Insect Detective Yoshida Yoshimi Manga Gets Live-Action Film

This year's 50th issue of Kodansha's Morning magazine has announced on Thursday that a live-action film adaptation of Aozora-Daichi's Insect Detective Yoshida Yoshimi (Konchū Tantei Yoshida Yoshimi) gag manga has been green-lit for release next year. Tokyo Zombie director and Ichi the Killer scriptwriter Sakichi Sato is directing, and he is reuniting with his Tokyo Zombie star Shō Aikawa for this film. (Aikawa is pictured below in the magazine's announcement, which parodies Japanese tabloids with its attention-grabbing layout.)

In this "nonsensical gag" comedy, Yoshimi Yoshida is called the "Insect Detective" since he can communicate with just about any creature. Together with Mugi (a dog with the intelligence of a third-grader) and Piitan (a foul-mouthed parrot), Yoshida takes on cases related to insects and other creatures.

The manga won the Tetsuya Chiba Prize in 2003, and it is serialized on an irregular schedule in Morning and Morning 2 magazines. The North American distributor Anchor Bay released Sato's live-action film adaptation of Yūsaku Hanakuma's Tokyo Zombie horror comedy manga on DVD on April 1. (Last Gasp Publishing released the original Tokyo Zombie manga in North America last year. ) Besides Tokyo Zombie, Aikawa appeared in the live-action versions of the Zebraman and Kurosagi manga.

ANN