The upcoming live-action Dragonball movie starring Chow Yun Fatt, Justin Chatwin, James Marsters and Emma Rossum may not be too bad after all ;-)
According to this site, a reviewer who claims to have watched an early version of the movie wrote that the best parts included the action ("awesome"), James Marsters as Picollo, Justin Chatwin as Goku and Emma Rossum as Bulma. The worst parts were the story, Jamie Chung as Chi Chi, Chow Yun Fatt as Master Roshi ("acted like Mr. Kesuke Miyagi") and the CGI dragon. Overall the reviewer gave the movie a decent 6.5 out of 10.
Well, the movie is set for general release in April 2009 so we will know by then just how good or bad it is. But until then, check out the trailer here.
Source: http://kotaku.com/5069084/first-dragonball-movie-review-not-a-disaster, http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38877, http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/10/03/new-dragonball-trailer-goes-online/.
Image from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Ball_film
Tags: Dragon Ball, Dragonball movie, Chow Yun Fatt, Justin Chatwin,
James Marsters, Emma Rossum, Upcoming Movies, Manga, Anime.
Early Review and Trailer Of New Dragon Ball Movie
New Anime By Anime Master Hayao Miyazaki is called...
Ponyo On A Cliff (崖の上のポニョ or Gake no Ue no Ponyo) and it is a story about a five-year old boy and a goldfish princess (hmmm... not sure why the goldfish princess has a human face but she sure is super cute!). This long-awaited follow-up to 2004's Howl's Moving Castle
Update (July 31): Here is the trailer which has the theme song on YouTube, somehow I have a feeling that this song is going to be a huge hit ;-) Can't wait to watch this movie.
Tags: Ponyo On A Cliff, Ponyo, Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, anime.
Winter Sonata And Full House Are Back... As Anime
Following the success of the animated version of Dae Jang Geum - Jang Geum's Dream, animated versions of another two highly popular Korean dramas - Winter Sonata and Full House are currently in production and will be released in 2009.
The animated version of Winter Sonata will consist of 26 episodes and will have the original stars of the drama series Bae Yong-Joon and Choi Ji-Woo reprising their roles as the star-crossed lovers - Joon Sang and Yoo Jin.
Here is the trailer for the animated verion of Winter Sonata that I found on YouTube. I think that it is pretty well made and manages to capture the atmosphere of the drama serial very well. Really, when Bae Yong-Jun calls out "Yoo Jin ah" in the trailer and the theme song starts playing, I am transported back to the scenes in the drama immediately... some good memories there ... :-)
Another drama that is going to be made into an anime is Full House the 2004 hit Korean drama starring Rain and Song Hye-Kyo. Originally a manhwa (Korean manga), it was made into a drama serial and now it is going to made into a full-fledged anime. At the moment, I can't find any news on whether Rain or Song Hye-Gyo will be lending their voices to the anime but regardless, if the animated version is able to capture the spirit and exquisite comic timing of the two leads in the drama serial, I will definitely be looking forward to this animated version ;-)
Till next time...
Source: http://www.innolife.com/mlist.php?ac_id=14&ai_id=16246, http://www.asianpopcorn.com/default.asp?display=1825, http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-3284.
Tags: Winter Sonata,animated version, animation, anime, Full House, Bae Yong Jun, Choi Ji Woo, Rain, Song Hye Kyo, korean drama series.
From Manga To Idol Drama
Japanese anime and manga have always been extremely popular in East Asia, especially Taiwan and Hong Kong. Popular manga titles in Japanese have been known to fly off the shelves of bookstores faster than books published by local authors in the local language. Many people flock to language schools to learn Japanese for the sole purpose of reading untranslated manga and watching Japanese anime and drama. In fact, I personally feel that anime and manga have a greater cultural impact in East Asia than cartoons from Disney or Warner Bros.
Especially in Taiwan, the Japanese love of all things "kawaii" (cute) have so successfully taken root that many of the pop stars or actresses that have became famous in the last 4 to 5 years look very much like shojo manga (young girl's manga) characters themselves - big round eyes, long hair, peachy complexions, super sweet smiles and slim girlish figures... Classic examples include Jolin Tsai, Cyndi Wang and Rainie Yang...
Adaptations of popular Japanese manga into Taiwanese "idol" dramas are also extremely common. The only "localization" done is usually that the setting of the story is changed to Taipei instead of Tokyo. The names of the characters are more often than not the same... even if the Japanese names sound strange in Chinese. A good example is Meteor Garden's "Dao Ming Si", in the Taiwanese adaptation, the character's surname becomes "Dao Ming" and his given name becomes "Ah Si" which is a direct translation of the character's surname Domyoji in the manga.
Examples of manga that have been made into Taiwanese idol dramas include:
Meteor Garden 流星花園 (2001)
Based on manga Hana Yori Dango
Starring Barbie Hsu and pop group F4 (Jerry Yen, Vic Zhou, Ken Zhu and Vanness Wu)
Peach Girl 蜜桃女孩 (2002)
Based on manga Peach Girl
Starring Annie Wu and Vanness Wu
Marmalade Boy 橘子醬男孩 (2002)
Based on manga Marmalade Boy
Starring Stella Huang Xiangyi and Ken Zhu
The Rose 薔薇之戀 (2003)
Based on manga Bara No Tame Ni (薔薇のために) by Yoshimura Akemi
Starring Ella (from pop group S.H.E), Zheng Yuan Chang and Jerry Huang
Mars 戰神 (2004)
Based on manga Mars
Starring Vic Zhou and Barbie Hsu
It Started With A Kiss 惡作劇之吻 (2005)
Based on manga Itazura Na Kiss (イタズラなKiss) by Kaoru Tada
Starring Ariel Lin Yichen and Joe Cheng
Devil Beside You 惡魔在身邊 (2005)
Based on manga Akuma de Soro
Starring Rainie Yang and Mike He
Tokyo Juliet 東方茱麗葉 (2006)
Based on manga Tokyo Juliet
Hanazakarino Kimitachihe 花樣少年少女 (2006/07) (picture)
Based on manga Hanazakari no Kimitachi e
Starring Ella (S.H.E), Wu Zun and Jiro Wang
As you can see, creating idol dramas based on manga is really common. One reason could be that the ratings for such dramas are usually pretty good as there exists a ready audience from fans of the popular manga and also because the boy-girl relationship issues in manga suit the Taiwanese idol drama genre to a tee.
So... expect more such manga/anime based drama serials in the years to come...
Tags: idol drama, Taiwanese drama, Chinese drama series, drama serial, manga, anime, shojo manga
