The hit video game series "Ryu ga Gotoku" (released in English as "Yakuza") is getting a live-action drama adaptation of its newest installment, "Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinshou," which is being released for the PlayStation Portable on September 22. The show will star actor Takumi Saito (29).
The video game series, which started out on the PlayStation 2 in 2005, is a mix of action and adventure set in the yakuza world. "Kurohyou" will be the franchise’s first game for a handheld console, and it was decided that it would be …

Riko Miyagi’s popular manga series "Mei-chan no Shitsuji" is going to be adapted as a stage musical next year, performed by the all-female Takarazuka Revue. Yuzuru Kurenai, the current otokoyaku of the Star Troupe, will play the lead role.
Akiko Kodama will write the script and direct. The musical’s working title at the moment is "Mei-chan no Shitsuji -Watakushi no Inochi ni Kaete Omamori Itashimasu-." More details about the story and cast will be announced in future issues of Shueisha’s magazine Margaret, in which the manga is serialized.
The original manga tells …

An 18-meter-tall "life-size" statue of Gundam, a giant robot featured in the classic Japanese sci-fi animation series, made a fresh appearance Saturday at an event in Shizuoka City to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of the first Gundam plastic model kit.
The statue was erected at the Shizuoka Hobby Fair outside JR Higashi- Shizuoka Station in the city’s Aoi Ward after first appearing in the Odaiba waterfront area in Tokyo last year to mark the 30th anniversary of the broadcasting of the "Mobile Suit Gundam" TV series, which started …

The Toronto Star has released a new series focusing on the G20 and the world’s problems and most interestingly the World Bank’s focus for a solution. With a stronger banking system, the European debt crisis and maternal health will all be tackled by the G20 in Toronto. But devoting resources to one group — girls — could lead to gains in all three areas. So suggests the World Bank, among others, observing that countries that don’t invest in girls have slower growth and reduced income. It’s not just the …

It has been officially announced, the Giant RX-78 Gundam Statue/Model will make a comeback this year, but this time it will be located in Shizuoka City, 125 miles west of Tokyo. A Bandai spokesperson said Gundam will come to life once more in June, at the East Higashi-Shizuoka Station near the local Bandai factory in which there is a guided tour(with previous reservation) that could complete a touristic itinerary.
Originally this incredible real scale statue was erected in Tokyo’s artificial island Odaiba, to commemorate the 30th aniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam. …

Model and actress Karina has been cast as the heroine in the upcoming “Ashita no Joe” movie adaptation, starring NEWS member Tomohisa Yamashita as the boxer Joe Yabuki.
Karina will play the character of Yoko Shiraki, the daughter of the head of a wealthy corporate group who backs Yabuki’s rival, Tohru Rikiishi (Yusuke Iseya). The cast also includes Teruyuki Kagawa as Joe’s mentor, Danpei Tange.
“Ashita no Joe” is scheduled for release in spring 2011.

About 200 people lined up on Saturday for the early-morning opening of the first official “Gundam”-themed cafe, based on the popular sci-fi animation series. Female staff members dressed as characters from the series greeted customers to the cafe in Tokyo’s Akihabara district when its doors opened at 8.30 a.m on Saturday.

The long-running anime series “Nintama Rantaro” is being adapted as a live-action film, directed by Takashi Miike. This will be the first lead role for child actor Seishiro Kato (8), who plays the titular young ninja.
“Nintama Rantaro” is based on the gag manga “Rakudai Ninja Rantaro” by Soubee Amako. Set during the Sengoku era, the story follows the adventures of a young boy named Rantaro, who is born into a ninja family. He enrolls in the elite ninja school Ninjutsu Gakuen, where the young apprentices are known as “nintamas” (derived …

A group of cartoonists including Tetsuya Chiba, illustrator of popular manga series “Ashita no Joe” (Tomorrow’s Joe), voiced their opposition Monday in Tokyo to a proposed ordinance revision aimed at regulating sexual imagery in comics and animations.
Arriving at the Tokyo metropolitan government, the cartoonists voiced concerns over the proposal, to be put before a vote Friday, which calls for restricting comics and animations that contain sexualized depictions of “nonexistent minors” — a controversial concept described in the draft regulation, referring to characters that people would assume to be minors.
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The “Youth Nurturing and Protection Ordinance,” is a proposal to essentially censor images of “childlike” characters in media. It is set to enter committee on March 18th. Should the bill move through it will be placed before the Diet for a vote on March 30th, and will be taking effect as early as October.

The effect on mass media in Japan would be astounding.