Takashi Miike to direct a romance?

by Chris MaGee

Takashi Miike has always been a director who likes to mix it up. As one of the most prolific directors in Japanese film history Miike has produced everything from whimsical kids' movies to traumatizing gore fests. Recently Miike has transitioned from being a semi-underground cult and V-Cinema director to one of Japan's most bankable big budget film-makers, but that hasn't stopped him from continuing to contrast styles and genres. Just look at his recent out put -- old school jidai-geki like "13 Assassins" and "Ichimei", family films like "Ninja Kids", anime adaptations like "Yattaman" and absurd superhero romps like "Zebraman 2". So what could be next for Miike? How about a romance?

According to a report at Tokyograph Miike is currently working on a live-action adaptation of the popular 1970's manga "Ai to Makoto" created by Ikki Kajiwara. The manga, which originally appeared in Weekly Shonen Magazine, followed the relationship between squeaky clean school girl Ai and her rough and tumble delinquent boyfriend Makoto. For Miike's version Ai will be portrayed by 17-year-old Emi Takei while Makoto will be portrayed by Satoshi Tsumabuki. Expect to see the newly re-dubbed "Ai to Makoto 201X" in Japanese theatres next year.

This isn't the first time that Kajiwara's manga has gotten the live-action treatment though. In 1974 it was adapted into a series by Tokyo TV starring Yusuke Natsu as Makoto and Kimiko Ikigami as Ai. Check out the opening below to get a taste of what we might expect from Miike's updated feature film.