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That's right, Naoki Urasawa's acclaimed manga retelling of Osamu Tezuka's famous Astro Boy story might just be made into a movie.
It was over one year ago when the possibility of a Pluto movie was last brought up. But now it seems that the project has gotten some major forward momentum, as the rights to Pluto have been purchased by Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures.
It is planed to be a live action/CG hybrid film. Chris Meledandri of Illumination Entertainment had this to say: "With Pluto, Naoki Urasawa has defined an imaginative world full of inventive action and adventure but it was his characters and heartfelt story that compelled me towards acquiring these rights." You can read more about the announcement on Deadline.com and on Anime News Network.
Now, before everyone gets too excited, does this mean that a Pluto movie is 100% being made? Not necessarily. It just means that there is an intention to make a Pluto movie, and a studio now has the rights to make it. Whether it actually materializes is another matter, but there is at least a chance. Let's hope that a faithful adaptation of this incredible version of the Astro Boy mythos will find its way to the silver screen in the future!
You can buy all 8 volumes of Pluto here and help support AstroBoyWorld in the process.
UPDATE: Read the official press release here.
Continue reading "PLUTO Movie Rights Acquired!"...
Here's the press release from Viz for volume 8 of Pluto, the final volume of the Astro Boy inspired robot thriller. VIZ Media Announces the Exciting Finale to PLUTO: URASAWA × TEZUKA Manga Series
VIZ Media will be releasing the much anticipated final volume (Volume 8) of NAOKI URASAWA’S manga masterpiece PLUTO: URASAWA × TEZUKA on April 6th
(Vocus/PRWEB ) March 17, 2010 -- PLUTO: URASAWA × TEZUKA is a modern reinterpretation of the work by the master of Manga, Osamu Tezuka. In an ideal world where man and robots coexist, someone or something is after the seven great robots of the world. Interpol assigns robot detective Gesicht to this most strange and complex case – and he eventually discovers that he is one of the targets!
PLUTO © Naoki URASAWA/Studio Nuts, Takashi NAGASAKI and Tezuka Productions Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan. Based on “Astro Boy” written by Osamu TEZUKA.
PLUTO © Naoki URASAWA/Studio Nuts, Takashi NAGASAKI and Tezuka Productions Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan. Based on “Astro Boy” written by Osamu TEZUKA.
In the final volume Atom is back, and the fate of the earth is in his hands! Now that Atom has all the answers to the unsolved mysteries around Pluto, Bora and more, he's prepared to put everything on the line. With the memory of his fallen brethren – Gesicht, Mont Blanc, North No. 2, Brando, Hercules and Epsilon – etched deeply into his heart, Atom is headed for one last battle to save the world!
Naoki Urasawa's career as a manga artist spans more than twenty years and has firmly established him as one of the true manga masters of Japan. Born in Tokyo in 1960, Urasawa debuted with BETA! in 1983 and hasn't stopped his impressive output since. Well-versed in a variety of genres, Urasawa's oeuvre encompasses a multitude of different subjects, such as a romantic comedy (Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl), a suspenseful human drama about a former mercenary (Pineapple ARMY; story by Kazuya Kudo), a captivating psychological suspense story (Monster), a sci-fi adventure manga (20th Century Boys) and a modern reinterpretation of the work of Osamu Tezuka (Pluto: Urasawa × Tezuka; co-authored with Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka, and with the cooperation of Tezuka Productions). Many of his books have spawned popular animated and live-action TV programs and films, and 2008 saw the theatrical release of the first of three live-action Japanese films based on 20th Century Boys.
No stranger to accolades and awards, Urasawa is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award, a two-time recipient of the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, and has received the Kodansha Manga Award. Similarly, MONSTER has been nominated three times for the Eisner Award in America. Urasawa has also become involved in the world of academia. In 2008 he accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University, where he teaches courses in, of course, manga.
PLUTO: URASAWA × TEZUKA is rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens and has a MSRP $12.99 U.S. / $16.99 Canada. For more information on this and other titles from VIZ Media, please visit www.viz.com. You can buy the entire Pluto manga series here and help support AstroBoy World in the process.
Continue reading "Pluto Final Volume"...
 The Right Stuf's podcast Anime Today has a new episode featuring an excellent interview with translators Frederik L. Schodt and Jared Cook, who talk about their translation of Naoki Urasawa's Astro Boy inspired manga, Pluto. It's a very cool look at their history in manga translation and the process they used in converting Pluto's rich story from Japanese to English. This is a must-listen for anyone who's been reading Pluto, but even if you haven't yet, don't worry. There are only a few minor spoilers.
Unfortunately, the Astro Boy movie had not yet been released at the time of the interview's recording, so they were not able to discuss it in great detail. What they did discuss was what Tezuka would think about all the attention being paid to these new visions of his original works. The answer might suprise you!
Make sure you listen for yourself and click the link below for an archived copy of the press release.
Right Stuf's Anime Today Talks Pluto with Translators Frederik L. Schodt and Jared Cook
Nov 6th 2009
Behind the scenes at RightStuf.com, Karakuri Odette, reviews, contests & more in episode 105!
GRIMES, IA, November 6, 2009 – Anime producer and mega-online anime retailer Right Stuf, Inc. is pleased to welcome Frederik L. Schodt and Jared Cook – the translators of the PLUTO: Urasawa x Tezuka manga – to episode 105 of ANIME TODAY.
In this new, three-segment interview, Schodt and Cook discuss their work on Naoki Urasawa's reimagining of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy manga, how Dr. Tezuka may have reacted to the recent adaptations of his work, and their unique, two-person translation process.
Long-time translation partners Schodt and Cook collaborated on the English translations and adaptations of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix and Princess Knight (excerpt for Viz's Shojo Beat magazine), prior to their work on Pluto. The author of The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom and the Manga/Anime Revolution, Schodt has been recognized with the Osamu Tezuka Culture Special Prize and by the Japanese government with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for his contributions to the appreciation of manga and Japanese culture worldwide.
Also in episode 105 of ANIME TODAY:
* Chad shares “What's Hot” in the world of anime and manga.
* Rich tells fans how they can find “Revolutionary Savings” on DVDs, Blu-ray, books and music from Bandai Entertainment.
* Rich and Nick take a look at how packages get out from RightStuf.com to customers in the second installment of “Best Wishes, Stuf!,” which focuses on the customer service, accounting and warehouse departments.
* Nick and Rich announce the latest Year of the Otaku winners (and new weekly contest), announce the winners of the Kimba (Jungle Emperor Leo) contest, and kick off a new contest gearing up for this month's release of the Boys Over Flowers Korean drama.
* Rich and Nick provide a rundown of upcoming conventions, courtesy of AnimeCons.com.
* Marie takes a look at the manga Karakuri Odette by Julietta Suzuki.
* Listen to clips from Neon Genesis Evangelion Soundtrack 1 and the Refrain of Evangelion soundtrack from Geneon Music. Also hear tracks from JapanFiles.com artists MORNING GLORY (“Time After Time” from the mini EP Remember) and ketchup mania (“Welcome to Paradise” from their Best of CD).
* And finally, ANIME TODAY highlights some of the newest fan reviews from RightStuf.com visitors.
Have a question about anime and manga? Want to comment on one of the podcast's segments? Call our Anime Today Hotline at 1-800-338-6827, ext. 7424. You may hear yourself on a future episode of Anime Today!
Visit www.rightstuf.com and www.animetoday.com for this episode, as well as an archive of all ANIME TODAY episodes and extended liner notes. Listeners can also download and subscribe to ANIME TODAY via the Apple iTunes Music Store.
Meet other anime fans, talk with ANIME TODAY listeners, submit your suggestions for future episodes and more at the new ANIME TODAY forums: http://www.rightstuf.com/ubbthreads/.
Follow ANIME TODAY on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/animetoday.
Find Right Stuf on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/rightstuf.
ABOUT ANIME TODAY
Released every other week, ANIME TODAY is the first commercially-produced podcast aimed at enthusiasts of Japanese animation and comics (“anime” and “manga”). Each episode features fresh content and gives listeners a glimpse into what's new and what's hot in the world of anime and manga. Segments include reviews of titles from all major anime studios, insights into the industry from anime producers, tips on traveling to and around Japan, interaction with listeners, contests, prizes and more.
“If you're into anime and what's happening in the anime market then this is the podcast for you!”
- User review on iTunes
ABOUT RIGHT STUF, INC.
Currently celebrating its 22nd year in business, Right Stuf, Inc. was one of the first players in the U.S. Japanese Animation ("anime") industry, as both an anime producer/distributor and a retailer. Right Stuf works to promote knowledge of its own products, as well as the anime and manga industry, in general, through its online storefront at RightStuf.com and a variety of media including podcasts and special publications.
Nozomi Entertainment, Right Stuf's production division, is dedicated to the highest quality releases. True to the Japanese word that inspired its name, Nozomi's focus is on “what fans want.” By focusing on a limited number of anime properties each year, the Nozomi production team ensures each release receives the care and attention to detail it deserves.
From anime classics like Astro Boy, Kimba and Gigantor to modern comedies, dramas and favorites such as The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, His and Her Circumstances, Gravitation, Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars, Ninja Nonsense, To Heart, The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye, Emma: A Victorian Romance, Maria Watches Over Us, ARIA, Gakuen Alice and Rental Magica, Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment produce quality programming for fans of all ages and interests. For more information, visit www.rightstuf.com and www.nozomient.com.
Continue reading "Pluto Talk on Anime Today"...
 Back in Feburary I posted an article about Naoki Urasawa, the notable manga artist behind the re-imagined Astro Boy story "Pluto". In the article, the possibility of a Pluto movie is brought up.
Cristoph Mark, the original writer of the article, has stopped by AstroBoy World to deliver some more insight into what he knows about this potential film project.
Hi, I'm the writer of the original story. I don't know why I didn't include this in the original article, but Urasawa and Nagasaki both said the Hollywood version of Pluto would be live-action, not animated. There are also a few Japanese companies looking at it for different kinds of releases, but the Hollywood take on Pluto was something I thought we should all hope for... So there you have it. The current plan is that if a Pluto movie is made, and if that movie is developed through the Hollywood system, then it will be a live action movie. However, the possibility also exists that Japanese companies are looking into doing something as well. It will be exciting to see just what ends up happening with it! Big time thanks go out to Cris for visiting the site and sharing this great bit of info with us!
Continue reading "More on a Potential Pluto Movie"...
 The Daily Yomuri Online has an article about the famous and prolific manga artist Naoki Urasawa, the creator of the Astro Boy tribute "Pluto". In the article, Urasawa's newest work "Billy Bat" is discussed, as well as the coming end of the Pluto manga in Japan. Apparently, their are negotations in Hollywood going on right now for a Pluto movie! Whether this movie would be live action or animated should it ever come into fruition is unsaid, but it's very exciting all the same. Could we be getting two completely different Astro Boy movies within a few years of each other?
Also in the article, Urasawa discusses how Pluto came about and his own apprehensions towards creating it as a Tezuka fan. You can read "On a wing and a prayer: Hitmaker mangaka Urasawa turns to period fiction with his new 'Billy Bat'" on the Daily Yomuri Online or by clicking the link below for an archived version right here.
On a wing and a prayer: Hitmaker mangaka Urasawa turns to period fiction with his new 'Billy Bat'
Cristoph Mark / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer
It's already been an eventful year for Naoki Urasawa, whose manga have garnered myriad awards and sold more than 100 million copies--nearly one for every person in Japan--since his 1983 debut. In 2009, his critically successful 20th Century Boys series is seeing the second and third installments of its cinematic release, Urasawa has released his debut rock album called 1/2 Century Man, his Pluto manga series is coming to an end and he is freshly into his new Billy Bat serial, set against an unstable postwar Japan caught between GHQ and communist agitators.
"A lot of young Japanese don't know who Japan fought against in World War II," Urasawa says to The Daily Yomiuri at his Tokyo home as he talks about Billy Bat, which recently saw its sixth installment in Morning, a weekly manga magazine. "It's nice to feel that peace is enough, but we need to study the past so we can create our future. It's like, 'Come on, study even a little bit!' I don't expect people to use this manga to study history, but I do hope to draw some attention to that period. You know, how did our society become what it is?"
Takashi Nagasaki, Billy Bat's cocreator and Urasawa's longtime editor-cum-collaborator, explains in a separate interview at his office elsewhere in the city: "One reason I wanted to focus on the postwar period is because today's society has completely forgotten about it. It would have been our fathers' generation. I thought it was about time for a manga to tell the younger generations how Japan rose from the country it was after the war to become the country it is today.
"This was inspired in part by a recent book called Tokyo Year Zero. [Author David Peace] told the story of postwar Japan so well...as Japanese, we couldn't let an Englishman tell our story better than us. I was a bit perturbed by that," he says with a laugh.
Still very early in its run, Billy Bat tells the story of Kevin Yamagata, a Japanese-American comic book artist in the United States who is wildly successful with his series "Billy Bat," about a private eye (and bat) often hired to follow unfaithful spouses. When FBI agents decide to use Yamagata's office to spy on a neighbor who has been fingered as a communist sympathizer, one of the agents says he has seen the Billy Bat character somewhere before. This comment leads Yamagata to his ancestral homeland of Japan, which is going through a major transformation under the U.S. Occupation.
To highlight the instability of the era, Urasawa and Nagasaki took inspiration from and made reference to 1949's Shimoyama Incident, which saw the death of Sadanori Shimoyama, the president of the then Japanese National Railway, which was preparing to lay off 8,000 workers as part of its restructuring. "It remains a mystery in Japan whether it was suicide or murder. There even were rumors that either the communists or GHQ was behind it. But we don't know. And Japan rose from this sort of gloom," Nagasaki says, explaining the early origins of the setting for Billy Bat.
The massive story was four years in the making, with the two writers taking each other's ideas and transforming them into something better. "People often think he's the pitcher and I'm the catcher, but in our discussions for this story, I was the pitcher, he was the batter," Nagasaki explains.
The mystery of Billy Bat quickly expands to include murder--seemingly involving Yamagata--and a mysterious bat symbol that seems to have a religious following, not unlike the now-familiar hand-eye symbol associated with the sinister Friend in 20th Century Boys.
"Human history is tied to that kind of thing [symbols], and it has always been the expression and source of culture. It has repeatedly brought out the good and evil in people and guides them in good and bad directions. I think it's a pretty consistent theme," Urasawa says, refusing to expand on which direction the mysterious bat symbol will lead the reader. Nagasaki, however, drops a few possible hints: "When we started thinking about the series, we thought about, for example, what if Billy Bat was like Jesus Christ, and it might have this sort of ancient mystery about it? I was also interested in the idea of what if the very first image of God that humans ever saw was this [image of a bat]?"
There is another idol, however, that Nagasaki imagines Urasawa may have been considering when he was developing the story: "I have a feeling Urasawa wanted to tell the story of Walt Disney. I, however, had no intention of telling Disney's story."
Though this may seem like a bit of a stretch to the casual reader, the influence could be seen in the first two installments, both of which were drawn as a "Billy Bat" comic within the manga. The style, inspired by the likes of Dick Tracy and other comics of that era, was nothing like that found in Japanese manga. It was even printed in full color--very unusual for the cheap, weekly comic magazines--complete with the look of aged, browning paper, to add to its initial claim of being a genuinely rediscovered American classic. For this reader, it was a refreshing change of pace to see an established mangaka try something new and adventurous. On Internet blogs and fan sites, however, there was a backlash against the "new style."
"When we were with [publisher] Shogakukan," Nagasaki explains, "I think our readers would've gone along with Urasawa's different style for Billy Bat. But since moving to Kodansha, I think we lost a bunch of readers with the first couple of stories. There are mangaka who want to do an American-style comic, but nobody has succeeded with doing it."
Urasawa, however, didn't think much of the reaction. "Recently, there are more readers who expect that I wouldn't continue in that way [the first installment of Billy Bat], so there were a lot of people who expected it was a gimmick, since I'm a writer who uses a lot of gimmicks like that," he says. "So they were wondering when I would switch back to normal, and that's fun for me to play with.
"I want to experiment with the freedom to switch back and forth between styles and storylines; I don't think too far ahead in the story; I want to see if I can get the readers to follow along with me. That way, I can maybe push things further."
===
Life beyond 'Pluto'
As Urasawa settles into his new series, he is preparing for the final installment of Pluto in April. The series, which has received awards including the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, is based on "The Greatest Robot on Earth" from Tezuka's Astro Boy, a story arc about the murders of the world's most advanced robots. The project was a successful, but stressful, one for both Urasawa and Nagasaki.
"I can finally relax; the weight is off my shoulders," says Urasawa, whose other hit series have included Yawara, Monster and Pineapple Army.
"I won't do that again," Nagasaki exclaims.
The trouble with Pluto, the movie rights for which are currently under negotiation in Hollywood, was in the duo's own expectations. "For Japanese, Osamu Tezuka is known as the God of Manga. And for me, I wouldn't be doing this job if it hadn't been for him. To be given that major work to see through to the end--that's a lot of pressure," Urasawa says. "There was this one Tezuka fan that kept telling me his fans would hate what I was doing--and I realized only recently that Tezuka fan was actually me."
It was the end of a series that began in 2003, to coincide with the 40th birthday of Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy). Urasawa and Nagasaki negotiated for a year to get the permission to do the story, despite Urasawa's reluctance--based on both existing workload and a bit of fear--to get involved. "I said somebody ought to do something on the level of 'The Greatest Robot on Earth,' otherwise the younger readers wouldn't get Tezuka's accomplishments. But I had no intention of doing it myself. Everybody told me I should do it, and I said, 'No, no, no, no, no.'"
After prodding from Nagasaki and a series of brainstorms, the resulting story idea seemed too good to let anybody else do, according to Urasawa, who describes that particular story as a manga that opened his generation's eyes. "It wasn't about a righteous robot that took down bad robots, it was about the emptiness of war," Urasawa recalls. "When I read that when I was about 4, I felt like I had been told a very deep story, something meant for adults. I think everyone felt that way when they read it. It was never actually meant for kids."
Both Urasawa and Nagasaki say the story sticks to the original plotline, but there are a couple of revelations for readers in the final installment, one about the protagonist, a robot detective called Gesicht, and the other "a pretty good surprise."
Urasawa's most recent works have all been hits critically and commercially, with each of them big-screen bound. (Monster is currently in preproduction.) The still-young Billy Bat is promising, but nothing, according to Nagasaki, is a given. "There's no one who can always stay at the top," Nagasaki says. "Naoki Urasawa has always been at the top. It's only natural that he will fall from that position at some point. For me, each venture is risky. I might end up thinking, 'If we had only stopped at that last one...' I like him: That's why I work with him. But every time, I think, 'This might be it.'"
(Feb. 13, 2009)
Continue reading "Pluto: The Movie a possibility?"...
 Pluto is on its way to English speaking manga fans, and here is the official word from Viz Media.
"MONSTER-creator Naoki Urasawa's two new series, 20th Century Boys and PLUTO: URASAWA X TEZUKA, which is based on Osamu Tezuka's classic manga ASTRO BOY, show this master artist at the height of his powers. Those wondering what are the manga equivalents of WATCHMEN and THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS need look no further," said Alvin Lu, Vice President, Publishing, Viz Media. "In Japan, these two series are considered masterpieces of the form, along the lines of Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA and Takehiko Inoue's VAGABOND. With our other new releases for 2009, we're extremely excited this season to be presenting some of the absolute best the manga medium has to offer."
...
PLUTO: URASAWA X TEZUKA • Rated “T” for Teens • MSRP: $12.99 •
February 2009
A darkly-lit science-fiction thriller set in a cybernetic future reminiscent of BLADE RUNNER and I, ROBOT, PLUTO: URASAWA X TEZUKA takes a storyline from Osamu Tezuka's classic manga ASTRO BOY and radically retrofits Tezuka's space-age optimism for a more chaotic age. Somebody is out to kill the world's most powerful robots—including Astro Boy! A cyborg detective must investigate the robot-murders and solve them, before they come after him. Serialized at the same time as NAOKI URASAWA'S 20TH CENTURY BOYS in Japan, PLUTO exhibits Urasawa's narrative skills at the top of their form, taking the thrilling plot twists of MONSTER to a new level. As a radical reimagining of a classic comic character, PLUTO: URASAWA X TEZUKA is to Astro Boy what THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was to Batman.
Thanks to PressZoom.com. Look forward to more info on Pluto right here in the future.
Continue reading "Pluto Press Release"...
 Wow! This huge announcement from Comic Con really took me by surprise, but it's a welcome surprise to be sure!
Viz Media is publishing Pluto in English!
For those unfamiliar with Pluto, it is a manga by Naoki Urasawa, who is the creator of Yawara, 20th Century Boys, Master Keaton, and Monster. The story of Pluto is based on the famous Astro Boy plot "The World's Strongest Robot", but told in a new way, from the perspective of a different character, and intended for more of a grown-up audience. Astro does eventually appear, but he is not the main character. In Japan, Pluto has been lauded with many awards and accolades, including the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize in 2005.
Look forward to the first volume of Pluto from Viz in Feburary 2009. Thanks to About.com: Manga for the news!
Continue reading "PLUTO"...
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