Hiroyuki Nakano's Rashomon-redux "Tajomaru" to get tie-in manga and anime

by Chris MaGee

First comes the manga, then comes the TV series, then comes the movie, right? That's the usual progression in the entertainment and film industry in Japan... usually. It seems that Hiroyuki Nakano's upcoming "romantic fantasy" take on "Rashomon" titled "Tajomaru (read our coverage of the film here) is bucking that long established trend by spawning its own manga and anime. Manga artist Ippei Gyoubu is currently putting the finishing touches on both it was reported at a press conference held on Sunday in Tokyo where Nakano and his cast, including Shun Oguri, Yuki Shibamoto, and Hiroki Matsukata. No details were given as to who may be publishing or screening the manga and anime retellings of the adventures of forest bandit Tajomaru, the role made famous by Toshiro Mifune in Akira Kurosawa's classic 1950 film "Rashomon", but "Tajomaru" the movie will be hitting Japanese theatres in September. Check out the just released full trailer for "Tajomaru" at Nippon Cinema.

Thanks to ,a href="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-07-07/shun-oguri-tajomaru-film-to-spawn-anime-manga">Anime News Network for the details on this story.