titled: Mirai Nikki -Another:World- is set to debut this April. Actor Masaki Okada who played in the live action versions of Hana Kimi and BokuKimi is confirmed to be in the live action. Okada will play Arata Hoshino, who is an original character that is not in the Mirai Nikki manga. I'm looking forward to seeing how successful this show will be.

Warner Bros has decided to halt production of their upcoming Akira movie. The film is a live-action adaptation of the popular japanese manga and anime.

As those who have been keeping up with the news about the film know, it hasn't been a smooth ride. It has been an on-again, off-again production and this time it's due to the lack of star power combined with an over-sized budget. With only Garrett Hedlund signed and Kristen Stewart, Ken Watanabe and Helena Bonham Carter in different stages of negotiations, it's hard to justify the $90 million dollar budget. It seems they are looking to tighten their purse strings so that production costs between $60 million to $70 million.

However there are also rumors that the reason is not the budget but the script that has caused production to be halted. Variety has reported that the executives feels like the screenplay needs to be fixed some more before production can continue. There are two men that they feel can fix the job, Johnathan Nolan and Michael Green. Of course there are no official statements on any of this, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Whatever the case may be, it seems Warner Bros is not ready to let the project die just yet.

Live action adaptations of the manga Gantz by Hiroya Oku will be shown at the Pacific Gaslamp 15 Theatres in San Diego, California on July 22-23. The first film Gantz is rated R and will be shown at 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM while the unrated sequel Gantz: Perfect Answer will run at the same times the next day. Both films will be shown in Japanese with English subtitles.

Source: [Anime News Network]

In what is a completely unplanned coincidence, Korean broadcaster SBS announced yesterday that they have licensed the live action adaptation of Tsukasa Hojo's manga (which our Manga Hermit mentioned yesterday), City Hunter, to Hulu. Viewers in the United States, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam will be able to stream the series on demand.

The live action series, which premiered yesterday in South Korea stars actor Lee Min-Ho as Ryo Saeba, a gun for hire with a large libido and Park Minyoung as Ryo's love interest, Kaori. The series takes place in 2011 in Seoul rather than the Tokyo of the 1980s.

I for one have to wonder how they'll portray the protagonists erm... second magnum (for lack of a better euphemism). Let us know if you'll be checking it out in the comments below.

Next Tuesday's issue of LaLa Magazine will be announcing that TBS will be running a live-action adaptation of Bisco Hatori's popular manga turned anime series, Ouran Highschool Host Club. The story follows high school freshman Haruhi who has to pretend to be a boy in order to repay the school's wealthy host club for breaking an expensive item. The series was adapted as an anime in 2006.

Source: ANN via Moe Ota-News

I consider myself a Tekken fan — sometimes really fanatic, sometimes a simple button masher. And I also consider myself having a high bullshit threshold, although it's quite debatable because I filter rubbish before I think of watching. So obviously, if I do decide to watch horrible movies, it’s because I don’t care or because I love the series/game, etc. For example, Dragonball Evolution or Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Before I watched it, I expected Tekken the live action movie to be no better. And I was right.

Hollywood's version of the anime classic, Akira, gets a little more credibility as the producers have hired Steve Kloves for scriptwriting duties. Kloves is best known for adapting the later Harry Potter movies on the big screens all over the world. And to expand the budget, Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the producers, and executive producer will be none other than Katsuhiro Otomo. If you were a fan of Akira, then you would know Otomo's the author as well. His title is through a deal signed with his publishing company, Kodansha.

So there's good writing, big budget, and now...faithfulness to the material? The world will have to guess, as there's currently no date-- not even a ballpark's worth of guessing.

Source: [ANN]