Sunday October 11, 2009
But Wolverine is not stopping at manga. The Japanese animation studio Madhouse is working on a Wolverine anime TV series.
In an interview at Madhouses offices in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, producer Fuminori Hara said that the 12-episode show is one of four Marvel anime adaptations the company is now working on. The first will feature Iron Man, Wolverine will follow, and the next two characters have yet to be announced.
In teaser trailers that can be found on YouTube, the anime Iron Man is instantly recognisable as he flies past Tokyo Tower at night and causes its lights to flicker. But the anime Wolverine, shown battling spectral ninjas, is more radically reimagined, with long flowing hair that nearly reaches his waist. Some fans have objected to the new look.
There was a confused reaction initially at the Wolverine trailer, said Hara, who attended a screening of it at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego, California, this year. He stressed that the trailer is just a small sample of a work-in-progress there is no voice cast yet and the script is still being written and he said that Madhouse intends to make their final vision of Wolverine something that will be acceptable to fans.
The series will be broadcast on the Animax channel in Japan and other countries as early as next summer (around July). In the United States, where Animax is not available, Sony Pictures will handle distribution, Hara said. They are aiming for a show that will be fun for teens and that collectors in their 20s and 30s will want to buy on DVD.
Wolverine has a Japanese master that he served under, and he has been to Japan quite often, Hara said. Also, a Japanese audience prefers characters with dark backgrounds or a sad past. In that aspect, we believe its going to be well-received by a Japanese audience. The Daily Yomiuri / Asia News Network