Review material, sent my way or purchased, for which detailed reviews will probably appear before long. Here's my quick-and-dirty rundown of what's currently in the bag ...
Audition, Ryu Murakami — yes, this is the novel that was adapted into the legendarily perverse Takashi Miike horror film. If it's anything like Murakami's other excursions into this territory it should be a good 'un — I read In the Miso Soup not long ago (American serial killer ends up in Japan, oddly heartfelt material mixed with splatterpunk) and this seems like a brother in spirit. And what idiot designed the horrible sub-manga-style artwork for the Kindle edition?
Afterschool Charisma, Kumiko Sekane — the manga-ka behind one of the Blood+ spinoffs has an original story about a high school populated entirely by clones of historical figures. On first read, it plays off a lot better than such a premise might indicate — it could have been offensive and stupid (which was how Axis Powers Hetalia came off to me) but manages to be snappily entertaining if nothing else.
Black Lagoon #9, Detroit Metal City #5 — no introduction needed. If you know 'em, odds are you love 'em. American live-action remakes of both of these franchises seem like they should be inevitable.
From Haikasoru: Slum Online, Hiroshi Sakurazaka — from the author of All You Need Is Kill (thumbs way up) comes a story about life lived online. Looks intriguing and doubly timely. Also, The Next Continent, Issui Ogawa — from the author of Usurper of the Sun (thumbs up too) comes another space story about a Japanese effort to create a moon base suited for civilian use. Also timely given Japan's recent talk about setting up a robot moonbase.
FUNimation also sent over four flicks from their recent licensing deal with Celestial Pictures and their Shaw Brothers kung-fu catalog: Shaolin Handlock, 14 Amazons, Opium and the Kung-fu Master, Hong Kong Godfather. Haven't seen any of these before as far as I know, but they're all remastered from camera negatives (HK Technicolor looks great on DVD).
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Heh heh...looks like a full plate there (reminding me of the days when I wrote reviews...still have a major chunk of those DVDs...). I didn't know that AUDITION was based on a novel; while I have not seen the film, I do know of it's...er...reputation.
Haven't followed the BLACK LAGOON manga in some time, but am a HUGE fan of the anime--and I have to agree, an American film version would be great. The only problem is--who the hell would play Revy? Also, I did think that the English dub cast was fantastic--it was better to listen to them than the original (and pretty good) Japanese cast.
I'm glad they've translated and released Sakurazaka's SLUM ONLINE; after AYNIK, I'm itching to find more of his work. I am also interested in THE NEXT CONTINENT, and also USURPER OF THE SUN.
But first, I've got to re-read AYNIK, finish up BIOMEGA #2 and HELLSING #10 (finally out!) and also finish reading DARK WATER and start FROM A BUICK 8...maybe I'm reading too much...
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I liked "Dark Water" - the original story is actually only a piece of what ended up in the films, so it's interesting to see how they contrast. More here: http://www.genjipress.com/2008/12/dark-water-koji-suzuki.html
The American movie version wasn't bad -- it just wasn't very good.
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That's too bad...I have not seen the American film that Walter Salles directed (I remember the ads and trailer, and am a red-blooded male madly in love with Jennifer Connelly), but I did read the story in DARK WATER. I'll check the article out.
There is a two-part audio interview with Koji Suzuki from about four years ago (don't worry--it's in English, with Suzuki's Japanese being translated). It can be found here:
http://www.trashotron.com/agony/indexes/audio_interview_index.htm
You'll have to scroll down a bit to find it, but it's from around 2006. Very interesting and very informative interview.
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