The traditional Japanese production company Tohokushinsha Film announced to bring back the classic Mobile Police Patlabor franchise surrounding Special Vehicles Devision 2 back to live with a new live-action project. Details haven’t been announced yet, but the launch site mentions 2014 for the yet unnamed project.

[via ANN]

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English subtitled trailer for the live-action adaptation of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin (aka Samurai X) Manga starring Takeru Satoh. I’m glad to see the Japanese studios are sometimes thinking of the international fanbase by releasing subtitled trailers on their own. Rurouni Kenshin opens August 25th in Japan.

Synopsis (Manga):

During the violent era known as the Bakumatsu, there was an Ishin assassin known only as the Hitokiri Battousai, whose skill and brutality became near legendary in the age of Restoration he helped to build. However, as the time of fighting drew to a close, he vanished without a trace, only to resurface eleven years later as a wandering swordsman, Himura Kenshin. Now staying at a kenjutsu dojo maintained by a fiery-tempered woman named Kamiya Kaoru, and surrounded by newfound friends like the streetfighter Sagara Sanosuke, ex-samurai’s son Myoujin Yahiko, and the shrewd doctor Takani Megumi, he seeks to carry out his vow to protect the weak without killing in order to atone for the lives he’s taken. It’s not long, though, before this vow is put to the test, and the shadows of his past return to haunt him and everyone he holds dear.

[via ANN]

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First trailer for the live-action adaption of Hikaru Nakamura’s Arakawa Under the Bridge manga.

Synopsis (Anime):

Kou Ichinomiya has always lived according to the creed of his wealthy, successful family: never be in debt to anyone. But one day, under the Arakawa Bridge, his life is saved by a homeless girl named Nino. In order to pay her back, Kou promises to be her boyfriend; and thus begins his new life under the bridge.

[via ANN]

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First trailer for Takashi Miike’s live-action adaptation of the Capcom video game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I’ve never played the game, but it looks like Miike had a lot of fun directing these after his remakes of Samurai classics…

[via Beyond Hollywood & Twitch]

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THR reports that the US and Dominican Republic-based production group The Indomina Group announced during Comic Con the plan to produce a live-action adaptation of Takeshi Okazaki’s Afro Samurai manga.
Samuel L. Jackson, who voiced the grunty samurai in Studio Gonzo’s award-winning anime series will co-produce the film together with the animation studio. Shootings are supposed to start in the Dominican Republic next year, but footage of early stuntmen training sessions has already leaked…
This should be pretty interesting, especially if they’re trying to bring all of Afro’s weird enemies to the screen.

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The official website for Shinsuke Sato’s live-action adaptation of GANTZ has been updated with a first teaser and trailer for the second part GANTZ: Perfect Answer which will open in Japanese theaters in April.
Teaser:

Trailer:

[via Nippon Cinema]

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First poster for the second part of Shinsuke Sato’s live-action adaptation of GANTZ called Perfect Answer which will open in Japanese (and probably selected US) theaters in April.

[via Filmsmash]

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