A Peek Up And Down Dept.

Publishers Weekly has a quick profile of Vertical, Inc., one of my favorite publishers around. This came by way of AICN Anime, along with a couple of other interesting albeit unsourced tidbits. This one in particular caught my eye:

Tajomaru, the live action adaptation of Rashōmon source "In the Grove," is in turn being adapted into anime and manga with Ippei Gyoubu helming the project.

... I didn't even know there was a live-action item in the first place, apart from Rashōmon itself! The film in question was directed by Red Shadow / Samurai Fiction / Stereo Future helmer Hiroyuki Nakano, so my bet is it's gonna be heavy on the pop-culture nudges in the ribs and light on everything else.

Oh, and this:

Via Anime News Network that two "Macross Crossover Live A.D. 2009x45x49" concerts at the Makuhari Messe convention complex near Tokyo on October 17 and October 18.

The "galaxy's biggest crossover" will feature Mari Iijima (Lynn Minmay in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross), Yoshiki Fukuyama (the singing voice of Macross 7's Basara Nekki), Chie Kajiura (the singing voice of Macross 7's Mylene Jenius), May'n (the singing voice of Macross Frontier's Sheryl Nome), and Megumi Nakajima (Macross Frontier's Ranka Lee).

Wait ... NO SHARON APPLE? For shame, kids.

And it wouldn't be a week without some Tezuka. Specifically, this eyebrow-raising behind-the-scenes peek at the live-action adaptation of Tezuka's brilliant (and sometimes downright vile) MW. I don't think anything else in this entire catalog was remotely this jaundiced or disturbing and I can't wait to see how it's been adapted.