"Onobori Monogatari" brings the story of a struggling manga artist to the big screen

by Chris MaGee

One of the highlights of my 2009 was being able to read Yoshihiro Tatsumi's massive autobiographical manga "A Drifting Life". Through its 840 pages Tatsumi's alter ego Hiroshi as he establishes himself as a manga artist, first in Osaka then in Tokyo. It's a fascinating read, so make sure to check it out. The reason I mention Tatsumi's epic manga is that while reading this news item posted at Tokyograph about another upcoming manga-to-movie screen adaptation I couldn't help seeing similarities to "A Drifting Life".

A live-action film adaptation of Satoshi Karasuya's manga "Onobori Monogatari" is set to be released in Japanese theatres on July 17th. Directed by Yasutaka Mori, "Onobori Monogatari" will star 30-year-old Yoshio Inoue as a manga artist who moves from Hirakata, Osaka to establish himself in Tokyo. Karasuya's 4-panel manga which ran in Takeshobo's Manga Club between 2006 and 2008 was based on his own experiences trying to make his way in the competitive manga market.

There's no theatrical trailer posted at the offical website for "Onobori Monogatari" yet, but we'll keep an eye out for one in the coming weeks. Thanks also to Anime News Network for additional details on this story.